ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the difference in situation between the University of Edinburgh and Oxbridge. Edinburgh, as a public institution, was subject to constant examination regarding its role in the city, and its obligations with respect to music therefore extended to public interests. Herbert Oakeley's scheme of university musical education straddled professional and liberal guises. Music lectures and practical classes in Edinburgh were attended as a form of liberal education, while concerts were constructed to educate in taste and appreciation. Many of the records of musical education in Edinburgh from the 1830s onwards related to girls' schools, governesses and women's educational groups, and Professor Oakeley became active in examining for some of them. The Edinburgh society of musicians played an important role in the debate, and cooperated with the Scottish musical society and Glasgow society of musicians to petition the Universities Commissioners to use funds from the Reid bequest to found an academy.
