Folk Musics and Increasing Diversity in American Music Education: 1900-1916

From 1900 to 1916, the demographic makeup of the United States changed radically due to the heavy influx of people from Southern and Eastern Europe, and the schools, in particular, felt the impact of this immigration. Many music educators, like their colleagues in general education, found themselves facing an increasingly multicultural classroom for the first time. As a result of their efforts to help Americanize their immigrant students, music educators gradually came to know and accept folk songs and dances from many European countries and to make use of musics from these countries in music appreciation classes. Also during this period, some of the musics of Native Americans and African Americans were introduced into the music curriculum. Including these folk musics in the American school music curriculum resulted in an increased musical diversity that perhaps marked the beginnings of multicultural music education in the public schools.