[Posted by Sally Dickinson, Associate Curator]

These large musical scores were printed in 1851 on “White & Potter’s Steam Press—4,000 impressions per hour—Spring Lane, Boston.” As a printing feat they are impressive—rich black notes, easily seen at a distance.  Lowell Mason’s Musical Exercises for Singing Schools promotes the use of the large printed score as a way to speed along the teaching of music in the classroom.  They were meant to free the teacher from drawing scores on the blackboard. The exercises accompany Mason’s Manual of the Boston Academy of Music.  Mason and George James Webb established the Academy to promote music education in general and to raise the standards of church music.  The academy had enrolled 3,000 students by its 2^nd year.  Mason was credited with introducing music education in public schools.  His influence on church music was equally felt, promoting classical European music rather than the American music of the revivalists, such as Joshua Leavitt’s Christian Lyre.

Here is our intern Dahlia Romanow (from Smith College) demonstrating the beat: Demonstration