The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-06
HISTORY OF MUSIC
IN THE NEW HAVEN PUBLIC
 SCHOOLS.
By Supervisor Benjamin Jepson.

Read before the Mothers's club Janu-
 ary 3rd, 1902
 New Haven was the first city in Con- ! necticut and among the first in the United States to adopt music as regu-
 lar branch of study. Except in few
 of the large cities, little or nothing had
 been done in this direction prior to 1860.
 From time to time, Spasmodic attempts
 had been made to introduce the study
 but outside of Boston, Cincinnati, and
 possibly one or two other cities, noth-
 ing like systematic instruction had been
 attempted In the decade preceding our
 Civil War, the subject of making music | 8 regular study in the schools had often
 been discussed, and within that period,
 had been several times brought to the
 attention of the Board of Education. In
 the fall of 1864 this movement crystaliz- | ed in the form a petition rehearsing the ! benefits to be derived, and presenting l the name of the present incumbent for | the position of Vocal Instructor. The l list of petitioners, which contains l67 names, of whom 127 have since died. is | remarkable for the number of promin- | ent names which it contains, and is in- | teresting as showing the unanimity with which the city officials, the Presi- dent and Faculty of Yale and the lead- | ing citizens of every profession and l calling endorsed the idea of public in- | struction in music. The following is | the list, the deceased members names 1 being marked with CD:
 Morris Tyler, H. K. Welch, E. K, | Foster, Alfred Blackman, c. R, Inger-
 soil, *H. B. Harrison, *H. G. Elliot, #S. D. Pardee. *H. Chapman, #Geo. H. | Watrous, *S. w. s. Dutton, #N. B. Ives, i "James Brewster, Edward Marble, Francis Wayland, Jr., *S. D. Phelps. N.
 D, Sperry, Cyrus Northrop, Edwin Har- wood *W. H. Boardman, @Geo. P.
 Smith, *Lucius G. Peck, %Geo. F. Gar | diner *Chas. Nicholl, "Thos, H Burch
 *D. R. Wright. c. A. Lindsley, Philip
 Jond, *Jno. w. Mansfield, Samuel B.
 Gorham, %Minott A. Osborn, *E, C.. Scranton. *Geo. Olmstead, "Wm. Fitch,
 *K. S. Rowland, #Edward L. Brown,
 *Chas. E. Glover, c. F. Judson, w D.
 Judson, *Charles F. Hotchk'ss, "Jno. B. Darlington, *C. T. Grlley, "H. w. Ben
 edict, *W. T. Eustis, Jr., "Ed. F. At
 water, *Edward Benjamin, %William
 Skinner, *John G. North, ED. W. La
 trop, *Amos F. Barnes, +C. s. Bushnell,
 l.. P. Smith. c. R. Russell, *William o.
 Armstrong, Philander Armstrong,
 *George A. Chapman, *Geo. F. Peterson,
 *T. A. Futile, #Henry G. Lewis, *J. B.
 Baldwin, *Jno. G. Bassett Edward P.
 Judd, w. W. White, Paul Roesser
 Samuel Moves. *F. T. Jarman, Samuel
 A. Bassett, *J. J. Atwater, *J. H. Vaudeville, %. B. Leavenworth, %Ev- arts Cutler, *Sylvanus Butler. Wm F. Damn. Marcus Merriman, *Benjamin w. Stone *Jno H. KlocS, "J. M. Au gur, +Benj. S. Pardee, J. w. Hine, I'D. F. Burritt, y. J Osborn, *Daniel Mer- rills, *Jacob Gould *John Woodruff *E H. Frisbie, James c. English, B. F. Mansfield, #B. H. Douglas, *W A. En- sign, "Edward Bromley, y. Halsted Carroll B. Shoninger, *R. Blair, HI, H. Thomas, *W. Webb, "W. H. Stanley, S E. Merwin, Jr., *Henry Kellogg, *F. M. Lovejoy, *Thos. H. Peace, *Alfred Walker, Edward Downes, "S. A Thomas, @E A. Park, *Thos. G. Os- born, *W. D. Bryan, *Wm. c. Peck, *E Weston, Joel Sumner Smith, *H P Hoadley, *Henry Lampson, *Edward Lampson, %T. R. Trowbridge, Arthur D Osborne, *H. A. Gray, "D. w. Buck ingham, *R. $. Bostwick, Samuel L. Smith, *Peck Sperry, +Chas, J. Allen, B. G, Warner, "C. F. Dudley, R. R French, Gustave Stoeckel *T. D. Wool sey, Geo. r. Fisher, *C. w. Chapman. *Noah Porter, *Thoms A. Thatcher, Jean w. Freund, Frank D. Sloat *Silas Galpin, ED. s. Cooper, *J. Matthewman, *G. S. Rice, o. w. Case, "J E English, "James Rowland "W. Hooker 20. F. Winchester, *John Lyons *F J. Betts, Fred w. sizer, "W B. Johnson, *H. $. 1. Dawson, *L Hotchkiss, *Geo Gardner. VI. K. Bundy. %Leonard Bacon, r. R. | Bliss, John c. Hollister, *H Smith %J. | F. Searles *E. T. Foote, Mark Bailey. ! "H. c. Kingsbury, *W D. Anderson, ~J. Rathgeber, *H. H. Bunnell, George N. Moses. *Leeman Cowles, @P. S. Galpin, John James Osborn, *Phil A. Pinker- man, O. A. Bill #Frank Smith, *S. R. | Smith
 The petition was formally received | and unanimously adopted by the fol- | lowing members of the Board of Educa- w. DeForsst Lucius Gill i bert, Alexander McAllister, John S Griffins James Punderford, John E. Earle, Lucius A Thomas, Daniel G. Lucien w. Sperry; of this number only one survives, Daniel C. Gilman, ex-President of John Hopkins Maryland. To the Vocal In structor. this long list of revered and respected names has been through all F he years of his engagement perpetual stimulus and inspiration to fulill their pest desires, and highest conceptions of he work entrusted to his keeping.
 It is a somewhat remarkable coinci- fence that without reconciliation my invitation to read before the Mothers Hub to-day, Jan. 3, 1902, celebrates the anniversary of my first esson in the New Haven public schools. Ian. 3, 1865. The first lesson was given Ian. 3, 1865, in room number eight of the Cedar Street School recently torn down 70 make way for a new building Since hat time musical instruction has been given without intermission, at first in he highest rooms of seven schools with .welve hundred pupils, and at the pres mt time in all the rooms of thirty-five schools, including the two orphan asy- ums, also the upper classes of the two nigh schools number in all, something ike fifteen thousand pupils.
 At the beginning, the supervisor gave weekly lessons tt ala -sas l, FffNy p,,Y,,iu