Hull House Music School was the first music school in the US

settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

, and one of the first community-based US music schools. Located in the Near West Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, it was founded in 1893 by Eleanor Sophia Smith and Amalie Hannig.

History

The Hull House Music School was situated on the fourth floor of the Hull House Children's House. It was started in the fourth year of

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

's existence, although Smith and Hannig, who were its heads, had almost from the beginning held weekly classes there. The music school was designed to give a thorough musical instruction to a limited number of children. From the beginning, they were taught to compose. Instruction was given in piano, organ, violin and singing. Applicants were tested and received at the discretion of the teachers. Occasional public recitals were given. The school was designed to provide a thorough musical education to a limited number of talented children. All pupils admitted to the instrumental department were obliged to enter classes in singing. In addition to Smith and Hannig, teachers included Gertrude Smith (sister of Eleanor), Charles Cornish, and

Josephine Trott Josephine Augusta Trott (December 24, 1874 - March 2, 1950) was an American author, composer, and music educator who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Colin Shepherd. Her violin pedagogy books are still in use today. Trott was born in Wilmington, ...

. Since the beginning of Hull House, a Christmas concert was regularly given on the Sunday of Christmas week; after the establishment of the music school, it was rendered by the Hull House Music School.

Organ

In its second year, a memorial organ was erected at Hull House, which added to the resources of the music school and to the interest of the public concerts which were performed every Sunday afternoon for fifteen years.

References

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Bibliography

* * * * *{{cite book, author=Hull House, title=Bulletin, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJQgAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA3, volume=VI, Issue 2, year=1902, publisher=Hull House, location=Chicago, Illinois Music schools in Illinois Defunct private schools in Chicago 1893 establishments in Illinois