Sarah Glover: A Forgotten Pioneer in Music Education

Abstract

The English Tonic Sol-fa System originated in Norwich, England, in the 1830s. Although credit for this development is frequently given to John Curwen, the author was Sarah Glover, a Sunday school music director. Glover's system began with simplified notation for sol-fa syllables and rhythms. The system and its accompanying teaching strategies were discovered in 1841 by John Curwen who subsequently popularised and adapted them. Conflict arose between the two educators regarding the modifications Curwen made in the system, yet the impact of Glover's work on Curwen and, eventually, music education in general, cannot be disputed.

Hooked on Sol-Fa: the do-re-mi heuristic for Yorùbá speech tones

“…Sarah Ann Glover's modernization of Guido's solfege was also misattributed in past scholarship, often credited to Curwen and Kodály. Several notable scholarly works (Rainbow 1967; Bennett 1984; McGuire 2009) have already made this correction. This is a good model for the corrective process needed for Crowther, but it is still incomplete.…”

“…Sarah Ann Glover (1785–1867) had a conviction that teaching should emphasize practice and that theory should be derived from practice, not the other way around (Bennett 1984: 28). By reducing complexity – ‘inadequate representation of the scale on the staff’, ‘non-accidental sharps and flats’, and the ‘contrivance of clefs’ – Glover could implement practice swiftly (Glover 1982: 16–17).…”

“…It was the influence of John Curwen (1816–80) that overrode these concerns. Curwen transformed Glover's Sol-Fa method into a movement aligned with the temperance cause, ensuring that no one could associate Sol-Fa singing with societal ills (Bennett 1984: 29). By the 1850s, the ‘Sol-Faists’ were a community of thousands (see Curwen 1880).…”

La Recepción en España De Sistemas Alternativos De Educación Musical en Los Albores Del Siglo Xx: Felipe Pedrell Y Musicalerías (1906)

“…Este partía del trabajo previo de la citada Sarah Ann Glover, realizando algunas modificaciones, en este caso basado en dieciocho sílabas derivadas de sus denominaciones en latín, que publicaba a mediados del siglo XIX (RAINBOW Y MCGUIRE, 2001;SARMIENTO, 2016, p. 49). Sin embargo, Curwen lo firmaba como propio, fagocitando así la creación original de la educadora musical de Norwich (SOUTHCOTT, 2019;BENNET, 1984BENNET, , p. 49-65 y 1980, aunque no conseguiría postergar del todo la memoria de la misma, siendo citada también por Pedrell (1906, p. 233). El sistema Tonic Sol-Fa pronto alcanzaba gran notoriedad entre las clases inglesas, que conseguían aprender con menor esfuerzo y rapidez los rudimentos necesarios para leer música.…”