Snapshots from the inspectorate: music in New South Wales State Primary Schools: 1908, 1914, 1918

The physical size of New South Wales meant that from the early days of public education inspectors were employed to regularly visit schools to ensure that policies were being implemented and teaching was being carried out effectively. This paper examines the Extracts of District Inspectors’ Reports from 1908, 1914 and 1918 as a way of viewing what was occurring in music education. It concludes that in the decade from 1908 to 1918 generalist primary teachers demonstrated that they could successfully teach a vocal music program using the tonic sol-fa method, which resulted, at least in the early years, in children sight-singing and singing in parts.