Crane School of Music

The Crane School of Music is located in Potsdam, New York, and is one of three schools which make up the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam.

History

The Crane School was founded in 1886 by Julia Crane (1855-1923) as the Crane Normal Institute of Music and was one of the first institutions in the country to have programs dedicated to preparing specialists in teaching music in the public schools. Throughout Crane's history, as well as its present and its future, the school's primary mission has been to educate music teachers with an emphasis on excellence in performance. At Crane, learning to be a teacher does not exclude or limit music performance, but uses excellence in performance as the foundation on which teaching is based. Crane is proud to have many of the finest music educators, scholars and performers in the United States as members of the faculty, all working hard to make Crane a vital, innovative and exciting place.

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The school suffered from financial difficulties and in the 1920s Julie Crane petitioned the Juilliard Foundation to purchase her school. In 1922 she appeared before the Board of the Normal School to get the State Legislature to purchase the Crane Institute. She asked a price of $20,000 to incorporate the Crane Institute with the Normal School under the Department of Education. The bill was brought before the State Legislature and defeated.

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In 1923 she was granted a leave of absence due to ill health. She died unexpectedly June 11, 1923 in her sister's home at 8 Lawrence Avenue, Potsdam. She is buried in Bayside Cemetery at Potsdam, NY.

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Her death had local and national impact. Her will offered the State of New York first choice to purchase her school. In case of the State's rejection, the school would be offered to any private buyer who would carry on her work. After two attempts the legislature passed a bill to purchase the school in 1926. Her curriculum for music teacher education had been approved in 1924 by the State Education Department. The class of 1927 was the first to graduate from the Crane Department of Music of Potsdam State Normal School.

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