This paper compares the music appreciation education of The Music Hour with other elementary music textbooks of the 1920s in the United States. The focus is on the difference between the terms appreciation and listening. The term appreciation had no definite meaning at that time at the elementary school level. Due to the obscurity of this term, it was difficult to determine what should be done in a course in music appreciation. The distinction between appreciation and listening is indispensable in order to design the content of such a course. Music textbooks of the 1920s could not define the relationship between appreciation and listening. The Music Hour was the first music textbook to do so. The structure of music education in The Music Hour is clearly shown: appreciation is the general objective of music education, and music education is organized into two courses: one in singing, and one in appreciation, which consists of quiet listening and other activities.