The purpose of this study is to investigate the change of Korean music education through the acceptance of American music education. Various materials(books, research reports, curriculum materials) were chronologically examined in order to find meaningful results. Some conclusions were obtained through this study. First, American music education was begun to introduced to Korea since 1980s through some scholars who studied in America. Some music education projects conducted in America in 1960s and 1970s such as YCP, CMP, MMCP, Tanglewood Symposium, were introduced to Korea in 1980s. Some music educators tried to introduced and applied them to music classes in Korea. Second, famous people of American music education field and their theories such as Bennett Reimer, Gordon, David Elliott, Eunice Boardman, and Howard Gardner introduced to Korea through 1980s and 1990s. Third, meaningful acceptance and application of American music education was begun in terms of school curriculum in 1990s, specifically through the 6th and 7th music curriculum and textbooks. Lastly, we need to examine not only our own tradition but also other countries` music education practice in order to establish more reasonable music education system for Korean students who live in the global world. Several points were suggested in this study. First, we need to study on good tradition of our own music education. Second, we need to investigate the various practices of other countries, including Western countries. Lastly, Korean music educators need to support for establishing a philosophical foundation of general music education.