Music Education Concentration

The music department offers a Music Education Concentration which allows prospective music educators to earn a bachelor of arts degree in music with a concentration in music education. This program is designed for students who wish to earn Massachusetts state licensure for teaching "Music:Vocal/Instrumental/General (Levels: All)" within their undergraduate experience.

Students fulfill their 49-credit music major with the inclusion of the standard core of music courses, a music history elective, and the following music elective: MUSC456: Methods and Materials of Music.

Students seeking Initial Licensure in Teaching Music are required to participate in an ensemble for a minimum of six semesters, including at least four in a large ensemble (Wind Ensemble or Chorale). Students will be required to take Performance Studies on their major instrument or voice for a minimum of five semesters, with at least one semester being at the 300 level.  Students with this concentration must also take at least one semester of Performance Studies in a secondary performance medium (voice for an instrumentalist; instrument for a vocalist). Before student-teaching, the student will be required to pass a Music Education Piano Proficiency Exam, which may necessitate private lessons. No student will be allowed to student teach before completing at least one semester of performance study at the 300 level.

Besides passing music department proficiencies, all students must apply for admission to, and be accepted in, a program in Professional Education through the School of Education before they can take the required education courses. Students would follow Education department directives to take SPED203 Cultural Diversity Issues in School and Society, and PSYC227, Development through the Life Cycle, as part of their core curriculum. In addition, music education concentration students must take MUSC166, Survey of American Jazz, as part of their Fine and Performing Arts core curriculum requirement.

The Music Education Concentration consists of 36 credits of classroom methods and teaching experiences. Since state licensure in music is for all levels, the culminating experience for the music education practicum will be EDHM490/495, with placements both at the elementary and secondary levels.

Goals of the Undergraduate Music Education Concentration

  • To earn initial state certification for Massachusetts state licensure for teaching "Music: Vocal/Instrumental/General (Levels: All)"
  • To gain effective training for meeting the standards set by the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
  • To acquire appropriate subject matter knowledge through training in music theory, music history and literature, and performance skills
  • To attain an understanding of diversity and child development at both the primary and secondary levels
  • To obtain tools and techniques for teaching general classroom music, vocal music, and instrumental music
  • To gain basic knowledge and understanding of the prominent pedagogical approaches for teaching music (Orff, Dalcroze, Kodaly, et al.)
  • To develop musical sensitivity and discrimination through active participation in choral and instrumental ensembles, as well as through involvement in individual performance studies
  • To become proficient with music technology for individual use and for applications in the music classroom
  • To develop an understanding of music in western and non-western traditions
  • To gain a wide variety of field experiences in PreK-12 classrooms prior to student-teaching
  • To experience a practicum or practicum equivalent which is supervised jointly by a supervising practitioner and a college supervisor

Music Education Concentration Plan of Study

Last Modified: January 30, 2007