Masters in Choral Conducting vs Music Education

My daughter is currently pursuing her BM in music education with a choral emphasis. She knows she wants to go on to get her master’s degree when she graduates. I am sure as she goes along my following question will become more clear to her. I am wondering what the difference would be between choosing to get a masters in music education vs choral conducting? I know that latter is a performance degree but the music education degree also includes some conducting classes. She loves teaching children. So would a masters in choral conducting make her a better choir director/teacher or would the music education degree with choral emphasis? I am not sure which degree is best suited to which career goals.

@thevoicemom - while I have a kid who is pursuing a BM in performance, his high school orchestra teacher did a BM in education and then got his MM in performance (Bass). His rationale was he couldn’t teach them to be performers if he wasn’t one himself. I thought that was an interesting way to reflect on his role. Food for thought.

those were kind of my thoughts. Thank you for the advice.

@thevoicemom — you might ask a music Ed teacher in the state where she wants to teach what would be better. I would think that choral conducting might be helpful at the high school level but that many music teachers at lower levels might need a more in-depth knowledge of educational psychology and developmentally appropriate teaching methods. Also, there is some debate on what school districts prefer. I had always thought Master’s degrees would be more desirable yet have also heard that music Ed grads who have earned licensure are the preferred hire for some school districts—perhaps because it would be cheaper to hire them with the Bachelor’s. An informational interview with a current school district principal might help shed some light!

THanks. Good ideas. I will try to call around to get opinions.

My son’s HS choir director has a DMA in choral conducting. The assistant director for his first three years left recently to pursue a masters in choral conducting. Both have undergraduate degrees in music education. His strings private lessons teacher has bachelors degrees in performance and education and a masters in music education. She teaches at the elementary level. All of them are fantastic teachers. He has also had a teacher who had a performance undergrad and a masters in music ed, who was the least effective of the bunch as a teacher. I always thought that one would have been better as a performer than a teacher.