<p>Can anybody tell me a few things about majoring in Music Education? Is it best to go to a music school - or can you do this major at just about any college that offers it? I notice some schools offer a Music Ed major, but the licensure part seems unclear. Is it best to look at traditionally strong teaching colleges? Trying to help my niece who wants to be a music teacher. She is quite an accomplished violinist (all-state every year, has extensive theory background), but probably not top-notch conservancy material. Looking for a school in the northeast that is either reasonalby priced or offers merit (not need based) scholarships. She has very good grades and an advanced workload. Thanks for any suggestions/ideas.</p>
<p>Here in PA, the majority of the public school music teachers attended one of the PA state schools. Penn State or one of the second tier schools - Millersville, Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, West Chester, Kutztown, Indiana University of PA. etc.. Last year our high school needed a choir teacher unexpectedly at the beginning of the school year and ended up hiring a Penn state grad and we had to wait for her to get her final certification in December. </p>
<p>I would suggest making sure that the school also offers a performance and other music related majors besides education. I've heard of a few students that were excellent musicians but because of family pressure to get a degree that will lead to a job started off with a music ed major, changed to performance when they realized that they really didn't want to teach.</p>
<p>The Hartt School has a fine music education program, music performance, dance, musical theater, etc. They offer fine merit aid based on auditions. </p>
<p>Susquehanna is also a great small school that has excellent music programs including education. Also look at Shenandoah. University of New Hampshire is also another choice. Most state U's offer music education degrees. </p>
<p>Just an FYI....it is not all that easy to switch from music education to performance at some schools. At DS's school, for example, the criteria for the audition for the performance majors is much higher than for the music ed majors. Performance majors play play play their instruments. Music ed majors must be in one ensemble, but their education requirements (particularly the term they student teach) often prohibits them from being in multiple ensembles and chamber groups. At some schools (U of Maryland for example) the music ed majors take private lessons with grad students rather than the faculty. Getting into the music ed program is much easier than getting into a private teacher's studio as a performance major.</p>
<p>Good point Thumper, I wasn't aware of that. From the ed side, it's also hard to graduate in four years in that major unless you start at the beginning due to the amount of ed classes and how each of them have prerec's that make it near impossible to skip around. The few people that I know that are music ed majors (or at least started out that way) did have to audition, one switched to performance and two stayed with music ed. And it does make sense that the standards for a performance major would be higher.</p>
<p>My D is looking at music ed and performance programs (voice and violin). The rigor of these programs across schools varies just as it does for any major. Music ed majors in any top music school or conservatory must audition for admittance and some programs require additional interviews to assess music ed applicants' potential for teaching. At top LAC music programs (e.g., St. Olaf) and the conservatories that we have visited (Oberlin, Lawrence), the music ed and performance students study with the same faculty and the music ed program requires performance study, ensemble membership, and recitals for music ed students. They are all 4-year programs and we did not talk to anyone who was not finishing in 4 years unless they were studying both choral/voice and instrumental music ed tracks. </p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, students may not switch into either performance or music ed without formal application and approval at any of the schools my D is considering. I would look at placement rate for music ed graduates and also what percentage of them are also performing after graduation or going on to performance graduate programs. This should give you some idea of the breadth and quality of the programs. We have also been told that the performance "bar" is slightly lower for music ed than performance. However, it is likely that this is relative to the strength of the program. It is likely that some applicants gaining admission to a performance major at one school might not make the music ed cut at another school that had very competitive admissions and a very strong applicant pool. </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>musicmom: does your daughter want to try to double major in voice and violin? It would be very difficult, many courses would not serve both areas, i.e. lessons, ensembles, methods/pedagogy. It is difficult for a very bright, talented student to chose an area of emphasis and rather sad, having to give something up. Good luck. Lorelei</p>
<p>More great music ed programs at very fine universities with excellent music schools are Indiana, Arizona State, and Vanderbilt; also the Peabody Conservatory at JHU.
My recommendation is to enroll in a music ed program in which very good performance opportunities exist. You don't want to lose sight of your own love of music.</p>
<p>lorelei2702 -- D will audition in both but will then have only one primary emphasis based on audition results/admittance. She loves both and intends to study both but not at the level of performance. We know several people who were in one performance area but maintained ensemble participation in another. If she is accepted in both, she will have to choose her primary focus. She sings alto in high school ensembles but is really a soprano and also knows that the competition is fierce for those soprano performance spots. Because she is also a solid violinist (all-state level performer), she has decided that she should pursue both and then let the results help guide her. She is interested in both choral and symphonic conducting so the music ed option is a good one for her as it would allow both performance and teaching/conducting. Depending on the program, she may also extend her time to 5 years to study both string/instrumental and choral tracks in music ed. This may prove to be too much but she's willing to explore the possibility at this point. Giving things up where music is concerned is not D's strength... At this point, she has indicated that the strength of the music program and a good teacher match are her top priorties.</p>
<p>In addition to Susquehanna and Hartt (UHartford), you might consider Syracuse and Ithaca; all are private schools w/ Music Ed programs that offer merit aid. SUNY Potsdam's Crane School is large and well-known for Music Ed and not expensive even for out-of-staters. Case Western Reserve also offers merit, and is very accomodating to having 2 "instruments" (one can be voice) in their Music Ed program; lessons are with CIM faculty. Although I have not looked at Hartt's offerings, the others all offer teacher licensure.</p>
<p>Duquesne in Pittsburgh also has a great music education program. They offer good music aid AND academic aid. Pittsburgh is a terrific city with many cultural things happening (music, theater, dance, museums).</p>
<p>I am certainly going to be the least knowledgeable poster here. But I do know that several of the music educators at S' hs, which has a successful music program, went to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Also I noticed recently that one of the judges at the state jazz competition was on the musid education faculty at University of New Hampshire. Both reasonably priced offerings and some top students from here have gone to Berklee. UNH, I believe, has an Honors program.</p>
<p>Top of the list in Washington State is Pacific Lutheran University, then followed by the state u's (Central Washington in particular is known for its music ed. department.)</p>
<p>My neice, also interested in music ed, is looking at TCNJ, UDel, and Moravian. Your neice may have the possibility of merit $ at these.</p>
<p>In New York State, it would be Pottsdam for the state colleges. If she wants to be a music teacher, she should consider what state she wants to teach in. The credentials vary and some states make it difficult for out of state teachers to come in. There is a school in Albany, New York...The college of St. Rose...that stays off of the CC radar blip but does have a good reputation for music and education. I am sure there are several choices in your neice's state.</p>
<p>For the most part education employment doesn't rely too much on name brand degrees....but a quality education at an excellent school will contribute greatly to your neices life.</p>
<p>if she wants a change of scenery and coasts, Univ of Pacific has a terrific music ed program.</p>
<p>This is more a question than comment, but I have lived in both PA and GA -- and in both states, teachers need to be certified in that state to teach in their public schools. If educated in another state, they often have to take certain courses (PA history or GA history, for example) to meet certification requirements. It might be worth looking at where she wants to work after college, and checking their criteria. (Meeting the criteria after the fact doesn't seem to be a huge hurdle, though.)</p>
<p>In my personal opinion as a piano teacher and daughter of two public school teachers, I think that, when teaching elementary or high school kids, the teaching part is more important than the music part, and would therefore choose a school with a good track record of certification. But as a musician, your niece is going to be happier at a school where she can also get good teaching and playing opportunities.</p>
<p>So my answer is: both. :) </p>
<p>But, stating the obvious: she'll get more merit aid at a school that NEEDS violinists, which <em>might</em> mean a bit lesser quality music program.</p>
<p>I am a veteran high school music teacher and have just completed the process of college selection in music ed for my child. I highly suggest that you look at schools that are large enough to support the large ensembles (competitive auditions for the Wind Symphony, full string section for orchestra) but where your child can compete and will have performance opportunities. Earlier someone spoke of the PA music schools. Using PA as an example, there are two schools that meet the criteria of being able to support a complete music program, Duquesne and Temple. They have world class musicians (Pitt. Sym, Phila. Orch, Sean Jones jazz trumpet at Duquesne, Terell Stafford, jazz trumpet at Temple) on their faculty and are leaders in music education. Also they are totally different schools (Duquesne, private, Catholic, 5000+ undergrads, small midwestern type city, $34,500, good merit $. Temple, public, 25000+ undergrads, big northeatern city, $18,500 in state). They both are pretty competitve for music admission. Next you would find that Indiana of PA, Mansfield, West Chester and Penn State have excellent music programs but because of factors such as location are a step below Duquesne and Temple. They are good music ed schools, each school has its own unique qualities and would be good choices if your child either didn't want to or was unable to compete at schools like DU and TU. Other PA public schools, Slippery Rock and Millersville also offer a quality music ed program, but don't have the numbers of excellent musicians needed to provide consistantly high quality large ensembles. The remaining schools like Bloomsburg, Clarion, etc. would only be for students who want to study music and have limited experience or performing ability. Try to evaluate the schools in this way in the area your child wants to go to school. After having looked at all the other non music factors in college selection, find five or six schools and call the music admissions people and ask to visit and schedule a lesson with one of their faculty members in your child's applied area. The lesson often will be free. This may be the most important thing you can do prior to the audition process and selection of the final school. The relationship that your child will have with his applied teacher is very important. I may sound like a know-it-all but I have had 30 years of experience in this and didn't realize how much I didn't know until I went through this with my child. Some other really good music ed schools - Syracuse, Ithaca, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Fredonia, U of MD (may have to do applied study with a Grad Assistant and compete with many grad students for ensemble spots), James Madison U. Good luck!</p>
<p>swathman, excellent post! You should write a book. ;)</p>
<p>I don't know if you'll be checking this post anymore, but I thought I'd just throw my two cents in.</p>
<p>Someone earlier in the post mentioned the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. I'd definitely second that recommendation. I am a junior violin music education major myself at Crane, and I love it. </p>
<p>Music education is a tough major, I'll admit it. There's always so much work and practicing to be done. But in the end, it all really pays off. Crane is a great school, the first music education school in the US, and one of the best. Getting certified by Crane means you're certified by New York State, basically meaning you can go anywhere with that certification, as New York has stricter policies of getting it than many other states.</p>
<p>If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask! :)</p>
<p>I know it is out of her geographic area, but she sounds like a natural for St. Olaf's - it is not a huge place, but is extremely music heavy, and has plenty of large ensembles if she goes the instrumental route, and I doubt that she would have to completely give up choir (as she probably knows, it is one of the premier choir colleges in the country, and has big groups). Also look at Westminster Choir College, which is at Rider Uni in NJ, I don't know how good the instrumental is there, it is a smaller place.</p>