becadamstx

A lot of schools offer music education, but what schools are noted for music education?

Susantm

Indiana University is one of the top ones in the country. My son's high school band director received his degree from IU and absolutely loved it there. My son is now there, although he is in performance, not education.

shennie

Eastman also has an excellent music ed program. And it is not quite as difficult to be admitted to the music ed program there as it is to the performance program.

TwinDad

My son wants to go into music education, too, and is looking at University of New Hampshire. We're just starting to think about other schools--we understand Syracuse and Ithaca also have good programs. My son also wants to look at schools in the PA/NJ area, as he hopes to join the Cadets drum and bugle corps while in college. (He marches in a Div. III corps now, and is planning on working his way up to Div. I.)

So--does anybody have any recommendations about schools on the East Coast? He's a trombone/baritone player, also is learning percussion and keyboard.

hermione4586

Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. Over half of the public school music teachers in New York graduated from Crane, and about 1 in 6 public school music teachers in America has a degree from Crane. First music education school in the country.

binx

If teaching in a public school is the goal, you may wish to look hard at schools in the state where you wish to teach. Each state has it's own requirements for teaching, so if you study in one state and want to teach in another, it often requires taking an additional course or two for certification. (My "vast" experience involves only PA and GA - In both states, there are/were "history of..." courses required.) Also, many jobs result from positive student teaching experiences in the local schools. In our area, it seems that most of the band instructors come from UGA.

MomOf3Stars

My daughter is also going into Music Ed. We live in Upstate NY and I would like her to stay in state for the extra aid she would receive on that level.

Ithaca has been highly recommended by many of her music teachers, it will be our first choice because they do offer a double major in music ed and performance as well as many excellent extra curriculars.

Crane has an excellent reputation, however, an inordinate amount of students from my daughters HS go to Potsdam due to its close proximity to us and she and I would both like her to broaden her social and cultural horizons as well. Potsdam is a very small and rural college town, not near any larger or even mid sized cities.

Eastman had been our first choice for a time due to its location and excellent reputation, however I have since heard several cautionary tales against going there for Music Ed. It seems that Music Ed majors don’t really get the “full Eastman experience” and are not looked upon as seriously as performance majors. This last statement was given to my daughter by someone whose daughter had attended Eastman as a performance major. DD will still be auditioning because Eastman has several wonderful programs which expedite the process of getting a Masters Degree. Also, we have yet to visit Eastman to determine for ourselves what the overall attitude toward Music Ed majors is.

SUNY Fredonia has also come highly recommended. We are on the fence about this, in the end I think it will be between SUNY Fredonia and Syracuse as to what is the fourth college she will audition for. Oddly enough, I feel like Fredonia is too far (about 4 or so hours) and Syracuse too close (about an hour and a half) and too large. Again, visits will be the deciding factor.

I believe SUNY Purchase has a good program but many I know that have visited Purchase have been unimpressed. Also, Berklee in Boston but they have a very low graduation rate and housing can be an issue.

edad

I would not be concerned about missing out on the full Eastman experience. The same can be said for any music ed major at any music school or conservatory. Requirements and training need to be different than for a performance degree. Music ed majors need to have different skills including knowledge of more than one instrument and knowledge in teaching.

MahlerSnob

I think the rule of thumb with Ed is that universities are going to be better than conservatorys. The focus at conservatorys is on performance - many people go as far as calling the trade schools. The opportunities and the overall education will be better at a SUNY, IU, or Michigan rather than a Juilliard, Eastman, or MSM.

thumper1

Duquesne University in Pittsburgh has a HIGHLY regarded music education department. The Hartt School (part of University of Hartford) also has a fine music education program. U of Delaware and U of New Hampshire have good programs as well.

swathman

I am a veteran public school music teacher and I have a child who is currently a college music ed major. I have been down the college search for music ed schools many times. There are many good and great music ed schools. You can read the many posts in this forum about music schools and you always find schools like Eastman, Indiana and even Berklee offered as suggestions. These are great schools, but........you don't have to go to Eastman to practice. If your child wants to be a public school (certificated) music teacher, you should do the general search first. Does the student want to commute or live on campus, if on campus what is the maximum distance from home, large or small school, cost, etc.? At that point, find the schools that offer music ed. that meet your criteria. Research the music programs at the schools and hopefully visit them. After having identified some schools that your child is interested in, contact the music department and ask to schedule a lesson with the faculty member in the student's applied area. Ask the teacher for an honest evaluation of your playing. Ask questions regarding how much opportunity will there be for your child to participate in the top groups. If you go through a process like this, I would think you could find a good match. I would not recommend looking for a match based on the reputation of the school or where the local teachers attended. To give an example, in this thread someone mentioned that they are a low brass player interested in drum corps (Cadets). Using Pennsylvania as an example, there are many good music ed achools. Duquesne was mentioned by thumper1 (who by the way always has great advice regarding music schools) as a good music ed school. My child attends Duquesne and it is a great match for him. He has a strong orchestral/jazz interest and Duquesne affords him the ability to study classical trumpet with a Pittsburgh Symphony member and jazz with the lead trumpet player in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. But, he has no interest in marching band. Duquesne does not require marching band and the marching band at Duquesne is not part of the music department. The student still could get a great education at Duquesne, but the contacts available for drum corps would be limited. West Chester University has a large marching band program. Many of the members march in the top drum corps. The Crossmen's (the other YEA corps) director is a West Chester grad who directs a high school band 10 minutes from the campus. The low brass professor is a well know veteran teacher and the jazz trombone teacher is a member of the Army Blues. Although other schools may have better reputations, the match may be better at a less recognized school, WCU, that at the better know school, Duquesne. My point is I believe for someone who wants to be a music educator, selecting a school that will provide a solid music ed program with performance opportunities in the students area of interest, a good applied teacher and at a resonable cost is what is important. Many top music educators got their bachelor degrees at non prestige schools and go on to get advanced degrees at the big name schools. Again, you don't have to go to Eastman to practice. Becoming a musician is more about what you do than where you do it.

TwinDad

That sounds like great advice, swathman. Thanks much--and thanks to everybody else who has also weighed in. This is very useful.