The music education program is designed to prepare teachers who will be independent thinkers, decision-makers and innovators in the field of music education. In this ever-changing world, they need to be empowered with the tools for continuing their professional and personal growth across a lifetime.

This means going beyond having knowledge of current practice and techniques found in music classrooms today. Graduates will:

• Develop an understanding of the nature of teaching and learning, and of music teaching and learning, such that they will be prepared and able to make decisions that will be appropriate in the classrooms of tomorrow as well as today.
• Understand the various philosophical and psychological bases from which practice is derived and understand how to make choices and decisions that fit within and reflect their beliefs about teaching and learning.
• Understand what it is to enable a learner to move towards musical independence and be able to recognize and confront the aspects of current music education practice that prevent this from occurring.

To meet current needs and trends in education, aspects of the program address multicultural issues, gender issues, mainstreaming of students with special needs, the role of music education in interdisciplinary curricula, the role of technology in the music classroom, the nature of musical thinking as a form of intelligence and a "legitimate" aspect of human cognition, and the importance of music as both a means of personal development and a means of personal expression.

Undergirding the program is an assumption that in order to teach music, one must possess a high level of understanding of the discipline- an understanding of its structure and of how the structural elements interact to create an expressive whole, an understanding of the nature of musical cognition and musicianship, and of what it is to nurture those understandings in a learner.

Emphasis is placed on the interactive nature of learning and the roles of the teacher, students and music itself in an interactive learning environment. Our approach to music learning is cognitivistic and holistic, with a focus on the necessity of establishing musical contexts, and of sharing those contexts with the students in order to foster understanding. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of monitoring student understanding throughout the teaching/learning process. Students investigate various means of assessing musical understanding, with attention to developing a repertoire of authentic assessment strategies.

Certification in Music is K-12 and therefore coursework and field experiences are designed to help students develop skills and understandings necessary for working with students of all ages. Because many music teaching positions, particularly entry-level music positions, require expertise in instrumental, choral and general music, students are encouraged to do coursework in all areas. One semester of general music methods is required for all students. Course schedules are planned to make this a realistic possibility.