COURSE CURRICULUM

The Bachelor of Music in Music Education, Instrumental Band is a professional degree program designed to prepare students for initial state teaching licensure in music education. The program requires 139 credit hours and combines comprehensive music training with education and pedagogy coursework. The 30-credit music core provides foundational instruction in music theory, musicianship, keyboard skills, music literature, and music history, ensuring a strong musical background. Music education courses, totaling 42–43 credit hours, include general and instrumental teaching methods, conducting, ensemble direction, orchestration, and instrument-specific methods for brass, woodwinds, and percussion, as well as equity and excellence in education and technologies in music education. Students also complete a culminating student teaching semester and participate in a student teaching colloquium, requiring mastery of teaching skills and passing departmental juries and music content exams. The program includes nine credit hours of College of Education courses such as educational psychology, literacy in the content areas, and introduction to exceptionalities, providing essential pedagogical knowledge. Applied music and performance courses, totaling 25 credit hours, require private instruction, ensemble participation in marching band, wind symphony, symphony band, and concert band, and a senior recital, fostering practical performance experience. General education coursework, comprising 31–36 credit hours, ensures a broad-based liberal arts foundation, integrating diversity, writing, mathematics, and sciences. This curriculum prepares graduates to teach instrumental music with professional competence, pedagogical expertise, and strong musicianship across diverse educational settings.