Bachelor of Music: Performance or Composition combined with the Master of Music in Teaching

This is a unified five-year program of study that culminates in the awarding of both an undergraduate and graduate degree. It is not a graduate program for the student who has already completed an undergraduate degree at Oberlin or elsewhere. Typically, the candidate has a double major in Music Education and Performance or Composition.

The graduate programs leading to the degree Master of Music in Teaching are designed especially for the undergraduate majors in performance or composition who plan careers in elementary and secondary music teaching. Both the undergraduate Bachelor of Music in Performance or Composition and the Master of Music in Teaching can be completed in five years provided the student enters the program in the first two years. Late entry into the program is likely to extend the time necessary to complete the requirements. Combination with an undergraduate major in Jazz Studies will take considerably longer to complete.

Application for admission must be made on forms obtained in the Music Education office. An interview and an audition are required. Acceptance as a candidate is based upon satisfactory completion of the Second Major Committee Examination and the Comprehensive Musicianship Examination, the approval of the student’s private study teacher, and the faculty of the Music Education Division. Interested students are urged to confer with the director of the division as early in their study as possible. The requirements below must be satisfied in addition to all undergraduate MUED courses and non-course requirements; APST 260 and 261 or 262; instrument classes as listed for the vocal or instrumental emphasis; and the undergraduate music education requirement in music history; a total of 155 credits is needed for graduation.

Graduate Studies Committee

This committee, which administers the graduate study programs, is comprised of a representative from each department awarding a graduate degree and from each department awarding the associated undergraduate degree, plus a representative from the administration. The committee is responsible to the Conservatory faculty for all graduate degree programs, their curricula and interrelationship, and is responsible for admissions to graduate programs as well as for certification of completion of graduate degree requirements.

Comprehensive Examination

A comprehensive final examination, both written and oral, is required prior to enrolling in Music Education 500 (Student Teaching). The nature of the examination and the membership of the Examining Committee are described in the Music Education Graduate Handbook.

Licensure

The curriculum enables students to meet the requirements for teacher licensure in Ohio and other states that have reciprocity with Ohio, providing the student elects those courses required for licensure. State licensure for teaching music in Ohio public schools comprises three areas of study:

1. Content Studies (Music). Oberlin’s music education curricula satisfy requirements in this area for all states.

2. Professional and Pedagogical Studies. Requirements include Educational Psychology and Principles of Education. Additionally, some music education courses satisfy requirements in this category.

3. General Studies (Liberal Arts). Students are to achieve “multicultural and global perspectives” in courses and experiences in eight academic areas: arts, communications, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, sciences, and social sciences. Occasionally, an EXCO course or Winter Term experience might qualify as a substitution for a regular course. Some required, non-music courses may be completed at other institutions and transferred to Oberlin if they are needed for graduation; courses taken to fulfill licensure requirements beyond those necessary for graduation need not be transferred. Questions concerning the acceptability of specific courses/experiences should be referred to the Director of the Music Education Division.

All students seeking licensure must participate in field experiences in addition to student teaching. At Oberlin, these experiences begin in the first semester with observation of outreach programs and continue throughout the curriculum in a sequence described in the Music Education Division Handbook. The sequence is designed to enable students to progress gradually through the skills and understandings necessary for successful student teaching in the final year. One of the three required Winter Term projects must be a field experience at a school other than the student’s home high school. With the exception of the Winter Term Teaching Project, students travel to their pre-student-teaching settings in cars provided by the Music Education Division and are expected to have currently validated driver’s licenses.

Prior to recommendation for licensure, the student must successfully complete the prescribed Ohio State Board of Education examination appropriate to the Music PreK-12 teaching license and satisfy fingerprinting and background-check requirements. Additional information about licensure requirements may be obtained in the Music Education Division Handbook.

Applicants for licensure must satisfy the writing, reading, and mathematics requirements detailed above and pass the State Board of Education Licensing Examination (portions of the ETS Praxis Core Battery) administered on several Ohio campuses and elsewhere on dates published annually. Applicants also must be fingerprinted in preparation for a background check by the FBI.