Bachelor of Science [B.S] [Music Education] From Western Carolina University

With support from faculty members who are active performers, researchers, composers and scholars, students complete foundation courses including individual music lessons, piano, music theory, aural skills, music history and band or chorus. Additional coursework for the choral/general music or instrumental concentrations ranges from teaching strategies to methods for using music technology in music education. Students complete a student teaching experience and present a public recital. In addition, students participate in ensembles from concert choir to Indonesian gamelan to marching band, and attend some of the more than 300 concerts and recitals the School of Music presents annually. The school’s visiting artist series enables students to perform alongside professional working musicians.

Graduates of Music Education program earn bachelor’s degrees in music and in education, and may teach general music at elementary schools, choral music at middle or high schools, or beginning band, concert band and marching band at middle and high schools. WCU is home to the 500-member Pride of the Mountains Marching Band, which has performed in the Macy’s Day Parade and Rose Parade, and won the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Trophy. The trophy is considered the nation’s ultimate honor for college and university marching bands.

Graduates of the music education program are prepared to take exams to be licensed to teach music in North Carolina public schools at the elementary, middle or high school levels. WCU graduates enjoy an excellent rate of placement into teaching positions. Students also may pursue graduate degrees in music or education to expand their career options and be able to teach at institutions of higher education.