looking into colleges

[Harmonious Cacophony]

...App State (NC) has a great program, and University of N. Carolina Greenville...

~>conner

Surely you must mean UNC Greensboro. And as long as you are mentioning schools in the Carolinas, USC might as well be added to the list. Be careful: I have heard that Ed majors aren't given as much respect at places like Julliard and Eastman. (I'm not sure if it is true, but I have met someone who transferred from Eastman to USC (South Carolina) because she did not like the overall attitude towards education majors). That having said, there are a lot of college professors with Eastman degrees... Make sure the school you are interested in is education oriented.

I have no idea which institution of higher learning has "the best" music ed program, but I do know that Indiana has an awesome education program; they too have a perfect music ed job placement rate. While I'm at it, UNCG has had a perfect music ed job placement rate for ed majors for quite a while now. UNCG is also one of the few schools that offers a PhD program in music education. Make sure you consider where you want to teach into which school you go to - most college music ed programs aim to prepare their students to pass certification in the state that they are in.

[Einstein On The Beach]

Surely you must mean UNC Greensboro. And as long as you are mentioning schools in the Carolinas, USC might as well be added to the list. Be careful: I have heard that Ed majors aren't given as much respect at places like Julliard and Eastman. (I'm not sure if it is true, but I have met someone who transferred from Eastman to USC (South Carolina) because she did not like the overall attitude towards education majors). That having said, there are a lot of college professors with Eastman degrees... Make sure the school you are interested in is education oriented.

Actually I've heard that the attitudes at Eastman is just odd in general. I have a friend who's an oboe performance major there, I don't think he'll be transferring anytime soon, but he isn't a big fan of the atmosphere there.

[zachariaswmb]

I agree, and they probably don't have a marching band either B)

No we do not. But we currently have two past ECJ soloists. Also, The Cadets' DM from '06 got his undergrad here, among many other corps ties. We like drum corps here at Ithaca.

Just to clarify, Ithaca is located at the base of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It's a very beautiful campus.

[eightyonepointthree]

Not true.

UNT is the best school of music in the state of Texas, hands down. Its also the best public university music school in the southern states.

You cannot go wrong with this school. Jazz (best in the world), Education, Theory, History, Musicology, Composition. Its all here and its all first rate and top of its class.

I think it is really funny that you try to make this argument, yet you are attending the "other" good music school in Texas for your Master's.

[DCIBrassFan]

It's interesting reading some of the biased replies on here. So I'll add my own. University of Houston is one of the best music education programs in the country. Hands down. Not just because of the faculty though. Everyone else keeps saying go here or go there because so and so director is awesome. That's good and all, but anyone that really has a clue knows that you get your real education from actually teaching, not just being taught how to teach. That's where University of Houston gets it more than any of the other universities mentioned. They help most of their students get private teaching and marching tech gigs all across the city, which unquestionably has some of the best middle school and high school bands in the country. Sure LSU may be a good school, name me any nationally recognized band programs from that area? Or from JSU? Or from Ithaca? Or from Rochester? It's simple, there really aren't any. There are numerous programs in the Houston area that have amazing teachers that produce amazing results. The opportunity for college students to get into those programs on a regular basis doesn't exist at any of the other schools mentioned. Flame away....

[leadsop97]

Indeed it is. It's actually quite amusing because our music technology professor marched with SCV when they won their first title I believe. Anyways, if you're looking into going into Music Education, you're best bet is to go somewhere that's NOT a conservatory and that actually focuses on music ed. It doesn't matter where you go, because you're only going to become the teacher you want to become, and all colleges are expensive (go do your FAFSA immediately. haha) I know Vandercook in Chicago has a pretty good musiced pogram. I also know personally that Ithaca is ranked among the top in the field. Much of our courseload is geared towards music ed whether it be in theory class or sightsinging. To repeat what my friend from Southwind said, the teachers at IC are all very good. We have some pretty amazing private studies faculty (Gordon Stout ~ World Renowned marimba soloist, Kim Dunnick ~ President of the international trumpet guild for a few years, etc...) and we also get to work with some of the most well known composers/conductors in the country(Karel Husa, Jennifer Higdon, Colonel Arnald Gabriel, John Whitwell, etc...). One downfall to Ithaca, NY.......it's windy. haha. the cold is nothing, it's the wind thatll get ya. But in any case, good luck with finding a school to go to, and remember that an education is only what you take from it. You can study at the smallest, most unknown school in the country and still end up being a better musician and teacher than the kids at Julliard.

Edited January 2, 2007 by leadsop97

[JayM]

Still didn't get an answer, I guess he's not. Only reason I ask is because everyone USED to talk about how great UH was. Recently, I have only heard that from people from Houston and Cavalier fans/alumni.

Oh, UH...

I was referring to Texas as a state, not the university.

[drumlaw80]

West Chester University in Pennsylvania rocks, and has a long tradition of drum corps people going through their program.

[leadsop97]

Bands are better in TX, we all know that. However, that doesn't necessarily always reflect on the teachers as much as it does on the WAY band in TX is done. Its easy to make a group of 120 kids who want to work and know how to play their instruments play well. Try doing that with a band of 30 kids, with terrible equipment, absolutely no funding from the board of ed, and whos hearts aren't in it to begin with, that's a challenge. Welcome to my high school in CT. You want the job since it seems to be so simple?

and before you compare one school to another, know the curriculum of the other school. Houston isn't the only school that offers it's students teaching opportunities. Students @ IC have junior student teaching as well as the normal senior student teaching. There's a reason why IC places 100% of it's Ed majors into teaching jobs. I would think that it's kind of silly to bash other programs instead of giving helpful suggestions to someone who is looking for a place to go for college.

[Michael Boo]

Bottom line is you'll get out of any education what you put into it. I've met great music educators from some of the least known music education programs in the country...heck, even in their own state. I've met terrible music educators from some of the best known music programs. What you get out of a program is what you put into it and some people would thrive best in a small program with just a handful of music education majors while others would thrive in a large program with lots of performance opportunities. The important thing is, if you want to go into music education, then just do it. You'll never know just how many lives you touch during your career.