Program Overview
College of Performing and Visual Arts
Contact: Lindsay Fulcher, Ph.D., Head, Music Education Area
Location: Frasier Hall 108
Telephone: 970-351-2993
Fax: 970-351-1923
Website: arts.unco.edu/music
Program Description:
The Bachelor of Music Education degree emphasizes excellence in musicianship, teaching, and general studies. In addition to the focus on music, the program provides perspectives on attitudes relating to human considerations, social, economic, and culturally responsive components that give individual communities their identity.
The degree program prepares students to become broadly based, knowledgeable, and skilled school music educators with licensure to teach Music K-12.
Advising Information:
Students must consult with their assigned major advisor each semester prior to registering.
To find your advisor, log into ursa.unco.edu; go to 'Student' tab and click 'View Student Information' link. If no advisor is listed, contact the major program for advisor information.
The program consists of four parts:
- Liberal Arts Curriculum (LAC) Credits
- Required Major Credits
- Professional Teacher Education Program (PTEP) Credits
*For Educator licensure majors, PTEP coursework counts towards the minimum of nine upper-division UNC credits (300-400).
Program Admission Requirements
Students interested in pursuing the BME are required to complete an audition and interview with the School of Music. Current School of Music admission guidelines and audition requirements are available at: arts.unco.edu/music/apply/.
Music Education Program Requirement
- All program requirements must be completed prior to student teaching.
- In all MUS courses, a student must receive C- or better to fulfill degree requirements. Any student receiving lower than a C- in a MUS prefix class for the second time in the same class will be placed on probation. If the student receives lower than a C- a third time in the same class, the student will be removed from the major.
- Any student receiving a grade below a C- in applied lessons will be placed on probation. A second semester of a grade below a C- in applied lessons will result, upon consent from the area, in removal from the major. Students are required to take MUS 100 7 times. After students have fulfilled the requirements for applied lessons in their degree, additional applied lessons will be at the discretion of the studio teacher and Director. All BME students in applied lessons must enroll in a major ensemble.
The student must pass an upper-level qualifying examination, determined by the performance area, before they may enroll in 400-level instruction. This examination is to be taken by the end of the fourth semester of 200-level instruction. If the student does not pass this examination on the first try, they may retake it once in the subsequent semester. If the student does not pass a second time, they will be removed from the degree. Two semesters of 400-level private instruction are required.
- The required half Senior Recital must be performed during a semester prior to the student teaching semester.
Music Education PTEP Requirement
- Student must demonstrate professional promise as a teacher to the satisfaction of the music education faculty via an interview with the faculty as part of MUS 210 and must continue to demonstrate professional growth through satisfactory progress in subsequent coursework.
- Students admitted to professional teacher education programs are expected to maintain accepted standards of professional behavior in all aspects of their work in their program. The music education faculty will periodically review the suitability of candidates for continuation in the program. Students who do not attain or uphold such standards are subject to academic sanctions at the discretion of the music education faculty, including denial, suspension, probation, or dismissal from the program.
- Previously admitted students whose progress in the program is deemed suspect or unacceptable may be required to appear before the music education faculty (individually or collectively) to discuss conditions for their continuance as a professional teacher candidate.
PTEP Program Requirement
Teacher candidates who complete an approved content degree and the UNC professional teacher education program, as well as pass the appropriate Colorado Department of Education designated PRAXIS exam (if applicable), will be eligible for recommendation from UNC for a Colorado Department of Education teaching license.
If you are seeking licensure in your program area, the following items are required to complete your program:
- Completion of Application for Initial Admission to PTEP – referred to as Checkpoint #1 (Enrollment in this checkpoint will result in a one-time program fee, assessed to student accounts to pay for assessment software. This checkpoint will also require an out-of-pocket payment - to the chosen approved vendor - to obtain a fingerprint background check, which is required by the Colorado Department of Education.)
- Completion of Full Admission to PTEP – referred to as Checkpoint #2
- Completion of Application for Student Teaching – referred to as Checkpoint #3
- Completion of content specific PRAXIS test prior to Student Teaching
- Candidates may not take extra courses with Student Teaching without prior approval from the Program Coordinator and the STE Director.
- All PTEP Field Experiences and methods courses need to be successfully completed prior to Student Teaching.
- Student Teaching outside the supervision of UNC Faculty may or may not be approved.
- Teacher Candidates will not be placed in a school where they were once students or where they have a close relative attending and/or working.
- Teacher education and educator preparation licensure programs do not accept Professional Teacher Education Program (PTEP) or field based courses that are more than ten years old. PLEASE NOTE: Teacher Candidates have the right to petition this policy at the discretion of the program coordinator.
Please work with your content advisor to determine when these requirements will be completed throughout your program.
Degree Requirements — 124 Credits
1. Liberal Arts Curriculum — 31 credits
To complete the degree in 124 credits as outlined, the program recommends the below LAC courses that also count toward the BME required major credits.
Any additional coursework completed outside of the recommended list below may extend the length of the program of study.
Written Communication — 6 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Written Communication courses
Mathematics — 3 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Mathematics courses
Arts & Humanities, History, Social & Behavioral Sciences, U.S. Multicultural Studies [MS], and International Studies [IS] — 15 credits
To complete the LAC in the minimum number of credits, be sure to choose at least one course with an IS designation and one course with an MS designation.
MUS 143 and MUS 243 are recommended to fulfill Arts & Humanities requirements and will fulfill both LAC and major requirements.
See Arts & Humanities, History, and Social & Behavioral Sciences courses
Natural & Physical Sciences — 7 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Natural & Physical Sciences courses
See Liberal Arts Curriculum
2. Required Major — 57 credits
Take all of the following courses - 36 credits
Major Musical Organization - 7 credits
Students whose private instruction is in jazz should take 4 credits of 221/224/225/421/424/425 and 3 credits of classical MMOs.
Private Lessons - 14 credits
| MUS 236 | Individual Instruction in Jazz | 2 |
| MUS 436 | Continuing Individual Instruction in Jazz | 2 |
| MUS 270 | Individual Instruction in Voice | 2 |
| MUS 470 | Continuing Individual Instruction in Voice | 2 |
| MUS 271 | Individual Instruction in Piano | 2 |
| MUS 471 | Continuing Individual Instruction in Piano | 2 |
| MUS 273 | Individual Instruction in Strings | 2 |
| MUS 473 | Continuing Individual Instruction in Strings | 2 |
| MUS 274 | Individual Instruction in Woodwinds | 2 |
| MUS 474 | Continuing Individual Instruction in Woodwinds | 2 |
| MUS 275 | Individual Instruction in Brass | 2 |
| MUS 475 | Continuing Individual Instruction in Brass | 2 |
Choose two credits from the following courses based on your instrument and advising - 2 credits
Brass, Percussion, Woodwind (2 credits)
Strings (2 credits)
| MUS 230 | Small Ensembles and Chamber Music | 1 |
| MUS 430 | Small Ensembles and Chamber Music | 1 |
Voice (2 credits)
Piano (2 credits)
| MUS 231 | Music Lessons | 1 |
| MUS 230 | Small Ensembles and Chamber Music | 1 |
| MUS 430 | Small Ensembles and Chamber Music | 1 |
| MUS 238 | German and French Diction | 1 |
| MUS 237 | English and Italian Diction | 1 |
Take three of the following courses - 3 credits
Take one of these courses - 2 credits
| MUS 319 | Instrumental Techniques and Conducting | 2 |
| MUS 323 | Choral Techniques and Conducting | 2 |
3. Required PTEP — 42 credits
Take one of these courses - 3 credits
| PSY 347 | Educational Psychology for Elementary Teachers | 3 |
| PSY 349 | Educational Psychology for Secondary Teachers | 3 |
Take all of the following courses - 19 credits
| EDF 290 | Foundations of Education | 3 |
| ECLD 341 | Content-Based Literacies for Equitable Access to PK-12 Instruction | 3 |
| EDSE 433 | Exceptional Students in the Regular Classroom | 2 |
| EDFE 444 | Supervised Student Teaching | 1-15 |
Take all of the following PTEP methods courses - 14 credits
| MUS 210 | Introduction to Music Education | 2 |
| MUS 310 | General Music Pedagogy I | 2 |
| MUS 312 | Instrumental Music Pedagogy | 2 |
| MUS 324 | Choral Pedagogy I | 2 |
| MUS 404 | Jazz Pedagogy | 2 |
| MUS 413 | Contemporary and Culturally Responsive Music Pedagogy | 2 |
| MUS 414 | Transitional Capstone Course in Music Education | 1 |
| MUS 450 | Seminar in Student Teaching for Music Educators | 1 |
Take three of these courses - 6 credits
4. Half Senior Recital
Students must present a public half-senior recital in a semester prior to student teaching.
5. University-Wide Credits — 0 credits*
*Note: Students must apply the recommended courses to both the liberal arts curriculum requirements and the major requirements to complete this degree program in 124 credit hours. This degree requires no university wide electives and has received an exception from the CDHE to exceed the typical limit of 120 credit hours.