Sarah Traxel makes a good case for a 4.5-year music education degree. In response to the article “Music Education Degrees--Four Years or Five?” (9/24/2008), she says:

“I completed a music education degree in 2007 at MidAmerica Nazarene University, a small private university in Olathe, Kansas. They have a very strong education department (many of their teacher candidates are hired straight out of student teaching in the school or district that they did their student teaching in). The music ed department is smaller but growing quickly. A few years ago, the school went from a four-year (actually, it took five years to complete) Bachelor of Arts in Music Education to a four-and-a half-year Bachelor of Music Education program. Students can take fewer general core classes and focus more on music education content. When they graduate, the credential that they receive qualifies them for pre-K through 12th-grade teaching in vocal, instrumental, and general music areas, making them highly marketable to school districts.”

“The school also allows the music education students to graduate (walk, actually) with their class in May and return the following fall for student teaching. They are thus considered alumni of the class of 2007 rather than 2008 (or whatever the year may be),” Traxel continues.

“The four-and-a-half-year program gives students the best of both worlds,” says Traxel, “allowing them to focus on their professional content without facing an entire extra year of courses.”

MENC member Sarah Traxel teaches general music, band, and choir at the elementary level at Harvest Elementary and Del Vista Elementary, Delano Union Elementary School District, Delano, California.

--Ella Wilcox, October 1, 2008, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)