Do you need an associates for a double major of pef. and ed?

[AurokeFlute]

My flute teacher brought up a topic that is troubling me. I dont remember how exactly she worded it, but she said getting my associates in music will be a waste of time and money. They wont teach the same classes or something like that, like i said i dont remember exactly what she said. What is your opinion? It makes sense, but isnt it required to have an a.a or a.s for music education?

[fluteguy18]

In almost 100% of cases where you go into music ed, you will need a BM (Bachelor's of Music) from an accredited institution. That means that NASM (The National Association of the Schools of Music) have approved of the institution, and the institution adheres to their regulations/standards. I honestly can't think of anywhere that an Associate's degree would be acceptable. Most states even require individuals who merely want to be substitute teachers to have a bachelor's degree.

[AurokeFlute]

In almost 100% of cases where you go into music ed, you will need a BM (Bachelor's of Music) from an accredited institution. That means that NASM (The National Association of the Schools of Music) have approved of the institution, and the institution adheres to their regulations/standards. I honestly can't think of anywhere that an Associate's degree would be acceptable. Most states even require individuals who merely want to be substitute teachers to have a bachelor's degree.

That is very interesting. Thanks, i should have clarified, that i want a bachelors for what i said for the title. So i dont need an associates to go on and get my performance and music ed. class?

[fluteguy18]

Just do a double major in your bachelor's program. In the music world anything less than a BM is worthless. A lot of jobs wont even consider you (in music Ed) if you haven't started work on your MM or completed it. Some jobs won't even look at you (University), if you haven't completed your DMA.

[Arlee]

Basically if you go to a two year institution you come out with an associates. 4 year universities get you to the bachelors level, and technically you do obtain an associates during that time as well but since the only thing people care about is you highest lvl people don't mention it really.

The only reason I could imagine splitting it up is if you wanted to go to say a community college for two years so you can knock out all the "basic studies" courses for less than you would pay at a big university. This only works if you stay in the same state that you went to the community college in, transferring between states gets pretty mucky sometimes.

The downside to this though is in music programs most of the time they are designed for you to be taking major courses right from the beginning mixed in with your basic studies. So basically if you do it this way (split up) when you go to the bigger university your years there will be pretty intensive and pretty much all of your classes will be music classes. Which can work for some, but does have some drawbacks.

Basically you apply and audition to any college for the major you want. First year (freshman who have never attended a college before) you are often considered "pre-music ed" and you would be taking all the normal classes and music classes and it is sort of time for you to make sure Music Ed is what you want to do. The programs are very demanding. At the end of your second year you basically have some kind of qualification (usually consisting of certain proficiencies and a jury) where you basically show you can perform up to their standards. After passing the second year you technically (normally) would have an associates degree. But no one stops there because you can't get the teaching certificate in most states with out the BM as well.

It is sort of confusing but, if you want to do music ed I would definitely say going to a four year university is probably your best plan for getting the most out of it. Also, as a side note, more and more universities are designing their music ed programs around a five year program instead of four because the requirements are quite extensive and you lose a whole semester's worth of taking classes when you do your student teaching.

[fluteguy18]

I know very few people who have graduated with a music degree in 4 years. The only people I know are actually Music Performance majors. I myself would have graduated in 4 years but for 3 of those 4 years I also double majored in Music Industry/Business. I ended up dropping the double major, but I learned WAY more about the music business than I could have ever imagined. Copyright, contracts, tours, endorsements, publicity, negotiating fees, booking, product sales and management, etc. etc.

[Arlee]

It is really hard to do. I actually know one person who managed to double major in Music Performance and Music Education in four years and be in the honors program... but she is definitely an exception and not a rule.

Honestly I think most people underestimate how much work majoring in music really is. Often you are taking many 1 credit courses but those often demand as much if not more of your time than 3 credit courses in other disciplines. It is definitely doable though. I did it while working two part time jobs at the same time. Though this necessitated I had zero life outside of school and I probably could have gotten more out of it if I could have taken more time. This wasn't really an option for me though.

You are correct though it is getting less and less common to do it four years. Though I think there are many contributing reasons for this, which would totally derail this entire thread

[AurokeFlute]

It is really hard to do. I actually know one person who managed to double major in Music Performance and Music Education in four years and be in the honors program... but she is definitely an exception and not a rule.

Honestly I think most people underestimate how much work majoring in music really is. Often you are taking many 1 credit courses but those often demand as much if not more of your time than 3 credit courses in other disciplines. It is definitely doable though. I did it while working two part time jobs at the same time. Though this necessitated I had zero life outside of school and I probably could have gotten more out of it if I could have taken more time. This wasn't really an option for me though.

You are correct though it is getting less and less common to do it four years. Though I think there are many contributing reasons for this, which would totally derail this entire thread

thank you for the warning, i will keep that in mind. When it comes to music, i know what i want, but i am trying to work out the steps to get there.