Music Education
 

You seem to be making some great posts, but what can I do to get you to stop doing so in green? :)

I just finished my third year of studying music in university. I hope to be a teacher by the end of it, but I have a couple of years to go before I graduate. Music education is not a program at my school, however, music education classes are available to those who wish to go in that direction. I haven't taken any yet because they are 4th year courses.

I only had to take aural skills in first year and keyboard in second year. Next year I get to take courses learning the basics of how to play other instruments. Percussion is mandatory, the other instruments groups are electives but they are recommended for people who want to be teachers in schools.

I played in the flute ensemble for the first two years and concert band and orchestra this year. Also finished my 14th year of flute lessons (yeah I started playing at age 7).

By the way I am working on getting an Honours Bachelor of Music (B.Mus) degree, but I could also go for the simpler B.A. in Music and then get an M.Mus in grad school if I choose to do so.

When I finish my undergraduate education, I can do a 1-2 year Bachelor of Education program and then get licensed to teach in schools here. I'm aiming to teach in high school but I might start with elementary for a couple of years.

It's cool to know that there is somebody else taking music in university here. I thought I was the only one!

Nope! I thought I was the only one...how much theory have you had? I'm earning a Bachelors of Music Education degree from my university. If you want to read up on more theory, I can hook you up with two really good books that you can download online for free (legally).

Sorry about that! I was informed by someone else via PM that it is kinda hard on the eyes, so I stopped. I like the color, so I just did it on here as well..didn't realize it was hard to read for some. Sorry!

Praise the Lord. Thanks for that I was getting bothered by the green too. :)

It's funny, I've done hardly any musical education personally (just at 2nd level), but I have four old friends who went on to do music, and a tonne of others now through them... It's great in a way, cause it means I can study a real subject (I joke!) and still learn about the theory through them!

BD, I don't know what a BMusEd (or bemused, as they like to call themselves here) consists of over there, but it's a pretty vicious timetable of constant lectures in my college: do you find that it's a lot of work?

I studied music (double degree Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Music) but couldn't get a job when I finished so I became a primary school teacher :D

I have lots of theory courses under my belt, through private education, however at school I had to take one theory course in first year and one in second year. The first year course is a basic theory course, but it builds off the stuff you already had to know to get into the program, and then second year the course is more advanced.

I have a collection of material on theory already, maybe 12 or 13 books dealing with topics that range from basic theory like how to read music and tabs all the way to post-tonal counterpoint, so I think I'm good for now, but thanks :)

I'm not in a music education program at the moment because my university doesn't offer it as a separate program, just courses (that I haven't taken yet). But the regular B.Mus program can be tough at times. Although my school only admits 30-40 people each year into the music program, so the classes for the first couple of years are not exactly like lectures, they are more like grade school classes. Though classes like History of Western Art Music and Pop Music History are lectures because they are also offered as electives to students from other programs. The timetable is not bad - each semester there is usually a day that I either have off or where there is only one class.

For a lot of the classes though, like theory or analysis for example, there are usually weekly or bi-weekly assignments to be completed, i.e. you get a short assignment on Monday and it's due the following Monday. Which is not bad, but it adds on to the bigger assignments you need to have prepared for the history courses and any other elective courses. I'm also taking classes in Political Science, where professors rely on you handing in a lengthy research paper or opinion paper in order to mark you. So the work load is heavy at times. Not to mention that I have to devote time to practice flute! All the lesson teachers recommend 2-3 hours a day, of course, but that's not entirely possible with all the other stuff required of you, unless you don't have a social life :laughing:

No worries! It was just a friendly suggestion. :)

Nice! I only have one real theory course so far, but we covered everything from very basic reading into chords, scales and modes, cadences, nonharmonic tones, sequences and periods, and basic analysis.


I am and personally, its quite a course load. My first semester, I took Introduction To Western Music, Guitar Techniques, Marching Band, Keyboard Techniques I, Applied Percussion, Recital Attendance, Freshman Survival Skills I: Fine Arts, Character & Wellness, Communication Skills, Physical Geology (and lab).

This semester, I was in Concert Band, Applied Percussion, The Theory & Practice Of Music I, Aural Skills I, Keyboard Techniques II, Recital Attendance, String Techniques, Introduction To Philosophy, College Composition I & II, and Freshman Survival Skills II: Fine Arts.

And next semester I am in Marching Band, Applied Percussion, Recital Attendance, Aural Skills II, The Theory & Practice Of Music II, Trumpet Class, Clarinet Class, Applied Piano, Applied Cello, Basic Conducting, Educational Psychology, and Introduction To Teaching (and Practicum).

Yeah, keeping up with practicing is a major pain for me...and you're lucky you only get an assignment or two per week! My theory class meets MWF, and has assignments every day due the following class period. Same with Aural Skills.

Yep, that's pretty much what both of my courses consisted of!


That is a lot! I'm guessing some of those were electives? I think of all the music courses you listed there, I've taken similar ones so far. Of the instrument oriented courses, I've only done Keyboard, but for next year I'm hoping to get into a Woodwind course, hopefully to play clarinet because I already own one!

My aural skills class in first year was like that. We met Tuesday and Friday, and there was something due for each class. We had to download media files and basically transcribe them.

Yes, the non music classes are electives, but part of the degree. Everything I've taken is required to graduate, and same with next semester. However, I opted to take Trumpet and Clarinet at the same semester, so I don't have to take it later. Applied Cello is the only option class I listed.


What else did you do? We met twice a week and did assignments in sight singing, chord quality identification (major, minor, augmented, diminished), error detection, rhythm reading, rhythmic dictation, harmonic dictation, and melodic dictation.

All of that, plus exercises in solfege (Do, Re, Mi, etc)

Yeah, that's how we sight sang. Always with solfege. Our assignments would be recording ourselves either clapping and counting a rhythm, singing a song in solfege, or singing and playing with a piano.

Hey can someone recommend some good sites that have a history of music genres or which talks in some detail about what makes each genre different so I can expand my knowledge base? I was even thinking of creating a thread if I get enough material and making like a general thread of a little about each genre and like 1-2 classic Youtube examples for people to hear what the description is meaning.

Does that sound good? Maybe new members might find it interesting.

Honestly I've found Wikipedia to be one of the best places to get sort of a general overview of different genres.

I was thinking more of a collective source. And not just about genres either. I of course have used wiki before.

Hmmm, the only one I can think of besides Wikipedia is a website that I have access to through school. And you have to be a post secondary student in Canada or the US to access it....

If I find something else, I'll share it with you.

I think you need to get offline & start reading books.

I don't think I've ever found any website that's as detailed & accurate as some of the books I've read.

You want to learn about punk read England's Dreaming by Jon Savage.
You want to learn about post punk read Rip It Up & Start Again by Simon Reynolds.
You want to learn about American 80s Indie read Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad.

I swear you'll learn more in one night reading those books than you would looking online.

I've been looking out for books like those, Urban. I took the rec on post-punk. I have no idea where to find these sorts of things for the other genres I'm interested in though.

That's actually a really brilliant suggestion. I do want my information to be accurate too. Might get my ass down to the library!

Hi, so this where all the Music majors hang out.. lol
Hi I'm Mitch From ToneScape Music Studio.

All essential!

A few more suggestions for the original question...

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain is the influential book that compiles quotes by a lot of the NYC and Detroit Punk scene dating back to The Velvet Underground and moving into the legendary 70's bands (Ramones et al). A perfect book to go with that is We've Got the Neutron Bomb by Mark Spitz and Brendan Mullen for the LA scene. Together with England's Dreaming, you have a perfect set.

Riot on Sunset Strip by Dominic Priore is LA '65-'66 in all of it's Garage Punk/Classic Folk Rock glory. More than just the music, but the life. Also Shows how the "Powers That Be" wanted to smash down the thriving Rock Culture that was LA's life for a few great years before the Riots of November '66 brought the "Death of a Party." In my opinion, this was my kind of 60's, before the flowers in the hair and all of that.

White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day by Richie Unterberger - Essential look into one of the most influential bands which details their very existence quite a bit. Also goes into a look at how MGM and Atlantic promoted them.

A look into the shady business of 60's Pop told by one of it's best musicians, Me, The Mob, and the Music, is Tommy James' great look into the dark side of 60's Pop Biz. Morris Levy was a very powerful man in the world of music who ran Roulette Records and who's friend Anthony Salerno was the basis for Tony Soprano on The Soprnaos. A more scholarly approach to the subject (and arguably the most definitive) is the book Hit Men by Frederic Dannen.

After diving into Savage's book, check out Alex Ogg's British Punk A-Z called No More Heroes.

Two perfect visual books, almost a Yin and Yang in my Music History department of books. Hippie by Barry Miles is damn great while Punk by Stephen Colegrave and Chris Sullivan goes right into the UK scene in a very visual way with a lot of quotes from the legends.

Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll by Charlie Gillett is one of the classics looking at the classic years.