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For a person to become a music educator would he or she need to have a major in both music and education to be able to achieve his or her's career?

I'm asking the question because the people that I know who went to college mention the idea that those things are separate; however, the people who told me this went to college years ago and I do know that licensing and regulations for college majors has changed over the years especially for those people who are going into the education field. #musiceducation #music #teaching #music-education

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Kela’s Answer

Hey Breanna!

That's awesome you want to be a music educator. There are actual specific degree concentrations for teaching music, generally speaking, a Bachelor's of Music Ed and a Master's, also in Music Ed. Music Education is its own specialty, and while some states will require particular teaching certifications in addition to your degree (if you were going to teach K-12 for example), teaching music is too specific of a discipline for a general Education degree to be sufficient. However there are always exceptions to the rule, especially in the arts!

My advice would be to aim for your chosen concentration starting at the Bachelor's level, and stick with it straight through your Master's. Then if you want to teach at the college level, you would be in good standing but might also need a PhD. It used to be that Master's was considered a "terminal" degree in music, but many educators now go on to obtain their PhD as well.

Please also make sure to look into scholarships for women going into music education!
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Kristen’s Answer

You can do it separately or you can do it together. I have been an art teacher for all my life and my degree is specifically in art education kindergarten through 12th grade. Because my degree was in education I have been pigeonholed as just a teacher and not able to get other jobs outside of education. Having the flexibility would have been nice at different points in my life. But like I said you can do this a couple different ways you can get your degree in music or business with a minor in music or something, and then you can just work to get the teaching certification separately. Down here in Florida a lot of teachers do that. There are pluses and minuses. If you’re comfortable in a classroom and comfortable working with people then I think it would be OK to do that however having a classroom management skills and training that a education degree gives you can also be invaluable. I am originally from Indiana and I took the Praxis exam which helped me and relocating to Florida and relocating overseas when I went there. I definitely had a hand up because Indiana has such regrets teaching standards for future teachers
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