Music Education

Possessing a true love for both music and teaching makes you an ideal candidate for our unique music education major program. Clarke’s bachelor of music education professionally prepares you for a career as a music teacher at both the elementary and secondary levels. You will hone your talents in contemporary music methodology and receive practical musical training. You’ll also have many hours teaching in the classroom even before your student teaching begins. This added classroom experience enhances your résumé and can be a key to landing your first music teaching job.

Perhaps you’ve asked yourself, are there any music education major colleges near me? Check out our campus visits and virtual visits in Dubuque, Iowa, so you can see for yourself that Clarke is one of the best music teachers degree in the Midwest. Our bachelor of arts in music education prepares you for a career as a music teacher at both the elementary and secondary levels. You will hone your talents in contemporary music methodology and receive professional music training not only on campus, but also through frequent partnerships with area K-12 schools and teachers. In our Music Ed Degree program, we strive to educate and prepare music teachers who will influence the cognitive, moral, and social development of children in kindergarten through high school in today’s multicultural world. Graduates of our music education major will possess real-world experience and demonstrate the programmatic outcomes as licensed, professional educators who become influential teachers in Dubuque, Iowa, locally, and throughout the nation and beyond.

While our music education major curriculum is rooted in the classical music tradition, at Clarke you will also experience world music, jazz, living composers, folk music, and music of many styles. Our faculty’s diverse expertise and breadth of knowledge will ensure that you excel in your primary instrument and area of concentration while deepening your knowledge and skills in music theory and history. Our music courses in our music education major program are designed for music majors who want to pursue a career in the world of music or those who want to minor in music to master their instrument.

Professional Development School

Clarke music education degree students go directly into classrooms and have the opportunity to teach and inspire K-12 students. This is the heart of our music education major program — the Professional Development School (PDS). This is a unique, hands-on experience in which teaching degree students interact with children in their actual classrooms while developing their unique teaching skills. Each PDS classroom is taught by two professors in residence who guide and support the Clarke students during the beginning of their teaching experiences. Together, the PDS partners and the university work to provide the Clarke bachelor of education students with optimal learning experiences as they develop knowledge of what it means to be a teaching professional in an elementary or secondary classroom. Learning this through methods courses taught onsite in an elementary school provides rich experiences for the preservice teachers and gives them a depth of understanding that is not possible when a class is located on campus and professors are not in the field.

More specifically, music courses in our teaching degree are blocked together and taught on-site at two elementary schools in the city of Dubuque. Two state-licensed teacher educators are assigned to each PDS student; together, they share the responsibility for teaching the courses and supervising the university students. Typically between ten and fifteen junior-level students are enrolled in each block; their presence is an important element in the culture of each school. Content of the methods courses is interwoven with opportunities to teach and interact with the elementary students, seamlessly connecting the theory of teaching with the actual practice of teaching.