Courses and Descriptions
ME 540 Choir Train for Young Singers 3 Credits
This course focuses on children’s choirs in school, church and community. Students learn strategies to teach children good vocal technique and to build musical literacy through the study of appropriate repertoire. Course content, activities and experiences in this course covers New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Music and prepares students to meet the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teaching.
Prerequisite(s): Junior status.
ME 563 Art of Teaching Music III 4 Credits
Through course assignments, discussion, and clinical practice in varied school and community choral settings, course participants learn how to create meaningful elementary music experiences that foster individual success, accountability, a sense of accountability, critical thinking, independence, and life-long engagement with choral music.
Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in ME 262, successful completion of Sophomore Review, and must obtain substitute teaching credentials.
ME 564 Art of Teaching Music IV 4 Credits
Through course assignments, discussion, and clinical practice in varied school and community choral settings, course participants learn how to create meaningful school singing experiences that foster individual success, accountability, a sense of community, critical thinking, independence, and life-long engagement with choral music.
Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in ME 262, successful completion of Sophomore Review, and must obtain NJ substitute teaching credentials.
ME 587 Music in Special Education 1 Credits
This course is designed to acquaint the pre-service teacher with the special needs of exceptional children in music classes. Students learn to adapt instruction to accommodate a variety of exceptionalities that are both physical and emotional. Content includes categories of special students, characteristic behaviors, mainstreaming, and classroom methodology. Course content, activities and experiences in this course cover New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Music and prepares students to meet the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teaching. It is recommended that students take this course before the student teaching semester. Restricted to Seniors only.
ME 588 Dalcroze Studies 2 Credits
The purpose of this elective course is to provide students with an intensive experience in eurhythmics and eurhythmics pedagogy leading to an understanding of Dalcroze’s principles regarding movement, solfège, improvisation and their uses in the classroom. An important focus of the class will be to provide an insight into kinesthetic-based learning as a conduit to inform and deepen the musical experience. Opportunities for lesson planning and curriculum development in the Dalcroze model will be offered. Students will write and present practice lessons. In addition, students will develop improvisation skills necessary to integrate eurhythmics into private applied instruction.
ME 591 Choral Music Grades 5-12 3 Credits
This course is designed to acquaint the music educator with repertoire suitable for use with middle and senior high school choral ensembles. Representative repertoire from all periods of music will be discussed, analyzed and performed in class. Course content, activities and experiences in this course covers New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Music and prepares students to meet the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teaching.
Prerequisite(s): Junior status.
ME 592 Creativity & Music Technology 2 Credits
Creativity and Technology in the Music Classroom is designed to prepare students to foster musical creativity using a variety of approaches and tools. In particular, students will use equipment such as digital audio workstations, MIDI controllers, microphones, and SmartBoards to facilitate rich and engaging creative experiences. Students will explore ways to structure learning experiences in response to the needs and interests of students, and will examine current thinking and trends related to the uses of creativity and technology in the music classroom.
Prerequisite(s): Junior status or permission of instructor.
ME 595 Assessing Music Learning 1 Credits
This course provides pre-service music teachers with the strategies to assess music learning. Students study various testing models and learn to write and grade traditional tests such as true/false, multiple choice and essay. In addition, students examine authentic assessment, performance assessment and portfolio assessment models. Topics such as validity, reliability, standardized tests and testing bias will be included. In addition, students will learn how to read and interpret quantitative test data and examine the literature on grading. Course content, activities and experiences in this course covers New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Music and prepares students to meet the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teaching. The content of this course conforms to the recommendations of the Professional Teaching Standards adopted by the State of New Jersey in 2002. In some semesters, this course may be offered in an on-line format.
Prerequisite(s): Senior status.
ME 650 Thesis 1 Credits
Independent research under faculty supervision leading to the writing of a master’s thesis. Students register for this course in every semester or summer term in which assistance is provided by the thesis advisor.
Prerequisite(s): ME 685 (preferred) or MH 731; Permission of the Chair for Music Education is required to register for this course.
ME 671 Music and Hip Hop Culture 3 Credits
Hip Hop in the United States is arguably the most lucrative, popular, and culturally challenging contemporary musical force. The narratives of Hip Hop go beyond the boundaries of race and class as well as those of music, poetry and dance. As such, Hip Hop is a phenomenon that presents problems as well as great possibilities. This course explores them from the standpoint of educational sociology, looking at their implications for music in schools as well as in daily life.
ME 672 Teaching/Learning in Urban Schools 3 Credits
This course offers students theoretical and practical insight into teaching in urban schools. The class will present an analysis and practical implications for what is needed in order to successfully engage in teaching in urban centers in the United States. Students will balance field experiences with critical analyses of issues such as multicultural teaching, race, class, and economics in urban schools as well as their curricular and pedagogical implications.
ME 682 Choral Music Education 3 Credits
This course is designed to assist choral music educators to improve their pedagogical effectiveness. This course will provide students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary for developing comprehensive musicianship in the choral ensemble setting through the study of creating original music, responding to music, connecting to students and performing vocal/choral music with a primary focus on choral pedagogy, curriculum development, unit and rehearsal planning, programming, vocal development, program management, music literacy pedagogy, music technology and assessment.
ME 685 Improving Musical Practice: Research in Music Education 3 Credits
Intended for students in the MME and BM-MME degree programs, this course focuses on research as a tool for improving practice. Course members will read qualitative and quantitative research studies and consider the impact of research on their teaching. Course members will also plan and conduct original research that will help them to analyze their specific teaching contexts, identify and conduct inquiry into problems, and refine their practice as educators.
ME 686 Teaching Music in the 21st Century 3 Credits
Critical theory and critical pedagogy provide the framework for advanced study in post- modern teaching philosophies and teaching strategies as applied to music education. Techniques to engage students in diverse ways of thinking about music teaching and learning that transform both student and teacher will be presented. Always in the context of the social and political structures of schooling and the place schooling has in society, students will be empowered to create a dialoguing and problem-posing pedagogy for teaching music to children at all grade levels.
ME 690 Independent Research and Study 3 Credits
An elective course providing an opportunity to pursue a topic of special interest under the guidance of a music education faculty member. The proposal must be approved prior to registration for the course.
ME 692 Social Justice in Music Education: History, Philosophy, and Practice 3 Credits
The purpose of this course is two-fold. First, the course will explore the historical perspectives that have significantly shaped and informed music teaching and learning within American public education during the last century. Second, students will encounter, engage with, and interrogate philosophies and theories of practice from social justice perspectives in order to critically consider the place and purpose of music and music education within educational and societal contexts.
ME 693 Seminar in Music Educ 3 Credits
While the topics vary from year to year, international perspectives in music education form the foundation for this seminar.
ME 721 Curriculum Development & Evaluation 3 Credits
This course examines the relationship between curriculum theory and philosophy of music education. Through the study of traditional and contemporary models of curriculum development and evaluation, students broaden their understanding of curriculum as it impacts the learning process. Post modern theory consistent with the Department’s commitment to Critical Pedagogy for Music Education provide the focal point for the development of curricula that enhance and support quality music education. Course content, activities and experiences in this course covers New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Music and prepares students to meet the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teaching.
ME 723 Social, Emotional, and Musical Learning 3 Credits
This course examines topics in psychology of music from the lens of social emotional learning. This theoretical lens will allow students to find the relationships between music-making as social and cultural practices and the development of individual and collective psychological process in music teaching and learning. Major topics include affective and physiological responses to music, musical enculturation, learning theory, well-being and wellness, musical aptitude, developmental processes, and motivation. Students will discuss literature in the psychology of music with applications to K-12 music classes and rehearsals and conduct a pilot study in an area of interest based upon knowledge from the literature.
ME 725 Teaching Instrumental Music 3 Credits
A graduate level survey of the pedagogy necessary to teach instrumental music (woodwinds, brass, string and percussion instruments) and to develop and maintain beginning string and wind ensembles. While the class will include some playing and performance, it is not designed to develop proficiency on the individual instruments. Students must demonstrate sufficient competencies to provide beginning instruction. Instruments will be available for rental. Course content, activities and experiences in this course covers New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Music and prepares students to meet the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teaching. Rental fee, per instrument: $20.
ME 727 Teaching College 3 Credits
This course is designed for the graduate student who will be teaching at the college level. The content combines the theory of college teaching with praxis. Topics covered include: the psychology of the undergraduate, teaching graduate students, designing a syllabus, presenting course content, strategies for student-centered learning and assessment. Whenever possible, students will have the opportunity to intern with college faculty and will observe, present demonstration lessons, be coached and mentored. Open to all graduate students.
ME 730 Pedagogy and Practice 3 Credits
This course explores the intersection of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy and practice by providing students with guided teaching experiences connected to their current teaching situation. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to evaluate their own teaching against philosophical, psychological, pedagogical, and research-based models of music instruction. In addtion to guided teaching experiences, students will participate in a weekly seminar class during which they will share and reflect on their experiences in the field and discuss topics pertinent to teaching and learning music.
ME 771 Critical Pedagogy for Music Ed 3 Credits
This course presents the fundamental concepts, contexts and constructs that define Critical Pedagogy for Music Education. It focuses on the application of critical theory as a philosophical perspective to inform decisions teachers make when planning instruction for their students.
ME 775 MME Capstone 1 Credits
Independent research leading to a completed capstone project, such as curriculum and assessment development, pedagogical publication or presentation, instructional materials, etc. The project must be approved by the department.
Prerequisite(s): ME 685 and permission of the Music Education Chair.
ME 791 Internship in Music Teaching 3 Credits
A field-based experience consisting of three hours per week of internship teaching at a public or private school. Students will work with a cooperating teacher and be supervised by the instructor of the internship. Students will meet with the instructor periodically through the semester. In addition, they will prepare and teach lessons and submit documentation to chronicle the internship experience. International students in music education are strongly encouraged to take this course. ME 685, 692 and 791 are offered in rotation.