Graduate Music Education Comes to Berklee College of Music The three graduate programs, started at Boston Conservatory, will begin a new era as part of Berklee's Music Education Department this summer.
By
John Mirisola
November 1, 2021
Young students explore drumming during a BIAESN-sponsored program.
Image by Elizabeth Friar
After years of successful and groundbreaking work under Boston Conservatory at Berklees banner, Berklees graduate music education programs-the M.M. in music education, the M.M. in music education (autism concentration), and the graduate certificate in music education and autism-will begin operating within Berklee College of Musics Music Education Department starting this summer.
Rhoda Bernard, managing director of the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs (BIAESN) and the founder of all three programs, will continue to oversee the M.M. in music education (autism concentration) as well as the graduate certificate program-the only programs of their kind in the world. Cecil Adderley, chair of the colleges Music Education Department, will oversee the general M.M. in music education.
There is an enormous benefit to having all of music education in one place, says Adderley. We have multiple faculty members whove taught at both institutions, but its one big community. There has been that collaboration all along, so having it all in one place we can continue with that level of collaboration moving forward.
While the shift marks the beginning of a new era for Berklees graduate music education programs, their core values and distinctive approach to contemporary music education remain unchanged.
Programs for Working Teachers Ready to take the next step in your teaching career?
Learn more about Berklees contemporary approach to music education.
One of these values is ensuring that students enrolled in these programs-many of them working teachers-can keep their teaching jobs while they advance their careers through graduate-level training. This is why all three graduate programs are designed to accommodate a working teacher's schedule by offering evening courses in the fall and spring semesters, as well as two full-time summer sessions. And during the academic year, students can participate remotely using web conferencing and student-directed study formats-a model these programs have been refining for years before COVID-19 made online learning a necessity at other institutions.
Im teaching a class tonight where I have five students on the web and four students in the room, and we are all together having class, says Bernard. Weve been doing hybrid and remote learning in graduate music education since long before it was sexy.
A Contemporary Approach to Music Education While many music education programs still follow outdated models, graduate music education at Berklee is designed to help working teachers engage with the latest pedagogical, cultural, and technological shifts shaping todays learning environments. Students in these programs are trained to consider culturally responsive approaches to music education, and to understand and employ cutting-edge technologies to develop their lessons and aid their students with cloud-based technologies such as MusicFirst and SmartMusic.
People today experience, consume, make, and interact with music in a wide range of ways, explains Bernard, and we have now access to music from all over the world and from all throughout time in ways that weve never had before, and it has to change how we teach.
Berklees music education faculty are internationally recognized as innovators in the field. Just this year Stefani Langol, associate professor of music education, was named 2021s Teacher of the Year by the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME).
Three Distinctive Programs While all three programs share some basic traits-a flexible schedule, a contemporary approach, and an audition requirement that ensures all students share a level of musicianship-each is designed to serve educators and administrators in particular ways.
The two autism-focused programs are unique in the world. Typically, when you train to be a music teacher, if youre lucky, you get one class about special ed students, and its a class thats legal history and a lot of alphabet soup.... It is not about pedagogy, explains Bernard. These classes are about how to teach students with disabilities. So it is very practical; it is about the actual work of that teaching.
The M.M. in music education (autism concentration) is for teachers with an undergraduate background in music or music education who wish to earn a masters degree with an autism focus. The graduate certificate in music education and autism is open to students with a broader undergraduate background who are interested in a focused study of this subject area but do not need or wish to pursue a masters degree.
The general M.M. in music education provides exceptionally customizable curricular pathways, through electives and through culminating experiences or theses, that enable students to craft unique subspecialties within their masters program. For example, some students have focused on community music and nonprofit programs, while others have focused on teaching nontraditional students, including indigenous populations.
Go deeper: In this podcast, learn more about how Rhoda Bernard and BIAESN bring music education to those with special needs, and how the institute trains others to do the same.
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Graduate Music Education Comes to Berklee College of Music The three graduate programs, started at Boston Conservatory, will begin a new era as part of Berklee's Music Education Department this summer.
