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Major · Education

Score, baton, classroom a licensure-driven music path

Music Teacher Education prepares you to teach band, choir, orchestra, and general music in K-12 classrooms. The major bundles performance, theory, and methods coursework with the education credits a state needs to issue your teaching license. Across 539 colleges, about 3,229 students complete this credential each year.

Schools offering
539
Annual completions
3,229
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$50k

About this major

Music Teacher Education prepares you to lead K-12 music classrooms, ensembles, and general music programs. The CIP definition frames it as teacher prep for music and music appreciation across educational levels, which in practice means you graduate ready to direct middle school band, run an elementary general music room, conduct a high school choir, or coach a string program. About 3,229 students complete this major each year across 539 U.S. colleges.

The core blends two majors’ worth of demands. On the music side you carry theory, aural skills, music history, applied lessons on a primary instrument, ensemble participation every semester, and usually a junior or senior recital. On the education side you take child and adolescent development, methods classes for general, choral, and instrumental teaching, and a full semester of student teaching in real K-12 classrooms. Most programs are paced for licensure rather than performance careers.

Graduates land mainly in public and private K-12 schools as music teachers and ensemble directors, where BLS reports secondary teacher median wages near $64,580. A smaller share moves on to postsecondary teaching after a master’s; art, drama, and music teachers at the postsecondary level earn $80,190 at the median. Five-year median earnings for the major sit at $50,426, with bachelor’s grads near $51,376, reflecting district salary schedules early in a career.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education $65k -1.6% Bachelor's degree
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education $63k -2.0% Bachelor's degree
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary $80k +1.7% Master's degree
Education teachers, postsecondary $72k +2.1% Doctoral or professional degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$50k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$34k

Bachelor's

$51k

Who this major is for

This path suits students who already love performing or singing and would happily spend a Tuesday evening rehearsing a youth ensemble. Strong signals include comfort sight-reading on a primary instrument, willingness to lead a room of thirty restless 7th graders, patience for the long arc of a semester concert cycle, and genuine interest in how children learn musical concepts year over year. Students drawn to public service work and stable benefits packages often do well; the paycheck is rarely the headline, but the schedule, summers, and pension structure of public school teaching are real draws. Comfort with the licensure grind, including Praxis II Music and your state’s pedagogy exams, matters more than raw talent.

Reconsider if your goal is a performance or recording career: a music performance major gives you more practice room hours and fewer education credits. Reconsider too if you bristle at classroom management, parent emails, or working inside district bureaucracies, since those are daily realities once the recital ends. The 4.5 to 5 year timeline and the gap between $51,376 starting bachelor’s earnings and the cost of a music-conservatory tuition deserve a frank look before committing.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Music Teacher Education

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
SUNY College at Potsdam Potsdam, NY 0 87 87
SUNY at Fredonia Fredonia, NY 0 47 47
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 0 39 39
Baylor University Waco, TX 0 38 38
Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 0 37 37
Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX 0 34 34
Ball State University Muncie, IN 0 33 33
Illinois State University Normal, IL 0 33 33
University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 0 28 28
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH 0 28 28
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Art/Art Studies, General

13,626 completions/yr

Physical Education Teaching and Coaching

4,787 completions/yr

Secondary Education and Teaching

4,057 completions/yr

Teacher Education, Multiple Levels

3,430 completions/yr

Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education and Teaching

2,213 completions/yr

English/Language Arts Teacher Education

1,846 completions/yr

Social Studies Teacher Education

1,336 completions/yr

Mathematics Teacher Education

1,090 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What jobs does a Music Teacher Education degree lead to?
Most graduates teach K-12 music in public or private schools as band, choir, orchestra, or general music instructors. BLS reports a $64,580 median wage for secondary teachers and $62,970 for middle school teachers, with many graduates layering in private studio lessons on the side. Smaller numbers move into postsecondary roles, where art, drama, and music teachers earn a median of $80,190 but typically need a master’s degree.
Do I need a teaching license, and is it part of the major?
Yes. Public school music teaching requires a state-issued license, and this major is built around the coursework, practicum hours, and student teaching that lead to it. Most programs prepare you to sit for Praxis II Music Content Knowledge plus your state’s pedagogy exams. The degree itself is not the license, though; you finish coursework, pass the exams, and apply to your state board.
How long does the degree actually take?
Plan for closer to 4.5 to 5 years rather than a clean four. You stack two demanding tracks at once: a music core (theory, history, ensembles, applied lessons, recitals) and an education core (methods, classroom management, semester-long student teaching). Many students also keep ensemble participation every semester, which crowds the schedule even if credit-light.
What does the earnings picture look like?
Five years out, median earnings sit around $50,426 across all degree levels, with bachelor’s graduates closer to $51,376 and associate-level completers nearer $34,368. Those numbers track salary schedules in public school districts, where pay rises with years of service and graduate credits. Side income from private lessons, summer programs, and church or community ensembles is common.
Where do students complete this major most often?
Public regional universities and music-strong flagships dominate. SUNY Potsdam leads with 87 bachelor’s completions, followed by SUNY Fredonia at 47 and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at 39. Baylor, Florida State, Texas Christian, Ball State, Illinois State, Kentucky, and Bowling Green round out the top ten, each producing 28 to 38 completers.
How is this different from a music performance or general music education degree?
Music Teacher Education (CIP 13.1312) targets state K-12 licensure specifically, so curriculum slots are reserved for education methods and student teaching. A music performance degree centers your instrument and recital prep with no teaching credential. A general music education concentration may overlap, but counts depend on the institution; some schools roll students into broader teacher-ed CIPs, which is part of why named-CIP completions look modest.