Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Scott Ellison

Abstract

I want to be the best band director I can be. As a pre-service music educator, I have received countless hours of instruction in content knowledge. At the end of the degree program, music education majors are certified to teach K-12 music of any kind. To receive that certification, we take dozens of classes in our content area. We are taught how to teach every band instrument, how to lead choirs, jazz bands, and marching bands, how to conduct and how to sing, how to play our primary instrument and many others. We spend hours in practice rooms, honing our musical craft. All of these endeavors teach us the how of music education, but none of them thoughtfully address the why. Some classes may ask you to answer the question of why you want to be a music educator, or even require you to write a short philosophy statement, but those assignments are brief and perfunctory. This leaves us with a gap in our understanding. As an educator, I need to be able to articulate what I believe the normative aims of music education. That purpose should inform every decision I make in my bandroom. Without a coherent philosophy of music education, I cannot make informed choices about the content I teach or how I teach it. I believe that everything, from the music I choose to program to the way I talk to students in their lessons, to the professional development opportunities I choose to pursue, should be intentional. It all must have purpose behind it.

In this honors thesis, I will develop a personal philosophy of music education, drawing on the history of music education philosophy in the United States, and describing what the value of music is, and what the purpose of public education should be. Finally, I will outline a detailed philosophy of music education based on this research and analysis.

Year of Submission

2026

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Date Original

2026

Object Description

1 PDF file (22 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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