The Status of Music Education Conducting Curricula, Practices, and Values

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of conducting courses completed by undergraduate music education majors. Questionnaire items addressed course structure and content, pedagogical values, and the relative emphasis instructors placed on various areas of teacher knowledge as represented by Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge framework. Music education divisions require two conducting courses for a variety of degree specializations. Instructors are mostly well-educated males at the assistant or full professor rank, with extensive college teaching experience but comparatively little experience in K–12 music teaching. Music education faculty and conducting instructors both ranked music content knowledge as most important, followed by music pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge. Opportunities to conduct in authentic learning contexts were nominal. Implications for practice, policy, and research are presented.