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The Music Education program at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø, East Bay is designed to prepare students to become successful, career-ready music teachers. Coursework in music education counts toward the B.A. in Music and provides a direct pathway to the California Single Subject Teaching Credential. Students gain hands-on experience through coursework in conducting, instructional techniques, world music, and technology, as well as completing observation and teaching hours in Bay Area classrooms. The result is a strong foundation for those seeking to teach music and lead programs in California’s schools.

Completion of the Music Education program qualifies students to pursue a California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Music, authorizing instruction in any area of music from kindergarten through high school. Graduates teach throughout California and beyond as band, orchestra, and choir directors, elementary general music teachers, and instructors of music theory, composition, technology, and classroom guitar or piano. Many also continue to perform, compose, and maintain private teaching studios alongside their school positions.

Pathways to Music Education:
At ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø, you can study Music Education in three ways:

• Undergraduate Pathway — As part of the B.A. in Music, students take music education courses that double-count toward degree requirements while preparing to earn the California Teaching Credential.
• Graduate Certificate Pathway — For those who already hold a bachelor’s degree, the same sequence of courses is available as a Graduate Certificate in Music Education (see catalog). You can complete this certificate while part of the M.A. in Music. 

The certificate courses are divided into four categories, as follows:

Music Education Core Courses

The following ten (10) units are required of all music education students:

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-3

Units: 3

Units: 3

Units: 1

Conducting

Six (6) units of developmental basic skills in conducting, as well as more specific skills for choral and instrumental settings are required:

Units: 3

Units: 3

Secondary Techniques

Six (6) units in performance and pedagogy of standard orchestral instruments, voice, and guitar are required:

Units: 1

Units: 1

Units: 1

Units: 1

Units: 1

Units: 1

Music Teaching and Learning

These required nine (9) units focus on specific disciplines within music teaching and learning. They are designed to prepare future music educators to teach in a variety of K-12 areas, including instrumental, choral, and elementary music teaching settings.

Units: 3

Units: 3

Units: 3

Rachael Denny

Rachael Denny (MAME) began serving as a fieldwork supervisor in 2023.  Ms. Denny is a 30+ year veteran teacher with a specialty in Music Education, particularly General Music and Early Childhood Music.  She holds certifications in Orff Schulwerk from the Orff Institut in Salzburg, Austria, CSU Los Angeles, and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. She also has experience with Kodaly pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse..  In addition to her work with CSU East Bay, Ms. Denny is the Department Chair for Young Musicians at Pasadena Conservatory of Music, the course director for the Los Angeles Orff Teacher Education Course, and a musicianship teacher for the Los Angeles Children's Chorus.

Zack Pitt-Smith

Zack Pitt-Smith studied woodwind and jazz performance at Eastman School of Music, Berklee College of Music. He earned a B.A in Ethnomusicology from Brown University and a M.A. in Music Education from San Francisco State University. Zack has been the director of bands at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland for fifteen years. He directs the Oakland Eastside All-Star Ensemble (OEASE) and serves on the local and state boards of directors for California Music Educators Association (CMEA) as Multicultural Representative and Urban Schools Programs Representative. He was recognized as the Oakland Teacher of the Year in 2013 and is a semifinalist for the 2022 Music Educator Grammy Award. Zack is an active performer throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, most frequently with his Brazilian instrumental choro ensemble and Oakland Samba Revue.