Date
7-22-2025
Department
School of Music
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education (PhD)
Chair
Brian Stiffler
Keywords
music education, curriculum, commercial music, music technology, music performance, worship, popular music, music recording, contemporary, Nashville, Middle Tennessee, Christian institutions
Disciplines
Music
Recommended Citation
Goddard, Thomas Paul, "Investigating the Need for a Contemporary Bachelor of Music in Music Education Degree at Trevecca Nazarene University and Union University" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7234.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7234
Abstract
Despite the traditional music education curriculum being valuable to music education majors, it fails to provide contemporary approaches and relevant content within a modern musical society. Students graduate from Trevecca Nazarene University’s (TNU) School of Music (SoM) and Union University’s (UU) Department of Music (DoM) and enter the music education field without sufficient guidance. This study examined the perspectives of music education professionals from interviews and the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Guided by Gordon’s music learning theory, this multimethod study identifies experiences from music educators that create a comprehensive undergraduate music education curriculum. In addition to the traditional music education degree, nontraditional cognates may be considered, including music performance, commercial music, music technology, and contemporary worship. Illustrating the experiences of TNU and UU music education graduates through interviews (n = 14) and surveys among music teachers (n = 22) combined with historical data, these multimethod data will help the researcher understand the success of these programs. The researcher analyzed the data using thematic and various statistical tests to answer the research questions. The study results indicate the need to reimagine the music education degree so it may positively affect these Christian institutions in Middle Tennessee. This project will be an example of an archaic curriculum revised with a contemporary approach. Additionally, this study and the ideas of new music education curricula could encourage further investigation by other teachers to apply this modern method to other undergraduate music degrees.
