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Bachelor of Music Education degrees, like many professional programs, require a high number of credit hours for graduation. The marketization of higher education and efforts toward equitable access to a college education drive efforts to eliminate "excess" credits. Despite state and institutional mandates to reduce credit requirements to 120 hrs, many programs still exceed this target with some reaching nearly 150 credit hours. This descriptive survey study with follow-up document review examined how schools of music are responding to credit hour reduction policies limiting credits at or near 120 hrs. The findings of this study confirmed tensions between accreditation requirements, credit hour reduction policies, and curricular aims of music teacher preparation programs. The authors present reports regarding influencing factors and strategies for reconciling credit hours. They further discuss emerging questions regarding credit allotment and course hours, implications for student wellness and curricular reform, and suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this study was to examine music education faculty members' perceptions of admissions and selection criteria for entering master's students in music education degree programs. Using multistage sampling, we distributed a questionnaire to music education faculty at National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)-accredited institutions in the United States that offered master's degrees in music education. Results indicated that music education faculty were involved in most admission decisions, and that transcripts, interviews, and letters of recommendation were the most common materials submitted for review. In response to open-ended questions, participants reported that their admission decisions are usually determined by four criteria: academic skills, demonstration of potential as a graduate student, demonstration of teaching ability, and less measurable indicators. This exploration of the admissions and selection criteria that music education faculty use when making admission decisions provides music teacher educators a greater understanding of this important transition point.

This study utilized a mixed methods approach to investigate the particular factors integral to literature selection and the resources conductors utilized to find repertoire for their children's choirs. Interviews were conducted with successful community children's choir directors (n = 6); results were analyzed inductively and coded in order to report findings. Results from the qualitative strand demonstrated four themes regarding literature selection: musical elements, preferences, appropriateness, and finding literature; these themes served as the basis for survey questions with provided groups of questions related to each theme. The survey was emailed/mailed to community children's choir conductors (n = 245) in North America; the return rate was 51.0% (n = 125). Results indicated consistency between the qualitative and quantitative findings, although some differences surfaced as well. Overarching findings included voicing, melody, and text as essential considerations as well as the conductor's preference for the pieces; additionally to fit repertoire to the choir was important. Conductors used a variety of resources from which to find literature and often relied on their own collections, observations of other choirs, and online resources. Implications for conductors were presented relating to literature selection practices that may be a result of enculturation through choir participation and observation.