Connecting ideas to practice: The development of an undergraduate student’s philosophy of music education

Abstract

This article considers the personal reflections of an undergraduate music education major on both the significance of his experience as a participant in the Seventh International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education, held at Michigan State University, in the United States, in June 2011, and on his place as a pre-service music teacher poised to enter the profession. The first author’s reflections regarding what the conference meant to him as a future music educator has implications for individuals who help prepare the next generation of music teachers, and scholars in all fields who desire for their work to reach a particular audience that could benefit from their work. The article takes the form of a personal narrative reflection, not generalizable to all populations of undergraduate music education majors, but certainly transferable to similar situations where undergraduates are considering waves of change in degree requirements and curricular expansion.