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Upper Level Competency Review Music Studies

To Complete the Upper Level Competency Review, you must:

• Submit your Reflective Position Statement
• Complete and Submit your Information Form
• Interview with the Music Studies Upper Level Review Committee

Instructions on each component can be found below.

Upper Level Review Updates

 

Essay Review

When you are ready to submit the final draft of your essay:

  1. Please follow the instructions on the Upper Level Canvas site.

As a reminder, these are the questions you were asked to focus on.

 

Write a 500-750 word essay responding the to all of the following items below:

  • Why do you want to be a music educator?
  • What do you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses?
  • What is your dream job?

AND include a response to one of the two following items:

  • What does it mean to be “successful” as a music educator?
  • How can music programs impact the community-at-large?

 

Information Forms:

  1. Download the information form, which can be found on the Canvas Site

 

 

 

  1. Fill out the form, using your Degree Audit. If you are unsure about anything on the information form, leave it blank.

 

 

Spring 2021 Schedule:

  1. Find your Concise Student Schedule for Spring 2021 using the CatsWeb Self-Service.

 

  1. Upload to Canvas site

 

Interviews:

  1. All interviews will be receiving an email from either Dr. Brinckmeyer (choral) or Dr. Tast (instrumental) with instructions on how to sign up for an interview time.

INFORMATION FORM  (To be completed and submitted by ALL Major in Music Studies, BM students going through the review process for the first time in Spring 2020 and all students currently on deferral from the Fall 2019 review.)

Download the concentration appropriate Information Form above, complete electronically or in pen onlyno pencil, and return to Danton Bankay in MUS 101, no later than April 27, if you are in either the Choral Concentration or the Instrumental Concentration.

If your Information Form goes onto a second page, be sure your first and last name is on both pages, print one-sided only and do not staple them together!

*Finding your GPA's*: Log on to Self-Service Banner and click on the Student link. Next, click on Degree Audit (review of your current academic progress towards degree completion). It should take you directly to your degree audit. All of the information required for your form will be found here. At the top, under the maroon bar entitled Student View you will find your Overall GPA and right beneath that is your Texas State GPA.

 

*Finding your total number of Core Hours Completed*: Scroll down until you come to the maroon bar entitled General Education Core Curriculum. You will find your total Credits Earned already calculated for you on the right hand side of the maroon bar.

 

*Finding your Individual Core Course Grades*: In that same section, you will need to search for the individual courses and indicate the grades you received for the courses listed. NOTE: If you are in progress of completing a class, indicate IP in the box on your form.

 

*Finding your Music Course Grades*: Scroll down until you come to the maroon bar entitled Major in Music Studies, BM. Under this section you will find Departmental Recital, Aural Skills, Music Theory, Applied Lessons, and Major Ensembles. Next, scroll down until you come to the maroon bar entitled Conc in Instrumental/Vocal Emphasis. This is where you will locate your grades for Piano Techniques or your Secondary Instrument/Voice classes as well as Foundations of Music Education. NOTE: If you are in progress of completing a class, indicate IP in the box on your form.

 

*TXST/Other Column*: Enter TXST if you took the course at Texas State, or enter the Community College or University (abbreviations are accepted) where you took each music course.

 

*Major Ensemble Entries*: Check all the Ensembles you were enrolled in for each semester.  NOTE: Use your Degree Audit for this entry, the section will say Major Ensemble and will list the courses by First Semester Freshman (aka Freshman I on the form), Second Semester Freshman, etc.


WHEN IN DOUBT, DO NOT FILL OUT! 

(INSTEAD, CONTACT CYNTHIA GONZALES)
Cynthia.Gonzales@txstate.edu

SEPARATOR

 


FALL 2020 SCHEDULE  (To be completed and submitted by ALL Major in Music Studies, BM students going through the review process for the first time in Spring 2020 and all students currently on deferral from the Fall 2019 review.)

Print a copy of your Concise Student Schedule for Fall 2020 from CatsWeb Self-Service and return to Danton Bankay in MUS 101, no later than April 27 if you are in the Choral Concentration or the Instrumental Concentration. If you have not yet registered for some or all of your Fall 2020 classes, be prepared to discuss with the committee the classes you intend on registering for and why you are yet to officially register for them.


INTERVIEW (To be completed by ALL Major in Music Studies, BM students going through the review process for the first time in Fall 2019 and deferral students instructed to re-interview after their Spring 2019 review.)

A sign-up sheet will be available in Cynthia Gonzales' office. All of your paperwork (Information Form and Spring 2020 Schedule) must be submitted before you will be allowed to sign-up for an interview time.

Choral Concentration Interviews will take place on May 4, from 1-3 pm in Dr. Brinckmeyer's office, MUS 144.

Instrumental Concentration Interviews will take place on May 5 and 6 in the Music Building Conference Room, MUS 135 beginning at 8 am.

For the interview, wear professional/business attire and be prepared to summarize your experience with teaching and how that has influenced you up to this point. “Teaching” could include private lessons, drum corp, summer camps, girls scouts, swimming, church activities, etc.

Note, the Music Studies ULCR Committee members will consider the Dispositions for the Teaching Profession in making their final decisions on each student's Upper Level results. 

Students in teacher certification programs are pre-service teacher candidates who are expected to exhibit professional dispositions and behaviors that are appropriate to the school environment and that support learners' academic success. These dispositions and behaviors include professional attitudes, values, and beliefs demonstrated through both verbal and non-verbal behaviors as candidates interact with students, families, colleagues, and communities.

A candidate who does not meet the expectations for the behaviors and dispositions for the teaching profession will be identified by a professor, supervisor, cooperating teacher, or principal and will meet with an administrator in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and/or the Office of Educator Preparation to discuss the case. If further action is necessary, the candidate's case will be reviewed by the chair of the appropriate department with input from faculty, as appropriate, to determine eligibility for the Educator Preparation Program. Appeals regarding the candidate's eligibility should be made to the Dean of the College of Education whose decision is final.


GPA REQUIREMENT (Located under the general information at the top of your Degree Audit)

Per the Music Education area, you must have a 2.85 overall GPA in order to proceed into the Teacher Preparation courses. Therefore, this GPA will be evaluated and is a factor in the final decision made by the committee members.

 

DEPARTMENTAL RECITAL (Located under the Major in Music Studies, BM section of your Degree Audit)

Satisfactory completion (CR) of 3 semesters, for native students.

Satisfactory completion (CR) of 1 semester, for transfer students.

 

PIANO PROFICIENCY (Located under the Special Music Requirements section if Proficiency is complete or under the Major in Music Studies, BM section if Piano Techniques courses are still in progress.)

Instrumental Concentration students must have taken and passed the Piano II Proficiency or be enrolled in Piano II at the time of review and successfully complete the course, with a grade of C or better. If enrolled in Piano II during the semester of the review, students must take and pass the Piano II Proficiency at the end of that semester in order to be considered for upper level courses.

Choral Concentration students must have taken and passed the Piano IV Proficiency or be enrolled in Piano III or IV at the time of review and and successfully complete the course, with a grade of C or better. If enrolled in Piano IV during the semester of the review, students are highly encouraged to take and pass the Piano IV Proficiency at the end of the semester to ensure the highest rate of passing.

Piano Majors must have taken and passed the studio Piano Proficiency at the time of the review.

Transfer Students who are unable to enroll in a class piano section during their first semester of study, they may be given probationary status, with the approval of the Music Studies Committee, that will allow them to take select upper level classes while they work to fulfill the missing requirements.

  

MAJOR ENSEMBLES (Located under the Major in Music Studies, BM section of your Degree Audit)

Students must take and complete 4 semesters of a major ensemble (ensembles may vary as long as they're considered a major ensemble per your area and degree audit) in order to pass the ULCR. Note, for Instrumental (non-string) Music Studies majors, Marching Band is only considered your Major ensemble in your first semester of your freshman year.