CSUB launches new bachelor's degree in music teacher preparation

Program to eventually replace existing B.A. music education concentration

By California State University, Bakersfield

October 27^th, 2025

Growing up in the small community of New Cuyama, west of Kern County, Melanie Estrada didn’t have access to a school music program. It wasn’t until she moved with her family to Taft while she was still in middle school that Estrada was able to begin learning how to play music.

She quickly joined her school band and would go on to participate in choir and color guard, which she continued in high school. Now, Estrada plans to turn that passion into a career by pursuing a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) in music teacher education at California State University, Bakersfield, a new degree pathway that launched this fall.

“I think my experience growing up rural and not having music has fueled why I want to be a music educator,” she said. “I understood that having music in a school is so beneficial to children and adolescents. It can be a community for kids who really need it. It activates all areas of your brain. There are so many reasons why it is crucial.”

The new degree will replace the music education concentration that has been offered by CSUB as part of the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) music program. All students who are still in that program — mostly juniors and seniors — will be able to earn the degree and graduate before it will be phased out and replaced within the next year or two by the B.M.

The degree offers several new courses including Introduction to Music Education as well as more discipline-specific courses, such as guitar and vocal pedagogy for children and adolescents. New classes will continue to be rolled out over the next year.

“We are really excited about this new degree,” said Dr. Ángel Vázquez-Ramos, professor and chair of the Music and Theatre Department. “We want to create a new generation of music educators in this area that will help transform Kern County. We need people from here who want to be here and want to make a difference in their community.”

Dr. Vázquez-Ramos said the goal of the new degree is to prepare students as much as possible for teaching any form of music across all age K-12 age groups.

“We have to prepare people with a broad set of skills they can use so they are ready to tackle any type of job,” he said.

The B.M. arrives amid a rising demand for music educators in the state following the passage of Proposition 28 in 2022, which gives K-12 schools in California extra funding — the equivalent of 1% of their total state and local funding — for arts education programs.

“Throughout the entire state, there has been a need to hire people that are ready to take on those jobs, but we don’t have enough of them,” Dr. Vázquez-Ramos said. “We see a perfect storm of how everything has been timed where we will be able to supply the demand for teachers. We need more music educators, and we are going to be ready to put them in a good position throughout the entire state.”

The new degree has been in the works for nearly five years, as it took a lot of time to develop the program, get approved and ensure that the program met the standards of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and can secure accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music.

“It takes a lot of work. It’s a long journey justifying the need for the degree, making sure it meets the criteria,” Dr. Vázquez-Ramos said. “We know that this is special, that this is important. We believe we are making a difference and fulfilling the mission of the university.”

One of the professors who has been there since the beginning is former department chair Dr. Joel Haney. He and some of the other faculty in the department wanted the music education program to have its own degree, but they quickly learned that significant changes to the program would be needed for it to meet the standards of a B.M.

“A B.A. indicates more of a liberal arts degree where there’s usually a substantial general education program and a medium-sized major,” he said. “This B.M. is a large major with a lot of classes, a lot of units.”

The new degree requires 127 units to graduate, which goes beyond the traditional 120 units for most bachelor’s degrees in the CSU. However, Dr. Haney noted that certain general education classes will fulfill multiple requirements in the degree that will help prevent the GE requirements to help make it more manageable for students.

“I’m very proud that we accomplished this and that we had so much support along the way from administration,” he said. “I want to see this continuing to help us recruit students to come to CSUB, to see the fruits of our labors with those who get jobs in our community and continue to raise the level of music education in Kern County.”

'An obvious choice'

When Estrada first came to CSUB last year as a freshman and learned about the new degree pathway, she immediately knew it was the right fit for her.

“When I heard that it was in the process of being approved, I was really excited. For me, it was an obvious choice,” she said. “The new degree has a lot more classes, more specific classes that I think would help better prepare me for the job field.”

Estrada has enjoyed her experience in the program so far. She is currently taking the Introduction to Music Education course as well as the Guitar Pedagogy course.

“I’m really liking it so far,” she said of the program. “I’m learning more about what it’s actually like to be a music teacher, more of the nuances you don’t get in your basic music theory classes.”

Estrada is primarily a vocalist while also having prior instrumental experience. She hopes to one day become a high school choir director, but she likes that the degree is giving her the tools to be able to teach all kinds of music.

“It’s really good that there are courses that make you more well-rounded, because the job field is very diverse. You never know what courses you’re going to end up teaching,” she said.

Fellow music education major and Associated Students Inc. President Anthonio Reyes also appreciates the all-encompassing framework of the new degree.

“The old degree prepared students as well as it could, but this offers a lot more specific training and instruction for what it means to be a music educator. We have classes dedicated to how to teach these specific subjects that are a huge part of a student’s experience,” he said. “It’s really preparing teachers for any job scenario they may find themselves in.”

Reyes believes having that broad level of experience is crucial given the impact of Prop. 28 on school districts.

“Our local programs are really well funded right now, but what that also means is that we need good stewardship, and that comes directly from the teachers running those programs,” he said. “I think that this degree is really going to really prepare those teachers to have the knowledge and skills to be able to properly utilize those funds and teach the future musicians of our community.”

Reyes, who specializes in the trombone, has been playing music ever since he was about 11 years old. While in middle and high school, Reyes said he mostly “went for the music. Everything else was secondary to me.”

Reyes knew he wanted to pursue a career in music, but he wasn’t sure how. By the time he was approaching the end of his senior year in high school, he had determined that becoming a music teacher was what he wanted to do.

“I want to give back to future students. I want to be that person who can show students how to enjoy and love music, regardless of what their future aspirations are,” he said. “I think music can be a part of everyone’s lives, and it really benefits everyone when you’re part of an ensemble like that.”

Being a Latino, Reyes said it is also personally important to him to help bring more representation to the field.

“None of my music teachers growing up looked like me, not that that was something I noticed right away,” he said. “I think having that representation growing up would have been beneficial for me. Being able to be part of that is important, to give back and be that representation that I didn’t have.”

While Reyes has enjoyed his experience in the program, he acknowledged that time management has been a challenge for him.

“The program at CSUB has offered me community. I’m building relationships with my fellow students and professors,” he said. “But there are a lot of out-of-classroom commitments that are tied to the degree, a lot of rehearsal time that’s involved. You can’t just go to class and go home as a music student, so balancing work, life and school can be a big challenge.”

While music students are embracing the new bachelor’s degree, the music teacher preparation program is small. The university currently only has around 40 music education majors across both the B.A. and B.M. programs.

Dr. Vázquez-Ramos expects that number to grow in the coming years as current and potential students learn about the new degree.

“We’re quite a bit smaller than other music programs, but I think we’ve caught up in the quality of what we are offering. I believe the quality of what we have is exceptional, and it will compete with any other similar program throughout the entire state,” he said. “I’m hoping that, little by little, people will see that and realize you don’t have to leave Kern County to receive a high-level education in music education.”