“Partnerships between higher education institutions can benefit music teacher educators and their students in a number of ways,” says Rhoda Bernard of The Boston Conservatory. For example:

• A partnership between two or more colleges can make it possible to bring in a renowned scholar or clinician for a residency. The presenter speaks in classes at both schools, gives workshops attended by students and faculty, and performs at a concert sponsored by the two institutions.
   
• Higher education institutions can collaborate in music teacher education through research projects. Faculty members from multiple institutions join together to design and conduct a research study in a specific area of music education, and selected students can participate as research assistants, gathering data and helping with data analysis and writing.
   
• Professors from more than one college can design a special music education program for a nearby school or group of schools and can work together, along with their students, to implement the program. Preservice music educators have the opportunity to work directly with K-12 students in classroom and ensemble settings as part of the program, and they make important connections with their colleagues at other colleges.
   

Does your school collaborate with another institution for the greater good?  Let other MENC members know about it by writing to Ella Wilcox at ellaw@menc.org. Share your ideas in 150 words or fewer for greatest likelihood of online publication.

MENC member Rhoda Bernard, Ed.D., is the chair of the Music Education Department at The Boston Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts.

Check out the two previous articles in this partnership series:

Partnerships in Music Education

The Most Critical Music Ed Partnership

--Ella Wilcox, February 4, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)