The program enables students to meet certification requirements for teaching music in Michigan elementary and public schools. The Core Music Program Musical training at GVSU emphasizes solo and ensemble performance for all students. The core program also includes music theory, aural perception, music history, and keyboard musicianship courses. Instrumental music education students are given extensive training in an eight-semester sequence of voice and brass, woodwind, string, percussion instruments. Beyond general teaching methods, B.M.E. instrumental students study the tenets of marching band techniques both in the classroom and on the field.
Private study is encouraged and offered beyond the four-semester sequence of group study.
Classes and seminars taken concurrently with the practicum allow students to continually identify and address issues crucial to effective music teaching. Service work, professional development, and music education advocacy are the group's primary missions.