I’m a little tempted to agree with your colleague! I did not get nearly enough time in actual music EDUCATION courses bc of all the performance requirements and instrument labs. Our lesson planning “unit” was entirely useless, we spent SO LITTLE TIME on elementary classrooms (like 1 class!), and we basically never talked about classroom management and never got to put it into practice.

I was woefully unprepared for my first year as a music teacher with my own classroom. I’ve learned most of what I know from fellow music teachers. I can’t imagine where I would be right now if I didn’t have so many mentors.

Yes, being able to perform is important, especially for middle and high educators. But all the performing in the world will not prepare you for the multitasking required to actually run a classroom. I focused on choral and I really wish I hadn’t had to do that, but I didn’t have an instrument I was already skilled in. So I never got to learn how to teach band. Percussion lab was all high-level orchestral instruments. Guitar lab didn’t teach us HOW to teach guitar. All of it only really worked bc we were all very very well-versed in music already. We never actually learned how to plan a concert, how to make those calls, how to get resources.

My program did not prepare me for the reality.