| The purpose of this study was to examine the withdrawal rates and patterns of undergraduate Music Education majors, with a specific focus on the individual experiences of students withdrawing from the major. In examining these experiences, the potential for identification of possible commonalities among withdrawn students was explored. The overall subject population (N = 1103) consisted of students enrolled in the undergraduate Music Education program at a large southeastern university between the years of 1995 and 2010. A mixed-methods approach consisting of a quantitative analysis of students enrolled in the Music Education major for a 10-year period from 1995 to 2005 (n = 868) and a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews of recently withdrawn students (n = 14) were identified from the total population. Results from the quantitative portion of the study indicated that approximately half of the student population enrolled in the Music Education major withdrew from that major prior to degree completion. These results also indicated that degree completion rates varied according to the specific Music Education track, with students majoring in Music Education -- General completing the degree at the highest rate, followed by Music Education -- Choral and Music Education -- Instrumental, respectively. Results of the qualitative portion of the study on subjects' pre-college experiences found commonalities in their enjoyment of music performance, opportunities to teach, and the impact of school music teachers. Subjects' experiences during college were diverse, with concerns focusing on the applied music component of the degree surfacing as being important to a majority of interviewees. The reasons given for withdrawal from the Music Education program were also diverse, including dismissal from the applied music studio, erosion of personal confidence as a musician, realizations about their feelings towards music versus their feelings about teaching in general as it related to their personal career goals, and finally, personal life issues. Following withdrawal from Music Education, student experiences showed no consistent pattern in terms of regret over their decision to leave Music Education, though all interviewed subjects reported that they remained actively involved in music in some way. Implications of these results are discussed in relation to individual experiences and the function of those experiences within the context of current models of student persistence. |
