Bylica, KellyZullinger IV, Charles F.2025-05-142025-05-142025https://hdl.handle.net/2144/504162025Schools of music in the United States often frame a singular notion of “musicianship” as legitimate, thus constructing barriers for potential applicants. Although programs may point towards broad definitions of musicianship, substantial changes have yet to be made when imagining musical understandings from non-normative and wide-ranging knowledge and perspectives. Despite this, multi-musical backgrounds exist throughout an inter-relational network in the world today, and many seek to attend schools of music to gain music education teacher licensure. Rather than viewing themselves in a single, specialized musical role, multi-musicians create, arrange, and perform that involve a variety of tools, techniques, and approaches. Hybridized environments allow musicians the opportunity to engage in these roles through musical understandings as performer, composer, arranger, or producer, however schools of music rarely operate in such a manner. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand the perspectives and values of multi-musical preservice and inservice music educators in U.S. based preservice education programs.One way to understand multi-musical individuals is through the concept of cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism recognizes that members of a community – or a community of practice such as a preservice music education program – are multifaceted and have various needs, while at the same time appreciating the possibilities for interconnectedness and cooperation amongst members. Embracing conceptions of cosmopolitan musicianship has the potential to realign how the field of music education conceives of the boundaries between creator and audience, maker, and consumer, which has implications for both how and why music is created in and beyond the classroom. In this study, I used a theoretical framework that draws from cosmopolitan musicianship and communities of practice to both outline the current and past experiences of preservice and in-service music educators and, alongside participants, to develop a vision of how preservice teacher education programs might embrace multi-musical individuals as central to preservice music educator the program frameworks. Using case study as research design, data generation involved focus group sessions and individual semi-structured interviews with three preservice and three in-service music educators who identified as multi-musical. Data were analyzed by thematic analysis as I sought to understand how participants construct meaning as multi-musicians and music educators. Through thematic analysis, I present the findings, focusing on the themes: (1) Isolation and Belonging, (2) Connection and Dis/connection, (3) Inadequacy, and (4) Legitimacy and Conformity. I then share participants’ visions of preservice music education programs based on the themes derived through analysis.en-USMusic educationThesis/Dissertation2025-05-140000-0003-0573-142X