Rhoda Bernard is the Chair of the Music Education Department at The Boston Conservatory, where she leads and is the main teacher/advisor in a Master’s degree program that trains people to be K-12 music educators.
Rhoda teaches graduate courses in educational foundations, elementary methods, classroom strategies (including The Skillful Teacher and constructivism), and the seminar for student teachers. She also teaches an undergraduate course that is an introduction to Music Education. She supervises student teachers in elementary, middle, and high school general music, choral, and instrumental settings.
Rhoda supervises a 13-member faculty in the Music Education Department. Most of those faculty members are part-time in the department.
In September 2008, Rhoda launched The Boston Conservatory Program for Students on the Autism Spectrum, a special program where some Music Education students receive specialized training and ongoing support to teach private instrument lessons to children and adults on the autism spectrum. This program was created in partnership with the Autism Higher Education Foundation.
Current research interests include the professional identities of music educators, teacher reflective practice, music education in urban settings, curriculum as individual experience (currere), partnerships in music teacher education, and music education of special needs students. Rhoda has presented her research in local, regional, national, and international conferences, and she has published articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as book chapters.
Rhoda is a singer who specializes in jazz music and Jewish music in Yiddish and Hebrew. She recorded two CDs with the klezmer band, Klezamir, and continues to perform throughout New England. Rhoda has written settings of Yiddish poetry. She plays classical piano.
Chair, Music Education Department
The Boston Conservatory
8 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02215