Abstract
Music teacher education programs can do little in the way of macro shifts in educational priorities or economic conditions that impact school music programs, but they can prepare music teachers to respond to changing needs by offering meaningful and relevant curricula and through alternative approaches to instruction. In addition to providing an environment for teachers to learn instructional methods and techniques, music teacher education programs should also provide future educators with a place to think about and experiment with new ways of musically educating students. Given the current conditions of music education in schools and societal shifts, educating for innovation should become an added component to our signature pedagogy. The purpose of this chapter is to describe why it is imperative that music educators develop an innovative disposition and to offer some ideas for how this might be realized within a music teacher education program.