Past successes in music education and teacher preparation must not cause us to ignore the nature and potential of present policy influences and strategic challenges. For a successful future, we must fervently protect certain ideas and conditions often obscured by illusions about present circumstances, possibilities, and powers. Illusions in areas such as time, conceptual opponents, and span of control can lead to wrong decisions that harm the field. Attention to illusions is important when considering teacher preparation curricula and various national standards. As the field continues to look at teacher preparation, we need to consider a number of strategic questions and choices, including the nature of our aspirations, curricular decisions, distinctions between sequential and cumulative strategies, and scope and nature of music education research.