Higher education underwent an unprecedented transformation from conventional face-to-face education to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue building bridges to music learning for all. In the 2020-2021 academic year, most universities throughout the U.S. had moved educational programs online, so professors and instructors, with and without previous remote learning experience, were suddenly expected to shift to synchronous or asynchronous classroom settings. Facilitated through Learning Management Systems (LMS), many teaching and learning practices took place in web-based environments. Some schools allowed a combination of in-person or hybrid classes by complying with evolving COVID-19 protocols (e.g., social distancing, facial coverings, etc). These novel implementations both offered benefits and raised challenges for higher education. Previous research studies assert that students tend to become isolated due to fewer interactions within a highly remote learning context. Further few such studies have shown how students engage in hybrid educational delivery, and little was known about student engagement in music education courses integrated with online learning components.The current study investigated student engagement in college music education courses under a mass educational transition induced by the pandemic. This study utilized a mixed methods case study approach in which a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews concurrently investigated students’ three types of interactions: engaging with instructors, classmates, and learning content. Student-content interaction was found positively correlated to student-instructor interaction. Interview participants further explained that having instructors’ clear rules and expectations, an active presence in class and active discussion sessions would result in better learning. Student-content interaction was also found to be positively correlated to student-student interaction, implying that increased communications between peers were beneficial to self-learning. “Clear rules,” “Interact with classmates,” and “Complete all assigned work” were individually found dominant within the factors of student engagement. The variance analysis showed no statistically significant difference in student engagement between grade levels. Qualitative analysis provided a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of student experiences as they engaged with online learning elements. The data integration procedure produced three distinct cases representing different levels of student engagement (poorly-engaged, moderately-engaged, and highly-engaged cases). The highly-engaged case showed rapid adaptability in committing to innovative learning models, whereas the moderately-engaged case presented a slower adaptation. The poorly-engaged case displayed the most adjustment reluctance.. Among the research implications for how online learning components can be better incorporated in music education courses include the need for student development of a self-accountability mindset.