Concidering being a music teacher

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Yep, you heard me. My mom didnt think I was serious either. She laughed and said, "I cant see you doing that." I dont know specifically what ill teach, but something with music would be good. My Music Technology I and II teacher got me interested. What jobs are there in the music teaching field?

Teachers' starting wage is above my minimum standard of living, so thats excelent. Music is also great, and id love to talk about it and teach music type stuff to people.

What things would I have to know ahead of time before I start college and what type of classes would I take? Or rather, what are these classes like?
Also, are there any tips for a person who generally doesnt like kids of any age group and has trouble (a lot) with speaking among a large crowd? Ive never been a 20 someting year old teacher speaking to a bunch of teenagers before, so maybe it would be easier than speaking in front of a bunch of people my own age.
If any of you are music teachers, id really like to hear your response.

Oh yeah...and do you think any schools would hire a teacher with long hair? I keep it neat and im obsessed with trying to make it look nice.

Please teach us music!

Since you have difficulty speaking in front of groups of people, I think you would find a career as a music teacher too difficult and overwhelming.

Have you seen the film, "Mr Holland's Opus?" That delightful and enjoyable film will give you a very good idea of what a music
teacher does. You cannot pick the specific age of students in a school setting that you want to teach...and if you work in a private
setting, like giving music lessons to individual people, you will find it very hard to make enough money to make a living.

There is alot of social interactions with other people as a music teacher, both in school and outside the classroom. Not only are you in front of people performing the music but remember, you also have an audience who is listening to the music being performed...and many times, that audience can be a huge crowd.

If you are serious about a music teacher career, check out the Career Books in the Reference Section of your local library which
will show you what you will need to study to become a music teacher, career aptitudes, and other personal requirements. I think
you will discover that you will need to re-think music as a career choice.

Best of luck to you!

Hi! Glad to see someone else out there with a similar interest! Good luck to you!

As for what classes you will take to be a music teacher, at some point you will take music theory (4 semesters, probably), music history and literature, upper-level theory electives like orchestration and advanced music form and analysis courses. There will be ear training courses that will require you look at music you've never seen before and sing it on sight (easy if you have perfect pitch); AND you'll have to listen to music and notate it, entirely by ear. You'll also perform in large choral or instrumental ensembles, depending on which direction you're going. You'll perform in at least one chamber (small group) ensemble. You'll do a lot of solo recitals as well. There will be a rotation on every instrumental group, which can be a lot of fun. You will also want to take at least two semesters of conducting. Every semester you will study with a mentoring/advising teacher on your instrument/voice and pass several juries to move through levels (levels just represent where you are musically and vary according to your specific degree; music education majors will not pass all the same levels as, say, performance majors).

Those are the BASIC music courses most music majors will take. Here's the hard part: Do you want to teach privately (individually) or in a classroom? If you teach privately, you'll need to bulk up on literature and pedagogy courses. If you teach in the classroom, then you'll take courses that help you prepare for teaching at all levels, elementary through high school.

The next step is preparing for and passing all the required tests for teacher certification (if you're going the classroom route). You will take psychology courses--probably almost as many as psych majors! These courses will be about general psych, child development, educational psychology (basically how to manage a classroom). In the real world, you'll find that the classroom is such a rapid-fire place you'll have no time to recall and apply all those theories or teach right-brain/left-brain/whatever. Stick with common sense and you'll be fine. You'll spend at least one semester observing teachers in one or more schools. You're last semester will probably be your field experience semester (student teaching). Most of you're time will probably be observing your teacher, but you will have plenty of opportunities to "fly solo." The best thing to do is take the initiative by pulling low-performing or marginal students away for some one-on-one instruction. When you become comfortable working with 2 or 3 kids, take a section. It's the perfect lead-in to managing an entire group!

For private instruction or tutoring, you have completely different things to worry about. There are two ways to really succeed at this. First, find a successful private instructor who will let you observe and even co-teach. Second, find an instructor who is near retirement or relocating to a different area. If that person has a large studio already and their kids are used to you, you could conceivably have a large sustainable income. Supporting a family on freelance income is not easy, so you'll have to stay busy.

Now, as far as what your courses are like: Music theory is the combination of what used to be called Harmony with musical form and contemporary trends. You'll study a LOT of voice leading (correctly harmonizing melodic lines with SATB voicing). You'll also learn harmonic procedure and progression--basically what makes Mozart sound like Mozart or Debussy sound like Debussy. You'll learn basic forms and processes: Fugue, Canon, ABA, Sonata, Rondo, Minuet-and-trio, etc. You'll study some avant-garde, 20th Century, Contemporary practices: indeterminant works of John Cage, 12-tone music of Schoenberg and Webern, minimalism of Reich and Glass, and you'll see how other composers have used extended performance techniques like multiphonics, microtones, timbre variation, unusual bowing techniques, electronics (fixed media and interactive) to get different sound effects. You may be even asked to compose music in the different styles you're studying at different times.

Music history and literature is basically what it sounds like! You'll listen to a LOT of music from various time periods: medieval, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, 20th Cent/contemporary. At some point in your exams, you will have to listen to music that you may/may not have heard and identify what it is, when it was written, and (possibly) who wrote it. Every work has special clues that give it away, all you have to do is listen.

Conducting courses are fairly easy: you'll learn different conducting patterns and then you'll rehearse music with a group. If you're an Aspie, you may find this difficult because of the high level of interaction it requires. You'll have to plan out EVERY step you'll take in rehearsal and stick to it. You won't get to everything on your list, but that's ok. Be prepared to take any questions from performers, but keep your answers short so you can spend most of your time reading music.

Methods courses can be a lot of fun: You'll get an idea of what it's like playing every instrument in the orchestra. School music methods can also be fun because you get to be a kid again! Part of elementary music is playing with the different instruments, bells, drums, and other toys.

Everything else I've already described a little.

As for speaking on front of crowds: My advice is do anything you can to avoid speaking! I'm very serious about this. The more you talk, #1 the more likely YOU are to drift from the topic, #2 the more likely the kids will get bored and miss the point, and #3 the LESS time spent actually playing music. School music is all about having fun and performing. Unlike a lot of other "academic" courses, you can write just about anything on your lesson plans and no one will care. Your main concern is getting results and making sure parents and school administrators see that. You'll also have to keep parents involved in your programming if you want to keep it alive. Therefore you will have to hold meetings and be prepared to speak. If you're an Aspie, you already seem awkward to others. Do anything you can get away with to mask that, even if it means acting out in totally weird and outlandish ways. That gets and holds a crowd's attention. The more confident you appear, the more likely your parents will buy into what you're doing.

There are a lot of teaching jobs. These are the obvious ones: Band director, choral director, general music/music appreciation, elementary/middle school music. Larger school systems may have more elementary teachers and possibly elementary band, middle school band, assistant HS band director, and the equivalents for choral music (I did band/general music for 5 years).

One other note on teaching large groups: Kids look up more to older "grandfatherly" types. You'll find later in your 20's that managing a classroom gets easier. You'll also inevitably develop the "look." When effectively mastered and implemented, the "look" will eliminate MOST of your classroom discipline problems. I don't know how to describe it, but you'll figure it out after you've been teaching a while. All good teachers have it!

So just a little bit about my own experience: My first love is performing, but my greatest love is composing. For me, teaching and performing is a way to make a living while composing. The trouble is classroom teaching is all-consuming and never left me much time to do other things. If we're being real, band directing is a full time job on part-time pay. In the end, my superiors failed to appreciate my vision for band/music programs (or they just didn't like ME) and I ended up leaving the classroom after 5 years. In spite of that, I'm teaching piano and other instruments at the last school I worked for, and I teach adult non-credit piano at a community college extension. I have plenty free time I fill up by composing and practicing. I'm currently the only paid staff accompanist at a church. I play weddings/funerals/parties/fundraisers. I play keyboards full-time for one rock band and as a substitute for another. Lately I've taken an interest in song writing and production and am eager to work with good lyricists and singers. The main point is survival as a musician depends on your willingness to diversify your talents and reinvest in your craft.

Teaching and performing music can be a richly rewarding career. But take on the challenge only if you're willing to make some painful sacrifices in time, money, and relationships. It's not easy or glamorous. Colleges can't tell you this, but a music education major is typically a 5-year program, not 4-year like other degrees. You'll spend most of your time in the music building--usually practicing, going to concerts/recitals, working music theory homework with classmates, or just hanging out with other music majors between activities. If you have a steady boyfriend/girlfriend back home, break up with them before college. You won't see them after school starts unless they come with you and also major in music! This is why so many music majors end up getting married to each other--they don't get to see anyone else. The isolation and high stress level of the degree is also the reason why music majors are such heavy drinkers on the weekends. I'm not trying to discourage you. I have two music degrees (B.M.E. instrumental music and M. Mus. Composition) and they were both worth everything I had to endure to earn them. Just don't go into a music program with the wrong expectations. It is a lot of heartache, but you will have professors and upperclassmen that are there to help you (you'll also want to get to know younger students and help them the same way).

Good luck! Let us know how things are going.

Zsazsa: I love that movie! Isnt that the one where the teacher has a deaf son? I should find it and watch it again. I havent seen it in a long time. I can learn to handle crowds and talking to groups of people. I need to get used to it, for one. I dont get out of the house much, so that can have an impact on things.

AngelRho: Wow... I didnt think there would be that much work involved. I mean, I knew there would be work, but I didnt think getting the degree would be so involved. When you mentioned how id almost never get to see my girlfriend, I cringed. I dont have a girlfriend (and probably wont for a long time anyway), but being in a strong relationship is the greatest feeling in the world. I had a girlfriend before, and that feeling of knowing someone loves me in a romantic way was amazing. I am a little discouraged, but I still have the interest.

I dont think I want to be a private music teacher, because it would be hard to find work. Im very turned away by freelance stuff, and when I heard thats most likely what ill be doing for video effects & motion graphics, I backed away from that pretty fast.

Solo recitals and singing? Really? Im a horrible singer and I have almost no experience with instruments. I can play piano a little bit, but thats all. Im assuming they will teach me all that stuff at the college, right? Like, im not expected to know how to do that ahead of time. My The singing is probably for Chorus classes in school, but I have no interest in that. My Music Tech teacher said he doesnt really know how to play any instrument besides a little piano and ive never heard him sing. He is the jazz band orchestrator so being a music teacher probably does involve more than teaching in a classroom.

Regarding music degrees and relationships, this is from my own experience:

When I started college, my girlfriend was in her senior year of high school. We tried to make it through one year, but it was very difficult. I was in marching band and pledged a fraternity, so half of my weekends were already out as far as going back home. Also, I wasn't used to being noticed by other older women, so being faithful wasn't easy during that year.

When she came, it was great at first. But it wasn't long before we started feeling the effects of my responsibilities to my classes and to fraternity activities (Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, I made many friends and it saved my life more times than I can count!). We were lucky to get meals together, all before having to go practice for another 4 hours. I think we made it another 2 years and were about to get married. My wake-up call happened when I realized that our relationship, which had been strained enough already before college, wasn't going to get any better just because we got married. I hear Aspies that do become involved in relationships become too easily attached to one person. Breaking up with her was one of the most difficult things I ever did, but in the end it was the best thing I could have done for both of us.

Ironically, the woman I DID marry would have been one of her bridesmaids!

About that: It wasn't long after that my wife and I started dating. In my last year as an undergrad, I began taking steps to apply for graduate studies in composition. That's important because I'd had absolutely NO formal training in composition. All I did was submit a piano piece, an art song, and a band piece. Otherwise I talked to the composer I wanted to study with, and my clarinet teacher wrote a glowing recommendation--two things that were key in getting accepted. So I moved from Mississippi to New York State. For two years, I only got to see my girlfriend during winter and summer vacations. Not fun. During that time I felt drawn to a sweet freshman pianist. Meanwhile, my Mississippi girlfriend dropped out of college.

Two years later, I'm breaking up with my NY girl and going home to my MS girl. I get my first teaching job and SHE decides to go back to school to finish her degree!! ! Two more years and we're finally married. I want you to know that it CAN work out. But I also want you to see how difficult it can be. That's why I say the best thing you can do is stay unattached and try to find another music major that you'll tend to spend more time with, anyway. Again, there are exceptions: my wife's degree is in psychology.

Your traditional music degrees are INTENSE. You will likely have to perform either an instrument or voice. It sounds to me that you'd more likely be a voice major. If so, you'll likely have trouble with music theory. Instrumental music DEPENDS on music notation, whereas vocal music is more easily taught by rote and by ear. All music majors will have piano proficiency exams. However, you will have professors help you with that. If you can already read music and play piano, even just a little, you're already ahead of the game. Most schools offer remedial music theory or some kind of intro or primer course; and you'll find there are plenty of upperclassmen willing to help! I began composing in high school, but I never felt I'd really mastered notating music until years after I'd finished my master's. Playing church music from lead sheets and playing in a rock band (everything by ear) were the two things that really me master all those concepts I learned years ago in my theory and composition classes.

You don't have to be a stellar singer. The only thing a college is looking for is some degree of skill or ability that they can develop. If, for example, the Met opera called YOU for an audition or you were a finalist on American Idol, then you don't really need to go to college! So yes, they do teach you. But the more talent and ability you already have, the better.

Here's how I prepared for music school: I briefly took piano in 5th grade. I started band in 6th grade playing clarinet. By the time I was in high school, I'd played clarinet, alto clarinet, oboe, bass guitar, percussion, and tuba. Every summer I went to band camp where I took lessons on clarinet. I began auditioning for Lion's Club All-State Band (most prestigious hs honor band in MS) in 10th grade. I studied privately in 11th and 12th grades and made Lion's Band both years. In 8th grade I began studying music theory and piano. I performed in other honor bands/clinics until my senior year. That year I did DSU Honor Band and USM All-South. I also made the rounds auditioning at those and another school. I ended up going to Delta State partially because that was the best scholarship offer (not because it was my first choice). I'm glad I went because it isn't likely other teachers would have had the same positive impact as my piano and clarinet teachers at DSU!

About solo recitals and singing: Performances are part of most music degrees. Even when I was studying composition, my teachers were not satisfied that my work was finished until either I or a student/group of students had performed it. Honestly, I'm not a good singer, either. I did take lessons for my vocal credits instead of voice class, though, and it wasn't that bad! Ergo I can sing in English, German, Italian, and church Latin (sorry, no French).

That's MY experience, and aside from all the honor band stuff in high school, it's not that much different for most music majors. Here's my OPINION on what maybe YOU should do:

It sounds to me that you are interested in music and you're attracted to teaching because it seems like an easy way to make a living. It also sounds to me like you may have some musical knowledge but no applicable skills. If you want to go the music teaching route, you need to at least find a voice teacher and maybe pick up some basic chord theory. If you go to college with a basic understanding of scales, modes, chords, and music notation, you won't have too much trouble with freshman theory (the #1 killer of voice majors). The best practical advice I have has to do with actually teaching music--anybody can earn a music ed. degree. But if you aren't genuinely passionate about teaching kids music, then you're students will be miserable and they'll make YOU miserable.

Your interest in music seems to stem from what you've learned in music tech. You might do better taking courses in music business or the recording industry. In that case, you might consider schools like Berkeley in Boston or Belmont in Nashville. What you'll need to do then is satisfy any kind of state testing for your license and then, of course, find a job. For me, teaching is ONE way of making a living. Teaching, however, is not EVERYTHING. Since I graduated, I spent a lot of time using instrument samples to make demos of my work. What I didn't realize is that I was acquiring the skills of a producer. Now I'm about to self-publish a choir anthem that has never been performed. In order to convince a choir to sing it, I need a good demo. I'm happy with the orchestra track, but I'll need to hire session singers and possibly an engineer for the final product. So I'm pulling all my composing, arranging, conducting, and recording skills together to make this work! I bought two guitars, hot-rodded one of them, and learned how to play so I can have some "real" instrument sounds. Very soon I'll have access to a Synclavier. The idea here is that even though music is central to my way of life, I can't survive as a musician without performing in a wide range of areas. If your interest is music technology, you should first market yourself as a tech and try for jobs in the industry. Second, you should be about the business of acquiring other skills that will help you along the way. You might start out as a recording or live engineer, sell mixers in a music store, and raise the capital to build your own recording studio, music store, or both!

So don't go into teaching if you're only going to have a complacent attitude about it or you aren't prepared for the work involved. There's no such thing as an easy way to make a living in music. When I taught in schools, I never took home more than $29,000 a year. When I teach lessons, I charge $30/hour. I earn $600 a month playing for a church. I might make $100 a night playing in a band. For weddings and parties I charge $100 to play up to two hours and often get paid more than that. At those rates, I could potentially earn between 50,000 and 60,000 a year at full capacity, and that's in poorest state in the US! Compare that to an independent, small-town record producer who's lucky to break even.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. I'll be glad to help.