Are you a music teacher? Are you studying to be a music teacher? Do you know someone who is a music teacher or is studying to be one? Now we've got more hands up :) As we all know, the teaching profession in general has been hit very hard over the last few years with too many new graduating candidates and not nearly enough positions open (I've heard the ratio of applications per job opening is 200-300 to 1 in some instances). If you are a music teacher, I think the odds may even be more difficult when trying to land your first traditional teaching job. If that's the case you'll want to prepare early while going to school if you can to help better your chances of getting that first job. And then if you don't land that first traditional teaching job, being prepared will help you create your own job in the field that you love. That's right create your own job. Sometimes you do what you gotta do :)
I found this article today with called MajoringInMusic.com - 7 Things Music Education Majors can do to Make themselves more employable . Written by Dr. Deborah Sheldon, Music Education chair at Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance, it does a really good job of laying out a framework of things to consider as you move from your first years of college as a music major to your graduation. Some of the tips may seem obvious ("Be a great musician"), but you would be surprised at how many musicians aren't really at the level that will get kids and their parents to really notice. Another tip is "learn how to improvise". I can tell you first hand that I've met a lot of musicians over the years who can't play unless that have a piece of music in front of them. Not being able to improvise or play by ear will definitely limit your opportunities both in teaching and in the performing world. 5 more tips follow and perhaps the most important beyond thes efirst two is "learn to be entrepreneurial". That is learn to treat what your doing as a business (anybody ever hear of the music business?). Just like other trades, the better you are at handling the business aspects and the more creative you are at making your own opportunities, the more successful you will be hands down.
Perhaps the best part about this particular article is the comments and feedback left by readers mostly made up of other music educators. The breadth and depth of their experiences really help them to offer a multitude of pros and cons about their career and different scenarios of how to make it as a music teacher. If you teach music or you're going to school to teach music or you're just thinking about it, I encouragte you to read the article and comments right here - MajoringInMusic.com - 7 Things Music Education Majors can do to Make themselves more employable .
We'll definitely be exploring the subject of teaching music and careers in music much more as we expand our mission. If we're gonna get more kids and adults playing music we're absolutely gonna need more music teachers.
That's all for this week kiddies - have a great weekend and stop back tomorrow for the weekend edition of the Love Songs Blog - Part 1 :)
Music, Love & Laughter,
Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #11 - Please visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission
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