The Path to Teaching Music
By Dawn Allcot, N2Arts Correspondent
How to become a music teacher
 

he saying, “Those who can’t do, teach,” isn’t entirely true. To teach music is to pass on your own love and knowledge of the art. But it’s not an “easy backup plan” to a career as a performer.

Ardene Shafer, assistant executive director of member programs and publications at MENC, the national association for music education, dispels the myth that you don’t have to be an accomplished performer to teach music.

“To be a teacher, students really need to know how to play well or sing well, because they’ll have to perform an audition to get into a music program at the college level.” In fact, in addition to knowing your own instrument, an instrumental music education major must become proficient on all the instruments in a band or orchestra. Studying with a private teacher can help guide you along the path you’ll follow to become an educator, including an introduction to the repertoire you’ll need.

Whether your aim is to teach choir or instrumental music, Schaeffer also recommends gaining some background in piano playing. “The beginning theory courses will be a little easier to handle, if you do,” she says.

While the past decade brought us a nationwide teacher shortage, recruiting programs introduced recently should help ease that shortage in coming years. However, there will always be a need for good music teachers, especially in rural and inner-city areas. A talent for, and a love of, music, along with an abundance of job opportunities, are good reasons to become a teacher. But they’re not enough.

If you think you may want to enter the teaching profession, taking on leadership roles in your school and community will give you a taste of what it’s like to run a classroom.

Shafer says, “If there are activities where you work with kids in some kind of leadership role, that’s going to give you some really important experience to find out if teaching is something you want to do.”

You may help coach your little brother’s soccer team, help your mother lead a Girl Scout troop, or even look into tutoring younger students at your school. You can also find teamwork and leadership experiences with your peers. “If you have been involved in activities where you get to be part of a team, where you’re working in a group and learning how to compromise when you need to and learning how to lead at other times, that experience is going to be very helpful,” Shafer says.

You can also find these experiences right in your music room. Tell your band, orchestra or choir director that you are thinking about becoming a music educator. He may let you lead a small sectional, or tutor younger students. You may want to try out for drum major of the marching band, soloist in your jazz ensemble or choir, or try out for a chamber group.

Because of the intensive and broad range of study, a music ed. major can expect to spend five years completing required courses at the undergraduate level. That may sound like a long time, but you’ll leave with many of the tools required to be a successful music teacher.

While it’s a challenging job, the music education field has many resources - including MENC, your state music educator’s association, and conferences such as the Midwest Band and Orchestral clinic - that give new educators an opportunity to reach out and seek advice and assistance from seasoned pros. If you decide to become a music educator, you’ll never be alone.

Instead, you’ll be sharing a unique and rewarding career experience with some of the top musical minds in the country. Just ask Martha Damon O’Neill, a band director and past-president of the Nevada State Music Educators Association. “I’m thrilled to be a music educator,” she says. “It’s a wonderful way to spend my life.”

Dawn Allcot, journalist, editor and music education advocate, has enjoyed school music performances in venues from New York to Australia. As the former editor of Band & Orchestra Product News and a frequent contributor to School Band and Orchestra magazine, she strives to inspire young musicians and their teachers through her writing. Find out more at www.dawnallcot.com. She can be reached by email at dawnallcot@yahoo.com.