I Want A Teaching Position

[krenske]

Lets say that, in any given year, an average piano-professor may take in excess of 50 students. That is 50 individuals who want to be pianists, per year.

Allowing for changeover of pupils, that means each professor may teach more than 1000 pupils in his/her career, sometimes many more. So the ratio of professors to those who want to be professors is around 1000:1, at best.

Now for the bad news. On balance, around 50% of piano professors have gotten their job by "who they know", or other unbalanced arrangements. That means, unless your Aunt Mavis wills a million dollars to your preferred institution "for the betterment of the piano department", your odds of teaching there have just gone down to 2000:1.

Next, this "job", when Aunt Mavis helps you get it, is only really going to come when you're at least 30 or 35, so for the first 15 or so years, you're going to be working at 7/11, or possibly accompaning crappy first-year students, who have no idea how to play their concertos. And it will be hard to stay off drugs during this time. If you don't manage to stay away from them, your odds go directly to zero. It is OK to get addicted to alcohol and drugs AFTER you receive your contract as professor, but not before. In fact, it is "de rigeur".

And if you live in Australia, you can forget it totally, cos only foreigners get jobs here.

For those of you who dont live in Australia, your odds therefore just went back up to around 1980:1.

Good luck everyone:)

[krenske]

ooopsie, posted to the wrong section. can someone plz move it who knows how?

[pianistimo]

so...how old are you?

[nicco]

Im sorry, but that calculation is just completely utterly wrong.

[Tash]

krenske are you on drugs right now? cos i have only the vaguest idea of what you're on about....and since when did all students want to become professors? depends on what you're referring to as professors. as in uni professors? or just random general piano teachers? and then out of the 50 students, some drop out, some do another degree, and some do something else that may or may not relate to music. man i dunno what you're on about!

[soliloquy]

This formula works on the assumption that everybody who has at any point in their entire life taken a single piano lesson will not only become a competant player, but will also strive to become a piano teacher, and that they will get students.


Anyways, I take it you're having trouble finding work?

[krenske]

well, im talking about people who enter 1st year piano study in an institution - if you take the time to invibe the meaning of my statments, this will become clear. i suppose it's fair to assume that learning at this level either qualifies one for teaching or perhaps prepares for a career in performing. At least, that is what the course description usually states. i am talking about people who enter B.Mus or similar, and the course outlines, in almost any country you can think of, are very specifically worded, and designed only for this work. this is why alot of people with B.Mus find it hard to get work, as probably not even a used-car shop will employ you on the grounds of a B.Mus.
 
so, especially if your programme of study is funded in any way by government or government agencies, the idea of doing 1st year piano as a holiday after school is a little dishonest. having said that, it seems alot of people do it anyway.

As far what <soliloquy> has to add, regarding his claim that I assume "that everybody who has at any point in their entire life taken a single piano lesson will not only become a competant player, but will also strive to become a piano teacher"... you obviously haven't read what I wrote above. I specifically refer to "professors", a title which recognises a teacher's position in a university or similar, and am therefore referring to university-level music students. Having said this, the term "professeur" is used a little more loosely in France.  And no im not having trouble finding work!!