teaching opportunities- college

[newbliss]

Hi:

I am in college and want to major in music. The only downside is I only have basically one choice for piano which is piano performance major (that I know of). Music ed is only orch, band, or choir and piano can't be your main instrument. This is very frustrating for me. My goals in life are not to be a performer. I want to teach piano (have a studio) and teach music classes in schools/college ie music theory, music history....etc. I do not want to be a director or elementary music teacher. I'm not really sure what to major in to do these things. Music performance you can't really get a job with unless you perform, music ed is for directors (?)(is that right?). There is a major in Arts in Music but I don't know what the job outlook is for that. What do I need to do in college to be able to teach music courses in either a high school/private school or college (which I'm sure you have to have masters and such). Piano is my principle instrument. I've been to visit colleges always assuming I would do piano performance but I am leaning away from that now because I want to be able to teach in schools. I am in texas by the way. Can you get a teaching certificate without doing music ed? Any help would be appreciated. I can't seem to find this information on university websites.

[quantum]

In Canada (at least where I live) a BEd plus your Music degree is required to teach in the school system.  The BEd is geared towards school teachers, but you can probably gather some useful teaching material as well.  Plus it would give you the advantage later down the road to become a school teacher.  

Have you considered a piano pedagogy program?  You may wish to attend an MTNA conference for a glimpse of the music teaching field.  

For a private school with decent standards, teachers would have a minimum ACRT or BMus (or equivalent degree).  You may still be competing for the job with people holding higher degrees.  

For post-secondary teaching, Masters is the norm for minimal requirements.  There are exceptions for people only holding undergraduate degrees holding some sort of professorship.  These people are exceptionally good at what they do however, and most likely have the experience to back it up.  You will be competing with people holding PhD's for the job.  

Additionally for post-secondary.  Not all teaching positions are permanent positions.  The college may hire contract professors, who's employment is dependent on student enrollments.  Some of the people employed as contract profs are just as degree qualified as full professors.  Some people prefer it over tenured positions.  You may wish to consider this if you want to really concentrate on teaching.  

Assistant, Associate or Full Professor positions will probably require a Masters, preferably PhD.  They are higher paid, however you may have research and administrative responsibilities in addition to teaching.   It is a point to consider whether you really want these additional responsibilities in exchange for higher pay. People with Post Doctoral experience (post-doc's) will have an edge in job selection.  

Have you considered learning a secondary instrument or two?  Perhaps another keyboard instrument such as organ or harpsichord?  It will give you more flexibility in the jobs available to you.  Universities like diversified teachers.    

Have you considered working with choirs, vocalists, instrumentalists and ensembles?  There are collaborative piano programs available.  

You mentioned music history.  Have a look into musicology or ethnomusicology.  See if these are things you could possibly teach.  

Best thing to do is talk to people who are already working in the field you are interested in.  

If you want info from universities, better to talk to students and teachers directly than rely on the promotional literature.  

[lostinidlewonder]

Very good info quantum.

No institution can really teach you completely how to be a piano teacher, it is a skill you learn while working in the field so get out there and just start teaching. From personal experience, engineers will pretty much use nothing of what they learnt at university (except work discipline ethic) when they work in the industry. Most jobs out there you need to be working in the field to really understand it.

If you want to teach music at a school then you should go ahead and get a teaching degree specializing in music not a piano degree specializing in teaching. I believe having a teaching degree in general is more important as it shows that you understand somewhat the psychology of teaching children as well as teaching principles and managing a large class room.

[newbliss]

Thank you for all the insite. It has really helped!

[Bob]

Maybe try a different place to study.  It doesn't sound like they focus a lot on pianists.

If you do go there, you could do piano performance and focus on teaching anyway -- Just start teaching.  If you have a studio when you leave and have the degree people aren't going to care so much about you having an education or pedagogy degree.  If you do want some education classes (music education I mean -- The education-education classes I took didn't focus on teaching much, more on political correctness and history of education, current issues, etc.) you ask to be in them, you could still try to get in as a music ed student -- Do the music ed classes (possibly drop that for a major after you've gotten the classes, or do the whole music ed degree.  There are plenty of people out there in music ed programs who are clearly trying to be a performer -- I imagine they're lying to some extent when they apply and continue through the program.  If you want to teach and want those classes, I don't see much difference.  And from what I can tell, if you are willing and able to pay, some place will sell you a degree.

The experience of teaching you learn on the job you can't get anywhere else.

I wouldn't discount educational pedagogy classes.  They don't always seem that worthwhile to me.  Some of just surveys of things -- which you can get by buying a book on teaching.  Some places have lab schools too which can be a very nice situation -- You take piano pedagogy classes, have a student group to work with, and have a mentor teaching to help you out with problems along the way.

If a place doesn't have piano as a primary instrument that sounds a little odd.  What is their piano faculty like?  And would those piano people be teaching piano teachers?  It sounds doubtful. 

I suppose another possibility is to create some kind of independent study degree.  I have heard of a few people who have done that -- Same idea-- You pay them, they sell a degree, so I don't think they always care what you get for a degree or what you end up doing after your schooling.

I kind of skimmed through your post... I agree with quantum about a masters being the minimum.  Community colleges are usually adjunct and don't hire people full time but they at least need a masters.  Universities, etc. usually require a doctorate (plus experience).  Although... I do wonder at some point, at what level of education, where the piano teacher is more of a performer than a teacher.  There are some out there that are really just performers doing coaching or offering random on the spot advice and not quite teaching, or not quite doing what I see as teaching.

[sonatainfsharp]

A B.M. in Piano Pedagogy is exactly designed for you. Find a school with that specific degree program and transfer. There is some cross-over between a Piano Ped program and Performance program, but they are not the same.

[avguste]

Welcome to our forums.

I am myself from Texas. I live in Grapevine (DFW area)

Although my background is deeper ( piano performance and performance degrees from conservatory in France), I understand where you are coming from. Similar to you, I was a piano performance major both at the University of Kansas and Texas Christian University. However, where we differentiate is that I am a performer and my goal has always been performance

Now, to answer your question, having a performance degree (I am assuming it is your bachelor) is not a problem at all with teaching. Obviously a few pedagogy classes could help, but a piano performance degree is not a problem as far as teaching.
Just take my example. I am a performer with performance degrees and  I travel all over the country for concerts and events (a few locations are Florida, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas). At the same time I teach in a private school of music. And I teach over 40 students per week.

This hopefully shows you that you can definitely get your degree in piano performance and still have a busy teaching schedule.

Now a few points:

1. If you look at music school, college jobs and such, you will notice that most of the requirements list a bachelor, master or a DMA. However usually they don't precise what type (performance or pedagogy).

2. Many positions list performance experience and teaching experience as part of their requirements.

As far as schools where to get a pedagogy degree, try North Texas, Texas Christian, Texas.
if out of state, check Kansas, Colorado-Boulder, Youngstown State. If out of country, I would recommend to go to France and study with Herve N'Kaoua.

Where are you in Texas? Who is current teacher? Which universities are you looking at? Which professors?

[okietransplant]

Newbliss- try to keep your options open.  Many people end up in a job other than the one they planned.  Some musicians have more than one job to make ends meet.

I was trained at a small liberal arts college in Texas.  I have a Bachelor of Music with a major in Music Education.  my primary instrument was piano, secondary voice.  I took extra piano hours and fulfilled the performance requirements of a performance major, minus the junior recital.  I took some organ.  Also some piano pedagogy and taught on the pre-college program.

I enjoyed the general education courses and the music education courses.  I taught in public schools for four years.  then my son was born and he had special needs.  private teaching has been more adaptable to my family.

In short, I was well trained in performing, accompanying, teaching, and conducting.  I have been able to use those skills to make money. try to avail yourself of training in as many skills as possible.  Best wishes!