I am interested in double majoring in Business Marketing and Music Ed. I know it'll be a challenge? But I just want to make sure its doable- if that makes sense. Is there anyone here who has double majored with Music and something else? Or anyone who has some honest thoughts? Would be appreciated!!

Hey team, I use the shidu amplifier, but I find that I have to either carry a bulky case for the headset, or that I have to keep replacing the microphone because it gets broken in my bag.

Does anyone know of a good headset either wired or Bluetooth that works well with Shidu speakers? One that can fold in half, and fit in a slipcase like glasses?

Or a whole new set of mic and speaker altogether could help.

Thank you.

Hi everyone! I got a late start in college (class of 2020, graduated into Covid so I took a couple years off). I’m currently a sophomore year music student technically, got all of my core and some of my music out of the way at community college and I’m transferring into TXST this year. It’s going to be a longer degree because of this but hopefully a lighter class load for the rest of school, Very excited! Here’s the thing, I’ve been in choir pretty much my entire time while in school (this is year 12, not including the time I took off and only did private lessons/practice) I’ve always wanted to do band, I’ve been interested since 6th grade but because of family finances it just wasn’t an option. I love music with my whole heart and don’t regret a second of my time in choir but as I’ve learned more and more about the band world it’s grabbed my interest. The stars kind of aligned last year and I got my hands on a French horn (such a beautiful instrument my goodness) and I have been taking private lessons outside of school, it’s expensive and totally worth it but because of school costs not an option anymore for now. I have gotten to an intermediate level but nowhere near good enough for it to be a main focus in a music degree, plus I still love choir, it’s just different. Basically what I’m asking, is there anything I can do to make being a band director a reality or is it too late for me? I’m still getting the degree regardless, but I’m wondering if there’s good material I can study out there to make being a competent beginner band teacher a reality or if it’s better to just focus on what I’ve been doing. I see a lot of people discuss feeling lost as a band person teaching choir but rarely the other way around. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 🙏

Edit: First off, thank you for the kind words! I really appreciate it. Secondly I can’t believe I forgot to add 🤦‍♀️ I’m Ed! I’ve always intended on being a music educator and by the time I’m done at the school I’ll be attending I’ll have earned certification to teach K-12 music and it covers band, orchestra, and choir technically but there’s an instrumental emphasis and a choral emphasis, I’m doing the choral emphasis because I don’t have enough experience on my instrument to even audition for the instrumental emphasis route, that’s something I’ve been building and working on outside of my studies so far.

Hi everyone,

I recently accepted a job offer split between two K-8 Catholic schools, MT at school A, WThF at school B.

For some context, the enrollment is not very high with school A having around 80 students and school B having around 200 students. The schools have used “McGraw Hill Spotlight on Music” so I will have something to work with curriculum-wise, and the principal at school A is a former music teacher, so I have someone to fall back on for help. He is away from the country atm but when he is back he’s planning to meet with me to help figure things out. I also still need to finish some paperwork (W-2 and etc, meeting with the HR person later this week) to be fully onboarded so I cannot yet access what is all on McGraw Hill at the moment and do have a school email yet or anything of the sort. I am aware of the classroom instruments at each school and there seem to be a substantial amount of common orff instruments and such.

More context, school A has 1day/week 40 minute classes 2-8 with K-1 being combined and meeting twice a week. This is apparently because of very low enrollment for K-1 this year and younger grades needing more time to learn the music they sing at mass. Mass is 1day/week for 40 minutes at each school.

Yes I grew up Catholic so I vaguely understand what happens at mass and it’s nothing I have a personal problem with by any means. Through college I have done church gigs (Episcopal and Lutheran) as a choir member so I’ve at least had recent “high church” exposure at least. But frankly, I haven’t the faintest clue how different Catholic school mass might be and what they may even be expected to sing. And to be even more frank, when I was more “practicing” as a child, it was moreso “mom is taking us to mass today and I will zone out halfway through.” Any guidance on what things to think about would be greatly appreciated. Currently planning to actually to actually go to some catholic masses before I start so I think that will help at least.

Things I have been thinking about in regard to the general music aspect are daily pacing ex: warmup activity (hello song k-3/bell ringer question 4-8) ~5 minutes, composer of the month activity ~10 minutes, music for mass ~10 minutes, core music lesson ~15 minutes. But beyond that I’m having trouble visualizing a lot, mainly due to not having knowledge of the nuts and bolts of everything. I know I will need access to the McGraw Hill curriculum, rosters, keys to the rooms, and schedules.

Also, what do you do on day 1? I was thinking-

Ex day 1 Kindergarten: -I pick them up (maybe their teacher will walk down with students also for specials week 1? I’ll see) -Guide students to their seats. -Hello song(? should i immediately go into it and teach procedures as they go or do introductions first then do/direct through procedures for a “normal” class) -Introduce myself/rules/class dojo rewards system, some sort of musical introduction game for them. -Hello song (?) -Composer of the month (brief) -Doubt there would be time for mass music or a need for anything related to it. But in lieu at least talking about how all students sing at mass and normally we would learn the music in music class. -A brief music lesson, probably a game, likely something steady beat or moving to the beat? (suggestions appreciated) -Procedures for end of class, “I will give ___ signal that class is over and we will all be silent with chairs on dots. i’ll call the rows that follow the rules first to line up etc.

If anyone has some guidance on anything, especially things I should immediately think about that that I didn’t mention, it would be INCREDIBLY appreciated. I think I might be over-fixating on some of the little details honestly.

I'm looking at moving out of the midwest for the next year as I would like to be teaching high school choir without having to teach show choir. Sadly, it seems like that's not much of a possibility where I am at now or in the surrounding states, so what states or areas should I be looking at? I'm down to go anywhere honestly.

My strengths are more suited for concert choir, chamber choir, vocal jazz, music literacy, etc. I don't mind doing a musical or something like that if I have to, I just am not a show choir person at all. Not to hate on it if that's your thing, just not for me. Thanks!

Is anyone aware of music or other resources for jazz bands with no rhythm section players. My school's admin finally made it possible for me to have a jazz band period, but my strongest players and all of my rhythm section can't do it because it conflicts with honors/AP courses. We haven't had a proper jazz band at this school since the pandemic, and I was looking forward to bringing it back.

I'm preparing for a PT music teaching job (one day a week). Part of the application includes prepping a lesson plan and leading a class for a group of 2nd-3rd grade (U.S.) kids.

I have about 11-12 years of experience as a private instructor, Rock Band teacher, and I've taught Music Theory classes at some of the after-school music places I've worked at. Those classes always contained large age groups, so I'm mostly wondering what I can expect from a class of 2nd- and 3rd-grade students. I don't want to go over their heads, but I also don't want to infantilize them. Thoughts?

Sorry about the dramatic title (and if youre my band director who I have no idea if he uses reddit, i wish you the best)

So, this morning, my band director posted his letter of resignation. He’s picked up a job with the university he is an alum of. We’ve been a lax band. I have no idea what’s happening with band camp. We just got a new choir director two years ago. I’m in more of a state of panic now.

What I’m most afraid of is someone coming in whose from out of the area and who wants to try and turn us into a band like that of cities (which literally cant happen because the middleschool/5th grade director is not great at all) if that makes sense/is a highschool band director for themselves and not the students.

And with that, I need to stay on French horn. If I have to move back to flute, I may have to quit band. I’m afraid if a person comes in, they may either pull me out of full band (which would make me feel awful, the horn count is dwindling, one of our horns cant even have band officially on his schedule.) or tell me I need to play the other one. Is there anyway I can avoid this?

And I guess also, ensure that I can still audition on flute for districts and what-not?

Hey team. I'm a first year teacher mostly teaching music in New Zealand. I have one class a week (55 minutes) with a class made up of students from our special education programme. The students in this class all have severe learning needs with many of them not being able to read or write. So far this year my music programme for them has consisted of a little bit of keyboard playing, some body rhythm activities and karaoke. However, I feel my programme is quite thin and has no progression with it. I was wondering if anyone here has any ideas for how to progressively engage these amazing kids in music education?

Edit: Forgot to add - age range is from 13 to 20. Average class size is around 13 students.

Hello all! Second year music teacher here, but it’s my first year in a new state, school, and position. I’m going from teaching PreK-5 general with a little bit of 5-8 choir and 4-8 orchestra to just middle school (6-8) choir all day every day. (Yes it’s going to be a very much needed change of pace!!) I’m going to have 6 classes (2 each of 6,7,8) and each class for 45 minutes every day so I will have a ton of time. I want to combine the two classes of each grade level to make 3 choirs for concerts, but that’s still 3 sets of rep that I need to select The school did not have a choir last year, so I am not expecting a particularly high level of singing or music knowledge, but I will have a lot of time to teach these skills. Do any choir teachers have any rep suggestions for a beginner middle school level ensemble? I will probably need to do mostly 2 part to start, hopefully moving into three part as I advance the ensembles. I also would like to do pieces middle school students will want to sing, as I want to get them invested in rebuilding the program with me. I’ll need songs for a winter/holiday concert as well as a spring one, so any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thanks!!!

It's about my friend. He is mid 30s, educated, not have experienced with commercial stuff as a music produce, wanna be a professional producer in the future.

These months he has been worrying about his career in music industry. He likes music production, learning music everyday and have a few students in a month on music production course in the company. I know he has enough knowledges in music production so I'd say he can get more students for his skills. Although, his contracts as a music teacher is like out-sourcing and he can't get enough many students in the company to live. It seems the company won't give him more students so easily because the company is so severe about teacher's skills, like they don't allow teachers to have students unless the teachers have full-time music producer's level skills that can make any kind of music genres. I'd say if they have such skills, they don't have to be a teacher and just be a full-time music producer though...The company has too high expectations for teachers. He's heard that some teachers can't have 10 students in a month even though they've been teaching there for 3 years, which is not their desire.

So he is worried about his career. He likes music production and teaching music, so he wanna have more students. The company is nice to teach him "how to teach a student" and that makes his improved as a teacher and music producer for sure. Although they don't allow him to have other music teacher works at all because they don't want him to leak the company's knowledge to the students who are not the students of the company. But if he can't have another job, he can't make a living...

In a nutshell, he can't make money at all to be a teacher in the company and have enough students for first 3 years at all, but he can learn music and teaching from the company at least. And he can't have another job that teaches music production at other companies.

He says he can do the job not related music, but hopefully he can do a music job to make more money. So I'd like to ask you guys, do you have any advice or ways to do both a music teacher and music producer in this situation? How does he can have enough students and learn music at the same time? I suggested him to be a guitar teacher because he can play the guitar and the company said they don't allow him to teach "music production (making music on the computer)" though, he said he is not good at it to teach students so he can't.

Hi! I was just hired as a k-5 general (and choir) teacher, yippee! I focused on band in college, so this isn't my best area (yet). I want to do the best I can for these kids and the school so so so bad. I have to create a new curriculum for the students. If anyone has any advice, helpful books, or favorite youtubers/websites to share I would really appreciate it!

Hi Everyone!

I was recently hired as a band director for this coming fall. I only have a few weeks to prepare for my job, and I’m looking for all the advice I can get on how to do this.

For some context, I’ve been in band since 6th grade and I’ve always played the trumpet. I’m pretty comfortable teaching any brass instrument, but I would still take any advice on that (especially for young students). Woodwinds, on the other hand, are a daunting task for me right now.

What can I do to make my band as successful as possible in this first year? I’m stepping into a (semi) established program that already has a decent sized band. I have the ability to teach it, but because my focus was choral in college, I feel a bit overwhelmed and underprepared. I would take any advice I can get on how to teach first-year students, how to make my high school and middle school bands successful , and how to properly manage a band class at any level. Also, any tips for marching band would be great. I have little to no experience in that area.

Thank you so much for any help you can give me!

I am currently looking at pursuing a phd in music education. Long story short, moving to attend in person is not an option for the moment, and does not look to be an option for me for the next 10 or so years. Basically unless a GA ship were to not only cover tuition, but also include a stipend that would be equivalent to my full time salary at the moment, in person is out.

I have found only a couple online programs for music ed, however, one has some pretty rough reviews specifically in the dissertation phase.

1. I know that in person is better, but do any of you have online programs that you would suggest checking out?

2. I have not seen one yet, but is there a list of colleges that offer online phd programs in music ed?

Thank you all.

Hey folks. I’m seeking a bit of guidance.

I’m realizing office work is not for me at all and that I miss teaching music and working with kids (I ran a piano studio of 16 students for 3 years before having to shut it down when I was 25). I’m considering going back to school to get the credentials I need to make a living as a music teacher in Toronto (this city is way too expensive). I’m interested in being a studio teacher or teaching music in schools.

I live in the Greater Toronto Area. I have an arts bachelors degree (honours - non music), a masters of education in higher education, and completed RCM grade 10 in piano and RCM grade 8 for cello. I’ve returned to lessons and I’m working to get my arct in piano performance. I still need to do all the theory and history courses.

I’m seeking a bit of guidance. There are so many university, college, and conservatory programs out there. I’ve been in school for so long already. I’m 31.

Do I just go complete any dual music education / teachers college program if I want to be a school teacher?

If I just want to be a studio teacher, is there a program in Canada you’d recommend? Is it necessary? I’m defs not a strong enough performer for a 1 year performance certificate

Please be kind. Mods please delete if this post isn’t appropriate.

Hello! I had a student ask me recently over email if they could switch instruments. They will be going into 7th, so they're no longer a beginner, and I teach 7th on my own so I don't have time to teach them during the day. I'm just curious to know what your instrument switching policies are? Do you allow them to switch in beginning band, but only before the first concert? Switch at any point in the first year? What are the reasons you allow students to switch? I am considering telling them that if they would like to switch, to take private lessons over the summer to come back prepared.

Hello Reddit community!

We are Dr. Rizzuto and Mr. Mondello, researchers at Molloy University, and we are conducting a study on the experiences and methodologies of music educators who teach private voice of instrumental lessons. We are looking for music teachers who have taught private music lessons in either a studio setting or a traditional school setting within the last decade to participate in our research.

We are seeking participants who:

• Are over 18 years of age.
• Reside in the United States.
• Have taught private music lessons within the last decade.
• Have taught instrumental or vocal music lessons in a private studio and/or K-12 school setting within the last decade.

Completing a survey that takes about 15-20 minutes. - click here to begin survey

Confidentiality 

Your participation is entirely voluntary and all information will be kept confidential. Your responses will be anonymized and identifying information will be removed to protect your privacy. The data will be used solely for academic purposes and will not be shared with any third parties.

Thank you for considering this opportunity to share your expertise and experiences. Your input is invaluable to us!

Warm regards, 

Dr. Rizzuto and Mr. Mondello

#MusicEducation #Research #MusicTeachers #EducationResearch #Participate

My 16th and final school year as a public school music teacher has concluded. I feel content, knowing deep down that this chapter in my life has closed. I still love teaching, and I still love music. I will continue teaching, and I will continue loving music. But those two loves must now part, and like a bittersweet, amicable divorce, they will now go their separate ways.

I am still one of those strange people who somehow learned to competently play over a dozen instruments. I used to be really, really good at flute. I have the recordings, on Minidisc, to prove it. Those are accomplishments that no one can take from me. But they are yesterday’s accomplishments. A confluence of recent health struggles and the demands of family have all eroded my ability to play the flute like I used to. I have two beautiful flutes, one metal, one wooden. They are gifts of love. I still play them when the playing is slow, but I do not have the heart to face the reality of how much I’ve lost over the years. It pains me, yet there is still music to be made.

My more recent accomplishments include getting my micro-preemie all the way to Kindergarten. He starts in September. I’m amazed by him. He has changed me on a level so fundamental and deep that I don’t know if I will ever fully understand. I am certain my experience being his father is somehow, ultimately, what drives this move.

My other love, teaching, is not going anywhere. My wife went back to work when my little boy was 3. I was graciously given a year and a half of leave with him, and while home, I completed my certification in 7-12 Mathematics. I’m about 25% finished with certification in Special Education. Starting in September, pending board approval, I will begin at an alternative high school where I will work tirelessly to help special education high schoolers to pass their Algebra Regents and learn the computational skills they need to succeed in life. I will write IEP’s, empathize with their struggles, and share my love of technical thinking. Maybe I can make a difference with a few more kids, like my son, who are not always lucky.

I have two degrees, bachelor's and master's, in Music Education. I have taken many math classes, but I don't have a math degree. In NY, we have to pass content specialty tests to prove our knowledge before becoming certified. I scored higher on the math test than the music test, so I think that bodes well for my future.

I’ve been struggling to explain to others my rationale, as much as there is one. “Why” is a very hard question for me. Lewis Carroll, in his own brilliant way, helps me understand myself, so perhaps he will help you, all of my friends, understand me too.

Here are some relevant quotes, delivered in a very deliberate order. For time context, my thinking begins on my micro preemie's birthday...

"I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"We are but older children, dear, Who fret to find our bedtime near.”

"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir,' said Alice, 'Because I'm not myself you see."

"Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter."

"You used to be much more..."muchier." You've lost your muchness."

"But it's no use now," thought poor Alice, "to pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!"

So, I'm quitting what I've ruthlessly pursued for 25 years. Why? To leave enough of me to make one respectable person.

I wish you all the best, and keep doing what you love until you no longer love it.

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

Good afternoon everyone!

I recently got "hired" (paperwork still has to go through with HR) at a middle school, grades 6-8. The band program is at around 180 kids right now. Classes are split into brass/woodwinds for each grade, giving me a total of 6 classes that are about 45min each.

I student taught at a high school and was mainly teaching the 9th graders. I'm a bit overwhelmed given that I don't have experience in starting at square one, e.g. teaching the kids all the basics and where exactly to start.

I don't expect my first year as a teacher to be great---as I've been told by others that their first year was rough. However, I would appreciate tips and advice!! Doesn't even have to be middle school-specific.

Hello,

I am 17 years old and recently was given an opportunity to teach drums to a 7 year old. I have never taught anyone this young (or really taught anyone at all, other than my peers). Do you have any advice for a beginner teacher and someone who wants to enter the music education sphere? It does not have to be strictly music related, just any tips for teaching, especially relating to young children. Thank you!

Hello!

I’m entering my 4th year of teaching strings (Huzzah!!) and am in search for a better physical teacher planner. To give some background, I teach at a variety of schools and have used technology in the past for my planner, scores, and other teaching things. Though the digital tech is awesome, I have a hard time going between the tech for my lessons AND remembering to look at my digital notes I have written. I think I want a more physical planner for writing things such as: this class needs to focus more on bow stroke, this class is ready to move onto the next lesson, I need to contact these parents, etc. I don’t need it necessarily for lesson planning as I have my year planned out already but rather keeping myself on track and whatnot. If you have any recommendations, please send them my way! Thank you again!

Hello! I am planning a trip with my students to LA but am struggling to find funding does anyone have any tips?

What the title says. I used to go to workshops and conferences as a new teacher, but it quickly became the same stuff repackaged over and over (welcome to the world of education right?). I haven't gone to any workshops since about 2017. Is 115 for 2 separate workshops a good deal these days? They are two different topics with no info on how long they are, and both topics interest me. They are both within a good driving distance for me as well. What do you all think?

Hi everyone!

As the title says, I am a new music educator hired to start a high school's music program from scratch in Chattanooga, TN, USA. Since I am the first music educator this school has ever had, I am in a bit of a bind regarding performance ensembles.

The supplies that I have for my program are around 15 music stands, 2 out-of-tune pianos (one of which is missing a leg), and an old electric organ from at least the 90s that I'm unsure of weather it works. The other issue is the budget. My principal has let me know that I will be receiving PEB funds ($200 in the state of TN if I'm correct), and that's all!

This semester, my principal wants me to just tackle a music theory course, which is easy enough, but how do I begin to add a performance ensemble to this?

I have a background in band, having gotten my undergraduate degree in instrumental music education, and in Chinese music having served as the graduate teaching assistant for MTSU's Chinese Music Ensemble for two years.

How do I make a performing ensemble work here? TIA for your wonderful ideas!

I’m looking for guidance for my son who plays trumpet. He is 12 and is homeschooled, so he doesn’t have a school band but he plays in a brass ensemble through a local youth orchestra (run by an absolutely amazing man who has allowed him to flourish) and will be playing in an additional youth orchestra this fall.

We’ve had an extremely hard time finding a teacher for him. He was with the principal trumpet of our city’s professional orchestra, but it wasn’t a good fit. Nothing against him, he’s a great guy, there were just different circumstances involved. We found another teacher who was ok but he ended up saying some things that were incredibly discouraging to him so we left that teacher. We finally found another teacher for him which we’re happy about but they’ve only been together a short while.

My son is incredibly talented and I want to do everything I can to support him. He’s been working on things like the Mahler 5 solo, Petrouchka, and some etudes that I would say are at least college level (Nathan Ost, if you’re familiar).

He’s doing a university’s music camp this year and he was disappointed in the music, saying it was too easy. He had a private lesson with a teacher there and he was hesitant to say it because he didn’t want to sound like he’s speaking badly of anyone, but his teacher struggled to play his music. I understand that they would probably give the younger students to the less experienced teachers, which seems logical, but it wasn’t helpful for my son. The teacher did have a trumpet performance degree, so I would assume he should be able to play these pieces.

I don’t doubt all the other benefits of the camp such as musicianship and making friends, but I would like to be able to send him to a place where the music would at least be challenging.

So I just want to ask, what all would you be doing for a student like this? I am a musician, though not a professional because I never had any opportunities, but I can see this kid has the potential to be truly great. He’s not a prodigy by any means, but people are genuinely shocked to hear such a little guy play like he does. I just want to make sure I’m doing the best I can for him.

Looking for some recommendations in running a guitar class with mixed skills levels that range from complete beginner to intermediate. In the past I’ve used JUSTIN Guitar as a guide (complete with his songbooks) - but when you’re teaching some thirty students on guitar - you either go too fast and overwhelm them or too slow and under challenge them.

It was mainly teaching open chords, barre chords, major/minor scales and pentatonic improvisation - I would also sprinkle some classical fingerpicking and etudes in there but students usually wouldn’t take to it. Another issue was my teaching classic rock songs as exemplars - meanwhile the kids had no interest in these songs (ranging from Van Morrison to Beatles to Oasis).

I would also teach basic theory to supplement, which went well, but if you have any guitar-centric theory (more chord/progression theory) that doesn’t bore students that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance!

Hi all! My extracurricular will be holding student conductor trials this friday and i really want that role as it is very important to me😭 Does anyone have any tips on conducting a string ensemble?(2 violin sections, viola, cello and double bass) I have conducted multiple times in that extracurricular but i’m still pretty scared and would like to get some tips to gurantee my spot as student conductor!

https://youtu.be/2JHtUNPYERM?si=uP2nlJrgqNDjul4j

Hi - does anyone know what app is used to make this instructional video? Thanks!

First of all I'm amazed when teachers of other subjects have not seen this movie. Now to the title, I have students who think this is effective teaching and motivation. I've seen all sorts of directors and level of anger, but only one was at the level of JK Simmons character was in the film. It was not fun. I also don't think students of today cam handle it.

Thoughts?