In this article, music education refers to the field of teaching music.

It includes several methods and philosophies aimed at helping students develop their musical abilities, knowledge, and appreciation of music.

If you pursue a career in music education, you’ll have a handful of paths you can take. Obviously, any role you have in this field will be teaching-related.

Here are the most common career choices in music education…

As an elementary, middle, or high school music teacher, your responsibilities could include:

• Plan and teach classroom music lessons
• Organize and conduct rehearsals for school performances
• Evaluate student progress
• Maintain instruments and equipment
• Collaborate with teachers, the principal, and parents

As a private music teacher, you would give one-on-one lessons to students of all ages. You’ll probably be self-employed, but you can also find work with a local music school or music shop.

Typically, you would specialize in a certain instrument, but you can offer lessons for any instrument you’re proficient with.

Music education at the collegiate level involves teaching students music theory, music history, music performance, or even helping educate aspiring music educators.

This career path may involve conducting research, leading ensembles, and performing as a musician yourself.

A music education program prepares you to teach music while simultaneously deepening your understanding of musical theory, performance, and pedagogy.

The curriculum typically combines academic coursework, hands-on teaching experience, and practical music training.

Here are the core things you’ll learn in a music education program…

A big part of being a music educator is teaching students the fundamentals of music theory, like:

• Scales
• Chords and chord progressions
• Melody and harmony
• Rhythm
• Pitch
• Intervals

So in a music education program, these things need to become second nature to you. You’ll need to become so familiar with them that you can recognize them by ear.

The music of today stands on the shoulders of the music throughout history, so in order to teach much, it will benefit you to know music history.

You’ll study the evolution of music across cultures and historical periods and analyze significant works and composers.

You’ll need to become proficient in your primary instrument or voice. A teacher first has to know how to do what they’re teaching.

On top of that, you should learn secondary instruments, like piano, guitar, and/or percussion.

As a music teacher, you may be asked to conduct ensembles, like a choir or the school orchestra.

So it’s important you know how to conduct, read scores, and run a rehearsal.

With a music education degree, you could end up working with all sorts of ages. So you’ll need to learn pedagogy (the practice of teaching) for various age groups.

You’ll need to tailor your lessons to the grade level of your students.

It’s not just about teaching — you’ll also need to know how to manage a potentially large classroom and understand how students learn and develop musically.

A music education program will teach you techniques for maintaining an engaging and productive learning environment.

You’ll need to learn how to develop lesson plans and long-term instructional strategies to help you succeed as a music educator.

Not only will you have to get creative with your teaching methods, but your lessons will have to align with state or national music and teaching standards.

If you know you want to teach music, you should definitely earn a degree in music education. In fact, it’s necessary. You need this credential in order to teach music in most states.

But music education is only for those who truly love music and want to show others the joy and power of music.

“If [you] want to be a music educator, [you’ve] got to really love music and, more importantly, [you’ve got to love people,” said Teryl Dobbs, an Associate Professor and the current Chair of Music Education at the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.

“[You’ve] got to love working with all kinds of people. …We welcome all bodies and minds into our program and we want our students to be open to doing the same.”

According to Dobbs and Brenner, below are some tips for getting into a music education program. Just note, you should follow the specific guidelines for the program and university you choose.

• Score well on the ACT test
• Write and perform (or record or film) a solo piece of music
• Be able to demonstrate your sight-reading abilities
• Be able to demonstrate your keyboard harmonization skills
• Prepare to audition multiple times for the faculty
• Be ready to write a compelling essay on why you want to teach music

Once you graduate, you’ll need to land a teaching position. Here are some tips for how to do that, according to Dobbs and Brenner.

After you graduate, you should take some time to recognize your accomplishments. You just earn a degree. It was hard work and you should be proud.

Much of your networking will start while you’re in school and while you’re student teaching. So by the time you graduate, you should already have some contacts who may want to work with you.

Brenner emphasizes the importance of networking.

“By ‘networking’ I just mean going to the Music Education Association conferences and not being afraid to meet people and say, ‘Hi, my name is Brenda and I’m looking for a job,’” she said.

“You just have to put yourself out there and see what happens.”

Dobbs said you should develop a strong support system. Teaching is not always easy, so you need other music educators to help you along the way.

“…You should have a really solid support system, whether it’s a personal relationship, family, or your cohort of friends with whom you graduated,” she said.

“Call on people. Your professors are always a phone call away. I tell people, ‘Call 1-800-DOBBS.’ Call on us as part of your network.”

Lastly, start applying for jobs! Schools won’t know to hire you if you don’t put yourself out there. You may get rejected many times, but that just means those opportunities weren’t a good fit. Keep applying and keep going.