Musical Education Opportunities in America

Musical Education in the United States of America

In Musical education, there are two major categories you can go into, one of which is private teaching, more focused on instruments, and music services; the other is public teaching, mostly academic in schools.

Public music teaching is again split into a variety of ages from primary education, secondary education for GCSE and A-Level, and degree level University education. Due to music being taught in most, if not all schools to an A-Level standard, there is no shortage of jobs available. Due to the possibility of me moving to USA after I graduate, I have based my research on American Music teacher jobs.

There are currently around 94,000 employed music teachers in America, 72% of these jobs are in professional education in schools, colleges, and universities, and 15% found in junior colleges and other types of education systems. Seeing as Music isn’t a specific field in terms of climate or location, the subject is taught nationwide almost completely evenly, with a few concentrations around California, New York, and Texas. After finding statistics on the percentage of music teachers in specific states of the US, the percentage of music teachers to population is not proportional, as the more populated states have relatively fewer teachers. This is shown in my table below which outlines the population of each state to the overall population, the percentage of music teachers per state to the national figure, and the percentage of the population who are music teachers.

This table shows that nationally, 0.03% of the population of USA are music teachers. As stated above, the proportional population of music teachers in each state is highly variable, and seems to have a correlation with the overall population size. For example, the highest populated state of California only has a ratio of 0.03%, where as Massachusetts, a state of less than 1/6th the size, has over double that figure. This statistic could have a relationship with the proportion of school types, and education systems these states have in place, but the data is unavailable.

I have indexed the number of music teachers per 10,000 per state, against the average salary, and then created a reference index for each state to the density of music teachers. The lower this reference index is, the fewer, and better paid the music teachers in the state are, and vice versa. I believe these two figures have a relationship due to the higher demand in music teachers in less dense populations, leading to the higher salary.

The Mean salary for music teaching in America varies as to what you specialize in. The average across the board is $26,000 a year, but shown in the graph above, this figure is unreliable due to the diversity of the fields of practice.
Across all states, the figure for ‘Guitar Teacher for Children’ is substantially higher than the rest. This does not correlate with the UK, as they have a more academic basis of music teaching with most music teachers being in the education system in schools and universities. This salary graph also reflects the music market that is shown in the US. From this graph, and from a figure showing that the US imported over $25,000,000 worth of electric guitars from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and China in 2007, it is apparent that guitars are highly popular in America due to their versatility, popular music implications, national music history, and ease of transportation.

Most education establishments in the USA that involve Music teaching as a subject require both a degree in the field of Music, and a teaching degree of some kind, as well as a teaching licence.
The degree can be anything based in music, with most colleges in America requiring a basis in musical performance or playing, entries from other countries are advised to not only have an equivalent to a US Music Major, but a good musical understanding of any instrument and of music theory.
Once a degree level certificate has been achieved, you are advised to specialise in a specific field, such as singing, piano, your own instrument, or in musical theory.
It is highly recommended that you get some work experience with not only the age group that you intend on teaching, but also the field you are teaching in, how to approach various teaching styles, and how to teach everything within your desired field.
For schools teaching, you need to have a state specific certification to allow you to work and teach in this sector. There are national boards that can award you with certification also, such as the Music Teachers National Association. For this teaching certification, you must follow an application process, which includes:
A thorough understanding of musical history, pedagogy, and musical theory.
A 600 word synopsis on your personal teaching philosophy, including why, how, what, and who you teach, and including your educational goals and a discussion on at least one predefined topic designated by the MTNA, such as how to develop technique or how to interpret specific styles of music.
A thorough analysis of four teaching pieces, one each from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century eras, which are also designated to you when you submit your application.
3 videos of you teaching the same piece to the same student. This includes a 30-minute session when the piece is introduced, a 15-minute session during the learning process at an intermediate understanding, and finally a 15-minute session when the piece is performance ready, and the final touches are being made. Each session must be submitted with a self-evaluation of the session by yourself, reflecting on your own teaching style, how you adapted the session to the student’s personal learning style, your goals for the student, a list of materials used, and a synopsis of what was covered in the lesson.
Around 10 minutes of a performance of your own, using music of a higher standard (Grade 7 or above).
A 300-word essay on how you create a good learning environment in the classroom, and give examples of things you use to encourage positive learning also.
Finally, when you submit your application, you will be given three teaching scenarios you have to respond to, giving clear and concise details of your thoughts and actions.

This process is a long a thorough one, but once submitted, and the certificate achieved, it opens up almost any music education role in America.

The roles and responsibilities of a music teacher in America differ from those of a music teaching in the UK by a surprising amount. America seems to have more opportunities for extra curricular music than most of the UK as they have all the same classical ensembles, choirs, and bands, but also have larger attention to marching bands and glee clubs, as well as having a lot more inter-school competitions and events in almost all musical areas, such as singing, musical theatre, and solo instruments. This highlights once again the importance of work experience before starting work at any school or college in America as a good knowledge of not only the importance of these events to the pupils and the school, but also how these competitions and ensembles are run, and how students enter the process of competing.

In summary, if you were to have aspirations to move to the United States to pursue a role in musical teaching, you would almost definitely have to spend about a year as a classroom assistant, or in some kind of work experience programme in either your preferred teaching age group, or more beneficially in a variety of different schools to really understand the learning and educational processes that are used within the schools, and within the music departments. Once a year is completed, and you have had good enough experience to take the MTNA certification, then this can be achieved. The previous year or two in the schools can also be very beneficial for securing a job after the award has been given also, or if not, then a good reference can be found from your superior or principle, which can be crucial for securing any middle to higher level job in musical education. Also, there is the option to become a private musical instrument teacher, which would be a lot easier if you had the experience of schools teaching, and good connections with the previous school.

References:

Indeed.com. (2014). Music Teacher Salary. http://www.indeed.com/salary/Music-Teacher.html US Government. (2013). Occupational Employability Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/OES/current/oes251121.htm

Music Trades. (2007). International Sales Data. http://www.musictrades.com/international.html

Music Teachers National Association http://www.mtna.org/ Sarah Holtz. (2010). Getting the MTNA Certification. Available: http://voices.yahoo.com/getting-mtna-certification-piano-5393529.html

References: Indeed.com. (2014). Music Teacher Salary. http://www.indeed.com/salary/Music-Teacher.html US Government. (2013). Occupational Employability Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/OES/current/oes251121.htm Music Trades. (2007). International Sales Data. http://www.musictrades.com/international.html Music Teachers National Association http://www.mtna.org/ Sarah Holtz. (2010). Getting the MTNA Certification. Available: http://voices.yahoo.com/getting-mtna-certification-piano-5393529.html