Can I teach music at a high-school but not have to be a band director?
November 22nd, 2009 | by admin |I’m thinking of majoring in music education when I go to a 4-year school (I’m in community college now). I’d love to teach at any level, but I was wondering that if I decide to teach at a high-school, do I have to be a band director? I’m not that thrilled about the added stress of conducting a marching band and all the preporation that goes into it, haha. At my school which is in a small town the band director was the only music teacher at the school, but do most high-schools offer more music classes? I’d love to teach music theory, appreciation, music technology, ect. Are these things available for me to teach?
No, not necessarily.
1. You would have to teach at a very large school to avoid being band director. Smaller schools have 1 teacher - which usually does the band. Larger schools have multiple music teachers. Schools with 1000 students or more will have a Chorus teacher, Orchestra teacher and Band teacher. Even larger schools may break that up into more.
2. You can teach those, however, every high school will require you to do band, orchestra or choir. Now, there may be 1 out of the thousands out there that is the exception. But the general rule of thumb is the high school teacher does choir, orchestra and/or band. So you can teach a Music Theory class, but you may also have to teach Chorus or something else. If you want to avoid all choral, band and orchestra after school activities, I would suggest getting at least a Master’s degree in Music and teaching at the community college or college level. They have classes you can teach theory and appreciation, but not have to do band.
Now, super large private schools may have enough teachers to allow one to do just theory. Or specialized Art high schools may have so many teachers, they do not need everyone to do band. These are generally the exceptions though.
One Response to “Can I teach music at a high-school but not have to be a band director?”
By hamsterbabies on Nov 22, 2009 | Reply
No, not necessarily.
1. You would have to teach at a very large school to avoid being band director. Smaller schools have 1 teacher - which usually does the band. Larger schools have multiple music teachers. Schools with 1000 students or more will have a Chorus teacher, Orchestra teacher and Band teacher. Even larger schools may break that up into more.
2. You can teach those, however, every high school will require you to do band, orchestra or choir. Now, there may be 1 out of the thousands out there that is the exception. But the general rule of thumb is the high school teacher does choir, orchestra and/or band. So you can teach a Music Theory class, but you may also have to teach Chorus or something else. If you want to avoid all choral, band and orchestra after school activities, I would suggest getting at least a Master’s degree in Music and teaching at the community college or college level. They have classes you can teach theory and appreciation, but not have to do band.
Now, super large private schools may have enough teachers to allow one to do just theory. Or specialized Art high schools may have so many teachers, they do not need everyone to do band. These are generally the exceptions though.
References :
Drama/English teacher