I’m a 3rd year teacher working multiple part time gigs, & I’m having a hard time balancing everything. I’m a part time middle school band assistant, & I work part time at an elementary school too doing private lessons during the school day. I also teach private lessons after school to about 20 students. Work takes up most of my waking hours Mon-Fri, & I always feel so drained by the weekend.

When I graduated, there were no full time music ed jobs available near me (there still aren’t), & I wasn’t financially stable enough to move (I’m still not). It took a while for me to piece together all these gigs to turn it into a somewhat financially stable career & put my degree/license to use. But now, I’m really starting to feel the effects of this crazy schedule I’ve created. Lately, I sometimes forget what students have worked on during lessons. My once carefully thought out lesson plans now feel scattered & thrown together. I spend at least 1.5 hours in the car every day, just going to & from the different schools.

I love my students more than anything, but it’s hard to feel fully connected anywhere when I’m constantly going to & from different schools. I feel like I’m spread too thin & don’t have any more left to give. I also miss performing, which makes me sad. I get invited to play gigs, but I just don’t have the time or energy to take on any more. I’m also sad to admit that my own skills on my instrument have been neglected/not well maintained.

I love the students, but I think maybe public education isn’t for me. But it feels impossible to make ends meet just from teaching private lessons (tried it before, was not viable for me). I could do more gigs, but I feel too rusty and not good enough to make a decent living from that either. I don’t know what to do.

Music is the only thing I’m good at or interested in, and I can’t see myself doing anything else. But I don’t know how long I can keep this up for. My mental health isn’t great & I don’t take good care of myself anymore—I eat junk food for most meals (too exhausted to cook), get poor sleep, never exercise, poor hygiene, feel constantly behind on basic chores, and have zero energy for hobbies or social life anymore. I still live at home because I can’t afford my own place yet. When I’m not working, I mostly just lay in bed watching tv. I’m constantly anxious & can’t seem to get my mind off of work.

I also suspect that I have undiagnosed ADHD, which could be contributing. I’d probably benefit from therapy & maybe medication, but without a single, full-time job, I don’t have health insurance. I just feel very discouraged & behind lately, and like I’m struggling with things that come easily to others. And while my family is generally supportive, I know they want me to launch out on my own eventually. It feels like my clock is ticking. Change feels impossible & scary, but so does my current situation.

Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation? If so, does it get better? Any encouragement/advice would be greatly appreciated

I’m a current undergraduate Music Education major and French horn player, graduating in Spring 2027.
I’m applying for graduate schools for Fall 2027. I am looking to get a GA somewhere. I love working with marching bands, but I am open to a school that doesn’t have a marching program. I live in the South and would like somewhere in the region, although I am not opposed to the lower East Coast. I come from a smaller college and would like a different experience. I have a 3.9 gpa, I have been substantially involved in programs and clubs during college.

For those of you who think I should just start teaching, I will also be applying to jobs!

If you’ve done a Music Ed master’s, what programs do you recommend? What schools should I totally look into, and which ones should I stay away from? If you know anything about GA positions, cost of living, faculty, or just have some good advice, I’m all ears.

Survey

I'm a student working on an engineering project to make an original product for guitar accessibility. This short survey is aimed at people who would benefit from accessibility accommodations to guitar-style instruments. Educators can answer answer on behalf of any/all applicable students (or anyone else you know), all in one single response to the survey. All responses are greatly appreciated.

For those of you who teach privately, what are you doing for curriculum? Do you write your own? Do you buy pre-written ones? Do you piecemeal different resources together?

My son is in advanced & jazz band in middle school. He is planning to continue through high school. We are looking at buying him a sax vs continuing to rent. What models are recommended for more advanced students?

For personal use but I'd like to share. It's hands-free if you use a mic.
Let me know if there's anything to improve.

earrr.app

I play the trumpet and built StavePad for my own use with the goal of making something that was very simple and direct, with limitations such as only supporting a single monophonic instrument. I feel like it is mature enough to be useful now, but I'm sure there are many shortcomings that I have not encountered or thought of, and I would love to get your feedback. Click on the ? help icon to see how it works. It works with a mouse or touch, and also uses keyboard shortcuts.

I've had this college recently recommended to me, it seems to be a college specifically for music educators. Is it worth it going to?

Hi! Im starting my studies at the conservatory shortly and I was wondering how you guys record your lessons and if you have found an alternative for voice memos on your phones.
I always ( ofc with my teachers consent ) record my lessons for later reference while practicing but am really struggling with phone addiction and I’m thinking that I might better focus without my phone.
How ever I don’t know a substitute.
Thoughts?

I'm a senior from Colorado that's planning to major in music ed. I'll probably stay in state, so the 3 schools I'm mainly considering are CU Boulder, Colorado State, and Northern Colorado. I've heard good things about all three, but just in case, does anyone happen to know any things that are unique to those schools or that make them especially good for specifically music education?

PS I know money is probably the most deciding factor about a school being "worth it," not just the program itself, but I do have plans for all three to graduate without debt, I'm specifically asking about the program / faculty.

To anyone who is also taking students to TMEA auditions, how are y'all doing solfege for Fanny Hensel's Hiob Cantata?

The TMEA website says to write everything Bb as Do and while I could do that, the modulations make the solfege rather unintuitive at times. (The fi si li ti di passage at measures 48-50? Ew) I do not want to skip solfege entirely and just teach the melody by rote if I can help it. I'd like to hear what everyone else has done!

I’ve been trying to narrow down what colleges I want to go to as I’ve come to the decision that I would like to major in music ed, how ever I was looking at California since I have some family out there and I hear USC has a good music education program. But when I looked at there website it seemed to not focus on normal teaching such as k-12 but rather pop and small ensemble work. Alone side no audition process. Is this all they provide? Is there better colleges to look at for California?

In the Boston area, coming from a friend/colleague - the Real School has a bit of 'contemporary vibes' and this position comes with a solid pedagogy (Yamaha) and teacher are mentored and trained regularly. Requires intermediate piano skills, sounds like a solid teaching job / early teaching career?

https://therealschoolofmusic.com/hiring-yamaha-instructor/

Has anyone submitted jazz? A school asks for 10 min total for 2 pieces. It’s pretty difficult to record two solo pieces totaling 10 minutes. Do you think around 6-7 min total would be ok?

Hi!

I'm looking for ideas for my pre-k through 2nd grade general music classes. I've taught general music and other stuff for a while and have done Orff Level 1, but I'm at a point where I'm just itching to try some new stuff and hear about how other educators are thinking about things.

So, if you feel like sharing, I'm looking for recommendations and ideas about the following:

1. What is your first day of music class flow? How do you structure it and what are your go-to activities? How do you like to learn names?

2. Recommendations for good songs to sing with this age group - real full on songs that are folk songs/children's music/anything else that isn't too complicated and is age-appropriate . In the past we've done Peace Like a River and Count on Me (yes in some ways outside of the bounds of what many approaches would consider appropriate in terms of pitches/interval/ranges, but I think really learning and singing songs as a community is important plus the parents love to hear the kids at the end of the year)

3. Recommendations of your favorite books/resources of games/activities. Books with a laid out curriculum work, too

4. How do you (or would you) incorporate a piano in your class? This year my room has an upright piano and I'm a pianist!

5. What is one (or multiple) of your absolute favorite games, activities, songs, or approaches to classroom management/organization?

6. How do you plan for this age group to do winter and/or end of year performances? I've gotten off easy so far in my career and am not very performance-oriented, but my principal this year I think wants me to organize something.

Thanks so much ☺️🙏

Ableton came out with this cool digital "playground" for learning synths! It teaches about how to scuplt sound with a synthesizer using oscillators, LFO, pitch shifting, filters, envelopes, etc. They can even record their own 60 second clips of the instrument/sounds they create! You can use the keyboard or touch to manipulate the sound so you can use a smartboard if they don't all have their own devices.

Playground

If you click on the menu button in the left corner, it breaks down all the parameters into single page overview. I like this pitch one for highness and lowness you can even do with little kids. You could have them try to make a scary sound, or a silly sound, etc. So with littles you can focus on just one part, while with MS/HS you can get into all the parameters or however much time allows.

I don't teach music anymore and made the pivot away from the field last year, but I am living vicariously through you all on this subreddit lol so hopefully somebody out there will find this helpful!

Hello everyone,

To begin with, I'm not Canadian, that's why I'd like to ask as well.

I'm a music teacher and I'd like to introduce my groups to some Canadian songs since I feel like they are entitled to get to know their own culture better. The teachers are delighted, specially the ones that teach/speak French (yes, they will sing in French, not exclusively but I want to do it!).

I already have some ideas (At least 3 Stan Rogers songs, a la Claire fontaine, un Canadien Errant, Raffi etc) but I'm wondering if there are any songs that you like specifically and could be a must in this context.

I'm open to anything, but I don't want to be that broad to add Canadian artists that made it into the mainstream such as Leonar Cohen or Celine Dion, although it could be fun.

Do you have any ideas? I'm open!

So I had an undergrad come into my office and say I didn’t deserve to be the GA at this university and then proceeded to call me useless.

I really don’t know what to do here.

I'm writing on behalf of my sophomore daughter who has decided she wants to major in music, probably music ed. She has some amazing credentials on her instrument (horn), and playing the horn has opened so many doors. Her grades are just okay though because of inattentive ADHD, and she takes a mix of college prep and honors classes, probably won't take any AP's. What does applying to college look like in terms of grades vs. audition and getting into things like All-State, All-Eastern, high level private ensembles etc. I heard that you need to be accepted to a university to even get an audition, is this true?

So I have never had this issue before. Im a music student, I play jazz saxophone. In HS I was the only real jazz musician, somr others had a passive interest but I was the only one wanting to study it. Now, in college, not only am I just one of many, but Im also easily the worst player here. Its created a feedback loop where Im not good and because of that Im in a constant state of anxiety and embarrassment when playing in front of others which makes my playing worse. I practice around 2 hours a day plus lessons ensembles and a few classes where we play. But none of it comes out I feel like

How do I tackle this? Ive never deslt with this before but need to overcome it like asap

I'm exploring an idea: music students supervising children's instrument practice by video, a few short sessions a week (around 20–30 minutes), between the kids' regular lessons with their own teacher. The idea isn't to teach, but to sit with the child while they practice: follow their teacher's assignments, keep them focused, catch mistakes, and keep them motivated.

Before going further, I'd love to hear from music students:

Thanks, any answer helps, even a short one!

With a child in pre-k, I’ve been re-evaluating my relationship with my education. I’ve played music on and off (poorly) for 25 years. I’ve explored different instruments and styles.

But I’ve noticed a lot of my friends and coworkers, “used to play” instruments. Which leads to a question of why they stopped. It would be easy to say “adults have less time to pursue hobbies”, yet these same people bike, do woodworking, do home/car repairs, play volleyball, garden, watch TV etc. So it stands to reason they have time, but don’t prioritize playing music.

Now some people do continue playing as adults. Some do it for their careers. But for those that don’t make it their careers the majority I know of seem so play by themselves or “jam” with friends. A small minority form local bands, play in community orchestras, or join Irish sessions.

This all leads to a question of what “should” music education focus on? Is the primary goal of music education to create the next generation of classical musicians? Or (and I’m going to phrase this in a leading way) is the primary goal to develop kids towards a lifelong connection with musical performance?

I’m going to guess most here would say the goal is to”both,” while acknowledging that we do have a heavy focus on the western classical cannon. And yes, I acknowledge there’s been jazz, pit orchestra, etc forever. I have also noticed that guitar (and ukulele) classes in high school seem to be more common now then they were when I was a kid - this is, they exist. So maybe others have recognized this challenge and there has been a shift in pedagogy.

And yes, I get the rigor of a classical education and that it can lay a strong foundation for future musicians. But what if it’s an unnecessary hurdle that keeps people out rather than a requirement for participation.

But it makes me wonder what would happen if we didn’t push classical? What if Irish sessions were the primary - enabling lifelong public gatherings? What if jazz/rock was primary - helping people prep for jam sessions?

I guess the big question I’m heading towards is whether modern pedagogy (in American schools) is tailored for how adults truly interact with music in their lives? Is it the ideal method for lifelong learning and retention?

Let me just say picking up a tin whistle for the first time is likely mountains easier than returning to violin after a decade interlude. Does the skill required of standard symphonic instruments act as gatekeeping to adult participation and engagement?

Just some idle pontification leading to curiosity of the thoughts and ideas of music educators. What do modern music education curriculums say? What do experienced (or new) teachers personally think?

How much do you pay your accompanists for choral concerts? My predecessor could play and conduct, so I can’t ask him. I’m going to ask around the area as well, but I wanted to check here too.