r/MusicEd

So I'm sort of fed up right now. Maybe I'm just in my own head, idk.

There is an assistant band job I may be interested in, but when you see the history of the assistants that left the program and start asking questions it all comes back to the head director.

I was a HS director for a while, and then left for elementary because my job was cut. Now I would like to go back to HS but under the right conditions of course.

I don't understand why there are head directors out there who feel they need to put a full stop to the things their assistants want to achieve if it means for the betterment of the whole program. And I'm not talking about extra tasks that adds to the schedule. I'm talking about a head director who is apparently jealous when his assistants are successful, so in return he tries to control every aspect of what they do and he dictates how things will be done so they don't appear to be better than him.

I have friends who quit teaching over things like this. I have always felt with the hours you work as a HS director, it's only worth it if you and your team can trust each other and are on the same page about what you want.

Anyways, maybe this is more of a rant. I need to find some more things out of this job, but I'm afraid I could be stuck working for a head director who could possibly be a drag (hypothetically speaking). I know the feeling because it happened in my last year of HS.

I just don't understand why there are band directors like this. Part of me wants to apply, but a part of me is also feeling I should stay away.

Last year, I was a per diem sub teacher in two different districts and I got 5+ different school districts wanting to interview with me. This year, I’m a permanent sub and part time teacher in one school district building and have only gotten 3 interviews. Do these schools want less experienced teachers? I was not offered one job due to my lack of classroom experience last year. What can I do to stand out on my resume? Should I enter competitions and complete more certifications? TIA

Hi all, I currently work as a music teacher at a school, mainly teaching instrumental band classes. I’m scheduled for the CSETs in July. I was a music major in college for two years before I ended up switching my major due to a negative private instructor experience.

I’m incredibly nervous. I got the 90-day course provided by the CTC but haven’t started cause I just got it today. My main instrument is flute, and I am going on two years out of college so it’s been a minute since I’ve done music theory.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I’m not sure what to study or how to study. I’m only scheduled for the first subtest and going in very blind as to what needs to be done. I’m not very good at piano, so I know I’ll need to practice that. But honestly I really don’t know anything and would love to know not only what to study but what to expect.

Honestly, anything you can tell me helps immensely. I don’t have guidance and I feel lost and scared I won’t pass since I’m driving over three hours to even take the test, I feel like I NEED to pass. Should I schedule my second subtest now? Or should I wait till my first is done. I’m worried too since it looks like 3 months out for scheduling.

I am currently an Elementary Music Teacher. Before coming down to Elementary, I was a Band Director for 10 years. The only reason I am in Elementary is because my job was cut last year and I had to take something to be employed. Unfortunately there were very few band openings last year.

I have put in a number of applications for band director positions in my area, and have had no luck with landing an interview. My resume has great results and achievements, and I know a lot of people... I just haven't had luck landing an interview for whatever reason.

I'm currently in a district that is failing, with schools and programs being cut left to right. It's the same district I have been in my whole career. The pay is great... that's the only good thing. The atmosphere is toxic almost on any school you walk into.

There is a district that is far better and more supportive, and one I would like to very much be part of if ever given the opportunity. In fact, this is where I put a majority of applications into for band directoring. They had a few elementary music jobs open up and I am considering applying. The schools are in better areas and it's a little closer to my house.

I'm feeling that I might not be able to land a band job again this year. I feel if I could make my way into this district, I might have the opportunity to move into a band position I desire at some point.

My other option would be to stick things out where I'm at, and hopefully leave when I want if I can land a band job. Since I'm not resigning a contract, I could take a vertical move at any point of the school year. Taking a new elementary job in a new school district would not allow me to do that.

What would you do in my situation?

Edit to add, this is a 5th grade student. I am sharing this under student or parent tag because I'm not the teacher, but I work closely with several involved and am having trouble with this situation and I’m looking for perspectives on a situation that happened at my school.

This week (last week of school), a student who is typically kind, easygoing, and very compliant with teachers was faced with a choice between two school activities scheduled at the same time:

-A required honor choir rehearsal for a concert that evening

-An active, school-wide class competition where students competed as class teams and participation numbers mattered

This student has been in choir all year. She auditioned at the beginning of the year, has attended every practice, and has been a reliable member of the group.

During the competition, the music teacher contacted me because the student was refusing to leave her class to attend choir rehearsal. The teacher stated that if the student did not attend rehearsal, she would not be allowed to perform in the concert that night.

I contacted the student’s mother. At first, the mother said the student needed to go to rehearsal.

The student chose to stay with her class to support her team in the competition. This was not done in defiance, but because she felt torn between two school commitments happening at the same time.

The situation escalated to the assistant principal. The student began crying during this process. The assistant principal called the mother again, and during that conversation, the mother stated that it was the student’s choice whether to attend rehearsal or stay with her class.

The music teacher asked me to speak with the student. I talked her through both options and the consequences. I made it clear that if she did not attend rehearsal, she would not be allowed to perform that evening. She understood and chose again to remain with her class.

She did not attend rehearsal and, as a result, was not allowed to perform in the concert that night. She was heartbroken but accepted the outcome calmly and respectfully.

During the situation, the music teacher addressed the students' teachers in a way that showed frustration about the time taken to resolve the issue, and other students were aware that it centered around this students missing rehearsal.

There was another student in the same situation who also chose to stay with their class.

I recently learned that the teacher has also decided not to award these two students their Honor Choir certificates at the awards ceremony Wednesday, though the students do not know this yet.

My question:

From a fairness and professional standpoint:

-Was the teacher right to enforce the “miss rehearsal, miss the concert” rule in this situation?

-Should the context (two overlapping school events, student history of full participation, parent ultimately giving the choice to the child) have been considered?

-Is withholding the Honor Choir certificate an appropriate extension of this consequence?

I’m trying to understand whether this was a reasonable application of expectations or an overly rigid response to a situation where a student had to choose between two school-sponsored activities. I have my own emotions about this, but know I'm probably too close to be reasonable.

Música introdutória para tocar no momento antes da entrega das faixas aos Finalistas.

Baseado no Tema: Assimetria Total do Manual 100%Música do 6º Ano

Educação Musical - José Galvão

https://youtu.be/DRGdOAdDNl4

I (25M) graduated with my music ed degree in voice in 2022. I took time out of the job market to work on medically transitioning (ftm - at least enough for my voice to cooperate with me again). I’ve been teaching privately the whole time as well as contracted preschool Kindermusik jobs and a homeschool co-op while working at Starbucks until I felt ready.

I have applied to nearly 40 schools, interviewed at 5 this year, and have never in my four years of interviewing gotten a second round interview. I have been a building sub for about five months because I needed to get out of Starbucks but the insurance isn’t good enough to sustain me.

What are some of your interview tips to try and get some bites? Any advice to make myself more hireable a candidate?

Title

I am a 3rd year middle school band director and I assist with high school band. As the year comes to a close, I am thinking about how this year went for me and I am overall very happy. While its had it's challenges, it has also been my most successful year so far. All my groups have decent enrollment, and muscially play very well (although always room for improvement.) I have genuinly enjoyed working with the students and my collegaues.

As I get more years under my belt, I am realizing how my depression really impacts my job and my "teaching personality" and was wondering if anyone else would be willing to discuss this. I have tried looking things up but it seems like there's not a ton out there about depression and teaching specficially, especially teaching music / band.

Things I've noticed:

1. I get irratible very quickly and it has taken me a long time to learn how to subvert this in real time, and it still happens occansionaly
2. I am absent minded and can be scatterbrained
3. Burn out happens around March for me, which is super early imo
4. Mistakes I make I will ruminate on, which sends me into a spiral of self doubt and imposter syndrome. I am really feeling that today
5. Everything seems to drain me. I get out of work and I have expended all my energy for the day, and don't feel rested the next day
6. The students pick up on these characteristics and I feel super guilty about not being able to "act" my way around it. The teacher I envision myself as is simply not the person I am
7. I often "get through" the day and I can dissociate at times, which is not good for the ensemble

I know this is super vunerable but I kinda need to know if it's just me, and if there is anyone who is willing to share any advice or strategies to help. I spent a long time in my first two years of teaching not realizing how deeply it was affecting me, and it caused a lot of suffering on my end.

Over the many years I’ve taught K-8 I’ve noticed a steady increase in students in:

A) middle school music students so easily distracted to the point they cannot play a rhythm if anything else going on.

B) kindergarten students coming through more like three and four year old maturity.

To be more specific about my middle school students, I’ve noticed they don’t have the ability to play or sing their part while another group is singing/playing theirs. Maybe it’s just this group, but I haven’t run into this in previous years.

And no, don’t say “what do you expect? Middle schoolers are always distracted.” I’m talking about something very very noticeable, more than usual.

Anyone else run into or have seen anything similar over the past three years or so?

So I am a new grad that finally landed my first interview! They agreed to conduct it virtually since i’m not in the area yet.

Ahead of the interview, I plan on sending in my resume (already sent in with my application but just so they have it) and I was thinking about using a past lesson plan from student teaching and formatting it in a way that could showcase the admin what kind of curriculum I could implement.

Has anyone else done this, or is it overkill? I’m assuming if I do this I should include some slide about student objectives and standards.

I made a game for myself to help practice knowing if a note is out of tune.

Other ear training games ask you to name the interval, this one asks you whether the final note was sharp, flat or in tune.

https://detuned.app/

It starts with just ascending thirds, but has exercise variations for descending, less out of tune, and more intervals. Each batch of ten questions will all be in one random key, as switching keys between questions felt jarring and unrealistic.

I'm using it for my own singing, but figured string players and other music students might find it useful.

It's just a free project, but let me know if you have feedback or find it useful.

Held first day of 9th grade auditions (HS full orch) and met student, nice kid, VERY proud parents with award certificates and grades/transcripts in hand to show to any school personnel. Asked to take photos with people, received thank you notes and giftcards, etc.

I smell trouble and a lot of pushy expectations. I refused photo, tried to engage as little as possible with parents. Kid handed me thank you card, I was in between escorting him out and next kid in.

While we are a magnet STEM program, it is a public Title I school.

I sense danger. This makes me feel some kind of way. Wish I could have refused card, should have.

*He's very respectful, took criticism and praise in stride, and is definitely teachable. So not a bad deal so far!

Didn't mean to sound so negative, just wary.

Hi all!

I will be giving my first demo lesson at an elementary school tomorrow to hopefully proceed in their interview process. I am super nervous about it and wanted to ask here if anyone had any advice! It’s a 40 minute 1st grade class in a rural district. I already have a lesson planned, but I just wanted to see if anyone had any additional tips to share beforehand :)

Thanks in advance!

Has anyone ever had their band class moved outside to a mobile unit and lived to (positively) tell the tale?

My middle school music program (band) is being moved to a mobile unit outside the school. I’m not a fan of this and have documented my reasons why I think this is a poor choice for the program and the students. I’m trying hard to advocate for the program but I’m also trying not to be argumentative. I think maybe I just need to reshape my way of thinking? I’ve already listed acoustics, temp and humidity as concerns.

As the title says....

I saw a job stating 20-25, which sounds crazy to me

I (35M) am a HS/MS choir director and I really enjoy teaching voice lessons on the side. What are your tips and tricks to protect yourself in situations where you are 1 on 1 with students? I trust that my students would not make up anything about me and I keep the piano between myself and them, but I was given some advice to try and guarantee more piece of mind and was wondering if you all have any ideas or things that you currently do?

Hi all, I'm posting on behalf of my seventh grader (French horn) who has recruited a few of his friends to start an extracurricular brass quintet. They're all seventh (almost eighth) graders who've been playing for three or four years. All participated in the district music festival this year (we're in a rural New England state) and are solid but still beginner players. (To get a sense of their level, they played "Darklands March" by Randall Standridge, "Journey/Paddle Song" by Chief Ian Campbell, and "Apex Predator" by Michael Oare at districts this year. Our best guess is that all musicians are playing at a Grade 2 level.)

Their quintet includes the horn, two trumpets, a euphonium, and a tuba. He's looking for recommendations on good beginner pieces (as well as a few fun/stretch pieces) that can help them get used to playing as an ensemble. They'll be working on this alone, likely without a coach/teacher, and so any other tips you have for student-led ensembles would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm a soon to be HS graduate, who just got a job at a music academy that I'm starting next friday. I'm preparing for my first lesson and I was curious if anyone had any advice.