With more than 14,000 unfulfilled music education positions in the United States today, there are lots of opportunities for aspiring music educators.

Non-conventional career opportunities beyond the classroom also abound. They include starting a private teaching practice; licensing a music education franchise like Music Together or Kindermusik, writing and arranging instrumental or choral music; authoring music education methods and materials for music education publishers; writing articles on new approaches to music education; writing reviews in trade publications for new products and services in the field; serving on music industry boards to forge innovative partnerships; presenting sessions at State and National music education conferences; consulting and advising for music industry manufacturers and publishers who develop music education products but are removed from the daily classroom experience; and the list goes on.

The late Sandy Feldstein, CEO of PlayinTime Productions and a well-known luminary in the field of music education, shared his thoughts on opportunities available to aspiring music educators in this interview filmed in August of 2006.

As Andrew Surmani, Vice President of Alfred Publishing explained in his interview with Artists House Music, there are many kinds of positions a music educator could fill at his company including sales, marketing, finance, production, editorial, and licensing. Click here for Andrew’s interview.

Music educators are skilled, resourceful and very effective communicators. These traits combined with a strong foundation in music and music education is a powerful set of attributes that will open the door to many career opportunities along the way. Be open to these opportunities—in the classroom or beyond—as trained music educator, you have the skills to succeed!

    Hi Debbie. Great article. Opportunity is definitely out there. I’m in the process building a private teaching practice here in Tokyo, Japan. It all started with your Theory 101 class!

    -Mike
    http://www.mikebreenmusic.com

    Hi Mike!

    It’s wonderful to hear from you. I’m so pleased to learn that you are pursuing your dream of building your own private teaching practice in Tokyo! That’s wonderful. I can hardly believe it’s been 4 years since you were in my music theory course! Congratulations on your success, Mike. You deserve it!

    Stay in touch.

    Debbie

    Sure there are plenty of jobs out there for music educators…sales, marketing, finance, production, editorial…? Does this sound odd to anyone else but me? That’s like telling a doctor that upon graduation one option for him is to go to work filing papers at a pharmaceutical company.

    Why don’t music educators start promoting themselves and their ‘industry’ outside of academia and set up for-profit schools in communities around the country? Why do we continue to undermine the discipline with philanthropic tendencies?

    Hi Euegene,

    Thank you for your post. Yes! I agree. Setting up for-profit schools is viable option for music educators and there are some great models out there. Lynne Kleiner’s Music Rhapsody in Manhattan Beach, CA comes to mind of a real success story along those lines.

    The doctor/filer analogy isn’t resonating with me quite as well. Individuals who are interested in finding music ed-related career paths outside of the teaching environment (for any number of reasons) can find very fulfilling opportunities with music education publishing, for example. They can still leverage their expertise in music education and reach students via music programs who adopt the method books, choral arrangements, musical plays that they’ve penned. There are many other examples that leverage music education expertise in a meaningful way, outside of the classroom.

    Hi I want to now how to keep the kids in line in class? What methods I could use to get their minds on life and music?

    Hi Victoria,

    Thank you for your post. Earlier this year, MENC released a book on the subject of classroom management. I have not seen it but the reviews are good.

    http://www.menc.org/news/view/press-release-clues-to-controlling-music-classrooms-offered-in-new-publication

    I hope it’s helpful.

    Debbie

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