1.  Why do I Want to be a Music Teacher?

I want to be a music teacher because I love music and I love teaching.  I have always been a musical person (going back to when I would improvise drums with pots and pans when I was two years old), and I have always been able to teach people how to do different things, whether it be something musical or something otherwise.  I feel that I have enough of a presence when in front of people that I can easily show people how to do something without being afraid of them, or without making anyone feel as though I am above them.  A teacher needs to be that way.  Lastly I want to be a music teacher because I believe that every person deserves a quality music education throughout their time in school, as a music educator it becomes my responsibility that each child have a good musical sense, even if they never become a true musician.  Knowing that makes me want to do the best I possibly can for those children, and that is why I want to teach music.

2.  Your Favorite Teacher and Least Favorite Teacher

Through my time in schooling my favorite teachers all exemplified the same qualities; they knew their material well, they were able to convey it to me in a way I understood it, and they all did all they could to help each student further his own personal goals - whether they were musical, athletic - or otherwise.  These teachers (and there were more than one) pushed me as far as I could go, and then asked for more to help me prove to myself I was capable of doing more than I would settle for.  On the other hand, my least favorite teachers (and sadly, there were more than one of them as well) had no clue what they were doing.  They didn’t know what they were teaching and they simply read from the book.  Even then they didn’t get things just right.  They never helped you at all, and when it came time for a swift kick in the pants to get kick started, they weren’t interested in the slightest.  In order to be a good educator, you need to be interested in the students.  My favorite teachers were always interested in me, and they helped me to get where I am today.

3.  Music in the Schools.

Music belongs in every school because we, as adult educators, have a responsibility to our children to give them as much of a cultural background as we can.  Music was part of our culture from the very beginning, and it still is today.  We need to give our children the chance to analyze and understand music, so when they move on to the next stage of their lives they have the tools they need to function and to succeed.  Music belongs in a school because it gives the children another avenue to help foster their creativity.  They can compose and improvise melodies, harmonies, and rhythms in music.  They cannot do that in History class.  Music also gives children an opportunity to channel their emotions and angers from something negative to something positive.  Some of the best musical composers are people who have been angered by something.  Allowing the children this avenue to release their anger and tension not only makes for smarter children, but a safer school as well.

4.  What is Music Learning?

In order to learn music, a person has to understand first and foremost that music is a two fold process.  Music involves a reading aspect, in that an individual needs to be able to read and comprehend the notes and other symbols that are on the printed page.  Music also involves an aural aspect, meaning that once you have interpreted the reading aspect, you must be able to listen to and analyze the aural aspect for correctness and for style.  A music teacher needs to understand how children learn music to be better equipped to teach those children.  For instance, if a teacher uses methods that the children cannot relate to, then the children will not learn anything from that teacher.  However, if the teacher understands how the children learn, and can relate his or her own lesson plans to that style, then the children will learn more than anyone thought possible from that teacher. 

5. Student Teaching.

In order to be a quality educator after graduation, it is imperative that an opportunity for student teaching be presented.  This gives the educator a chance to try out everything that he or she learned throughout her or her schooling, and it also gives the future educator an opportunity to get feedback on what they are doing from educators who have been around the beat a few times.  This information and practice is the most important step to becoming a good, sound music educator. 

6.  How does your education prepare you to be a music teacher?

The education one receives prepares a person to be a music educator in many different ways.  In order to be an effective instructor, you have to understand not only the music aspects of what you are teaching, but you need a good grasp of the various ways that music affected society, and the different things around the world at various points in history.  General education classes that one takes as a college student help the student to garner a deeper understanding of the world around them, and therefore help them to garner a deeper understanding of the way the music affected and affects that world.  Music classes are important to a music education, for if no other reason that the fact that you are studying music, and need to be well versed in that craft.  It is important to have a well rounded music education to fully understand what you will be teaching.  It is also important that one take general Education courses on the various aspects of teaching (i.e. instruction, curriculum planning, social aspects, etc.) so that the teacher will understand the craft of being a teacher.  A music educator’s job is one of the most difficult, as you must understand the world around you, you need to understand your craft and the methods of teaching it, and you need to understand the various methods of teaching in general, in order to be the most effective instructor one can be.

7. Competition

Competition plays a vital role in music education, especially at the higher levels.  In order to be the best possible musician a person can be, the need to have a fire lit underneath them that makes a person continuously want to study their craft and to constantly try to improve themselves.  Younger children should not compete as much as young adults and adults should because young children sometimes don’t understand why they are doing what they are doing.  That doesn’t help them any, it just seems like busy work to them, and eventually they tune you out.  Young adults and adults, however, understand what they are doing, and know that through the competition, the critiquing, and the performing processes, they will be able to better themselves musically, and as a human being.  Being told by someone you are not number one, and losing to someone else may not be the best for self esteem, however they are the best in preparing a person for the world outside, where not everyone wins. 

8. Student Diversity and “Special” Learners…

Special learners have a place in every classroom, and the music classroom is no exception.  While they may present a challenge to the teacher in including them in a lesson plan successfully, a music educator should have no problem including any individual in the classroom setting.  These special learners do impact the job of the music educator, and many will argue they make it impossible to do successfully; however with some extra effort and extra work, including the special learner in a regular classroom can be one of the most rewarding experiences for not only the music educator, but for the student’s classmates as well.  Including them in not only their own learning process, but the learning process of others is a key way to broaden their knowledge of the subject, and by making them think and see different ways of doing things helps them in ways a regular classroom could never achieve.

9.  Management and The Music Teacher

Classroom management is of utmost importance to a music educator, more so than any other subject, because at any given time there are at least twenty different objects in your classroom that, if not handled properly, can become someone’s broken arm, or someone else’s missing front tooth.  A music teacher needs to be in control of his or her classroom 110% of the time, and they need to not only be in control, but they must be calm about it, and must have the student’s utmost respect in order to accomplish this.  Teachers who students respect have fewer discipline problems, and fewer discipline problems result in fewer headaches for the teacher.  Keeping students on task at all times, patrolling what each student does with an instrument, and keeping their full attention at all times (preventing the students from horsing around) are vitally important to a music educators success.

10. Observation Highlights and Lowlights

One of the best observation stories I have to share came from my first field experience placement.  The teacher (who was a drummer and will remain nameless) had a drum class of about twenty students coming into his room.  Now he did not have twenty snare drums, but he had come up with a plan to get around that.  The room was full of half moon desks, and the students sat in those desks and drummed on the desktop.  While that’s ok to do, the students were sitting down, and they were being taught to hold the stick like they hold crank, not like they are holding a key.  The man obviously had no clue what he was doing, as evidenced by his telling myself to teacher instrumental lessons, while he left the room.  On the other hand, one of the best observations I have made came from another elementary school, where the students were able to move around to different drum beats.  When things got unruly though, the children knew when “Mr. Drum” made a certain noise; they were to stop dead in their tracks.  It worked every single time like a charm.  The children were able to study rhythms by moving their bodies around, and at the same time the teacher was in complete and total control.  What was better, the students had no idea the teacher was in control, as “Mr. Drum” was giving the orders.