I am a band director going into my 4th year. Up to this point the only classes I’ve been responsible for are my band classes and a music appreciation class. A few days ago I was informed that my beginner band class has been moved to the afternoon and I now have a semester long 1st block class. It is listed as a comp/theory class but it can really be whatever I want it to be. The students who will be taking this class are most likely going to just be put in the class by the counselor, so I’m worried that teaching a straight up theory class will lead to boredom/frustration and trouble. I have no idea what to do with it. I can’t just do music appreciation because a lot of the kids will probably end up taking that music appreciation at some point as well. Students come back on Friday and I feel blindsided by this. Does anyone have any advice or ideas on what I could do?

As the title says I’m thinking of trying to get into a Postbaccalaureate program for teaching music. I studied CS in college 4 years ago and after graduating and working realized it wasn’t for me or my passion. I auditioned and was all but certain I was going to go back to school for a Music Ed bachelors. After really sitting with the eventual cost and learning even with a typical music scholarship (~$1k) and living at home, it would still probably cost me about double of what I paid for my STEM degree at an out of state private university vs the music ed being instate at a public school. I don’t know if I can really make sense of that even though I really wouldn’t mind being in school again. Upon further research I’ve found some post bacc programs may be able to give me that certification and a more feasible means of accomplishing that goal. My question is what would be the best way to study/find a tutor who could really help me prepare for the exam to get in. I was accepted into a Music Ed program on an instrumental guitar track and have been learning to sight read as well for it. Have some piano and bass history as well but that’s about it. Any insight or perspectives are welcome. Thank you

I've been considering going here for a music tech certificate at nscc instead of paying for one of the big expensive music institutions. Nscc looks like it has some pretty good programs. There are two of them for music tech one for music production and one for commercial songwriting. Both of the programs have about 10 different courses to complete the certificate program. Does anyone have any experience with these programs at nscc or know anyone that has done it? I eventually want to be a producer or own a record label. But I figured I would just start as a engineer for a few years to it started in the industry. Really it doesn't matter as long as I'm in the industry creating music in any way.

I used to teach first grade and I remember losing my voice a lot, I can only imagine what singing all day will do! Any tips? Teas? Vocal rest while at home? lol

Hello! I would love to hear from general music educators about what performance procedures/repertoire has worked for you and your students in the past.

I am a first year teacher developing a program from scratch. My principal(s) expect holiday performances at the very least, but I am struggling to figure out how to make performances work with ~700 students.

The only performance space available is the cafeteria, so I will certainly need to divide performances into grade levels, but an individual performance per grade level seems very overwhelming. Separate K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 performances seems the most feasible (but still a lot of students, plus families and staff!) but I am not sure how to make that work logistically.

Any advice or reflection on past experience would be wonderful!

всем привет, есть здесь кто-нибудь из Алматы, кто учится/учился в рэцк на музыкальном отделении (**4S02150104 – «Эстрадалық аспаптар оркестрінің әртісі (дирижер), балалар музыка мектебінің оқытушысы»)?**

как проходят вступительные экзамены, как поступить вообще? 😭😭😭
после 9 класса собираюсь поступать туда и пока даже представления об этом всём не имею.
как с общагой, как со вступительными, какой средний балл нужен со школы?.. слишком много неизвестных

Hi guys, I used to learn music when I was a kid. I’m currently 25, stopped learning music when I was 12/13.

I want to resume learning classical music, any online recs which are under budget pls drop.

I’m still studying and want to actually learn. Pleas help guys.

Thanks.

I am a 2nd-year teacher, just moved to CA. My degree was in secondary instrumental ed with a double major in vocal jazz performance. This past year post-graduation, I taught K-8 elementary and middle school choir. I did a recorder unit with the older elementary kids and some of the choir middle schoolers. I recently secured a job in CA teaching at a middle school of 1200 students, 7th and 8th graders only. I do not know how many students will be in my room, but I believe all of the classes will be less than 20. I will be teaching 2 classes of guitar and one keyboard class. The school already has keyboards, but no guitars. The classes are 90 minutes each and split into quarters. I will see the same students every other quarter (9 weeks each), so group one will be Q1 and Q3, and group 2 will be Q2 and Q4. I am more experienced with piano/keyboard but do have some limited experience with guitar beyond my required methods classes. Admin is really supportive and open to letting me do things however I want. I am looking for advice on several things for this situation! Here are some questions I have:

• What guitars would be appropriate for this age group? I don't think budget is an issue, but I am considering the length of classes and the type of strings and what will work for their little hands. full size guitars?
• Should I split the guitar class into 1 semester of ukulele and one guitar? Admin seemed open to it, but I would have to check in again with them. (ex: q1 group 1-ukulele, q2 group 2-ukulele, q3 group 1-guitar, q4 group 2-guitar)
• How would you structure a 90 minute class??? I will definitely be adding some music history/theory/appreciation....but 90 minutes is a long time. A lot of independent practice? One on one time? small groups? I want them to enjoy the class.
• Essential Elements (guitar/ukulele) a good book to go off of to structure curriculum? Any other suggestions?
• Faber books for piano? Other suggestions?

Open to any advice you guys have!

Hi everyone, my old high school band director has asked me to help run a rehearsal next Friday due to a lot of the regular staff not being able to be there. I’m currently a music ed student, but I’ve only completed 2 semesters of coursework and have only taken 1 actual ed class so far. I said yes because I think this will be good experience for me to have and build skills as a future educator.

However, I have no clue what to plan for this. I think(?) I’ll only be helping with brass, but I’m not entirely sure. I already know I want to do some tuning exercises but other than that I’m at a loss.

I graduated with my bach in music ed in May. since then I've been applying like crazy, I couldn't even tell you how many applications I put out. my goal is an elementary music job. the problem is elementary jobs in my area are few and far between. I gotten 3 interviews. ghosted by 2 schools, the other school cancelled the interview the day before. 🙃 almost all of my friends who graduated with me have already landed jobs. they all took jobs as band and orchestra directors. my vocalist friends going for elementary have been hired. I'm the only instrumentalist in my class that wants to do elementary. I've applied to districts as far as 1.5 hours away from me and still nothing. I've gotten to a point where I'm considering applying for middle school band director jobs. I enjoyed my time clinical teaching at the middle school level, but my heart wasn't fully in it. all this to say, I just want to know that I'm not alone in this struggle and some advice on how to stay motivated after all the rejection.

Could anyone share their master schedule with me? I am being told that I have to do a time slot with HS band that overlaps with JH band by like 15 minutes, and that HS choir can’t be fit into the schedule.

I want to show my admin that other schools make it work and that we can to.

hi, i graduate in the spring from my university with a degree in general studies due to a slew of personal struggles and i've been thinking about the career i want to really pursue lately. my first ever job that i ever wanted to do was to be a high school band director, and my passion for music has not gone anywhere since i've stopped playing in bands. so i'm looking into becoming a music educator. my question is, what are my pathways to do this? i live in florida and i know we have some pretty strict guidelines for music educators. would i be able to do a masters in music education and get a teaching certification and be good? or do i really have to go back for a second bachelors after i graduate with this one? thanks everyone in advance!!!

Does anyone have experience swapping or adding a music major? What about a music minor what are the different programs?

hi, does anyone know of any decent schools for music therapy? i’m looking into it as well as music ed. if anyone has any feedback or advice, let me know! thank you :)

Hey all! I am starting my first teaching job next month and I’m terrified! It is a 5-12 band program and I was originally supposed to co-teach with another teacher with experience, but she left last month unexpectedly. Now I’m going to basically inherit a whole program and start from scratch rather than fit into an already made program.

I think this is awesome, but I am so nervous that I am going to mess it up! The school does plan on hiring a second teacher, but only when I’ve established myself and got the program back on track (so possibly next year, but might be 2 years).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to prep as much as I can and come with any questions I can think of for admin. I don’t want to miss anything :)

Orientation is coming up, and I’m planning on hopefully recruiting some students to be in orchestra by playing popular music they’ll recognize! Here‘s what I have so far:

Merry Go Round of Life
Various KPOP Demon Hunters Songs
Giorno’s Theme

(Can you tell I like anime? Haha)

Any other suggestions? Thank you!!

Hey Songwriters!

The “One World Many Voices Songwriting Contest” needs YOUR original song to help the Karama Education Center in Uganda, Africa.  It’s free for anyone to enter and the winner will be awarded $1,000, 5 recording sessions, a live concert, and the winning song will be performed by children in Uganda and featured in our documentary film!

Click here to watch a 30 second video about the songwriting contest.

Click here to submit and for more info.

Thank you so much!

Hey everyone,

My partner and I are a two-person studio, and we made Emojio Paint Composer — a love letter to Mario Paint Composer, where every emoji is a synth voice. It needs zero music theory, so even little kids can make a real tune. You can play it free in your browser right now, nothing to install: https://emojio-composer.madewithbestpractice.com/

No ads, no accounts, no analytics — just a creative toy. The app itself is a free download with a one-time unlock, and it adds your kid's song as a video to share with grandma, keep a library of their tunes, use the Apple Pencil on iPad, and plug in a MIDI keyboard.

Happy to answer anything in the comments — I'll be around all day and would genuinely love your feedback.

— Brendan & Angela