For those most passionate about their music, a job in music education is a natural fit. Far from being a case of “those who can’t do, teach”, those who take music education jobs are talented not only as artists but as teachers who want to pass their love of music on to another generation, to ensure that there is always music in the world.
Once upon a time, a degree in music education was seen as a ‘fallback option’- the job that would always be there if a performing or production career didn’t work out. That time is long gone now as states have cut funding for enrichment education across the country. While the job outlook for music teachers is still good, the Occupational Outlook Handbook says that jobs for musicians and teachers will grow at about average or a little faster than average rates through 2014 – school departments, private institutions and universities have the luxury of being able to be choosy about whom they hire to fill music education jobs.
One of the best ways to hear about music education jobs and openings is to establish a network of contact within the music education community. While basic networking is good, there are ways to network more effectively to concentrate your focus on finding and improving your chances of being hired for music education jobs.
Network locally.
Lucky you, you actually have three different sources of local networking that can help you narrow your job search focus. As an educator, get involved in local organizations for teachers and get your name out there. If you’ve made contacts while interning and practice-teaching, keep up with them, and ask their advice and guidance in your career path. By all means, let them and others know that you’re looking for a job in music education. Other teachers are often the first to know that one of their own is leaving.
School department contacts are invaluable.
In most cities, the school department must post vacancies internally before advertising them to the general public. Those vacancies are often posted on a bulletin board in each school within the district. Let teacher friends and contacts know that you’re looking and ask them to keep an eye out for you. Knowing that a vacancy is posted internally can give you a leg up on the competition and cue you to submit your resume and cover letter for music education jobs before they’re advertised.
Network Online
Keep in mind that in networking, you get out what you put in. Don’t just join a group and start soliciting for music education jobs. Look for what you can offer – the more you become involved the more visible you’ll become and the more willing others will be to recommend jobs to you. Saving shop with payday advance
The number of Scholarship For Music Education available is great and you should apply for all of them. Take advantage of these Scholarship For Music Education today so you can have an easier time paying your educational costs. After you apply for these scholarships, make sure to do your own research for even more chances of getting scholarships.
The first scholarship is a $10K scholarship drawing hosted at freecollegescholarships.net. Qualifying for this scholarship is easy, you simply need to be at least 18 years old and live in the United States. The website has the form where you can register for the drawing. Remember to register soon as the drawing occurs each month.
Check out the Walton Family Foundation Scholarship. The award value of this scholarship program is $3000. Submit a portfolio of your best essays, non-fiction and poetry to apply.
The Alliance for Young Writers and Artists rewards creative writers as well. Only those students who’ve completed at least 2 years of college can apply. Send in pieces of writing such as poems or short stories to apply.
When you begin applyiing for scholarships, remember that the more you apply for the more you can win. Don’t wait until your senior year to start doing your scholarship search because many of the big scholarships you could apply for have an early deadline in the senior schedule.
Sell yourself to the scholarship committee through the scholarship. Be sure to describe what your strengths are, and also your weaknesses but in a way that shows how you’ve managed to get through struggling times and how you’ve changed as a person due to those experiences.
In 1994 a study was conducted by psychologist Fran Rauscher and physicist Gordon Shaw at the University of California to test the connection between music and math and science skills. The three test groups were comprised of three year olds. The first group participated in adult-led singing time, the second group, in weekly keyboard lessons, and the third (control group) was not exposed to any type of musical activity. The results were astounding! After eight months, “every child who participated in a music-training program increased his or her spatial intelligence by an average of 46 percent over the control group’s 6 percent increase.” (Baney, Cynthia. Wired for Sound: The Essential Connection Between Music and Development.)
Music education should be an essential part of a child’s growth and development. Numerous studies have repeatedly demonstrated how music education will lead to a higher aptitude in math, science, reading, athletics, creativity and problem solving. But the simple fact is that making music brings children joy, and when you as a parent get involved with your child’s musical pursuits, whether it be through direct interaction in a musical playgroup, or by encouraging your child to learn an instrument, you can share in that joy together. education loans with payday loan
Why is Music Important for Kids?
This question has been debated for as long as time has existed. Even the great Greek and Roman philosophers approached the question: is music something that should be taught and does it help the development of children? Plato answered “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for in the patterns of music and all arts are the keys to learning.” And again “what then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a better than that which the experience of the past has already discovered, which consists, I believe, in gymnastic, for the body, and music for the mind.”
In all cultures of the world music plays an important role. While these roles may change depending on the culture it is impossible to separate music from the life of an individual. While some may argue the role of music in our lives it is impossible to escape it. Even in the popular culture of Australia it is impossible to go shopping without hearing music. Music provides a means of communication and expression of culture and individual identity.
Children are immersed in music from birth and will be for their entire life. If this is the case why teach it? Is not the constant immersion in music enough? To this I say; is the fact that we witness the results of scientific principals on a day to day basis result in the understanding of those scientific principles? No it does not and likewise for music it does not either. The day to day encounters we have with music can move us but the understanding of this music can help us grow as individuals.
In many cultures the family plays the main role in music education. Families are most commonly the ones that teach children the music of their culture. As young children, we are commonly sung nursery rhymes. These provide entertainment for the child and often information in small repeated fashion. Children learn through the repetition and structure that the information was delivered in. many nursery rhymes teach fundamental life lesson and therefore sets music up as a means of educating. Children learn from music from a young age and will continue to for the rest of their lives. In a world where globalization and consumerism are dominating cultural identities are drifting into the background and children are more likely to be sung pop songs as lullaby’s than nursery rhymes. The benefit of nursery rhymes and progressive learning has become an issue. Children are missing out on fundamental learning opportunities.
The Mozart effect which gained a large following in the 1990’s claimed that listening to Mozart as a baby will make a child smarter. While this movement was short lived and there is little proof that it works there has been no denying that children who learn music will achieve higher in other aspects of their academic life. In earning music children learn to express their identities, gain confidence and develop sense of time and space. A research team at the university of Munster in Germany discovered that students who study music have more developed abstract reasoning skills which are closely linked to learning in the areas of science and maths.
I do not believe that there is any argument to this question…music is a vital part of a child’s education and should be taken seriously. Listening to music is not enough! A child must learn to think musically and that is what will help assist the development of the child and their academic development.
written by Gemma Lee from www.shinemusic.com.au teachers of piano, saxophone, violin, singing, drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, flute and clarinet.
Parents Play the Most Central, Yet Vulnerable Roles in Childrenâs Music Education
The three basic parties who take part in childrenâs music education are the child, the teacher (or teachers) and the parents.
To best understand how the young musician will regard music lessons, we must ask: âHow should parents plan for the musical education of their children and what they know about it?â
As a rule, there are two main things to consider: the choice and cost of the instrument, auxiliary materials and lessons; and the search for a good teacher. After that, the preparation for the childâs musical training is largely complete. However, buying the instrument and paying for lessons are not the most complex part of music education, although many parents think so and believe that the rest is up to the teacher and the child, who is obliged to frequent music lessons on a regular basis and do the homework. In fact, to parents, it all seems very easy! âDid you do your homework today? Have you practiced that piece enough? Have you learned the fingers in an etude? Come on, play the piece you had to memorize!â
Hereâs the simple truth: The reasons behind oneâs success in music education as well as the loss of interest creep in absolutely imperceptibly, and often during quite a long period of time.
First, then, letâs discuss what happens when a child loses interest.
Again, parents are the most integral and important parts of the equation when it comes to their childrenâs success or loss of interest in musical education. When a child gets bored with his or her lessons, the parents, who by that point are exhausted by battles with the child to practice and often feel financially pinched from the costs of the instrument and the lessons, must then face the difficult decision of whether to terminate the lessons.
While preparing the materials for my book, Voices of our Children, I talked to parents and teachers and asked them what they considered to be the prime reason behind the childâs loss of interest. Can you guess who a whopping 80 percent considered to be at fault? The child! It was he/she who did not want to continue the education!
Whatâs more important is that after terminating the lessons, very few parents asked themselves why their child lost interest. Letâs look the perspective of each participant in this scenario:
The child. He is happy! His âtorturesâ have finally ended. He no longer has to hear unpleasant things about his careless attitude toward music lessons. No one will ever force him to learn music against his will! Now he is free from tiresome lessons and can spend time doing things he likes!
The teacher. Not every teacher, especially not those who often lose students, will search for the real reasons behind a childâs loss of interest in music lessons. It is easier for some teachers to accuse or blame the student than to admit to their own mistakes.
In this case, what does the teacher do? He quickly forgets about former students and places an ad to get new ones â he has to earn a living. Itâs just a job. Â
Parents. Believe it or not, but I think that when the child quits musical training, the parents suffer the most â not only because they have invested in this venture materially, but because along with the termination of music education they must part with their own dreams, hopes, and an opportunity to discover and develop their childâs true talent that might not have been obvious.
Now, when the child quits music lessons, he can quickly redirect his attention to new interests. The teacher, who has lost the student, can compensate for his loss by finding a replacement. But the parents do suffer the most â they cannot âmove onâ â they cannot replace own child with another!
Therefore, to avoid this problem before it hits home, I strongly believe parents should prepare for their childrenâs music education ahead of time. They should know beforehand what awaits them in the future, and should be ready for possible hardships.
www.quintecco.com
Tatiana Bandurina is an inventor, a professional writer and a member of Canadian Authors Association. For more than twenty years she worked in several children’s musical academies and schools as a teacher and a principal. Tatiana is now a chief of Quintecco Educational Products, Inc., the website is www.quintecco.com, a company that develops and markets new media education products to the consumer and business education markets.
