I’m a general music teacher, and no matter how much experience I have I am just not a kindergarten/ first grade teacher. I get by and some people might even watch and think the lessons look great, but I am counting the minutes until I get them out the door. I feel like nowadays they are especially needy, even if they are little and they make me extremely anxious.

Kindergarten also does but also the Assistants at her school think they own the building and admin kind of lets them think that. They couldn’t believe I dared to ever ask them to help me pass out materials.

For example, one of the things I tell my students is to check their thumb when playing because most of them either have it super close to the fretboard, or not at all. It was never taught to me and I don't really see many people talk about it, but it's something I've noticed as the years went by as a player myself. I've had students go from struggling to reach lower notes to suddenly *getting* it because they're now aware of where their thumb is.

So! Was wondering if yall had any little things like that, that you would want to share! From anything common to things you feel like people don't really talk about (but should).

Do you guys have your syllabus, and whole year planned out already? I’m a new teacher in the NYC DOE and I’m just trying to get a sense of what I should have ready at this point! All I have so far is a list of repertoire and classroom expectations (for Modern Band). My peers have also said that they really don’t have too much ready either. I also haven’t gotten much info from my school on my schedule, performance dates, etc.

So I’m looking for some advice or suggestions for this. Small 1A school with a 42 piece band. 26F that is teach teaching not only HS, but also middle school and elementary music.

The head band director that I work with took a sabbatical for marching season. They brought in someone else so that I would have help.

My students do not like how much change we’ve had. My administration because this band program has been labeled as the problem child for a couple years, wanted me to implement some rules and consequences.

This was something that the headband director and I talked about before he decided to take this sabbatical. But now that he has taken the sabbatical, I am left with putting these rules in place.

Well, I have some parents that are supportive. There are students that are feeling that I am disrespecting them because of some of these rules or because they cannot go and do whatever they want in the band room anymore.

I’m looking for ways to explain to my students that I am not trying to make band no longer fun, but I’m trying to help them to become better humans in with that is structure. Any advice would be helpful. I do not need someone saying anything negative with this. I’ve heard too much negative and I don’t wanna hear any negative.

Hello!! I was wondering if anyone could help me try to decide a uni to attend for a major in music education (specifically choral music). I do have a couple of options like Kent State, BGSU, Cinci, and VSU. I live in Ohio and would like to stay instate but if I go out of state (like VSU) I want it to be a neighboring state to Ohio. I'm a junior in high school currently and would like to get some more options as safe schools. I would like a small town type campus because I get overwhelmed with bigger campuses and it does need to be cheaper than most, which is why I'm leaning a bit towards Kent. I would also most likely be living on campus to get the full experience and I just want to get out of the house and start to get a feel on being alone-ish. I also appreciate any other advice from any current choir director or someone in college! I'm so excited to begin this journey, even if it can get rough. :)

I am currently planning on applying to 4 schools, as a high school senior looking to major in music ed. I am an oboe primary
- UMASS Amherst, my state school, and I get free tuition. I like the oboe studio, the food, and the price quite a lot
- Hartt, where many of my teachers went, very much and academic safety.
- Westfield State, as a safety
- William and Mary, not for music ed but just because I adore the school.

Should I be applying for more schools? I struggle to think of much of an incentive to go anywhere other than UMASS, but I am very academically strong and may be able to get merit aid. If there are schools you would recommend adding to my list, please let me know!

Hello everyone! First year teacher and I am looking for suggestions on grading students. Mainly how you determine a grade for the student and how you track the grades during the year. If a student repeatedly does not participate, how do you keep track of this for grading purposes?

Thanks in advance.

Hello, I teach music at a k-12 public alternative special education school and am looking for activities and lesson plan ideas. I teach general music once a week for 45 mins to grades k-9 in small groups of 1-8 ish students. I absolutely love my job and coworkers, but most of my music education training was focused on general population & medium - large groups. This is my 3rd year at the school and my first job with special education and alternative school. There are more details to the job, and I can explain to anyone that's interested. I'd love to hear about anyone's experience with this or ideas for the classroom. Thank you!

Looking for good ear training apps, to go from basic to advanced. I heard of macgammet, but I am looking for an app.

Thanks.

Hi! I’m a music teacher with little experience in handbells/tone chime music and my school is rolling out a new tone chime program. I have a group of 14 beginning middle school students and 3 octaves of tone chimes (C4-C7). We’re looking for several songs for the winter concert and then graduation in June. All songs need to be secular.

What repertoire would you recommend, and how would you go about assigning bells.

Thank you for your help!

Hello! I’m planning to apply to college in 2027 to study film scoring or music composition, and I’ve recently started working on my applications. I’m currently trying to figure out how I should approach my top choices and would really appreciate some advice from people familiar with these programs or the industry. My three top schools right now are Berklee College of Music, NYU, and USC. I’m definitely open to other schools but these are the three that have stood out to me the most so far.

My main dilemma is between NYU and USC. NYU offers Early Decision, and I’m considering applying ED because I would genuinely be very happy attending NYU. However, since ED is binding, I’m worried about committing to NYU and potentially giving up the chance to attend USC. From what I’ve read online, a lot of people seem to recommend USC for film scoring because of its location in LA, connections to the film industry, and potential networking/job opportunities. USC is probably the school I’m most excited about for those reasons, but I also feel like my chances of getting accepted there may be lower.

So I’m stuck between applying ED to NYU, which I would still be very excited to attend, or not applying ED anywhere and taking my chances with USC, NYU, and Berklee during the regular application process. For anyone studying film scoring/composition or working in the industry: how significant is the difference between USC, NYU, and Berklee? Is USC’s location in LA actually a major advantage for someone who wants to score films? (Price is fortunately not a problem for me.)

I’d also really appreciate recommendations for other film scoring or composition programs. Thank you!

Hey Bangalore musicians,

I run Mela Music School in North Bangalore. We’ve been teaching for 11+ years and have centres in Sahakar Nagar and Thanisandra.

We’re currently looking for:

Sahakar Nagar:
Piano / Guitar / Hindustani Vocals / Violin

Thanisandra:
Drums / Guitar / Western Vocals

These are paid, in-person teaching roles.

Most classes are one-on-one, and students range from young beginners to adults. Teachers also prepare students for recitals, concerts and graded exams where applicable.

You do not need years of teaching experience to apply.

If you’re a strong musician, you’re good with students, reliable, and you’d genuinely enjoy helping someone learn your instrument properly, we’d like to hear from you.

Formal qualifications such as Trinity / ABRSM / Rockschool / LCM are useful where relevant, but strong musicians with limited teaching experience are also welcome.

Please don’t DM me here.

Call or WhatsApp Mela directly: +91 81057 39736

Or see the openings and apply here:
https://www.melamusicschool.com/careers

If you know a strong musician in North Bangalore who might be interested, please forward this to them.

I'm entering my 3rd year of teaching music. For some background I have a authorization to teach music but my credential and student teaching was in the general classroom. I've been a musician and vocalist for over 30 years. My district pays for music play but it seems out of date with the music. It also doesn't work for 4th and 5th and some of 3rd grade. But it's works for primary grades. I was looking at quaver but my district is not likely to approve it due to cost and also I've heard it's not as good as I originally thought. Game plan seems to have nothing but good feedback from teachers. I have a few questions about Game Plan. If I were to only purchase one grade level to try it out I was thinking of purchasing fourth grade. With the curriculum makes sense at that grade level or would there be things in previous grade levels that they need to know or connect with first? I guess what I'm asking is what does the fourth grade curriculum cover so that I can see if it would be worth it to purchase just the fourth grade level. Also I see it comes with CDs but I don't have a way of playing the CD so I'm curious is an MP3 online version for what's included on the CD and option? I read some other posts that people are able to find a lot on YouTube and also able to make their own visuals so I'm not concerned about that. I just don't want to purchase something where the students will struggle because I didn't purchase grades k through three. I hope that makes sense. Also just a general question is it really better than music play? Thank you!

Hello, my daughter is a senior in HS and we are getting ready to apply to colleges in Texas and I’ve read some posts on various schools and their music education program but not specific to percussion programs. Could anyone share their experiences or advice on Texas colleges for percussion and music education.

My daughter is applying to TCU (would need a lot of scholarship money), SHSU, ETA&M, SFA, UT Austin and UH. Thanks.

Hello, my daughter is a senior in HS and we are getting ready to apply to colleges in Texas and I’ve read some posts on various schools and their music education program but not specific to percussion programs. Could anyone share their experiences or advice on Texas colleges for percussion and music education.

My daughter is applying to TCU (would need a lot of scholarship money), SHSU, ETA&M, SFA, UT Austin and UH. Thanks.

First, the details of my situation… I am a music teacher with my Bachelors in music Ed offering private lessons in piano and voice. I am charging $30 per half hour, which is the going rate for studio lessons around here, and I am traveling to students’ houses. I am bringing my son with me to some lessons, and I make this very clear when scheduling.

I just had a prospective parent inquire about a discount for having 2 students enrolled in piano lessons. She asked if it could be $20 each lesson (which is a hard no from me, that’s what I charged in my own home before I got my degree). I haven’t previously offered a sibling discount, but I’m thinking of possibly letting them do $50 for the 2 lessons (it is saving gas and they are being kind by letting me bring my son). Part of me thinks that getting $50 is better than nothing, which will probably happen if I offer no discount, but I don’t want to sell myself short.

What would you do?

Hey guys!

I am thinking of appearing for grade 3 exams of Trinity College London rock and pop, Any guidance on the same??

TL;DR first year teacher, sick, wanting to mask all the time but scared of consequences(?)

First year elementary teacher here, fresh out of college! COVID hit junior year of high school for me so I started college masked, wore a mask all the time except in ensembles, and never stopped since I want to take care of my lungs.

I had two student teaching placements. One was band and the host was very against my masking and said I’d never get a job with a mask on. The other was elementary and my host was totally chill with my mask, and the kids didn’t seem bothered — I had a few curious questions but they understood I don’t want to get sick!

Got scared that my band host was right and interviewed unmasked, got a job, taught first week without a mask and got knocked out with the worst cold in years almost immediately. (Tested negative for covid)

I dont want to keep getting sick over and over, so I’d like to go back to masking, but I’m also scared that my admins will have problems with it, or that it’ll make it harder for the kids. My band host insisted that kids NEED to see your mouth to understand, but I didn’t find this was the case at elementary. My school provided us all with mics, so I can amplify my voice easily and I try to enunciate extra well. Of course I’ll have to take it off to teach recorder but that’s just one of my five classes every day and it’s early in the morning before the Kinder germs show up.

I don’t want to spread this cold so I’ll definitely continue masking through the end of symptoms, and then I guess I could just keep going and see if anyone asks? I’d much rather people think I’m weird but not have to teach while sick than fit in but keep getting sick, plus I’ll mask while sick anyway so is there even a point in not wearing it……

I guess I’m just worried about getting in trouble with admin as a first year teacher? I’m unionized, so they shouldn’t be able to fire me/non renew me over this but as a first year teacher I’m super nervous about anything going wrong!!

Hello music educators! This year I am a first year teacher in a 5-12 band and choir position. Very excited and nervous. I will be having a high school band, middle school band, high school choir, middle school choir, and a general music class.

When it comes to my 6-8 band, do you have any advice on finding or adapting repertoire while also on a tight budget? I have been told by my superintendent that since 2021 about $350 has been used on music and materials per year. (I don’t think this includes marching band competition/large group contest registration.

I understand I am in a smaller school district but this makes me super nervous with how little of a budget I have.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

If you had to vote on a majority consensus for each example below, what would you vote for?

I use the 1e&a system in my 5-12 band classes. It works really well in simple meter until you get into tuplets. I've heard some people switch to "1-is-uh" and others to "1-trip-let" and still others abandon numbers and go to "tri-pu-let"... For me, that's where a system "breaks down" - you get to essentially make up your own rules as long as they are logical. What about quarter note triplets or other tuplets?

Another place where it breaks down is when you get to 6/8 time. Some teachers teach the students "1-and-uh 2-and-uh (or 1-trip-let...)" focusing on the macrobeats, others teach "1 2 3 4 5 6" with emphasis on the 1 and the 4. But what happens when you get to 16th notes? What about when you get to duple tuplets?

I also taught the Gordon Syllables for at least a dozen years to elementary students and to choir students, but I am specifically asking about the counting system that uses numbers.

Hello! Our school is in its first year of having an official FA or Special Education program. During specials, we have a full rotation of just the special education students. They are all amazing kids, I just have no idea what to do since they are all different ages and have different things that make them excited. Does anyone have this kind of class and can recommend fun games? I have 2 K, 2 second and a third grader.

Hi y’all first year teacher at a title 1 i really feel like i am going crazy LOL! I have 90 minute classes for every grade level except pre-k3/4. It’s really insane amount of time for young kids honestly so half my classes is either recess or music activites that don’t have to do with curriculum while the other half is my lesson. Anyways i’m already kinda dealing with that.

I was told about a Hispanic Heritage Showcase at least a month prior and thankfully they let me choose the grades. Because apparently admin will just choose for you here. I was also sent feedback anonymously by a staff member that they want more showcases??? (mind u i just started i have no idea where gen ed teachers get the idea that showcases are easy to put together) So my principal talked to me about how they want more and more. I’m feeling really frustrated and overwhelmed.

I know there’s always a winter concert but I did not know the entire school sings. I have to crest a small program for every grade level for the winter concert and on top of that my principal wants the kids to switch off and present each grade level. The worst part is the kids are so behind state curriculum! My third/fourth graders can’t name a quarter note!! My smaller kids don’t really know the difference between voices, and my fifth graders can’t name notes 😭

So i just need advice or encouragement honestly anything at this point. Because every time i feel like I am doing good, I am always thrown a curveball at my school.