Music Teacher: Job Profile and Role

Is music your passion? Do you also enjoy working with children or adults? Furthermore, would you just love to impart your musical knowledge to students of all age groups? If so, we have found the perfect job for you, the job of a music teacher which enables you to do the things you love the most every day.

In this blog, we will tell you everything you want to know about the job of a music teacher. Starting with your responsibilities, we will then look at the salary you can expect and where you can start looking for a job. You will also find out which qualifications you need to work in your dream job and which skills will help you to perform brilliantly. You will also get a first idea of what a day in the life of a music teacher looks like before we give you three valuable tips for thriving in this profession.

Short Summary

• As a music teacher, you are tasked with imparting your musical knowledge to students of various age groups. This usually involves both practical and theoretical teaching.
• As a music teacher, you are responsible for ensuring that your lessons meet both the National Curricula and the needs of your students.
• As a music teacher, you are in charge of setting and grading assignments and giving feedback to your students and their parents (if applicable and depending on your teaching job).

Job description

It is your job as a music teacher to plan and deliver engaging music lessons to your students which meet their education level and needs. It is also your job as a music teacher to ensure that your students get the individual support they need. This, you can find out by setting and grading assignments since it shows you where each of your students stands. As a music teacher, you are required to liaise with both your head of department/school and with your students’ parents. 

Responsibilities

• Record Keeping
• Exam Preparation
• Health and Safety
• Professional Conduct
• Classroom Management
• Individual Lesson Planning
• Assignment Setting/Marking
• Planning/Delivering Lessons
• School Activities Participation
• Parent/Guardian Communication

Different types of Music Teachers

• Music Theory/Composition Teacher
• Early Childhood Music Teacher
• Classroom Music Teacher
• Music School Instructor
• Online Music Teacher

Salary

As a work experienced, a full-time music teacher in the UK, you can expect an annual salary that ranges from ￡31,000 to￡46,000. Besides your experience in the job, your annual wages tend to be affected by the teaching institution employing you and by its location. According to the latest salary statistics, higher wages are currently paid in Scotland, whereas the lowest annual salaries are paid in Wales.

Working hours

As a music teacher in the UK, you tend to work between 35 and 37 hours a week which usually takes place in the set school times from around 8:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. Depending on your job as a music teacher, your working hours may differ, for example, if you work as an online music tutor. Here, you can work considerably fewer hours and tend to have more flexibility. Note, however, that either music teaching job includes lesson preparation and lesson wrap-ups which you have to spend a certain amount of hours on in your free time.

Employers

As a music teacher in the UK, you can start looking for employment at various teaching institutions, starting at nursery schools. As a music teacher, you can also be employed by primary and secondary schools and universities. Also, you can find employment at music academies and conservatories and private music studios. If going freelance is an option for you, you can think about starting your own music teaching business which can give you more flexibility in who you want to work with and what you want to teach.

Qualifications

The qualifications you need to become a music teacher in the UK are two to three A-Levels in music and equivalent subjects or four to five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C). These certifications qualify you to enter either a university or a college course or start an apprenticeship. 

Note that entering a university course and an apprenticeship requires two more qualifications: a degree for postgraduate study (university) and a degree for a teaching apprenticeship (apprenticeship).

You should also look into specialised music teaching qualifications, for example, the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM).

Proven Benefits of Music Teaching

Recent studies have found that music teachers provide some of the most important education to their students. How so? Teaching music and how to play an instrument helps students to score better in most other subjects. Compared to that, students who have not taken music lessons tend to be less successful. Therefore, your job as a music teacher is an important one since it can help set up your students for great careers.

Skills

Each job is a lot easier to perform if you have certain skills or competencies. This is also true for the job of a music teacher. Naturally, you should have a good ear for music and you should also have strong interpersonal skills. Without these two vital skills, the job of a music teacher would be nigh on impossible to do. What other skills you should have as a music teacher is what we will look at in this section.

And one more important tip: you should always check which skills your future employer would like you to have.

Listening Skills

As a music teacher, you need to have fine-tuned ears. You do not need to have absolute hearing like Beethoven but you should nevertheless be able to hear when an instrument or student is out of tune. This helps you to make necessary instrument adjustments and give support to a student who might struggle with the practical side of music. Your listening skills should also extend to listening to your students. This naturally helps you to understand their worries and expectations and to come up with ways to support them.

Patience

If you want to succeed as a music teacher, you should have a high level of patience. Practising a musical instrument will not always go as smoothly as you and your students would like. Depending on your students’ ambitions, this could well mean temper tantrums and tears. It is therefore vitally important that you stay patient and calm. This is the only way for you to both address issues and deal with them effectively and professionally.

Teaching Skills

As a music teacher, you will need to have strong teaching skills or, at least, the willingness to master them in the near future. This is especially important for teaching your students how to play an instrument. You need to be able to do this in an approachable manner that helps your students understand how they can master a chosen instrument. Your teaching skills will, of course, also be needed when delivering lessons on musical theory.

Career Path

Your career as a music teacher may start with the job of a teaching assistant, depending on your approach to this job. If you have chosen to do a degree or an apprenticeship, you will start as a music teacher newbie, so to speak. You need to gain a few year’s worth of experience before you can start thinking about advancing into more responsible teaching roles. If teaching at a school is your job as a music teacher, you have the option to progress to the head of the music department or the position of headmaster or headmistress.

Educational Background

The most common approach to becoming a music teacher in the UK is to earn a university degree, for example, a Bachelor of Education (BEd), a Bachelor in Music Education, or a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in music. Maybe this is also the right educational path for you since a BEd comes with the advantage that it sets you up for your QTS. 

If attending university is not the right fit for you, you can also do a college course, such as a Level 3 qualification in music or performing arts. Another option is a Teacher Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship. It takes 12 months to complete and already involves practical teaching. After finishing this apprenticeship, you are qualified to teach students in the age group 3 to 19.

Teacher Training

After you have completed your degree/course/apprenticeship, you usually need to do your initial teacher training (ITT). This takes about a year, after which you should acquire your QTS (qualified teacher status) if you want to teach music at a UK state school. Note that your university education can already set you up for this status. 

Continuous Learning

Besides the QTS, you have several other options that help you on your career path as a music teacher. You can look into doing your PGCE (postgraduate degree in education). Unfortunately, this certification will cost you around ￡9,000 which is why we recommend that you look into bursaries or scholarships for funding. Furthermore, you can do a diploma in education and training or a certificate in education. These two qualifications then set you up for a Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training and a Level 5 Certificate in Education, respectively.

A Day in the Life of a Music Teacher

Teaching multiple classes will shape most of your working day as a music teacher. Depending on your exact teaching position, you tend to teach different age groups, different education levels, and different musical subjects. In this section, we will take a look at other tasks that await you on a working day as a music teacher.

Lesson Planning and Preparation

Before you can deliver a music lesson, you need to spend some time planning and preparing said lesson. As a music teacher, you generally plan lessons according to the term’s curriculum and the age group you are teaching. After you have set up a lesson plan, you can start preparing it. This can involve getting the required instruments and materials ready and later setting them up in the classroom.

After-School Teaching

A lot of schools offer after-school clubs where students can pursue extracurricular activities related to their interests. If this applies to your school, you may spend some time teaching music after school. Maybe you even plan an end-of-term concert with your students, in which case you can discuss which piece to perform and who will play which instrument.

Teacher/Parent Meetings

Every so often, you will have to take part in teacher-parent meetings which tend to take place in the evenings. Here, you discuss everything from the students’ progress to upcoming events and adjustments that might have to be made in your music lessons. The feedback you get can give you valuable tips on how to make your future lessons as a music teacher even better.

Tips for Thriving as a Music Teacher

Besides the qualifications you should look into and do as a music teacher, you should also always think about other ways that help you thrive as a music teacher. In this section, we will look at three tips that will help you thrive in this profession:

• Develop a strong pedagogical foundation
• Plan engaging music lessons
• Encourage continuous practising 

Develop a Strong Pedagogical Foundation

A strong pedagogical foundation is a sure way to thrive as a music teacher. It should involve knowing effective education and teaching techniques which help you teach music in an exciting and easily approachable manner. To build this strong basis for your future career, you should always research and learn about new teaching methods and adapt these to your current way of teaching music.

Plan Engaging Music Lessons

Learning about music, playing an instrument, music theories, and famous composers should always be fun. The more engaging and interesting your music lessons, the more likely it is that your students will be willing to grasp what you are trying to teach them. Therefore, you should always come up with interesting and exciting ways to conduct your lessons. This way, you will thrive as a music teacher.

Encourage Continuous Practising

Not every one of your students will have a musical proclivity, whereas others might be a Mozart in the making. Whichever your student’s talent, you should always encourage continuous practising. It helps your students to improve and it also shows them that you believe in them. If you show your support in this way, you will thrive as a music teacher.

Frequently Asked Questions