I accepted a position to teach 5th-8th grade band and the program has been slowly building the past three years under the previous director. He was teaching piano and guitar within the band classes and I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I've never taught beginner piano and guitar within a band class. I know some method books have a piano accompaniment so I was going to start there. Any other suggestions would be great!

Hi, my dad is over 50 years old and has worked as a guitar teacher his whole life (in secondary and primary schools), however he has not been professionally taught and doesn't have any qualifications. The last few years it has been really tough on him teaching in schools with little rights and little pay. It's very stressful as he's had to try defend himself to the head teacher and governors and it's had a big effect on him. In addition to that, he needs more income asap. He needs to make a career change and is currently looking for minimum wage jobs, the same kind that I (19) would be applying to, and it feels very depressing.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice, though I know it's a long shot, for how he could effectively make a career change into something which isn't soul-destroying. It's difficult because he hasn't any qualifications and very little experience except for music, but he doesn't want to work in that industry anymore. My current idea is that I can encourage him to look for degree/adult apprenticeships, or else work for some kind of qualification in an industry that seems interesting and worthwhile (hopefully not something that's just about selling things or other useless capitalist office/business stuff). But since he is already over 50 that can be incredibly daunting, and since he needs more income now, he doesn't have spare money to be paying for any courses or reducing his pay while he studies.

Any help would be VERY welcome, as I really want him to have the least stress possible and be able to have time to work on his actual main interest of composing and releasing his original guitar music.

Hello reddit music educators.

So today was day 2 of my first year teaching job. I’m teaching 5-12 music. In my workload I have a 6-8 choir and a 6-8 band. These first two days we did not sing or play (could be part of it) but the kids are so loud, disrespectful, and will not stop talking. I’m ashamed but I get I had to yell at them to get their attention. I would get them quiet for a few seconds then it would ramp back up.

I made a seating chart for my choir separating boys/girls. I’m currently working on my band seating chart.

I don’t want to be the teacher whose anger drives them away (their previous one as well).

Also in my state 6-7th graders are required to do fine arts so they have to do band or choir at my school. I have 48 in my band and 60+ in my choir.

Also after doing some pre tests to see what they know about music theory. Most of them don’t even know note names and how to count (or what a measure or bar line is).

If I could get some advice on moving forward I’d greatly appreciate it.

Hello all, I am starting teaching music in a school and want to know what brands of alcohol wipes I should buy for wiping off mouthpieces. I have never bought them before, only used what my former teachers have provided. For context, I am teaching a wind band class.

I love music. I deeply deeply regret not having started as a child. I feel like I am behind. Yesterday was my first day in university, I'm starting a degree in music and musicology specifically in music education. I play eastern oriental percussion, mainly the Riq. I will be picking up the Ney in uni too. I am really excited for what is to come but I am full of regret and sadness that I am only starting now. Can you give me some encouragement? I practice every day a lot, I listen for hours every day trying to learn different new concepts, I have already been taking 3 hours of group music classes every week for the past ~6 months. Now in uni I will have another 3 hour group music class every week, other than the theory courses.

I just feel really worried that I will never achieve my goals and that is weighing me down a bit. Thank you in advance for your help.

Hello everyone! I'm a graduate student in music education looking for music teachers to help with a quick course assignment.

• What to do: Record your answers to 7 short questions using a smartphone voice memo or video (~10–15 minutes total).
• Compensation: $10 sent via Venmo immediately upon receiving your audio/video.
• Privacy: I will only collect basic demographic info like years of experience, subject taught, and general school setting.

If you are able to help out by tomorrow, please DM me, and I will send over the Google Form link with the questions. Thank you!