Music Majors and Future Employment- Ideas on How You Can Build Your Brand

Posted by entri in career and education, Music

Colleges and universities are armed with the best and most responsive curriculum that can help train and shape music majors. And to ensure that music majors will get the best preparations, many colleges and universities hire the best music teachers, and many invest in modern equipment to allow students to practice and hone their craft. While these strategies and approaches can help teach music students, sometimes these are not enough in a rapidly changing and highly competitive job market. If one wants to be prepared for the challenges of the job market, it pays to be ready, and adopt some smart music education strategies.

1. Be outstanding in your chosen craft and niche– If you are going to work as a music teacher or educator, then you should be outstanding in your chosen field. As they say, as a music teacher, ‘you cannot give what you don’t have’. This means taking extra lessons and training while you are in college. These extra training and lessons can give you the edge over other applicants who want to take the job.

2. Be creative and learn to improvise– Most music majors will work as a trainer or educator, and make a difference in the life of another aspiring musician. If you want to be successful in this kind of work, you should be able to present yourself as a creative teacher who is willing to improvise and use different teaching techniques. For example, you should be able to transition from one class with a high end Fender guitar, to another learning environment without the necessary equipment. As a teacher, you should be ready with a lesson plan that can help you teach according to plan. But in teaching, it is not required that you follow the lesson plan to the letter. As a creative teacher, you should be able to adapt to situations and student needs.

3. Build your entrepreneurial skills– Even if you are preparing for a career as a music professional, it is also best that you prepare your entrepreneurial skills. This may seem like an odd combination, but in reality, music teachers and musicians should be entrepreneurs as well. There are a number of instances where your marketing skills will prove handy once you become a music teacher, or a musician. For example, if you are a guitarist, it is not just enough that you know how to play the guitar or use a guitar pick-up; as a guitarist who wants to go big time, it is also recommended that you know how to market yourself. You should be able to connect and network with like-minded individuals and business owners so you can showcase your talent. As a music teacher, your entrepreneurial skills can also help in convincing students to enroll in music classes.

Learn and use new technologies– You can also increase your marketability if you are aware of the current trends in technologies that are used in music production. These tools and new technologies can help musicians create better music, in the most convenient way