A percussion teacher teaches students to play various percussion instruments, often giving private lessons or working in a school’s music department. They must be proficient on many instruments and have knowledge of music theory and composition. Job security varies depending on the type of teaching arrangement.
A percussion teacher is an instructor who teaches students to play percussion instruments such as bass drum, snare drum, timbales, triangles, and xylophones. This instructor may give private lessons to individuals and small groups, or may work in a school’s music department. A percussion teacher often needs to prepare and teach percussion parts for various performances, particularly for small school band programs. There is a significant variety of different instruments that fall under the “percussion” category, so teachers need to be proficient on many different instruments. Being able to perform isn’t always enough, however, as it is expected that most percussion teachers will have at least some knowledge of music theory and composition so that they can teach students how to be better musicians in general.
Many percussion teachers prefer tutoring to working in larger music programs. Offering private tuition gives the teacher much greater control over his or her schedule, but this arrangement offers little job security or consistency. In some cases, a private percussion teacher may enter into an arrangement with a music store where the store finds people interested in lessons and the teacher provides them, usually in the store. This type of organization makes it easy for students to find students and provide a location for lessons, but music stores often take a percentage of the cost of lessons on their own.
Although positions can be difficult to find, many educational institutes at various academic levels employ percussion teachers. A percussion teacher at such an institute is usually responsible for educating all percussionists in the music program. A percussion teacher in such an arrangement has much less freedom in terms of programming and teaching material, but tends to have better job security and consistency. A teacher in this situation, particularly in a high school marching band, may also need to instruct the percussionists in marching, as percussionists play an important role in marching bands.
An effective percussion teacher must be proficient in more than just percussion performance. Many students who learn percussion instruments also want to learn general aspects of music theory and performance. A skilled percussion teacher will then be able to use the specifics of percussion performance to illustrate general aspects of the song as a whole. Such a teacher, for example, will teach students to read music and instruct students in the basics of music theory.
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