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college professors

grimble crumble

grimble crumble

Bluelighter
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Nov 19, 2005
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any people in here actually teach at a college. how did you go about doing so?

I was thinking about going to school to eventually become a music professor at a college one day. Is this a relatively hard goal to attain? Im not a bad student and VERY musically gifted I was just wondering what it takes to actually become a music teacher and if getting hired as one is a realistic dream for some one in love with music.
 
any people in here actually teach at a college.
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Me! Me! ;) (still just a grad student)

how did you go about doing so?
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In sociology, it's typical to support one's self by working as a 'teacher's aid' (usually leading discussion sections accompanying a lecture and grading). More advanced students can teach their own seminars. It was pretty much guaranteed once I got in.
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BUT...I have no idea how this does or does not apply to grad training in music.

ebola
 
I'm in a similar position to ebola?. I'm doing a Phd and I'm employed as a tutor, which means I take the small group discussion component of larger courses. I think it's the same as doing teachers aid work in the US. When I finish my phd I'll apply for academic jobs, which usually involve a mixture of teaching and research, the balance depending on the kind of department you're in.

Basically you want to be an academic. I'm not sure how it works in music, but in most disciplines that means you'll need a Phd. You'll definitely need a masters at the very least. So off you go and get one!
 
Same here. I'm finishing my PhD. I've been tutoring for the past 6 years or so (including some time tutoring as an undergrad). To be an academic you either need an advanced degree (masters or PhD), or be working towards one, or be an expert in your field, and come back to teach afterwards.

Once I finish my PhD, I'm going to go and get some industrial experience before moving back into the academic world. This is pretty much required for engineering if you want to be taken seriously by the industrial world, which is where the majority of your funding comes from.

So, get yourself into a grad program for music.

What I'd recommend is to have a chat to some of the academics in your program and ask them how THEY became academics. It may be different in music than in other areas. Get some knowledge from the people that have it!

CB :)
 
grimble crumble said:
I was thinking about going to school to eventually become a music professor at a college one day. Is this a relatively hard goal to attain? Im not a bad student and VERY musically gifted I was just wondering what it takes to actually become a music teacher and if getting hired as one is a realistic dream for some one in love with music.
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PhD in some sort of focus in music (theory, instruction, performance, etc.). This is what I was going to do when I first went to college, then decided it was a pain in the ass and I didn't really want to teach.
 
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Like everyone else, I was a quasi-teacher while in grad school - TAing and grading. Now I occasionally will give guest-lectures at schools on my area of research.

I do want to teach later in life, but I probably will choose high school over academia. I think being an academic 24/7 for years would drive me past my sanity limits.

To the OP, if you want to teach music at a college level, you will need to go to grad school and get higher degrees in music/music theory. And then just start applying for teaching jobs. Unlike high school teaching, most colleges/universities don't requise something akin to a "teaching lisence."
 
^You're mathematics?

Keep in mind, the "genius" thing IMHO, goes only to pure mathematics--none of the bastardized "applied mathematics", "computer science", "mathematical physics" or whathaveyous.

Not that there aren't geniuses in those groups (just look at major lists for top Putnam scorers), but I think pure math is the only PhD where being an intellectual superfreak is a prerequisite.
 
I did math and phsyics for undergrad, but there was no overlap - two separate departments. My BSc in math was nearly all pure/theoretical courses, as was the content of my undergrad thesis.

My MSc is in applied mathematics, but it was probably 50/50 theoretical courses and computer stuff. I love pure math, but decided to get the applied degree because I didn't to limit my job options to being a math professor. That's just not for me - I'd go insane being around those types on a daily basis. I'm just slightly too "normal" for it.

Pretty much any job one would get with a degree in math that is not teaching requires one to know how to code well (in a functional/computational sense). And much of such coding is based on numerical methods, computation theory, and a buch of other "approximating" stuff. So you gotta compromise a bit. Probably will do the same thing if/when I go for my PhD. Though keep in mind that applied mathematics needs to always be defended by pure mathematics, so an eager applied student will want to justify via theoretical mathematics why the applied stuff is allowed to be as it is. I got into many arguments with my master's thesis advisor about just how much of the theoretical stuff I could include in my paper.

My sister and her boyfriend both are seeking PhDs in pure mathematics (and I admit both are smarter than I am). So I am constantly around it, since I spend a lot of time with them, and they seem to never leave nerd mode.

But ya, I don't think I am a superfreak or anything. I am gifted with logical thinking skills and math has always came naturally to me. But something like playing an instrument - I took piano for 4 years and probably couldn't even play Marry had a Little Lamb. To me, writing and playing music blows my mind away. It is in a sense kind of relative.
 
It's funny you should mention "logical thinking skills". Most of the mathematicians I know sort of have "thought disorders" bordering on schizophrenia.
 
Logical as in....all bachelors are unmarried men. Redleader is a bachelor...etc. Rational thinking...Nothing bad is going to happen if I don't touch the tea kettle a prime number of times is a different story!

I got lucky, just having OCD and nothing else naturally (maybe a bit of long-term stimulant use induced paranoia though :( ). My sister's got OCD to an extreme level, schizophrenia and a hoast of other personality disorders. Despite being brillant, she really does struggle every single day. I take Fluvoxamine to help with my OCD. She does too, albeit 6 times my dose.

But I agree. People I went to grad school with were crazy. And in the common man's use of the word. The professors were even crazier. I never felt like I fit in. Sure, I counted the stairs in the building and such, but I didn't do any groupwork with my imaginary friends :)
 
Redleader said:
But I agree. People I went to grad school with were crazy. And in the common man's use of the word. The professors were even crazier. I never felt like I fit in. Sure, I counted the stairs in the building and such, but I didn't do any groupwork with my imaginary friends :)
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My field of interest was combinatorics, and I swear to Jebis...if an outsider were to walk into a typical combinatorics course, he could easily mistake it for a group-psychotherapy session.

I can see it now. A classroom with, maybe 3 students. A professor is talking but no one is listening, but it doesn't matter since he's not likely lecturing about combinatorics anyway. One student is nervously nodding back and forth, another student is puzzling over an old USAMO problem, and another is completely loaded on a boatload of dope in order to cope with the "large-scale social anxiety issues" of being in the "crowded classroom".
 
alright heres another question for all you college professors. Do you feel like you are happy with your career decision, was it worth all the schooling and student loans?
 
I study creative writing, so teaching is pretty much the way to go. The same applies to most students in art fields. I want to go for a masters after I graduate college, and then try to get a teaching position from there.
 
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