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I'm a full-time brass teacher in England. I'm becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the job and've been wondering about life outside of music.

Here's the short version:
I'm thinking of quitting teaching and getting a 'proper job' (Management etc). Any folks like to comment how they've found life after getting out of music? I love music and have no plans to stop playing.


Long version:

For those not familiar with the English system, I visit a number of schools during the week and teach any kids who want to have brass lessons (ages 8 - 18.). It's the full-range; trumpet, horn, trom, euph, tuba. Mostly one school per-day, sometimes two. I also run bands/brass ensembles where appropriate.

My main problem with the job is dealing with the fact that the huge majority of kids don't care much at all about their playing. I've taught in 3 different places around England and it's always the same. A handful of kids are totally brilliant and teaching them is absolutely great. I don't feel stretched intellectually at work and sometimes I scarcely speak to an adult during work hours. I also don't have a base to work from - I feel somewhat nomadic... My wage is modest but I get lots of holiday - 13weeks/year. Jobs I'd be looking at probably have 25 days holiday but MUCH better wage-prospects...

The money-thing is becoming a big deal since there's little chance of any career-progression in brass teaching and I have to think about the future - supporting a family, pensions, decent housing etc etc...

I trained to teach in the classroom (High Schools) but have no plans to get into that. Unruly kids run riot (see Bobo's article on TubaNews - Britain came bottom in recent Unicef report about quality of living for kids).

I've never chased a playing job (not good enough) but have no plans to stop playing with local Orchestras/Bands.

So the question is, how has anybody found life-after-music? Did things get better or worse? How did your playing/attitude to music change?

Thanks,
MP

Peach wrote:I've never chased a playing job (not good enough)

Me neither. I was a classroom public school teacher, band director, for 7 years. I had to quit. The BS was driving me crazy.

Music is now my joy, not my job. It's a lot more fun, emotionally satisfying, and musically uplifting this way. Now the BS comes from my managers and clients, but I expected that. If you have to put up with the BS, and you do, better it comes from a job that pays 3 times as much.

tbn.al wrote:If you have to put up with the BS, and you do, better it comes from a job that pays 3 times as much.

Here in Philadelphia, there is one school where kids have broken one art teacher's neck for confiscating an iPod, broken another teacher's jaw that required wiring shut, sucker punched a third teacher, and now they are "considering" manditory suspensions...

Like many things, only YOU can decide if you NEED to do this. If you don't, then do something else. If this isn't your passion, and you can't make money at your passion, then at least make better money putting up with the same grief from a better class of griefer!

If you decide to get out of professional music try to figure out what else you really like to do. While more money isn't a bad thing, having yet another job you hate is.

There are also quite a few jobs you could look into that are still in the music field but not teaching or performing. Production, sound engineering and recording immediately come to mind.

If you don't already have skills beyond music you should probably look into more training if the goal is more money.

In any case, here's hoping it works out well for you.

Jim

if you're really serious, read this

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... enow600-20

After 24 years ,full time, as the leader of many bar and road bands, I was making roughly as much money as my wife who was a union printer for a newspaper. I complained that my playlist was all crummy music, bar owners were subhuman, I had no retirement plan and was tiring of training wimpy college musicians. My wife, who is a bit clairvoyant, told me if I took the post office test, I would get on. She was right. I played three nights a week for two years until I made full time rural letter carrier.
I was so burnt out I played no music for three years. It was refreshing to deal with people who were not drunk.
Riding the back roads and watching the seasons change outside was a perfect job for a maverick like me. I took up sailing.
I began to hear and collect tunes that I figured my friends would like- fired me up-so I worked 'em up. I still have "the fat book" of 500+ songs that I personally think are cool or funny. I worked up a single guitar/vocal act aimed at a target audience of sailors and other party animals.
I took the first postal pension possible and hooked up with two sailing buddies who love a good tuba and are fine on harmonica and guitar. We are The Half-Fast Creekers and our prime directive is fun gigs only.

Dennis Gray
tubatooter1940
www.johnreno.com/

Every profession and career path has its good points and bad points. The goal is to find the particular flavor of both that you can live with on an ongoing basis.

If you are going to change careers, consider doing two things, which I have done as I have hop, skipped and jumped among related and not-so-related jobs during my career:

1) Get thee to a guidance counselor and take a standardized battery that can help you see your particular strengths and the general career fields they match up to, and

2) There is a great book called What Color Is Your Parachute? and it's talked about at jobhuntersbible.com

Good luck!

bloke wrote:

My main problem with the job is dealing with the fact that the huge majority of kids don't care much at all about their playing.

I taught the tuba students at two large American universities and walked away for the same reason...and supposedly these students were studying to be school MUSIC TEACHERS...!?!?

I would predict, though, that in the NON-music world you will find just as high a percentage of PROFESSIONAL ADULTS who

don't care much at all

I wholeheartedly agree.

Seems like VERY rarely are people's favorite hobby and job/career field one and the same. In a lot of occupations and university settings this famous office space quote applies.


"That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired."


Lessons and occupations often find themselves at the mercy of this view on life. Some people, in some things, will always be the barrier riders. (Just doing the required minimum to get by.) My generation is doing a pretty good job of keeping this stereotype going too.

Another great book: "Pick Your Job and Land It"

Vietnam is wide open with many kinds of jobs for expatriates. All you need is to know someone and receive an invitation from that person to come for a visit. You can also go on your own, but all the jobs in the newspaper and at the employment office are written in Vietnamese! I don't read Vietnamese and I can't speak it either.

Peach how about you , me ,big Gav and A.N.Other set up some pro tuba quartet...write some music and do something very different , come on you know you want too