Music Teacher Jobs
Thank you for your interest in a teaching position at our school. This page will give you an idea of our philosophy of teaching and our ideas about how our school can best meet the needs of our students and teachers.
If you are interested in applying for a teaching position after reading this page and viewing our website, then please email your resume and a cover letter to office@musiclearningcenter.org.
No Phone Calls Please. Only suitable applicants will be contacted for an interview.
Current Openings
Positions regularly become available at various times during the year. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their resume and cover letter to office@musiclearningcenter.org.
School Background
The Music Learning Center is a privately owned school that was founded in 1993 and is located in Danbury, CT. In 2020 a second location was opened in Ridgefield, CT. Please visit the contact page of our website for more information about our Danbury location. Information about the Ridgefield Studio may be found HERE
We are western CT’s largest music school with approximately 250 students attending weekly classes. We cater mainly to children. About 85% of our students are between 5 and 16 years old. We also welcome adult students. We realize that most of our students will not become professional musicians. We strive to provide both a fun and educational environment with well-organized administration and first-rate equipment and facilities.
Why Teach with Us?
As a music teacher you can either teach privately in your house or at student’s homes, or you can teach in a music store, or in a school such as ours. Each of these options has its own set of upsides and downsides. If you teach in your home or students’ homes, the upside is you can keep all of the lesson fees you charge to the student. Since you have no expenses like rent, a receptionist or advertising, you may have lesser overhead costs. There are also downsides of teaching in your home or your student’s homes. It can be hard to keep your schedule constantly full with new students. Getting a full schedule can be difficult and expensive if you have to do your own advertising. Even if you are a good, well-liked teacher, it can take a long time for referrals and word of mouth to fill your schedule. If you are driving to student’s houses you also have to factor in the driving time between students which limits the amount of teaching you can actually do.
The other downside of teaching on your own can be the difficulty in enforcing your attendance and payment policies. No one likes being a collection agent. It can be difficult to concentrate on your teaching while trying to keep track of who owes money and to make sure you are paid.
If you are teaching on your own, it can also be difficult to enforce your teaching policies and have your time respected. For example, if a student tells you they are going to Disney World for the next two weeks, it can be difficult to still make them pay for their lesson time. Many students will refuse to pay for those missed lessons because they will think: “I’m not getting my lesson so why should I pay?” Chances are you can’t book another student in that lesson time for just 2 weeks, so if you don’t charge the student in Disney World, you have just lost 2 weeks of pay. If these types of scenarios happen a couple of times per month it can greatly reduce your earnings.
Now let’s look at teaching at a music school. The downside is you don’t get paid as much per student. Teaching rates that in-home teachers and music schools charge are usually similar. So, the earnings per student to the teacher are lower because of rent, advertising, office staff and other expenses. The upside can be having a consistently full schedule of students each day. Being paid a little less per student but having a full schedule will mean that you will probably earn more overall.
Another upside to teaching at our music school is that you do not have to be involved with payment collection or scheduling hassles. You only have to focus on the teaching. Also, our music school provides a professional educational environment that is stimulating to the students. It is free from distractions found in a home such as ringing phones or doorbells, TV’s and noisy family members
Those are the general differences between teaching on your own and teaching in a music school or store. Here are reasons why music teachers choose to teach at our school over all other choices:
- A constant flow of new students to keep schedules as full as possible.
Over the course of the year, students can move or quit. This can leave a teacher with gaps or holes in their schedule. Many students register and start lessons in September. Most music schools only advertise in late August and September for new students. At our school we spend a lot of money on advertising and marketing year-round to keep our teacher’s schedules as full as possible. That includes internet advertising, newspapers, direct mail, community publications and other media that constantly attracts new students. We are continually registering new students for our private music lessons, even during typically slower registration months like May or June.
- Extras are taken care of – your only responsibility is to teach.
At the Music Learning Center, we have full time front desk administrators to handle all of the “details” of teaching. From scheduling to collecting fees or arranging an accompanist for recitals, these details are handled by our administrators, not the teacher. This means the teacher is free to focus on teaching and not get bogged down by administrative tasks. Teachers at our school also have access to our online “Lesson Management System” or LMS. The LMS offers a number of conveniences and benefits including: a) make adjustments to your schedule when needed for occasional conflicts; b) teach online lessons using the built in Video Lesson Room which is more convenient than ZOOM (great for snow days and the like); c) message your students about practice assignments, or to send videos and links; and much more!
- Your time is respected.
Teachers are almost always compensated for lessons whether students attend or not. Our strict cancellation policy allows students to take an excused absence only during certain holiday periods (the teacher would not be paid for those. Rescheduled or makeup lessons are only offered at times when the teacher is already scheduled to be at the school or teaching online, and happens to have an opening. If a student misses’ classes for school trips or holidays, the teacher is still paid. If a student does not pay for their lessons, or has an uncollectible debt, the teacher is still compensated. Our priority for our teachers is to make sure that your time is not abused and your teaching day can be as productive as possible.
There are many more reasons why our teachers enjoy being a part of the Music Learning Center. Many of them have been with us for well over ten years. They often thank us for the quality of our administration, our modern amenities such as online access to lesson schedules, our professionally run recitals, and much more.
Interested in Taking the Next Step?
Thank you again for your interest in teaching at the Music Learning Center. If you are interested in applying, please email your resume and a cover letter to office@musiclearningcenter.org.
No Phone Calls Please. Only suitable applicants will be contacted for an interview.
