Many jobs are known for various traits that make them more suitable to certain individuals; however, an area of expertise that defies these boundaries is a career in music. In music, the wide range of different job roles on offer along with the opportunity to mix these roles in careers known as “portfolio careers” means that almost any skill can be developed and applied. Due to the ever-evolving nature of music and the shifts in technology and taste in music, there are both new jobs being created and existing jobs evolving to fit the new musical environment. An example of a specific musical field that has persevered throughout the years and gone through various structural changes is that of musical tuition. Through many centuries this job has shifted in various forms from simple rhythms passed by word of mouth from one generation to another to a structured system of education that began to take roots in the late renaissance period in central Europe and has since been standardised and updated into the standard educational systems in place today. The way this system functions in the modern day varies in many ways to its previous structure both in tuition style and the width of musical genres that are taught as well as the qualifications needed to fill this role. To pursue a role in musical tuition it is recommended to have both qualifications in music (usually a degree in the specified area)and tuition (PGCE qualification) as well as safeguarding training also being a requirement for the vast majority of these roles (especially those working with young people)

Within the field of musical education there is a wide variety of roles spanning all the way from local musical playgroup tutors to international masterclass hosts that can be accompanied by a diverse range in the quality of tuition to small scale community projects hosted by amateur musicians with little to no prior experience all the way through to professional masterclasses hosted by world-renowned musicians with many qualifications and certifications such as PGCE and performance diplomas under their belt accompanied by many years of experience. Whilst all these roles are different, they can all be linked by similarities than span throughout all levels of music, arguably the most important one of which being the willingness to devote your own time to helping others learn and grow. At its core, this field is all driven by a desire to guide and help people of any ability to get involved with music. This desire to want to help people get involved and learn something that they may have no prior experience in demonstrates a pure passion for music and compassion towards others, regardless of the pay in such cases like the professional performers from Manchester Camerata. The Manchester Camerata are a nationally-known, Manchester based orchestra of professional musicians yet despite their popularity take time to lead a variety of non-profit projects. These projects include partnerships with universities and regional music foundations as well as charity organisations with a key example being their recent work volunteering at the newly set up “Music in Mind Cafe”. The Music in Mind Cafe is currently a relatively small project  that has been set up to help benefit those suffering with dementia by involving participants in small, loosely structured musical workshops. This project is aiming to spread awareness about dementia and provide support to those who need it with a key goal being to open more of these Dementia support cafes around the greater Manchester area whilst simultaneously working with charities such as Mind and Age UK to achieve this goal. Setting up a project of this scale is (as you can imagine) a very demanding task and without the incentive of monetary gain the people left running these projects are currently helping out from a place of compassion and support for those who need it. Whilst this is an example of professional performers demonstrating this eagerness to help, this is a motion shared by all levels of tuition as even those that work with young kids and babies as when interviewed multiple workers in this area stated that the best part of their roles was the ability to see a young person grow and develop with motivating factors such as  “Working with them and seeing how they respond to music” and “seeing them enjoying it” being common responses. For teaching in general, it appears that an inner sense of compassion and selflessness continues to be a trend as statistics from a poll in which over one thousand teachers were interviewed showed that 93% of participants got into teaching due to a “love of the subject” and the chance to impact society whilst leaving a lasting good impact on young people. One of many reasons for this similarity between all levels of teaching is, in part, due to the commitment required to undertake this role. As a role that works with such a diverse range of participants, the law requires multiple screening tests and qualifications in order to work with so many different groups of people as well as many hours of training alongside this which require many people who wish to get involved to sacrifice a large portion of their time to gaining these qualifications. Although extremely necessary, government mandated tests such as DBS checks and basic first aid courses lead to many people that reach the level of tutoring required for this role, in most cases, being the most committed to the job both in terms of the mentality needed as well as musically.

One job that (in my opinion) embodies all these qualities is that of an in-school musical tutor. Although this role often gets viewed as a role filled by classroom teachers alone, this job is now mostly done by trained and specialised instrumentalists that are appointed by organisations such as local councils and governing bodies to run lessons. These lessons are also differently structured in the sense that kids are usually taught how to play and maintain an instrument in the correct way(increasingly so as you progress through primary to secondary) which gives these young people both practical knowledge of instruments and also teaches general musicality aside from simply learning only musicality in a less stimulating way . Due to the nature of these classes and the instruments required, this role often requires a reliable mode of transport as those who teach these classes are often required to transport instruments as well as travel between multiple schools or institutions in order to maintain a constant flow of classes to teach to sustain a livable pay rate. Despite the awkward conditions of the job, this role compensates with an average rate of a new employee usually being higher of that of a new worker in areas such as hospitality or retail with an example of a starting rate tuition being £42,000 per annum as opposed to £16,000 in fast food companies such as McDonald’s. As stated earlier, due to this role being very involved with children and schools, health and safety is a key factor with government checks needed such as a DBS check and multiple online courses needed for safeguarding in anticipation of situations such as child abuse/neglect or signs of bullying by other students and how to handle these scenarios effective and professionally. These forms of security are used in all teaching roles within schools as scenarios like this can occur through any stage of schooling making this type of training and understanding some of the most vital to maintain. Due to the amount of checks needed and the effort required to get between schools, this type of tuition and the teachers involved are generally respected by others in the teaching community as it is generally seen by others as an extremely strenuous job for little monetary gain. Other qualities unique to this type of tuition are the responsibilities given to those in the role. These responsibilities begin with those of a standard classroom teacher (albeit with slightly varying qualifications) and can often extend to roles such as instrumental repair and maintenance, monitoring student attendance, and even the organisation of in-school events such as concerts and showcases so kids have the opportunity to demonstrate their practical work to family and friends. As previously stated, this amount of pressure and the qualifications and attributes needed to succeed in this form of musical tuition makes it difficult to enter this profession but makes the experience and knowledge gained much more valuable than many other jobs. Some core skills this role helped me develop included communication, time management, organisation and note taking as well as more specialised skills such as a wider knowledge of instruments, being able to more efficiently communicate with young people, and the useful skill of making a coherent spreadsheet on Excel.

One role I find especially interesting and have personal experience in is a particular form of in-school tutoring known as CIL (Classroom instrumental Learning). CIL is heavily related to many of the points I mentioned in prior paragraphs and is the practice of teaching kids a specific instrument in their music classes. This method of tuition often provides a more hands-on approach to music and is often received better than other forms of tutoring due to the more engaging nature of the lessons. In CIL there is usually 2 leads per session there is the main presenter of the session who is a competent player in the instrument the class is learning known as the “deliverer” and there is also another tutor known as an MSP (music support practitioner) whose role is to support said deliverer in delivering the lesson (hence the name) whilst simultaneously filling in all paperwork and documents regarding primarily attendance and instrument storage. This system is very prevalent all over the united kingdom and has risen in popularity over time as it became apparent that a 2 person teaching method where each person has assigned jobs was much more efficient than a single teacher trying to juggle all responsibilities. As well as being a highly efficient method of teaching, this tutoring technique also makes way for new music tutors to gradually work their way into teaching as the role of an MSP, whilst having challenges unique to the role, is a job that largely utilises everyday transferable skills so is a good starting point of which you can progress from. After being a MSP worker most tutors choose to progress on to being a deliverer as this role requires much more research and specialist knowledge as this job involves making engaging lesson plans whilst still keeping students learning and improving. An example of this teaching technique in action i have experienced is the Derbyshire Music Hub’s (DMH) MSP programme that aims to get more musicians in and around Derbyshire into teaching via a role that is advertised as “Ideal for part-time workers – Teachers returning to the profession, gap-year and current students, parents looking for work in school hours and those considering a career in teaching”. This organisation clearly markets this role as a flexible job based fully in “assisting” the deliverer with the only qualifications needed being “to be at least at grade 5 standard” and to have an active enhanced DBS (that the organisation funds). This job also advertises a pay rate of “$19 per 90 minute session” that ends up as approximately $12.60 per hour which is a fairly normal rate than that of most other paying jobs. Deliverers, on the other hand, have a higher pay due to the role being more based on leadership qualities and attributes that lead on from those developed from those working as an MSP worker. Due to the more specialised nature of this role, this job is not as openly advertised (for example on the DMH website) and is primarily marketed to those that wish to commit more to teaching music and possibly continue tutoring full time. this role as mentioning block for young musicians who wish to get into teaching is primarily used by applicants to get a taste for tutoring who then go on to do many varying roles, some of which being 1 on 1 music tuition, full time classroom tuition or even just a freelance artist as these roles often provide a good simulation of what travel commitments and communications may be like as a freelance performer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gov.uk(n.d)Get Into Teaching. Available online: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/train-to-be-a-teacher/qualifications-you-need-to-teach[Accessed 26/12/2025].

Edu Space Solutions(n.d) How music education has changed and its impact on learning space design Available online:https://www.learningspacesolutions.com/how-music-education-changed-impact-learning-space-design/[Accessed 26/12/2025].

Music in Mind(2024) Join Our Cafes Available online:https://www.musicinmind.org/music-sessions/music-cafes [Accessed 26/12/2025].

Elisha, M. (2015) Teaching Profession Available online:https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/survey-explores-why-people-go-into-teaching-in-the-first-place/2015/10[Accessed 26/12/2025].

Reed (2026) Average Music Teacher Salary in the UK Available online:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjKovaluYSSAxVwWEEAHdv7OMoQFnoECDMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reed.co.uk%2Faverage-salary%2Faverage-music-teacher-salary-in-leeds&usg=AOvVaw3IBkW002D7Y0HF_hpxD76w&opi=89978449[Accessed 26/12/2025].