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Besides performing, a lot of advanced horn students have dreams of teaching the horn full time at the college level. In The Musician’s Way Blog last weekend Gerald Klickstein had a great post on “Applying for faculty positions” that is a must read for those who aspire to teach full time, as there are several distinct elements of what makes for a successful candidate that are not necessarily obvious to the student hornist. To have any hope of winning the few jobs there are that come open you have to have an idea of the bigger picture of what is wanted.
There are three main categories to the pointers he presents toward winning a college position:
- Build credibility
- Forge a professional network
- Submit polished materials
I have heard it said the first step toward making a good impression is a warm welcome. In terms of college teaching your preparation and career as presented in your resume is that warm welcome. It should show much more than you went to the right schools and studied with the right people. In fact, those elements may backfire in some applications, because the search committee may be ideally looking for someone with a more broad background (such as an undergraduate degree in music education or studies at a variety of types of schools) than the applicant who seems (on paper) to be the stronger applicant based on studies alone.
College horn teaching positions are among the hardest jobs to win. There are very few openings and the bar seems to be going up every year. Building the resume is a key thing to do as a first step toward the goal of winning this type of job if it is your aspiration. Read his article for the full rundown on each of his pointers, as that will give some very clear ideas of what needs to be in your resume and what you need to work toward.
