How to Become a Music Teacher: Requirements, and Salary
A music teacher leads choir, band, orchestra, or general music classes in a K-12 school. The traditional public-school route is a bachelor's degree, an approved prep program, student teaching, and a state teaching license, though alternative pathways can differ. Pay for the grade-level teaching roles music teachers fill averaged $72,000 to $76,000 nationally as of May 2025, per BLS data.
Music teachers get to spend the whole workday around a subject they presumably love, but the job still comes with grading, parent emails, and hallway duty like every other classroom position. If you're weighing whether to become one, here's what the degree, the tests, and the paycheck actually look like, and if teaching music specifically doesn't feel like the right fit, there's a broader range of careers in education worth a look too.
Qualities of a Music Teacher
A music teacher needs to read music, play at least one instrument well enough to demonstrate it, and stay upbeat through a room full of noise and half-tuned instruments every period. Classroom management matters more here than in most subjects, since a music room usually holds more kids and more equipment, and teachers are often the ones pulling together the school's concerts and performance programs.
Music Teacher Job Growth
Job growth for music teachers tracks general K-12 trends, which are flat to slightly declining nationally through 2034. That's not as bad as it sounds: retirement and turnover alone still open roughly 91,000 elementary and 66,200 high school teaching positions a year, so hiring hasn't stopped; it's just not expanding.
What Are the Requirements for Teaching Music?
Education Requirements for Music Teachers
The traditional public-school route requires a bachelor's degree, usually in music education, earned through a state-approved teacher preparation program with a student-teaching practicum, followed by a state teaching license. Coursework mixes general education classes with music-specific ones like choral conducting and music theory. In many states, that license comes with a music endorsement added to the general teaching credential, while a few states fold the two into a single music-education license, so confirm which structure your state uses. Alternative and provisional pathways exist in many states and can follow a different sequence, covered below.
The traditional route looks roughly like this:
- Earn a bachelor's degree, usually in music education, through a state-approved teacher preparation program.
- Complete a student-teaching practicum, typically in a K-12 music classroom.
- Complete any assessments required for your state's music-teaching credential and pathway.
- Apply for your teaching license, with a music endorsement if your state issues one separately.
- Start applying for open music-teacher positions in the grade band you want to teach.
Tests to Pass for Teaching Music
Some states require a basic-skills assessment or another demonstration of basic competency, with alternatives like a qualifying ACT or SAT score or a minimum GPA in place of the test in a number of them. Some states also use a music-specific content assessment to confirm subject knowledge, though the assessment used and any alternatives to it vary by state. Check with your state's educator-licensing agency for the exact assessments your credential and pathway require.
Alternative Certifications for Music Teachers
Without certification, most public schools won't hire a music teacher, but some states and districts will hire a candidate on the condition that certification is completed within a set window, or through an alternative certification program built for people with music experience or a degree in another field. Whether that route leads to the same full license, and how long you get to finish it, varies by state, so confirm before accepting a job that assumes it.
Find Information About Becoming a Teacher In Your State
Each state has different requirements for becoming a certified teacher. To find out specific requirements, click on your state.
Who Will My Students Be?
How much variety you get depends on the grade level and the program you're hired into. A band or orchestra teacher works with students who chose to play a specific instrument, a choir teacher works with students who chose to sing, and a general music teacher can end up teaching every student in the building.
Teaching Music in Elementary School
Elementary music teachers usually see every student in the school, from preschool through fifth grade, in a single day. A kindergarten class might spend the period on rhythm and tempo, while a fifth-grade class is starting to read music, and you may teach both chorus and general instrumentation across the week.
Teaching Music in Middle School
Middle school music teachers typically teach a general music class alongside a choir or band section, and this is usually where students get introduced to formal music theory. Many middle schools split orchestra, band, and choir across separate teachers depending on budget, and for a lot of students, this is where their first real music instruction happens.
Teaching Music in High School
High school music teachers tend to be more specialized, typically to choir, marching band, or orchestra, and most students arrive with some prior musical background. That lets teachers push further into advanced notation and time signatures than earlier grades allow, though some high schools still offer a general music elective alongside the specialized ensembles.
What Does a Music Teacher Do?
Music classrooms are typically stocked with a piano or keyboard, instrument storage, and music stands, and run louder and bigger than a standard classroom by design. States set the music curriculum, but the standards tend to be looser than core subjects like math or reading, which leaves individual teachers more room to shape what a unit looks like. Day to day, the actual duties shift a lot between elementary and secondary classrooms.
Elementary Music Teacher
Elementary music teachers introduce students, from kindergarten through around grade eight, to their first real experience with the arts: the fundamentals of rhythm, pitch, and musical form, hands-on time with different instruments, and enough vocabulary to talk about the music they hear. Teachers also cover musical genres and history at an age-appropriate level, and leave room for students to experiment creatively rather than just drilling technique.
High School Music Teacher
High school music teachers build on that foundation: refining technique individually and in ensembles, pushing further into music theory and critical listening, and guiding students through composing or arranging their own work. Many also help students figure out how to keep playing after high school, whether that's a college ensemble, a community group, or just on their own.
Where Can a Certified Music Teacher Teach?
A certified music teacher can work at any public, private, or charter school willing to hire them, and the three settings differ more than people expect. Public schools serve a more diverse population under state-set (but fairly general) curriculum standards. Private schools set their own curriculum, since tuition rather than state dollars funds them, and some expect staff to share a specific religious affiliation. Charter schools are free to attend but run independently of the district, and some build their entire program around music.
Music Teacher Organizations & Associations
MTNA - Music Teachers National Association: supports the professionalism of music teachers.
NAfME - National Association for Music Education: works toward quality music instruction for every student.
NATS - National Association of Teachers of Singing: the largest voice-teacher association in the world.
AOSA - American Orff-Schulwerk Association: educators using the Orff-Schulwerk music-and-movement approach.
ISME - International Society for Music Education: promotes music education worldwide.
NAMM Foundation - National Association of Music Merchants: supports music-making through research and public-service programs.
OAKE - Organization of American Kodály Educators: promotes lifelong music-making and preserves U.S. musical heritage.
APME - Association for Popular Music Education: promotes popular music education in and beyond the classroom.
What Is the Salary of a Music Teacher?
There's no separate BLS category for "music teacher," so the closest official figures come from the elementary, middle, and high school teaching occupations music teachers actually get hired into. National median wage estimates for these occupations are suppressed in the May 2025 OEWS release, so the figures below are annual mean (average) wages, not medians.
| Occupation | Mean Annual Wage | Job Growth (2024-2034) |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary School Teachers | $72,650 | -2.0% |
| Middle School Teachers | $72,030 | -2.0% |
| High School Teachers | $76,320 | -1.6% |
Employment in all three is projected to decline slightly through 2034, but Projections Central still estimates a combined 91,000 elementary and 66,200 high school openings a year as teachers retire or move on. Read more on teacher salaries and the other factors that shape what you'll actually take home.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a music teacher do?
A music teacher plans and leads instruction, whether that's general music, choir, band, or orchestra, and carries the same grading, parent communication, and hallway or bus duty as any other classroom teacher. Most also organize the school's concerts and performance programs on top of daily instruction.
What qualifications does a music teacher need?
The traditional route is a bachelor's degree, usually in music education, from a state-approved teacher preparation program, plus a state teaching license. Many states attach a music endorsement to the general credential, and you'll need to complete whatever assessments your state's educator-licensing agency requires for your specific pathway, since those requirements vary by state.
How much do music teachers make?
There's no BLS category specific to music teachers, but the elementary, middle, and high school occupations they're hired into had mean annual wages of $72,030 to $76,320 nationally as of May 2025 (national medians are suppressed in that release).
Can you become a music teacher without a music education degree?
In some states, yes, through an alternative certification program built for candidates with a degree in another field and relevant music experience. Whether that path leads to a full license, and how long you get to finish the remaining requirements, varies by state, so confirm before taking a job that assumes you already qualify.
What makes a great music teacher?
Strong music teachers combine real musical fluency, reading music and playing at least one instrument confidently, with the classroom management to hold a large, noisy group's attention. The best ones flex between technical instruction and the creative side of getting students to actually enjoy making music.
- Degree and license both required - a bachelor's degree plus a state teaching license, often with a music endorsement attached.
- Assessments vary by state - some states use a music-specific content assessment, and some require a basic-skills test, but the requirements and alternatives differ by state and pathway.
- Pay tracks the teaching occupation - mean annual wages for the roles music teachers fill run $72,030 to $76,320 nationally as of May 2025, per BLS data (national medians are suppressed in that release).
- Employment is flat, not gone - teaching is projected to decline slightly through 2034, but retirements still open tens of thousands of positions a year.
- Alternative certification exists - but whether it leads to a full license depends on the state, so confirm before committing to a job that assumes it.
2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers, Middle School Teachers, and High School Teachers. Job growth projections (2024-2034) are from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, Projections Central. Figures reflect state and national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed August 2026.
Every state structures the license, the exams, and the music endorsement a little differently, so the sponsored programs on this page are worth a look if you're ready to see what a music-education degree actually takes to finish. Several include options built around student teaching placements you can complete close to home.