<p>I love playing the piano and it never occurred to me until recently that I could minor in it. I know Thornton is a very difficult school to get into for majors, but I haven't really heard about the minors. Do you have do be at a very high skill level to get in? I'm an intermediate-late intermediate level, but I'm worried that's not good enough and I don't want to waste my time if I don't have a chance. Any feedback is greatly appreciated thanks!</p>
<p>Same here! 
I want to minor in music performance too! (Violin) I don’t think you need a very high level skill to get admitted as a minor…that’s what I heard from other people.</p>
<p>I’m not a music performance minor, but I am a musical theatre minor. I was in chorus from eighth grade, and I was a very good choral singer, but I only started training my senior year of college. I didn’t think my audition went very well (my own fault), but I was admitted.</p>
<p>I have a question…Can you still be a music teacher with a minor in piano performance??</p>
<p>that depends on everything. First, exactly what is it you want to teach? If you want to give private piano lessons then sure. If you want to be a high school band director, the answer is probably no. I know someone who is an elementary education major and is minoring in music, his goal is to teach music at the elementary school level. </p>
<p>You need to check with your state to see what they require to get a teachers certificate. For the most part, an education degree (or music ed or phys ed) is required. Some states will let you teach your primary major if you have a minor in education plus student teaching plus pass an exam. It’s different in every state.</p>
<p>If you plan on teaching music apprecation (at any level) a minor in music may be ok, but you still have to become a licensed teacher. If you wanted to teach music theory, you would probably need at least a BA in music.</p>
<p>I know that a few public schools and maybe a few more private schools may offer piano classes, but I don’t thing there are that many.</p>
<p>Most of the time, at the middle and high school music teachers are teaching chorus/band/jazz band/marching band/string orchistra/etc, ensembles, and are expected to have a BM in Music Ed (as they have to be proffecient in a lot of different instruments).</p>
<p>It may be possible to major in something totally different, minor in music, and then go to grad school and get a M.A.T. (masters of art in teaching) and be hired to teach either your major or your minor.</p>
<p>To teach music in college you will need to have a bare minimum of a Masters in Music, most likely combined with a BA in music or a BM, and most colleges really want instructors with doctorate degrees.</p>
<p>To give lessons out of your house or at the local music store, all you need to do is to have the ability to play and teach and find some students. No college required.</p>
<p>There may be lots of different ways to become a music teacher of some sort, it just depends what sort of music teacher you want to be. And of course there are no guarantees to anything in life.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to USC specifically, but in general music performance minors are comparatively rare. The reason is one of resources. Unlike the general student body, music performance majors are usually targeting a school because of a specific instructor or couple of instructors whom they’ll be working with for all four years. There are a limited number of slots in those studios and those professors have full schedules dealing with the one-on-one and group lessons of their studio students. </p>
<p>There may be opportunities for a performance minor but a more likely track might be to become a music theory/instruction major and then take private lessons from one of the professors.</p>
<p>Thank both of you for your help!!</p>
<p>@imagep: I learn soooo much from your answer!Thx! I want to be a private teacher and teach at music stores or at home. But will it be harder for me to find students if I only get a minor instead of a major? </p>
<p>@vinceh:I am going to be a business student so it is quite unlikely for me to change my major…I like piano and that’s why I am thinking about minoring. I believe there should be spaces for classes if I get in Thornton school of music.</p>