Music Supervisors

Trained, experienced music supervisors and consultants are valuable resources for central office administrators, principals, teachers, and communities. Supervisors are organizing, motivating forces for the development of coherent, conceptually-based music programs. Consultants and supervisors coordinate stimulating programs by providing the following services:

• Providing ongoing leadership in planning, implementing, and evaluating K-12 music programs
• Organizing professional development opportunities for music teachers and specialists
• Serving as advocates for quality music instruction (e.g., ensuring that adequate time is allotted for instruction; suggesting quality resources that support instruction in the TEKS)
• Communicating standards for and safe use of music facilities, classrooms, tools, and materials
• Facilitating efficient ordering of music supplies and equipment (e.g., providing guidelines, bulk purchasing)
• Coordinating school music programs with community activities
• Providing current information to teachers, school administrators, and parents concerning current practices in music education.

Music Teachers

As important as supervisors and consultants are, teachers are the most influential part of any music program. In everyday classroom activities, teachers communicate knowledge of music in ways that challenge their students to learn.

Effective teachers help students see that the study of music transcends the making of music, and that music history extends beyond isolated subjects. Through music, students develop their own insights into ways of thinking, learning, communicating, and preparing for the future.

A teacher’s education, background, and training in music and music education profoundly influence the achievement of his or her students. To ensure teaching competency, the state requires beginning music teachers to have academic preparation in the TEKS. Hiring decisions directly affect the musical lives of students, and each district should carefully plan and implement its policy.

Elementary music teachers have a special responsibility—to establish the attitudes, feelings and the musical understandings that build the foundation of all future music studies. Certified elementary music specialists receive a minimum of four years study in music and music education. In the classroom, they plan and deliver comprehensive, sequential music instruction based on the needs of their students and the TEKS.

Music teachers ensure the comprehension and synthesis of information and skills related to sensory awareness, creative expression, technical proficiency, cultural appreciation, and critical judgment. Music teachers have knowledge, training, and facility in a variety of music media and processes, pedagogy, music history, and music criticism. The number of teachers per building should be sufficient to develop each student’s potential for creative and critical thinking in music and to individualize instruction for students at different cognitive and psychomotor development levels.