How To Become A Private Music Teacher: What It Is and Career Path

What is a private music teacher and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Rusty Banks

The average private music teacher salary is $53,216. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an music major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a private music teacher. Private music teachers with a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 60,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Private Music Teacher?

Rusty Banks

Senior Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music, Franklin and Marshall College

First, remember that your career doesn't start when you graduate. It starts before then. Do everything you can to get experience and exposure while still in school.
Be nice to people. Make yourself useful. Go to other musician's performances. Know the people in a scene.
Remember that you're always auditioning. This goes for when you play and how you interact with people. Show up to everything and perform at a professional level, even if what's going on around you isn't. Show up prepared. You can't wait until you're at Carnegie Hall to start playing well. Develop a reputation for being solid as a player and as a colleague.
Have a plan. "Vague dreams of stardom" is not a plan. How many gigs do you want to be doing by next year? What number of followers are you going to have by when? Set some concrete metrics and strive for them. You won't always reach them but that's not the point. Having something to measure against is important. Tracking your success shows you how well what you are doing is working.

ScorePrivate Music TeacherUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,216

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.9

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.53%

Asian 8.55%

Black or African American 10.33%

Hispanic or Latino 15.41%

Unknown 5.72%

White 59.47%

Gender

female 57.27%

male 42.73%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.9

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

10.0

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a private music teacher

Explore private music teacher education requirements

Most common private music teacher degrees

Bachelor's

70.1 %

Master's

15.5 %

Associate

6.1 %

Start to develop specific private music teacher skills

Skills	Percentages
Mathematics	20.11%
Language Arts	13.63%
Cello	11.28%
In-Home	7.90%
Music Theory	5.78%

Complete relevant private music teacher training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New private music teachers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a private music teacher based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real private music teacher resumes.

Research private music teacher duties and responsibilities

Lead debates with advance students on topics including globalization, economics, and political history.
Challenge students to master basic math concepts through implementation of manipulative graphing, and charting exercises that develop problem-solving skills.
Challenge students to master basic math concepts through implementation of manipulative graphing, and charting exercises that develop problem-solving skills.

Prepare your private music teacher resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your private music teacher resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a private music teacher resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Private Music Teacher Resume templates

Build a professional Private Music Teacher resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Private Music Teacher resume.