Music tutor

Music tutors provide individual or group lessons in instrumental or vocal technique. They work as ‘peripatetic’ contractors in schools, within programs run in schools by external providers, in music stores and music tuition businesses, not for profit organisations, and from private/home studios. Tutors differ from classroom music teachers in several important ways, with much less regulation and no formal accreditation in most states, typical training pathways being as performers rather than classroom teachers, and relatively flexibility and uncertainty. There are structured roles in some organisations with permanent employment, and some school systems have pathways for music tutors as employees. This occupation is very often combined with that of a freelance musician, in a ‘portfolio career’ that combines teaching and performing.