The search for solutions continues as South Carolina deals with ongoing teacher shortages. Music teaching is no exception, with too few certified teachers to meet the needs of students.
The faculty at USC’s School of Music said they’ve found an innovative way to help, with the new Music Teaching Artist Certificate Program.
Tayloe Harding, the dean of the School of Music, said the program is targeting working musicians in the community that have taught at some level before and have an interest in leading a classroom themselves, but aren’t quite ready to make the jump.
“We can really begin to fill some of these music teaching vacancies with what we call teaching artists," Harding said. “We want someone that has some degree of music experience and some degree of teaching experience."
The program, which is preparing for the first cohort of a planned three-year pilot program, is seeking working Columbia musicians to receive specialized training that will allow them to teach music in South Carolina public schools. The program is being run with funding from the Gretsch family, who owns the Gretsch instrument company and build their drums in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Because of their donations, all 10 members of the first cohort will receive full scholarships.
“They’ve invested with us in a joint project for this pilot project to see whether or not, over the course of 3 years, we can really begin to fill some of these music teaching vacancies,” Harding said. “The Gretsch’s have a great passion for music education, and we suspect there’ll be all sorts of possibilities to partner with them in the future on a variety of music educational fronts.”
An experienced group of faculty, all of whom Harding said are "nationally known," were assembled for the program, including its director, Professor Mary Luehrsen. Luehrsen said the program isn’t looking to replace certified music teachers, but fill a gap, and hopefully inspire graduates of the program to pursue certification themselves.
“I think maybe some of the folks coming in this training program will go on to become certified music teachers.” Luehrsen said. “It’s really a needs based program we’ve developed to not look away from the current problem, but to look squarely at it and see how we can support working musicians who may have a desire to be more closely aligned with school districts and schools and teaching.”
Luehrsen said she sees a bright future for the program, in what it brings to South Carolina, what it does for participants and its potential to provide inspiration for a new wave of music education innovation.
“I think professional working musicians will value the set of skills that the program will give them,” Luehrsen said. “I think it has a lot of potential also to serve as a model for other schools that are producing a lot of professional musicians.”
Hassan Anderson, assistant professor of oboe, is also serving on the program’s staff, and said he was more than ready to take on the role.
“Initially I was going to create a teaching artist certificate, but the university said that there were to be no new certificates. So because of that, I pivoted," Anderson said.
After working for years to create the nation’s first music performance bachelor’s degree with a concentration in teaching artistry, which focuses on creating a balance between professional skills as musician and working to become an educator, an area which Anderson considers one of his areas of expertise. He was given the offer to join this program. Just like Luehrsen, Anderson said it is important to fill the gap.
“Teaching artists really come to take on a role of filling the gap,” Anderson said. “That means that we are able to identify and place, especially in rural communities, enough music teachers so that every student has access to music education.”
Given that the program is brand new, the faculty acknowledged there may some stumbling blocks, Anderson said, but he’s confident and determined to make the program a success.
“I would say it has to be a success,” Anderson said. “Because we can’t live in a society where kids don’t have access to great music education.”
More information and the application for the program can be found on the university's website. Applications will be accepted until Dec. 2, and scholarship recipients will be notified on Dec. 16.