What standard would you say is of a good knowledge for teaching theory, obviously im not thinking about teaching in the near future, in a few years, but just wndering what you think is the minimum standard for teaching it?
I reckon im about grade 3ish at least at the moment, have just recieved the first three MTiP and flicked through, and pretty much know most of it thats in there, just a few scales/key signatures to learn and remember. I am to be doing about a grade a term, doing grade one this term, and so on.

But basically, what do you consider the minumum standard, i will maybe start teaching when i get to that standard, and continue learning myself.

HC

I think if I was putting a limit on I'd say that knowing up to grade 5 thoroughly enough that you would score in the high 90s with little or no revision.
Rightly or wrongly I'd assume that level of theory form an instrumental teacher too whether they choose to teach theory for exams or not.
Knowing how it relates to practical is very useful too, they are NOT different subjects.

In the United States of America, we:

• get a Bachelor's degree first, in music performance, music theory, or music education.
• in whatever state you live in, take the state's teaching exam.
• [optional] get a Master's Degree in music theory or education.
• Audit yourself with the CollegeBoard's AP Music Theory cirriculum.
• Get a job at a school that offers AP Music Theory.
• Teach it.

Well i wouldnt want to teach in a school, privateley, like groups of two or three on a saturday or whenever

I've done g5, and got a distinction...but I wouldn't even consider teaching theory yet because I agree with sbhoa, I think a teacher should be:

I asked to start g6 theory tonight, to which my teacher admitted that she'd done the exam a few years back and found it very hard although she got a distinction (showing me her MTIP with lots of mistakes) and she had got a (Cambridge) music degree about 30 years before!
So I think you would need to have very sound theoretical knowledge in order to teach theory confidently. There aren't vey many people wanting to take the higher grades, but grade 5 would probably be essential.

I think you may have missed Neil's point there... You still need to know your stuff, and how to deliver it, regardless of whether you're teaching in an institution or privately.

For what it's worth, I never got higher than Grade VI on ABRSM Theory - but I did then do a three-year graduate qualification at music college afterwards.

I feel confident to teach to Grade V level these days but because my purely academic music skills have not been much used for 30+ years, I honestly don't think that, as of now, I'd teach above Grade VI maximum. One of my piano pupils asked me for some help with Bach Chorales for "A2" level exams (her teacher has been off most of the term sick and the stand-in openly admits he doesn't know how to do them) and I had to go and get out all my old, now dusty, textbooks to remember the basics. Somethings, unused, get forgotten all too easily at my great age!!

I always really enjoyed theory and love teaching it.
In fact, I'd like to do more of it and feel that now I'm supposed to be at retiring age (!) it's something I could put to good use.
I recently contacted my local AB rep to ask about being recommended as a theory teacher, thinking that there must be young people around who need help with Grade 5 theory, but she hasn't even replied. Something about older ladies becoming 'invisible', perhaps?

If we just look at the requirements for the AB Theory exams then it's clear that anyone who can score almost full marks at grade 5 is knowledgable enough to teach to that level - that doesn't say anything about their skills to get the information across though.

After Grade 5 a whole new type of knowledge is needed and to teach at that level I'd say you'd need at least diploma level theory knowledge.

Most teachers get their pupils through the G5 barrier exam and have only passed that (or G6) themselves.

Other exam boards may have different requirement though - meaning that more specialist knowledge might be required earier on.




Who said that!!! ??

I tried earlier this year to contact the local rep but when my email was bounced back, I contacted the AB direct who responded to my query quite promptly. I got the impression that they wanted to know if their customers (which you and I are) had an unresolved query and I found them willing to be helpful.


On topic, I got a distinction in every grade up to and including G5, but there's no way I would try to earn money teaching it at my level. I recently looked back at the G2 papers to see if I would be OK to answer any queries which a G2-studying friend might have, and I was a bit taken aback to realise that if I'd been asked "yes but WHY is it like that", I wouldn't have been able to answer with confidence.

To use an analogy, there was a TV commercial a while ago which showed various "incidents", like a teenage hoody running away from what appeared to have been a street mugging, only when the camera panned out, you got the whole picture and could see that the hoody was actually the good guy chasing after the mugger. So I wouldn't be comfortable about making money teaching unless I knew a lot more about the full picture than I do currently, and am able to see what I've learnt in context.

Personally I would be happy that I could teach theory to grade 5 level. It would however be a learning curve, there is no quicker way to realise what you don't understand well than to try and teach it to someone else.

After all, if I can get a distinction at G5, with only the haziest idea of chords and harmony (I never did any theory other than G5, e.g. Alevel or GCSE music) then I could teach students to do the same. I wouldn't want to though, but I also trust myself to be able to fill in those gaps with a bit of studying and checking, before teaching the very simple understanding required for G5.

Obviously, I would never dream of trying to teach above G5 theory, and I would also hesitate before trying to teach to children younger than 10, due to the slightly different style required. I don't know that I would ever charge people for teaching theory though, as I suspect I might fall into the trap of teaching students to pass the ABRSM exam, rather than giving them overall musical knowledge...

Perhaps knowing the limitations of your skill level, and being realistic is the point here. If you want to be paid for providing a service, you have something of an obligation to ensure you aren't doing your client a diservice !