Music Theory Professor

If you ask most people how music’s made, they’ll probably tell you it’s made by playing an instrument, like a piano, guitar, or saxophone. “Playing” music, however, isn’t the same as “making” it. Although instruments make the noise, it’s pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, and timbre that make the music.

That’s what you teach your students if you’re a Music Theory Professor. A master of music theory — the study of how music works, including how it’s written and composed — you’re employed as a Music Theory Professor, by colleges and universities to explain the “why” of music to students who are used to learning the “how.” Like an English Teacher who teaches the mechanics of language, therefore, you’re tasked with teaching music vocabulary. Among the lessons you might give as a Music Theory Professor, for example, are how to read notes for pitch and length, how to count meters, and how to create harmonies.

Like other Professors in other subjects, your duties include advising students, planning curriculums, choosing textbooks, preparing syllabi and handouts, teaching courses, giving lectures, assigning and reviewing homework, and giving and grading exams. Ultimately, though, your higher purpose isn’t giving grades; it’s creating future Composers and Musicians.

Speaking of which, you’re very likely an established Musician yourself, which might allow you to teach courses not only in music theory — including courses in music composition, analysis, and transcription — but also music performance.

At the end of the day, though, you’re a musical Construction Worker, building in your students’ brains the foundation of a house that will eventually be inhabited by beautiful songs, symphonies, sonatas, operas, concertos, etc.