Perhaps you have a musical talent, and your family and friends say you must go to music schools. Or maybe as a kid, you were informed by your band teacher that you showed promise with your instrument. Perhaps, you are dubbed as a great singer. As such, you've practically won every talent competition that you joined. This gives you an insight: I can make a living out of this. So you go on having dreams of being a professional and a popular musician. Even with the talent, you still need a good music education since you don't have the training.

You enroll in a music program-perhaps in a university , or maybe one of those pro-music trade schools that practically guarantees you a job when you're done. You learn a lot; you get good grades. Of course, you graduate. The degree or diploma is in your hand.

One thing that the schools aren't very eager to share is that several music school graduates end up having a career in a field besides music. Among those who stay in music, can you guess what most of them end up doing with their degree?

The answer: teaching music.

That is right; even if a musician finds a paid engagement elsewhere, chances are at some point, that musician shall at least supplement his/her income by some form of instruction. Why? Because many music school programs do not actually prepare their students to do anything else. Many of them are academically sound, and might even give good practical advice on job placement. But in the professional music field, where so many jobs are based more on connections and networking than talent, the educational systems are fairly detached from the industry; in fact, most of their connections tend to be with one another-with other academic/educational institutions! Thus, the academic front is just about the only place where that music degree holds any real clout. When eager music school graduates get turned down in other places, they take job offers from the schools, or resort to giving music lessons themselves. So rather than turning out fresh musicians for the industry, music schools have generated an ingrown cycle where teachers are teaching the students to teach others to teach.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a career in teaching music; without music teachers, there would eventually be no musicians! But let it be known that this is not what many students expect after graduation. When music graduates end up teaching simply because they can't find work somewhere else, there's a disconnect somewhere in the process. In this case, the educational system is perceived as fueling only itself.

What serious music students really need today is an education that informs them of what is in store for them in the real world. What they need are music schools that offer training in real-life context and with real-life connections - this will slowly erase the vicious cycle of having music teachers just because they don't have any other choice.