Obligations

Obligations

When one is planning a career, with or without a college education, many things can make or change a decision for you. Going to a University or College and getting a bachelors in a field that one enjoys and would want to study and learn more about would help in that decision making process. However, things like family, the community you live in locally and farther all can play a small or large role in your obligations and the career you chose. The field of Music Education, being able to teach the world the joys of music, is one of those professions that has a positive effect on everything that one might do. The Obligations that one might make to him or herself are ever changing, always for the better.

One of the top priority obligations that a Music Educator has is his or her obligation to the community. In many communities, the music teacher is held in a high regard, similar to a Reverend or a Sport coach. This is because the band or choir program is the only thing that they have, and most of the time, are some of the best programs in the state. The expect you to make great things happen with their band or choir and take them somewhere. If he or she places their obligations right, and puts their obligation to their community on the top of there list, things will happen that they want to happen. Things like a booster program that will raise money for trips and such because he or she has the backing of the community. However, the reverse is possible. If the Music Educator does not place there obligation to their community on the top of there list, he or she will not be at that school for long. Even though the obligation to the community is one that should be at the top of the list, the obligation to yourself is tied for first.

One has to be obligated to him or herself as much as anything else in order to make a career and a life that is worth anything. One might have the best career in the world, the support of a great spouse and family, but if you do not believe that what you are doing is for you, he or she will be very unhappy. Dr. Thomas Ruess is a Music Educator that has taught for a number of years and has built an amount of experience that he shares with his students. He says that obligation to your community is a big thing is the music world, but the obligation to one's self is just as important and says "That you have to be able to look at yourself in the morning (while shaving or what not), and like what you see, if you don't then something is wrong. The choices that one makes about