Should musicians work as adjunct instructors?

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

For musicians and others in the arts, working in your field does not always mean producing your art and having people buy it. That is certainly a part of most local musicians’ careers, but most do other work as well. Musicians may also present and teach about other peoples’ music as DJs or radio program hosts, work in music stores, give music lessons, or write or produce music for other local musicians. One option for making money in music, writing, or another art form without getting a “day job” or “side gig” is to teach your art form at local or online colleges and universities as an “adjunct” instructor. Just make sure to keep the following guidelines in mind. 

Remember that your teaching assignment may last an entire term, but it is still a gig, not a job.

Teaching on an adjunct basis means being a slightly confusing and blurry cross between an employee and an independent worker, in business for yourself. On paper, you work for the school. You get the same tax forms, employee handbooks, keys, and ID cards as an employee. But for all practical purposes, you are an independent artist with a term-long gig teaching classes to students. You will not be required to publish extensively or do much of the other work of a regular faculty member, giving you the freedom to hire yourself out to one school one term, another the next, and two or more schools the one after that. With that freedom comes a lack of stability, as the schools you teach for may or may not offer you classes for any given term.

Budget for the added expenses that may come with adjunct teaching

Anything you absolutely need to teach your classes should be provided to you, within reason. Your supervisor at the school can make sure you have a room with a projector if you need it, chairs for group discussion, or a lecturn for giving talks. Many schools also offer a supply of notepads, pens, highlighters, and dry erase markers for classroom boards, but that is not guaranteed. You may have to purchase those items yourself. 

Drinks, meals, and snacks are rarely provided. You may be offered free coffee or tea in an employee lounge, but that is about it. If you can’t eat lunch or dinner at home due to the spacing of your classes or required office hours, you will be responsible for paying for any restaurant or school cafeteria meals you eat.

Avoid schools that require you to download their messaging app onto your personal phone

Musicians who want to teach classes on an adjunct basis as part of their music career might want to turn down any offers from schools that require downloading their app onto your phone. Representatives from the university may insist that it is only needed to complete certain tasks easily, but if the app allows students to contact you any time, the school will expect you to be in contact with students any time those students wish to speak to you. It won’t matter if the official policy only requires you to answer messages every twenty-four or forty-eight hours. The students will know they can reach you at all hours, and they will expect a reply within an hour, sometimes even within minutes any time they reach out. If you do not respond as they wish, they will complain, and if they complain, you will be asked to be in contact with your students on a steady basis. Should you accept classes from a school that requires you to download their app, you will wind up teaching 24/7, stopping rehearsals, interrupting writing time, even using your break time during gigs to communicate with students.

Be prepared for students who do not take your subject or your class seriously

As a musician, you will probably teach classes such as music history, music appreciation, or special topics in music, but you may find yourself needing to widen your focus into basic related skills in order to find work. You might be a professional musician who is also a songwriter, and find yourself teaching classes in basic writing skills, or an expert in music history, but teaching a more general history class and weaving songwriting or music history into your syllabus. Either way, you will have at least some students in your class who are completely uninterested in what you are teaching. In their minds, they may be in school only to participate in sports, or to socialize, or to put in their time until a relative gives them a job. Some people even become students strictly on paper in order to access financial aid and have no intention of actually doing any work or learning anything. These students take the basic courses because they have to in order to remain enrolled, and enroll in arts classes because they mistakenly think they’re going to be “easy.” They see any attempt to get them to participate in any class as a nuisance or an obstacle and will likely treat you and your course accordingly. While you certainly shouldn’t tolerate this, it happens in schools across the country, offline and online, so it is likely to continue regardless of your response to it.

Block out at least one extra hour per week per course you teach, and add one or two more on to that when making your teaching schedule

The time you spend in the classroom is only a portion of the time you need to schedule to teach college courses. Make sure you set aside at least one hour of grading time each week that you assign work that must be handed in, and schedule time to hold office hours as required. You also want to schedule some time to respond to student emails and complete any other tasks or paperwork your individual schools may require. This both ensures that you get everything done, and that your teaching work does not take over your entire day or week. 


Adjunct teaching, whether in music or in a related skill, can be a great way to find steady work for months at a time. Just make sure you’re aware of what you’re agreeing to do before signing any contracts.