A strong teaching bio has to do more than just list your degrees and experience.
To be effective, a teaching bio needs to give prospective students a real sense of what it’s like to study with you. This needs to be compelling enough so that they will reach out.
To write a bio that attracts the right students, you need to first come clean about who you really are.
A great teaching bio doesn’t just list your experience and degrees. It gives prospective students a feel for what it’s like to work with you—and makes them want to reach out.
To write a teaching bio that attracts the right students . . .
You need to come clean about who you really are.
These two bio excerpts (from the Berklee College of Music faculty listings) show how this can be done—and how you can do the same.
Berklee’s faculty listings include an “in their own words” section, where teachers write in first person about their teaching.
But writing in first person won’t guarantee your bio is compelling. It’s easy to fall into simply listing your credentials or making generic pronouncements about what you believe “excellent teaching” is.
And none of that gives readers what they want.
Your prospective students want to know . . .
- Who you are as a person
- What matters most to you as a teacher
- What it’s actually like to work with you
These are the core elements of a strong teaching bio. Let’s look at two examples that get it right.
Excerpt #1
“I’m having so much fun teaching at Berklee. I look forward to seeing my students, and I know that I’m really doing my job when they’re excited to come to class and to prepare for it, and I’m seeing them progress. In my style labs, I say, ‘Be prepared to exist in this class outside of your comfort zone. If you’re within your comfort zone for the entire class, I’m not doing my job. My job is to take you out of your comfort zone so you can find a new comfort zone.’ And the students are willing to go on that journey with me, so I’m honored, and enjoying every second of it.”
— Janice Pendarvis
Reading between these lines, what do you get? Imagine you are a prospective student or employer, what impression do you take away?
Excerpt #2
“I teach my voice students to be independent and to think as musicians. To be able to understand, perform, and write music with the skills of an instrumentalist. And that is why I include in my teaching improvisation, rhythmic training, songwriting, and ear training techniques as well. I love leading my students to the process of discovering their musical personality. To train their voice to be the instrument of their own imagination.”
— Sofia Rei
And with Sofia’s excerpt, what do you learn? Thinking as a prospective student or employer, what would you get from this?
My take on these
With excerpt #1, Janice’s quote, I get the joyful energy of her teaching and that it’s personal—she really loves the students and the journey they’re on. Her main focus is challenging her students and being upfront about it and they respond well. Ultimately, her teaching is about helping students through discomfort in order to find expanded realms of ability. I love that she’s not shy about any of this.
With excerpt #2, Sofia’s quote, her goal is to help singers develop the skills that instrumentalists have: including improvisation, songwriting, ear training, etc. so that they have the tools needed to express themselves fully. And along the way, Sofia helps students find their own creative voices. She sees her role as mentor, guiding a process where students find out how to channel their own imagination into artistry.
I find each of these inspiring and compelling. In just a few lines they’ve communicated so much.
Want to test your own teaching bio?
Ask: Does it reveal who you are, what you care about, and how you teach? Or is it just a résumé in paragraph form?
Don’t be one of those musicians who hides behind a boring list of credentials, clichés, and jargon. Don’t miss the chance to make a real connection.
Find more help writing your teaching bio here: To Attract More of Your Ideal Students . . .
And if you’d like help writing your bio or refining your college teaching materials, find out how music career coaching can help you achieve your goals HERE.
Let’s get your teaching bio working for you—so you can connect with the students you’d love to teach.
All the best,
Dream Big, Plan Smart, Live Well
