Piano Teaching and PA - Possible?

[RyanNguyen]

Hi all,

By name is Ryan, and I'm currently a senior music major (piano) with a 3.8 GPA at a state university switching from pre-med to pre-PA. The initial dream I had was I'd be a doctor (family medicine) and then teach piano to students as well and then later in life focus on solely piano once I had a comfortable lifestyle. Though, after speaking to many doctors and one PA, to me it seems as the doctor work-life balance isn't as attractive to me as I thought and to me becoming a doctor means dedicating your life, so I've recently decided to switch to pre-PA to find a better balance between medicine and music, and, of course, the eventual family I plan on raising. The PA I spoke to told me she also has time to do hobbies, though she tells me if I do piano it will be more of a side thing.

I'm here today to ask if these two options are viable for my future because I'm determined to make music and PA part of my life. 

Option 1: Work as a PA 4 days a week and then teach piano as well for 1 or 2 days. 

Option 2: Basically I'd do option 1 for some time, then if I wanted to really focus on building a music studio once I had enough money/debts are paid, I would stop practicing as a PA entirely and focus everything on piano teaching. I'm not sure if this would work because I'm unaware of how much I need to work to retain my license in case I ever wanted to work as a PA again (in case, say, the economy goes down and I'm not acquiring many students anymore).

Any suggestions would be appreciated because I'm still learning the technical side of things as a PA. 

Thank you! 

Ryan 

 

[Boatswain2PA]

Are you a music major?  Or a pre-med major??

If music is your passion, then go that way.  Completely and totally give up any thoughts to learning medicine.

If medicine is your passion, then become a MD.  After med school, residency, and paying off student loans, you will have money/time (money = time in the adult world) to spend on hobbies.  If you want your hobby to be teaching music, then so be it.

Of course, as you grow up, your hobbies may just change.  

[RyanNguyen]

Thanks for the response Boatswain2PA,

I'm a music major taking pre-PA classes which I'm nearly finished as I'm set to graduate in 5 months. Both music and medicine have been a part of my life so it's difficult to choose between the two, so I wanted to make a living doing both, and if i get burnt out with PA, I'd just focus on music. Also, private piano teaching is not stable so a PA degree makes sense if I want stability which could eventually aid in starting a teaching studio.

I hope this clarifies things!

[Boatswain2PA]

So you're not Pre-Med.

I would try to get into med school.  Get your O-chem & biochem done then take your MCAT. 

If you don't get in there, then maybe PA....but realize for every seat in a PA school there are 10 applicants (and 5 are over-qualified for it).  

If you're going to do medicine (MD or PA), then you're probably going to have to let music go for a while.  You can always pick it up again. 

And again, as you get older, the job/career often takes precedence over hobbies as you gots bills to pay and mouths to feed.

[Marinejiujitsu]

I'm a jiu jitsu/mma instructor. Haven't been teaching much since I took up a management roll though.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[UGoLong]

Unfortunately, money does not always equal time in the adult world. Having enough money is, depending on how each of us define it.

Not everyone has only one career aspiration and it is far from unusual for people to change careers as they move forward.

OP, do what you want to do. You do not have to be 100% dedicated to a single career. I know docs who paint and write plays. And God knows what else. Having multiple interests makes you who you are. Whether your life unfolds as you might predict right now is unknown.

Enjoy your journey.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mgriffiths]

Whether you go MD or PA, at minimum the next several years of your life are going to be bound by learning your craft.  Doesn't mean you will have no time for piano, but it will be very limited.

MD - you have med school, residency, and then getting comfortable in practice.

PA - you have PA school, but overall likely a sharper, and longer learning curve once you enter practice because of the condensed education

PA would be a shorter process, with less overall debt, but whether it's 3-4 years vs. 8-10 years, as you complete your formal education and enter practice you have control of your time outside of clinic/hospital/etc.  You mentioned family medicine, the docs I work with work 32 hours of clinic per week and have probably 10 hours of paperwork to complete (my father is one of them and I know he works more than most in the practice).  42 hours...that leaves a lot of time for play, it just depends on how you want to spend that time.  For me, I enjoy coaching wrestling and am doing so currently, but as my family grows and my time becomes more limited that is going to take a farther and farther back seat - that may also happen for you with piano.

One other thought to keep in mind, as a PA it is unlikely that you will be "the boss" - not impossible, but unlikely.  As an MD it is becoming less common, but the practice I work for is privately owned, therefore the docs have a lot more control over their schedule since they are "the boss."

Lastly, you mentioned once you are out of debt then possibly focusing your time exclusively on piano...why take on all of the debt from PA/med school just to pay it off and then not reap the rewards of the relatively large salary?  You could become a piano teacher now and make a modest income with minimal debt, or spend years taking on and paying off debt not doing what you love to simply do what you love after you pay off the debt.  Seems like a story I've read about a fisherman and businessman.

[jlumsden]

All but two of the 30+ providers in my adult internal medicine clinic are part time.  You could work .5 as an MD, make a reasonable living, and do piano on the side.  This would allow for the work life balance you are looking for.

[RyanNguyen]

I do understand that maybe I should just pursue music, but like I said, it's not at all stable, and I do enjoy science as well and I've been exposed to medicine my whole life, so I'd love to be able to pursue both. I'd like to ensure that my life is comfortable before I dive in with piano teaching, and since PA is only 2 years, I feel like it wouldn't hurt to become a PA either. I'm just wondering if my options are at all possible which are again: 1) working as a PA and piano teacher at the same time and 2) later in life, stop practicing PA and work up a music teaching studio (which means obtaining students and then one day owning a business). 

Thank you for all the helpful replies. Keep them coming!

[UGoLong]

I don't think anyone can say how likely it would be for you to meet your two objectives. They are certainly possible.

1. Work full-time as a PA and then transition to part-time as your music business ramps up. I know several PAs who are now part-time (including myself).

2. Changing careers is generally doable (I've done that a couple of times). There are both costs and benefits to doing it and only you can make that assessment.

 

[RyanNguyen]

1 hour ago, UGoLong said:

I don't think anyone can say how likely it would be for you to meet your two objectives. They are certainly possible.

1. Work full-time as a PA and then transition to part-time as your music business ramps up. I know several PAs who are now part-time (including myself).

2. Changing careers is generally doable (I've done that a couple of times). There are both costs and benefits to doing it and only you can make that assessment.

 

Thank you for your response and simply knowing your experience makes me feel a lot better about the future. Perhaps one of the main issues of private piano teaching is that it is difficult to pay health insurance, from my understanding. Would working part time as a PA give health insurance benefits? Does PA pay enough to ensure safety in the event that I teach piano privately under self-paid health insurance.

I apologize if I'm missing something about insurance because I've only recently started to learn about benefits. Thank you!

[UGoLong]

You'll have to see if a specific part-time job pays benefits. Many do not.

As far as affording self-paid health insurance, it is anyone's bet what that will cost when you graduate. Hopefully it still will exist.

If you are all that psyched on teaching piano, perhaps you'd do better to go into music education, get a school job to pay the bills, and teach piano on the side. 

Do some research but expect this to be something of a crap shoot.

[south]

Of course it's possible.  Many of us think about doing our hobby as a side business.  Option 1 could morph into option 2 eventually.  Music is usually a vow of poverty, as we both know.  If you don't mind the extreme dedication inherent to PA for a few years, then you could start looking at part time and/or PRN work after a few years.  I see these jobs all the time.  

The classic scenario would be - 3 years for school - 3-4 years or so of full time work to make yourself competitive/able to do part time and get debt paid down / money ahead.  So 7 years from now, you could be able to consider it, with a great deal of financial discipline.

You have nailed it - benefits are a bit of a bugaboo with part-time work, what we are really talking about here is health insurance. A healthy person in their mid-30s could be expecting to pay $600+ / month for a truly crappy plan.  If it even exists by that time. I don't know of any part time jobs with health benefits, maybe they do exist.

Another thing to consider is the family you plan on having.  You're considering choosing something that puts you on a thinner financial profile already.  Just saying.

One thing at a time and go from there.  Good luck!

[scarfire]

I would recommend medical school. I have a friend who is a very proficient violinist who was heavily debating between pursuing a masters in music performance in violin at New England Conservatory and medical school. She went with medical school, but has been involved in music throughout her medical training (we became friends through a chamber music ensemble). She is still performing all the time via chamber groups and high-level community orchestras.

As a pianist/physician, you could definitely have side-gigs teaching lessons and/or accompanying instrumentalists and vocalists. You would have much more flexibility to transition to a more full-time piano studio as a physician, because you could own your own office and essentially work part-time (especially if you were practicing in primary care or psych).

[beattie228]

Another vote for Med school. You could certainly continue to play as well as give lessons during Med school/residency. I'm very happy as a PA. That said, anyone under the age of 30 with a competitive application should have some really clear cut reasons for why PA instead of MD/DO. Better respect, autonomy, pay and ability to make your own schedule are just a few reasons why anyone in your shoes should keep MD/DO on your list of possibilities.

 

Let us know how things turn out.