Teaching Out of One's Element

As I discussed before, there are some times when you have to/volunteer to teach something out of your element such as an instrument that is not your major one, a type of music that you haven't studied or even a class completely unrelated to music.

The key in teaching something of this nature is to always stay ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE STUDENT. In many cases, the students look to you as an expert, just because you are older and have more life experience. If they see you teach one lesson proficiently on the history of ancient civilization, they consider you an expert.

As long as you know one lesson a step ahead of the student, you will be okay in terms of maintaining the student/teacher experience. While teaching something out of your element is something that happens occasionally, it is not something to base your career off of. Just because you are good at teaching one subject, doesn't mean that you belong teaching everything.

After all, the title for someone who teaches every subject blindly is a substitute teacher, and lord knows no one aspires to hold this position.