General Music volunteering - non-clinical or teaching?

[Question]

I've been volunteering at an in-person music camp for the past two summer with the intent that it would fall under the non-clinical volunteering section on AMCAS as some of what I did was teaching but it wasn't all. I was hoping to expand my volunteering to do some virtual music teaching for those that are underserved. Since the only thing I would be doing in this new position would be teaching, would this fall under the teaching category on the AMCAS application or could I put it under non-clinical?

Would it be better to pursue more traditional routes of serving the underserved like soup kitchens? I really enjoy music and feel like my skills would let me make more of an impact there, but I'm unsure how virtual teaching would be seen.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

This is good and could lead to conversation in an interview, but I would definitely do some more traditional (soup kitchen-like) like work as well.

 

[GoSpursGo]

New thing is teaching, period.

You need to find some more traditional soup kitchen stuff. Part of the entire point of the nonclinical volunteering is to get you out of your comfort zone and interacting with people unlike you in a setting you wouldn’t normally be in. Your skills may be of use in teaching but you’re definitely in your comfort zone there. For that matter, virtual volunteering is really of limited value to your application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you have a music background, teaching music to underserved students is nice, but many faculty won't be impressed unless you were hired as a teacher full-time. Basically you are teaching or tutoring the same way science students teach or tutor math or science to similar children.

 

[Goro]

Service need not be "unique"; it can be anything that helps people unable to help themselves and that is outside of a patient-care setting. If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients.

Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching literacy or ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, mentoring immigrant/refugee adults, being a friendly visitor to shut-ins, adaptive sports program coach or Special Olympics.