<p>Hi! So I'm going to be a high school senior this fall. I'm planning on doing a dual degree, with one degree being in music performance (I play the French horn). However, I'm not sure about what I want to do for the second degree. </p>
<p>Initially I wanted to major in math, but now I'm not sure because there's not as many jobs for math majors as there are for engineering majors. Because music performance is obviously a very difficult major to have a career in, I thought maybe it would be better to have a more "practical" second major (like engineering, where you can get a job with only a bachelor's degree).</p>
<p>But, I really like pure math, and I feel like I would really be interested in studying the more abstract mathematical concepts that I wouldn't learn as an engineering major. Should I play it safe and go with engineering? How about applied physics? How are my job options there?</p>
<p>If teaching and computer programming interest you then you can play it safe even by studying pure mathematics. Getting into practical fields from mathematics takes some work, because you’d need to figure out all the “electives” or “implementation details”, eventhough your mathematical base would be solid. I still think math degree is (one of) the most enlightening in the end, because in all its “abstractness” it manages to cover so much about human knowledge (as well as our lack of it).</p>
<p>One of the questions you have to ask yourself is how long are you willing to pursue a music career before you might jump into your second career. The reason I ask is that if you don’t go right into engineering after a couple of years employers might feel your engineering knowledge has gone cold. I don’t know if anyone else can address this.</p>
<p>Also, to get engineering and music, you are probably looking at 6 years total. If you did the music degree in four years yet didn’t find a music career satisfying, you could always go back and finish an engineering degree and prepare by taking some of the prereq math and science classes.</p>
<p>“One of the questions you have to ask yourself is how long are you willing to pursue a music career before you might jump into your second career. The reason I ask is that if you don’t go right into engineering after a couple of years employers might feel your engineering knowledge has gone cold. I don’t know if anyone else can address this.”</p>
<p>I think this is an irrelevant concern, especially if you actively develop your knowledge in any case (then it won’t “get old”). Unless one wants to be calculative/speculative.</p>
<p>Constant development of one’s knowledge is also a clear sign that the individual is in the right field.</p>
<p>Tell us more about why you want to major in music performance. That may affect our recommendations. </p>
<p>DS is an awesome musician. In hs he was one of the top sax players in the district. But he opted to major in engineering. That way music could stay his passion, without academic entanglement. Also I think he saw how hard it was for the local musicians to make a living, unless they became a ms/hs music teacher. That is what one of his musician buddies is planning to do.</p>
<p>I want to major in music performance because I love the French horn and want a career as a horn player in a professional orchestra. I have a passion for music.
But I also love math and want to learn more in that field. I think I have talent in both music and academics, so I don’t want to give up either one.</p>
<p>Reactor - I’m not at all interested in teaching on the high school or even college level. And colorado_mom, I’m not interested in becoming a ms/hs music teacher either. I want to perform, not teach. (Except, possibly, as a private horn teacher)</p>
<p>I’m not sure what my plans are after I get my dual degrees. If I get a job playing horn in a small professional orchestra, great. If not, I guess I would go to grad school for music and also look for a math/engineering job.</p>
<p>har - Do yourself a favor and do some research about the low likelihood of finding a french horn position in a professional orchestra. I’m not saying it is impossible. But it seems very unlikely, especially for students that didn’t give their all to concentrate on being music major. If you major in music performance, you need to go into it with realistic expectations. </p>
<p>Check in the music threads. Those posters would know much more about it. Also you music teachers might have some good insights. Good luck!</p>
<p>The article above was written by Bruce Hembd, who works as a web developer and plays 3rd horn in the Arizona Opera Orchestra and principal horn in the West Valley Symphony.
I believe that as a music student, it’s a very good idea to have something to fall back on, especially for me because I do love math and am good at it. That doesn’t mean I can’t follow my passion for music, though!</p>
<p>My questions are more about which is the better choice for me, engineering or math - bearing in mind that I already have one major where jobs are not plentiful.</p>
<p>har981, if you look at my original post, I gavce you an idea. Pursue music and see how it goes. You can always go back to school later. It appears that all of these people gave music a real shot first and had a level of success in music. For example, the man who is a test engineer made it already but went back to school because his orchestra shut down. There was the following sentence from the article.</p>
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<p>As for math or engineering, based on your original post, I would say math. I don’t see a real interest in engineering other than you can get a job. Most of the people in the article as the quote says melded the music career. Also, it appears they all concentrated on music first and augmented later. That is not incongruous with what CO_mom said and what I said earlier. If you had said you were going for the audio program, I would wholeheartedly endorse EE as a second major.</p>
<p>Also, post your question in the music major section of the discussion board.</p>
<p>har - It’s very common for musicians to have another career too. In fact, for the vast majority it is necessity. But usually they are fields not necessarily requiring a degree (real estate, business etc). </p>
<p>Engineering/CS is HARD. Music major is HARD. Combining them seems near impossible - there have been other threads on this somewhere on CC. </p>
<p>Personally I’m not advocating the music major route for somebody unwilling to take a school teaching position, but it is your decision. You are very smart to be considering backup plans… but like the many students on these threads considering double majors, you may still need to do more research to find practical plans.</p>
<p>PS - I once read about a hiring manager that said he considers almost any major if there there is also a math minor. Maybe that could be a workable combo.</p>
<p>IMO, you have impressive academic credentials. However, it’s hard for me to gauge your (actual) interest in engineering or mathematics because you didn’t list any extracurriculars or other activities related to either. To some extent, this is understandable, because you’re very involved with your music, but you should also realize that due to competition (at least for certain types of engineering and/or mathematics jobs), there are people who are spending the type of time and energy on both that you have spent on music. Most definitely, if you want to pursue some kind of academic mathematics track, you will be facing competition on the order that you will face in getting seats in professional orchestras.</p>
<p>With that in mind, I’d suggest getting involved in some sort of summer or part-time program where you would get exposure to engineering and/or academic mathematics to see how you feel about it vis-a-vis your music studies. If you find that you develop a passion for either as well, you’ll be in a better position to make career plans and choices that would hopefully better enable you to balance the two. OTOH, if neither really interests you, I would suggest that you prepare yourself for the possibility of having to teach, either in a school or privately, to supplement your income while waiting for a gig with a professional orchestra. Good luck.</p>
I have a passion for music.