<p>I'm very troubled right now, so here's a little back story:</p>
<p>I'm an aspiring composer and would like to make my living in arranging and composing. My main instrument is cello and I've been training on it for the past 5 years. Last spring I tried out for my college's music department and got rejected. This morning, I interviewed the cello professor to begin private lessons. She told me that because I have not learned correct form for bowing or proper positions for my fingers (higher up on the string), there's really not much that can be done. She told me she would assign me to lessons from her TA, but that when the music department says "Not Accepted", it means you are not accepted, and that the university is not inclined to provide any lessons or classes for that matter.</p>
<p>I was very frustrated to learn that after taking private lessons for 5 years, I have not even learned the basics of playing. This says nothing about my skills as a composer, but I know performance is a big part of being a music major. I am very intelligent when it comes to theory and composition and was the top of my class in high school for all of my music classes. I have perfect pitch and am well trained in SATB voice leading, different modes, scales, intervals, and I can hear things that many can't. Is there a way to demonstrate this to my music department or am I screwed without basic knolwedge in cello? Is there an instrument that is easy to train yourself in such as voice or piano (Which I dabble in but am not classically trained)? I really don't care if I'm not able to play cello in school, but I have an aching desire to learn more on theory, writing, aural skills and everything that encompasses music.</p>
<p>On that note, is there something I can major in that could get me to my end goal of being a composer that isn't music composition (Silly question)? Something like journalism and then become a music critic or something? Or even a major that I would be satisfied in, one that will find me a job but will allow me to persue my desire for more education in music. This is all just very frustrating, so I'm sorry for the long, dopey, possibly stuck up post.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading. I appreciate your thoughts.
VanishingVision</p>
<p>Different schools have different policies on availability of lessons/chairs/roles to non-majors - I JUST finished a post about my experience in another thread. </p>
<p>I am amazed that five years of private study has not left you with a good foundation of the most basic of basics, but perhaps your experience resembles that of my husband, who was flummoxed when he encountered “forte” and “piano” in some sheet music. Turns out that his teacher had always xeroxed the kids’ parts, using white-out on the dynamic and tempo indicators, and scribbling in the English translations.</p>
<p>It sounds as though you enjoy playing cello, but your passion is elsewhere. I don’t know that an amazing composer needs to be an amazing performer. Composition majors, please chime in, but I think you probably just need to be an adequate technician in something, preferably piano, with some familiarity with the instrument/s you intend to compose for, whether they be standard orchestral, or jazz, or gamelan, or theramin, or, or… you get the picture.</p>
<p>So take the classes with the TA and clean up your cello technique. In the meantime, talk to the composition faculty and lay out your hopes, and seek guidance as to what to do to pursue your compositional passion. You can doubtless take theory classes even as a non-major. Give them a chance to get to know you, and help you build a portfolio. Just because the music department rejected you as a cello performance major doesn’t mean you’d be rejected as a different sort of music major, especially as the appropriate faculty gets to know you. The cello prof is probably not your target audience.</p>
<p>As you read more threads, you’ll see that there’s more than one way to proceed down this road. Please take heart - you have encountered a stumbling block, but it is just a stumbling block, and it might just be the one you need to get you redirected down a path more in keeping with your passion.</p>
<p>BY the bye, piano and voice are not “easy” to train yourself in, certainly not to the level of a performance major in either discipline. There’s a big difference between good in church, and good enough to be a performance major in it.</p>
<p>Great advice from Soparnomom. I know there are tons of schools that will allow you to take lessons even if you are not a music major. In fact even at Oberlin our tour guide was a non-music major and taking lessons. Would you consider transfering to another school?</p>
<p>I would expect you could find a piano teacher and start training on the piano while the TA helps clean up your cello technique. Almost all music performance people that we have seen have to take piano and your theory and music strengths should make you a good piano student. You may never become a good performer on the piano but it might make composing easier. Finding a good piano teacher or taking a class at college should be possible.</p>
<p>That is two cents from a non expert.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the quick advice!</p>
<p>The school I attend does not have many classes for non-majors, a pain that most of the other professors I’ve talked to seem to share with me. They say they only have enough seats for majors, so I have agreed to audit theory classes with permission from the dean of music. From what the cello professor told me, she shouldn’t even by advising my lessons (regardless of who is teaching it) because of my non-major status, so I don’t believe I would be able to learn piano unless I were to pay a student on campus to teach me. I would be happy to transfer schools. The main reason I’m attending this school is because of the cost and I have full intentions of relocating should I find something more suitable to my interests. I could blame my lack of technical skills on my instructor through out highschool, but I don’t necessarily think that would be fair of me, so I’ll just accept the fact that I need to improve and do just that. What SopranoMom has written sounds excellent, and is pretty much dead on to what I’m interested in, and I will follow your advice. (:</p>
<p>P.S. Piano and voice, other than cello, are simply instruments I’ve had the most contact with and performed with. I didn’t mean to imply that they weren’t difficult to learn classically. :P</p>
<p>VanishingVision - There are many many composition departments which do not require you to have a primary instrument. A little investigating will quickly uncover them. Just check out the application requirements into the department for composition majors. For instance, USC does not require an instrument. I think even Curtis doesn’t. Also, any BA in music with a composition focus will not require an instrument. There are plenty of choices for you out there if you’re interested in transferring as a Composition Music Major.</p>
<p>Hey - don’t give up on piano, not even at your school, wherever it is. There will be a piano proficiency requirement of the vocal majors at least (others?). Those who do not possess it at admission will need to take classes. </p>
<p>That is NOT the same course of study that a piano major would undertake. </p>
<p>This is true Piano 101, the foundations, with the goal being for the vocal majors at least (can’t speak to the others) to be able to play their own scales and warmups, to provide an underpinning to their theory studies, and to be able to accompany others at a basic level on the standard repoertoire. These classes are geared to non-pianists, and are probably more than enough for a composition major. If it’s too late to get in at your school, you can probably pick it up at a nearby community college.</p>
<p>Or… look for another school to transfer to. </p>
<p>As SpiritManager points out, there are <em>LOTS</em> of options. Glad you’re being proactive where you’re at - let’s see if we can’t improve your situation for next term, and beyond!</p>