<p>Today me and my dad were discussing college visits and essentially what I wanted to major in. Al my life I have wanted to be a musician, but as I draws nearer and nearer, I am becomes more and more scared that what if i major in performance and nothing happens? What if i major in performance and Im not discovered? I would have nothing to fall back on. This is my dream and I will work as hard as possible to get it, but what if that isn't good enough? Please comment any thoughts you have or if you went through the same thing, how did you reassure yourself this is what you wanted?</p>
<p>Relax, your fears are common and not only in music - what if you wanted to be a famous architect and all you ended up doing was designing 7-11s? But you’ve got to try or you will never even get in the ball park. Also it’s a good idea to do something because you love it, not for fame or fortune. What is your area in music?</p>
<p>I would describe my music as pop/alternative rock. However, my sound is very unique, its not what you would expect, but all the same it’s still a difficult industry. But I guess I just need to relax and really focus on what I love. But would you happen to know any schools that would offer majors in performance for your own music rather than someone else’s? Im trying to find a nontraditional school like Berklee.</p>
<p>So are you saying that you want a degree in composition?</p>
<p>nycbound233 writes: “What if I major in performance and I’m not discovered?” [NYC, if you meant “discovered” as a metaphor for “worked incredibly hard until I achieved a measure of success,” then disregard the next three paragraphs.]</p>
<p>Almost no musician is discovered these days (and even in the past very few were). Rather as a performer you take every opportunity to performer that you can grab and, on top of those, you create opportunities for yourselves. You work at least as hard on gaining exposure, on networking, and on marketing as you do on the actual craft of your music. The stories of recent music performance graduates indicate that most of them do not make huge salaries, but they cobble together an existence by performing in a variety of venues with a variety of people in addition to bits of jobs teaching, recording, etc… </p>
<p>In other words, you go find the work–it doesn’t come to you. The Justin-Bieber meteoric rise to fame is the anomaly rather than the usual route. Because his and similar tales are so wonderful and told so often, we subconsciously begin to believe that they are the normal route to a career in music.</p>
<p>If your hope in pursuing music performance is to be “discovered,” then you will almost certainly be disappointed. On the other hand, if your hope is to satisfy an overwhelming desire to create art and share it with others, then you will only be disappointed if you choose to be (i.e. if you choose not to create art or choose not to share it with others).</p>
<p>As srw writes, every young musician fears at times that they won’t “make it.” As you mention, music is a difficult and competitive world, so the fear is natural, especially when you are young and really don’t know what else is out there and how you fit into the music scene. </p>
<p>You express a worry about having nothing to fall back on if the music dream doesn’t work out. Remember that most people go through several different jobs/careers in their lives and often have to start from scratch. If you decide when you are 20 or 22 or 24 that music isn’t what you want to do, then you can certainly start from scratch. You should not view the years studying music as wasted, if you truly enjoy making music.</p>
<p>If you choose to go into music because you can’t imagine doing anything else, then I would hope that the next few years of making music would be profoundly satisfying. Studying music doesn’t close doors or leave you with nothing to fall back on if you do it in the right way with the right attitude. Ultimately one always falls back on the skills they have developed; through music, you can develop the skills of self-discipline, working with others (most performers don’t do the stage solo), entrepreneurship, networking, organizing etc… These skills will serve you well in a host of different careers.</p>
<p>Violadad, i completely understand the work and effort it takes. When i say be descovered I mean work my a** off until someone hears me. The problem I’m facing is will they like what they hear enough to sign me?</p>
<p>Once again, wrong dad, but I am in complete agreement with what violindad has stated.</p>
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<p>Probably not.</p>
<p>It’s not my intention to be mean. That’s just statistics - look at how many kids are majoring in music, and how many others decide to skip college all together and just go the American Idol route. How many are good - great, even? Many. And how many of them “get signed”? Very few. And of those who do land contracts, how many become well-known? Even fewer. </p>
<p>I have an acquaintance who got a contract with a major label in Britain about four years ago. He still hasn’t quit his day job, although he does fly out several times a year to do concerts somewhere and seems wildly successful to us. I’d tell you his name, but my guess is you won’t have ever heard of him, and may never.</p>
<p>So there has to be other reasons for you to want to pursue music - internal ones. Ones that say, if someone won’t pay you, you’ll try again next time, or create your own opportunities, or work a day job for many, many years while you practice (or write) in the off hours, and gig on weekends. It’s not for the faint-hearted.</p>
<p>The comments above are all very wise. I will add two cents.</p>
<p>My son is a popular music performance major at USC and what I am going to share is what we heard when we were out for parents weekend. Disclaimer - I am not a musician. </p>
<p>Many new musicians aren’t pursuing record contracts. Big name artists tell the USC kids that they need to make sure they own the music, the masters, everything, because otherwise the return on their effort goes disproportionally to the record companies for decades. They also stress the different ways people make money and how the internet has changed everything and enables you to promote and distribute your music yourseelf and find your audience. Audiences are becoming more fragmented. One strategy is to form a more intimate connection with your audience via facebook, twitter, etc.</p>
<p>Much music isn’t sold. The music is distributed on youtube, myspace, etc for free and the money is made via concert and merchandise revenue. This is a tough transition for the record companies which can also affect the money record companies have to work with. Bottom line is you probably won’t get discovered. More likely you’ll market yourself and perform a lot and develop a following. The record companies may come calling and you will have to decide if you want to go it on your own and hire freelance people to perform all of the functions the record company provides or go with a record company. On your own is higher reward but also requires more work on your part. </p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>Thanks to all that commented, your comments are greatly appreciated and taken to heart!</p>
<p>300th Post!!!</p>
<p>Just adding…I have a good friend who was a top west coast piano player in college. She is now an attorney. She just decided she wanted a change and went back to law school a few years after finishing her BM. A music degree never hurts and you get to study something you love.</p>
<p>Just to echo Squiggles, you can major in music and it it like any other bachelor’s degree. Many job and grad school options are available to you. </p>
<p>I know some people doing “post-rock,” making albums and doing concerts or touring, but they have day jobs too. It’s apparently tough but satisfying.</p>
<p>It is also helpful that others here are describing the entrepreneurial effort that can make it possible to do music, even if it is not “making it” in the traditional sense. It can always be in your life.</p>
<p>Editing to add that there are also job opportunities in music apart from performing: working for a booking agency, recording work, marketing, administrative support for a music organization, teaching, writing criticism, and so on.</p>
<p>[q]you can major in music and it it like any other bachelor’s degree. Many job and grad school options are available to you. [/q]</p>
<p>Bingo. Assuming a “normal” college program leading to a BM or (especially a) BA, not a standalone conservatory is chosen, I’ll say that music grad has about the same credentials as most any other liberal art major. </p>
<p>My brother earned a BFA - sculpture as I recall - and is today a senior exec for a well known designer bag/shoe/clothing company. He started in that business working retail, then doing store windows, after college graduation. </p>
<p>He got through 4 years of college studying what he loved, though, and if he’d forced himself to do something more “practical” who knows where he’d be, or if he’d have finished at all.</p>
<p>"Bingo. Assuming a “normal” college program leading to a BM or (especially a) BA, not a standalone conservatory is chosen, I’ll say that music grad has about the same credentials as most any other liberal art major. "</p>
<p>Actually, even for a stand alone conservatory that will be true I believe. Liberal arts majors, let’s say majoring in History, have to take a core curricula which includes a smattering of other areas, Literature, non western Civ, social sciences, etc and in terms of stand alone conservatories they generally don’t make you take all that many non music courses, the humanities are limited. </p>
<p>However, in terms of getting the kind of job a liberal arts graduate with an English Degree or a History degree would typically get, I am not so certain it would make all that much difference. Sure, a history major or an English major has gone through the discipline of doing research papers and analyzing sources and synthesizing ideas, which can be helpful, but is it directly related to a job necessarily? Having taken economics can help understand economic issues facing a company, but taking a semester of macro economics isn’t going to be that directly relevant. The primary value of a liberal arts degree is that it has shown the kid has achieved something, they went through a course of study, did the work, hopefully learned a thing or two and have shown the maturity to come into a job willing to learn and do what it takes to become an asset…</p>
<p>.With someone with a music degree, it isn’t hard to argue the same thing. Valuable skills are learned there, and in some cases I would argue better then a liberal arts major would. Music performance is not just practicing your instrument X hours a day, it also takes courses in music theory that are not easy, the discipline of ear training, and courses in things like music history and the like, take disciplined learning to get through. Likewise, performance degrees at a conservatory require ensemble work, Sonatas, Chamber music, and orchestral, that requires real group skills, it requires working with people who may see things artistically different then yourself and working with them, the kind of team dynamics that go on in most businesses (and if you ever had to deal with demanding music teachers and chamber coaches and conductors, well, demanding bosses are easy comparitively!). </p>
<p>There also are plenty of ex music majors and history majors who end up as IT people or as managers and such, the other half of the coin these days is that many jobs with specific skill sets require grad school anyway, and people who went to conservatory often end up doing grad stuff in non music areas…:).</p>
<p>I would say getting a BM from a conservatory or a music school within a university that has core requirements probably are going to be equal (I am not talking about dual majoring here…) in terms of most employers looking for entry level personnel…and one thing working for music students is that a lot of hiring managers are aware of how difficult a path just getting into a high level music program and it holds some weight IME…</p>
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<p>Absolutely agree.</p>