Music Careers and Educational Debt

<p>I get called professor all the time by students at the university where I teach, but I have only a BA (seriously!) because I am in an arts discipline.</p>

<p>@hornet Yes, indeed this is all new to me and interesting. My D’s teacher just received her Doctorate from the Conservatory here and we actually attended her recital in which she both performed and read her thesis ( I think it must have been part of it-about 30 minute’s maybe). I hadn’t realized how it was done for what I am assuming is a DMA, and it was very impressive. I’m not sure any of mine will go that far- two are starting their master’s in the fall and the youngest starts her BM this fall and has sincere intentions of pursuing an MM as well, so we’re knee deep in it all and every bit of information is really helpful as none of this is familiar to me. </p>

<p>Money wise we’re all over the map- some have more debt than others, but they have all received full or nearly full tuition for their undergrad so loans - while still large because of room and board, are not what they might have been. This however, is no comfort when you are making a pittance and paying the monthly loans repayments as my oldest has experienced. The oldest did get the mythical “double unicorn” for her M.A. in Theatre -full scholarship and full living stipend, but my S will have some loans for his Master’s. Not crazy big, but still serious, and it is for him, as others here have said, an investment and one we have all come to the decision is truly a good one- for him- based on the teacher and the program. Point being- it is truly an individual decision I think- there just is not a one size fits all rule. We’ll help as much as we can, and keep doing so as long as we can- we can’t do otherwise. </p>

<p>Replying to glassharmonica, a few posts back. No dissertation for my D.M.A., so to speak. I had to perform four recitals, and provide a paper of some kind for each recital. Actually as a performer it was really great because I had to study/research/analyze some aspect of the piece(s) I was playing in depth–it really gave us a wonderful knowledge and understanding of the repertoire and made us better performers because of it. Then, in addition to the four recitals, we had to give two lecture-recitals. That, too, was an invaluable experience for the future. Not only did we become better performers, but became more comfortable talking to audiences about the music we were playing. So, I suppose it’s considered more ‘academic’ than the M.M. because of the papers (although I had lots of papers to do for the M.M. as well with history and theory requirements)–but in my opinion I think the D.M.A. was even more performance-oriented that the M.M. was–at least in the particular school I attended. </p>

<p>Thanks, Clarimom! That’s great to know.</p>

<p>Great detail, clarimom. The structure of your degree program sounds a lot like the ones my son reviewed.</p>

<p>@Clarimom‌ it is great to hear from someone who has been there! I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had a better understanding of how the music world works!</p>

<p>Things have changed and requirements differ from school to school. Some have dissertations required while others allow recitals with “significant program notes” (10,000 words) which by the time you complete the three recitals really ads up! </p>

<p>@glassharmonica- I got that too (I have a masters degree) but my students were exclusively from other countries. I thought that was why they used the “honorific” of professor… I admit to feeling schizoid when I’d go from college to working with 6 years olds who would just yell “teacher, teacher”!!</p>