<p>This is my first time posting on here so I apologize if it would have been better to post this in the Education section. Over the course of the past few months I've been trying to decide what I might want to do in college. Quite simply, music is my passion. I am, without a doubt, the person that will not truly be happy in life unless I am doing something musical. After going through the options, I've decided that I'd like to double major in music education and composition. I'm wondering if minoring in performance outside of that would be worth the money, though. I'll admit that minoring in performance would be more for my own desire to learn than achieve greater financial stability later on. Does anybody have any advice about any of this?</p>
<p>nivramrelyt,
Do you secretly want to major in Performance but are afraid about what it will mean for your future financially? Are you worried about post-college and career?</p>
<p>It sounds like you are very passionate about music and if that is the case then I would just go for it. If you love what you are doing in college, the career and work will come. It might not be a straight line and it might not always be “lucrative”, but then there are many kids majoring in things at liberal arts colleges that are not necessarily leading them into lucrative careers.</p>
<p>My son had options including programs that would have made it easier for him to explore his interest in physics. Every musician he talked to said, “Don’t major in Performance.” But in the end he decided that he would always want to be the best performer he could be and that in the end shaped his school choice and his major. When I told his teacher he had decided this. His teacher, who was one of those who said that he should not major in performance, said, “Great that is what it takes to make it in music.” </p>
<p>You know you are doing the right thing when everyone tells you, you shouldn’t and yet your heart and brain won’t let go of the desire to pursue performance and music.</p>
<p>You will need to be choosy about your colleges. Some colleges will not allow double majors or minors within the same department. My son’s college doesnt.</p>
<p>But aside from that, getting an education that is very concentrated makes a lot of sense to me. There’s about one years worth of difference between music ed and music comp, and very little difference between performance and ed or comp (curriculum wise) at many schools, so if they allow double dipping of classes, you are probably only looking at one extra year of college to do all that.</p>
<p>Another route may be to spend that extra year working on a masters. There are music ed masters programs that take two semesters a year and a summer. A bachelors plus a masters may have more value than two bachelors. It wouldn’t be impossible to get a bachelors in one field of music then get a masters in a different one.</p>
<p>I think that performance, composition and music ed will be hard to do: it’s a lot to cover in the usual span of four years. Others can be more helpful on this…</p>
<p>My main thought is that, on the undergrad level, I hope you can focus on what you “desire to learn” and less on future financial stability. Even though college seems to be veering more toward vocational focus for many, it is still true that undergrad majors and future careers often don’t match up.</p>
<p>A BM in performance or composition, or a BA in music, is a bachelor’s like any other bachelor’s and gives you access to any job that requires a bachelor’s as a basic criteria. You will do internships and outreach during school. You would have access to any grad or professional school (as a group, music majors have had the highest acceptance rate for medical school, compared to any other major, I have read).</p>
<p>My daughter is a music major and has had interesting internships that have turned into paid work, with a marketing agency, and with an orchestra (not performance, all kinds of things, including helping with recordings, pr and marketing, donor relations, writing website, etc.) All the interns there are music majors.</p>
<p>Other music majors I know are working in different fields entirely, many of them working on music outside of their “day job.” As someone else said, your path will not be “linear.” I love a cartoon I recently saw that shows that life goes in squiggles, not lines.</p>
<p>The main thing to decide with music might be whether you want a BM at a conservatory or music school (performance/composition, sometimes you can double major, sometimes not) or a BA at a college or university (music could be a major or minor; usually covers theory, history, composition, technology, ethnomusicology and sometimes some performance; sometimes performance is mainly extracurricular). Or, for you, music education, which has a lot of classes in education and prepares you to teach k-12.</p>
<p>There is also a possibility of a double degree, as opposed to a double major. This can be a BA/BM or a BA/MM.</p>
<p>There are excellent grad programs for music education, including Bard, Oberlin, Columbia, and many, many other schools I Just happened to be looking at these 3). If you are passionate about performance, you could do that for undergrad and then do a year’s grad program. However, by that time, there may be other paths open to you, who knows.</p>
<p>If you want to do music ed as an undergrad, that will also affect your choices of course. If you are passionate about teaching, then that is a great way to go. Music teachers make a huge difference in kids’ lives.</p>
<p>Do you have a portfolio of compositions if you decide to apply for that? At a college, you won’t need that, though it can help if submitted in a supplement. But for a conservatory or music school, you will need a portfolio of 3-4 pieces, some played by musicians and recorded.</p>
<p>In general, do you want a school that auditions or not?</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree you need to look very carefully at each of the schools and to see what they will allow you to double major in. My s is doubling majoring in performance and comp. and there were several wonderful schools he did not apply to that he would have but the would not allow that double. Don’t know about the ed. part. Also it is not always so easy to tell from the websites which double majors are allowed. Sometimes you need to call and often they need to check before they can tell you the answer.</p>
<p>Thank for the replies, everyone. You’ve all provided much insight on the situation. I see what you guys mean about the path “not being linear”. I think my best bet is to follow what I’m most passionate about rather than follow specifically financial stability (especially in the field of music). There is a lot I would like to learn in music and I’ll still probably think about it some more. But thank you for the advice.</p>
<p>I read a great article about “wise wandering” and how people are overplanning these days, starting at a pretty young age. The idea was that by overplanning, one can actually miss out on opportunities because the path is so predetermined that one can no longer be open to what comes along by serendipity. This was not about music, but I thought the idea was interesting.</p>
<p>I just now noticed your post. My son is a performance major and he is going through the same soul searching because music performance is truly his passion. Consider this:
Think of it as a degree in timing and performance</p>
<p>Music majors become experts at two things: timing and performance. Both of these are much sought-after job skills. Video editing, sound editing, and developing time-based media all require an understanding of timing. And as TV screens and computers pervade more and more of our lives, so does the need for people who understand the nature of rhythm, syncopation and timing.</p>
<p>Music students also should not undervalue the training they’ve received in performing. The typical music student goes through dozens of performances/recitals–enough to make other majors wilt. That means you have an understanding of how to perform under pressure. Any job that requires performing (trainer, presenter, product demonstrator) could make use of that ability.</p>
<p>You could and can do it all depending on the school. However, you will be trading off performance time on your major instrument if you are a music ed major due to all the secondary instruments, chorus and piano classes plus education classes you will be required to take and the expectation that you perform all of these at a high level (high school level) so you would be comfortable teaching classes K-12. At son’s school, you can indeed major in music ed and composition and earn a performance certificate which would be similar to a minor. However, you would need at least an extra year of study. If composition or performance are your true loves then your time to devote to those areas would be hampered by the music ed curriculum. For performance and composition the program and school you choose would make a big difference on your intended outcome, and you should try to study with the best teachers and schools for your performance area. On the other hand, if you want to be first a music teacher who can compose and has performance skills, look into music education schools.</p>