Music Major or ROTC?

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I'm gonna put this here and in College Life, see if I can get a few different opinions.</p>

<p>At the moment, I'm torn between applying for AFROTC or applying as a music major - percussion performance, specifically. If you've seen any other threads I've posted (a lot, sorry :p) my top schools are still CU-Boulder, with LSU and CSU a bit behind that.</p>

<p>So on one hand, there's majoring in music. I love music, and while I'm not planning to pursue a career in it, I think I'd very much enjoy having a few years in college of pure music - drum corps, college marching band, music major. The downside, of course, is we'd have to come up with the money. I'd need to find about $10,000 from loans and scholarships (for CU-Boulder) to pay for it. Probably doable, but still expensive. Also, I'm not planning to have a career in music, and there aren't really many jobs anyways. I'd have to find a way to pay for graduate school as well, to study something probably in the STEM area. So basically, pros - I get to study music and do what I really want to for a few years. Cons - money, options when I graduate.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I could apply for an ROTC scholarship. If I get in, I could potentially get a large chunk of my college money taken out. The issue is I couldn't major in music, and I'd have to skip a year of marching corps (hopefully some of you music people will understand where I'm coming from there). I'd probably either do a Japanese major or maybe Engineering, depending how much I like my AP Phys class this year. Assuming I got through the program, I'd get a decent monthly pay while I was in college and I'd have a job once I graduated. So pros - cheaper school, job when I graduate. Cons - I couldn't do what I really want to with music.</p>

<p>Basically, I'm weighing studying what I really want to study during my undergrad years, or studying something that might be a little less appealing, but more relevant to what I'd be doing after I graduate. I mean, on the surface it seems like I should just plan for my future and apply to ROTC. I also don't want to give up the experience I'd have being a music major to do that, though. Thoughts?</p>

2

<p>Go to a school with a decent music program. Major in something you would do as a career, and take advantage of the music classes. Just remember that a music major is more than music lessons, and performance opportunities. You have to pay your dues with keyboarding, music theory, music history, preparing for your jr/sr recital, etc.</p>

3

<p>Just throwing out some ideas and suggestions–</p>

<p>What specific part of music do you like best? The marching band and drum corps? Is playing in wind ensemble or orchestra equal to that, in terms of your interest? Could you audition to enter the military as a musician, in one of their regional bands? They take 18 year olds, if you can pass the audition. Of course, their marching bands are different than those in college.</p>

<p>Are you most interested in having the experience of playing in a large university marching band? I know that at some schools, music performance majors are not allowed to play in the marching band. Have you considered music education, where you could teach and run the high school’s marching band and drum corps?</p>

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<p>For the most part, all of it. I play jazz, marching, concert. I love doing percussion ensemble pieces. Wind ensemble music isn’t my top favorite, but I still like playing pieces like Danzon No. 2 that sound amazing. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind all the stuff that comes with a music major. I like messing around with composing and I’d like to write for schools as a side job, so music theory would be fun. I love performing, so I don’t mind recitals. </p>

<p>I’m definitely planning on doing the large marching hand - unless I go to a school like LSU with a show style band, not my thing. Do you know any specific schools where that’s true?</p>

<p>I’m not terribly interested in music ed, to be honest. I have about enough patience to teach a drumline, and that’s about it :p</p>

5

<p>I have no personal experience with marching band. I was a performance major years (many) ago, University of Washington, and I don’t recall any of the performance majors participating in the marching band or having any interest in doing so. I do recall that a friend of mine, already as a freshman, had a leadership role in the marching band and received a scholarship for it. He was a music ed major. It would have been tough to do marching band as a performance major, because the required ensembles–wind ensemble and orchestra–were the in the afternoons at the same time as marching band.</p>

<p>You should research the marching bands at large universities. Look at what they provide–a show or something else–and look at what if any scholarships they provide.</p>

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<p>Look at ASU (Tempe), especially if you have kept your grades up. You can enter the music program (or another major) and get some decent scholarship money via the Barrett Honors program. Lots of performance opportunities and plenty of room in their large marching band.</p>

7

<p>At my son’s school, marching band never prevents anyone from participating in other ensembles, they purposely plan it that way. Plus, marching band is only during the first semester. Although the majority of the marching band is made up of non-music students, there are still lots of music ed and even music performance students who do marching band and my son’s college. There is a lot of performance value in performing to large crowds, and college marching band requires a more playing than most other college ensembles do, so it builds a significant amount of performance endurance (as does drum corps). I know that there are a lot of performance majors who don’t like marching band, but despite what they may claim, there is quite a bit if performance value to marching band.</p>

<p>My son did a summer with Carolina Crown, they actually had a member who was in the military, and the Army paid for her participation in Crown, plus she still got her regular military paycheck. I thought that was pretty good deal for her. If you see being in the military as a musician in your future, and if you are good enough to get into a military band without college, then doing military before college may be a very good option. You would end up with college benefits that may be superior to any ROTC scholarship, and you would learn a heck of a lot about music at the military music school and through a minimum of four years of performing in military bands. Many students who do military service before college also do better in college than students straight out of high school.</p>

<p>Also, after two years of Drum Corp, my son became much less enthusiastic about marching band in college. DCI overlaps with college marching band, the marching band students at my son’s college have to miss college band camp to do DCI, and although there are a dozen or so each year who choose to do both, I am sure that there is some marching band burnout due to their choice. I don’t mean to disparage drum corps any, but it’s a lot of money and time to be involved with them, money and time and effort that might be better spent on college summer school.</p>

<p>If you don’t see music as a likely career choice, I don’t think I would major in it though. Maybe you should narrow down your school choices to ones where you could do ROTC and still minor in music. You need to put your vocational goal above any avocational goal.</p>

<p>Does your career goal include serving in the military? I would think that a ROTC scholarship might involve a commitment (after the first year) to military service, but I am not sure about that, make sure you check into that. Again, the vocation above avocation rule applies. If you don’t want to serve in the military, the time that you would spend in ROTC is pretty much wasted, and there are alternatives to ROTC for scholarship money. </p>

<p>Another option to ROTC would be to join the military reserves. It is possible to schedule basic training for the summer between high school and college, and you could save a good bit of money during that summer. It would be an experiance somewhat comparable to drum corps, except that you get to shoot guns in the military instead of playing an instrument. I was in the National Guard for 11 years, including my college years, and it was a rewarding experiance. the college benefits for attending college while serving in the military reserve are quite good, something like $800 a month in pay, plus a college loan repayment program and possibly some other perks. You just need to make sure that your recruiter understands that you intend to go to college while serving in the reserves, and make sure that you get an appropriate MOS and are placed into a reserve unit that is appropriate for college students.</p>

<p>At my son’s college out of state students who do marching band get a huge discount on tuition, and all marching band students get a small stipend for participation and per diem pocket money for overnight trips and bonuses for bowl game performances. This can at least partially make up for any lost ROTC scholarship opportunities.</p>

<p>You have a heck of a lot of options, you need to study them all carefully and choose wisely. It’s gonna take a lot of time, and sole searching, and most likely some tradeoffs.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t say I’m planning on going into the military - more that I’m open to it. If it turns out to be the best way to pay for school, undergraduate or graduate, then I’ll do it, but if there are other ways to pay for school then I probably wouldn’t end up in the military. </p>

<p>May I ask where your son goes to college? A discount for marching sounds nice. I too know some people who get a little burned out after marching, but on the other hand I feel if you go into college hands looking more for good friends and having fun than the excellence of corps, you’ll probably have more fun. I know it helped me with high school, at least.</p>

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<p>The University of South Carolina. Last year all out of state band members received in state rates. This year I think it was something like a $10k savings. Plus all members get a small cash stipend, and additional money for some overnight trips, the bowl game, and doing some of basketball and volleyball pep bands.</p>

10

<p>University of Wisconsin - Madison has a well known marching band. Last I heard, only 3 music majors were in it.</p>

<p>Make sure your ROTC commitment does not conflict with Marching Band.</p>

<p>If you want Jazz, make sure you pick a school with a good Jazz program. You will definitely want music theory to help you with jazz.</p>

11

<p>Please dont commit to rotc scholarship if you are not interested in being an officer in the military - for many reasons. That said, the army rotc allows you to major in any degree you want. Accession is based on gpa, leadership, ldac, cfa and other things. You might get extra points for proficiency in a critical language. My D had the same dilemabut always knew she wanted to be in the military. She tried doing marching band, private music lessons in college freshman year but determined that it was way too much of a time committment to do band and rotc. She still plays and sometimes regrets not doing drum corp but realized early that she had to move on. At her college they give tuition breaks and stipends to some band members and all that do pep band.</p>

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<p>I’m thinking double major might be the route here. It looks like there are more scholarships for marching band than I had thought, so I could save some money there. That way I could still continue the study of music I want to, and also do something career-related, yeah. Maybe it’ll end up being a music minor, depends on what the minor program is like.</p>

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<p>If you are not expecting a career in music, a music minor would make a lot more sense than a music major. Not all schools even have minors these days, but among the ones that do, it will probably take somewhere between 18 and 24 credit hours (the equivilent to one really loaded semester to almost two light semesters). Some majors allow for minors without having to take any extra classes, some dont.</p>

<p>A typical music minor might look something like:</p>

<p>Music Theory and Aural Training: 6-8 credit hours
Music History: 3 credit hours
Applied Music (private class on your primary instrument): 6-8 credit hours
Three ensembles: usually 1 credit hour each, marching band counts
and possibly as much as 4 semesters of a zero credit hour performance attendance class</p>

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<p>I believe CU-Boulder does offer minors, so that should work out. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Committing to ROTC means committing to being a military officer for several years. Don’t take the scholarship just for money, or you are likely to wind up miserable and a poor officer. The job isn’t for everyone, so only sign up if you want to do it.</p>