Music Majors - Freshman Year

Parents Forum
1

<p>I wanted to start this as a new thread for the following reasons:
(1) To give parents who have HS students considering Music as a Major to have a formal place to connect with parents who have already been through the process
(2) A place for parents of current Music Majors to connect and discuss their Freshman year and upcoming Sophomore Year experiences</p>

<p>While this info may be scattered here & there on CC, it's not organized by year/experience and in one place. It would be great if you can supply the following basic info about your son/duaghter, and then feel free to raise any issues or question you wish...so I am happy to kick this portion off as follows:</p>

<p>Most Recent Semester Completed: Fall Semester, Freshman Year
Current Location of Parent(s): Florida
School Child is Attending: University of South Carolina
In-State or Out-of-State: Out of State
Scholarship (Yes or No, type(s)): Yes - Music Scholarship
Music Major & Instrument (or Voice, etc.): Music Performance, Bass Trombone
Gender of Student: Male
On-Campus or Off-Campus Housing: On-Campus</p>

<p>Looking forward to hearing from you!</p>

2

<p>Adding - S made Wind Ensemble his first semester but not second, was disappointed but it’s fine considering there is a senior there. Done by Blind Audition, so it’s very fair.</p>

3

<p>If you go to the section for college majors here…and look for Music Major…you will find a very active group of posters. These include students and parents in the current audition round, as well as parents whose kids have been there and done that. My guess is you will find info regarding ALL of your music major questions there…and if you don’t, that focused group on that section of this forum is terrific. Post your questions and you will get answers!</p>

<p>We are very fortunate to have the Music Major forum on CC for just the reason you state…the info is in one place.</p>

4

<p>Hi everyone am glad to join you</p>

5

<p>Stonemagic…you might ask the mods that this get transfered: [Music</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/]Music”>Music Major - College Confidential Forums)</p>

6

<p>Have you thought of posting this in the Music Major forum?</p>

<p>Most Recent Semester Completed: Fall Semester, Freshman Year
Current Location of Parent(s): Ohio
School Child is Attending: Capital U
In-State or Out-of-State: In-state
Scholarship (Yes or No, type(s)): Yes - Music and Academic Scholarships
Music Major & Instrument (or Voice, etc.): Music Performance/Music Technology - Bass Guitar
Gender of Student: Male
On-Campus or Off-Campus Housing: On-Campus</p>

<hr>

<p>That said, S has switched out of the B.M. program after his first semester. He is still a Music Tech major but will be earning a BA, with the chance to minor in something else. He is very talented, mostly self-taught, and in the end didn’t enjoy taking lessons and didn’t enjoy having a mandatory ensemble commitment. His big fear - music theory - he actually enjoyed very much and is taking it even though he doesn’t have to anymore :slight_smile: </p>

<p>So S is still in the music conservatory and counted as a music student, but is no longer a performance major/BM.</p>

7

<p>The Music Major forum is very active, and is not limited at all to BM or performance majors. There are posts and responses about all kinds of situations that involve music in any way, with a lot of expertise and support. There is already an ongoing thread, which started several years ago, for families or students to do just this kind of introduction. Hope you post this there!</p>

8

<p>Appreciate the input - and I agree, there is awesome content on here for music parents and students alike.</p>

<p>The challenge is that it’s one long-running thread that covers just about anything and everything music-related - maybe I’m a party of one, but I found it took up a huge amount of time having to read through tons of unrelated posts to find the info I wanted in the moment.</p>

<p>I was attempting to make this one about each year of the college experience, but if everyone thinks it fits better over there, I’m good with it.</p>

9

<p>@OHMom, really interesting! I say college is all about finding your way, discovering what you like as much as you don’t like. I find it humorous that people take issue with college students changing majors, etc. but to me there is no better time and place.</p>

<p>Just ask all those people who have been working for 20 or 30 years and hate their jobs…but now they’ve got too much at stake to change.</p>

10

<p>Stone…go to the Music Majors forum and look at the STICKY at the top. One is called:</p>

<p>Musicians and Parents Introduce Yourself.</p>

<p>It has much of the information you are looking for in this thread. </p>

<p>If you are using the iPad app…use the sticky tab at the top to access this thread. If you are using the regular website address, it is a sticky at the top of the forum.</p>

<p>It’s nice because it goes back YEARS…and new folks add their info to it too.</p>

<p>I honestly think you will get better response on that section of the forum. </p>

<p>My son is a professional musician, with both bachelors and masters degrees. I know <em>i</em> got excellent info regarding all things music and college in THAT area.</p>

11

<p>I’m not disagreeing with that long awesome thread - it just takes hours to sift through it and find relevant info, time I didn’t necessarily have and suspect others may not. It would be a moot point if those long threads could have sub-headings but alas they do not.</p>

12

<p>Stone, if you have specific questions regarding music majors or musicians of any kind…post them on that music major forum. Folks are fabulous about responding to specific questions! Just start a new thread there with your specific question or sought information. Then the answer will be in one thread! Those music parents are one fabulous and knowledgable group.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>(1) As others have suggested, the Music Major forum is already providing this service. Yes, we’re open to everyone from self taught rock guitarists to classically trained singers to audio engineers to didgeridoo players (where’s that classic post?), but the atmosphere over there is very welcoming and supportive. Yes, I skim through threads that are of marginal interest to my own family’s musical interests, but I’ve learned quite a bit about areas like marching band and opera that I never encountered as a parent of string players. (Although we do know a violinist who marched with her school’s band!) </p>

<p>Did you have a specific issue that hasn’t been addressed?</p>

<p>(2) I think this is a great idea, and posting it on the music forum would probably give you some terrific responses. I think all students - and especially music students - have different “developmental” experiences associated with each year in school.</p>

<p>For us, D3 (viola performance major)
Year 1: lots of general education requirements, adjustment to college, transition from being at the top of the heap in high school to having to be at the bottom status in college
Year 2: things got tough. Courses get harder, students get more stressed, D3 found conflicts between music education and music performance majors to create lots of drama (even though in her opinion they shared more characteristics than differences), more status issues with grad students vs talented undergrads
Year 3: taking on leadership roles, students becoming more settled in their majors (many who began as double majors dropping one major), greater confidence, in general a more “mature” approach
year 4: I’ll be interested to learn from those who have trod this path before me, but I’m anticipating grad school applications, last minute graduation drama, reprise of being at the top of the heap.</p>

<p>For D2, violist but double major in photo/literature
Year 1: private lessons, dabbled in college orchestra as extracurriculars. Delighted to be able to continue music as a college activity.
Year 2: more private lessons, dropped orchestra but picked up multiple chamber groups. Toyed with double major in music but ultmately decided it’s more "fun’ not for credit.
Year 3: study abroad first semester: rents instrument in host country (should have sprung for better model!) and joins amateur student orchestra, makes friends and enjoys music making. Second semester resumes lessons/chamber.
Year 4: decides to give up lessons, reluctantly, because must complete two senior projects for double major and is already stressed out. Plays instrument sporadically as stress relief.
Post grad: after series of sublets, has finally moved into own apartment. Only things moved from parents home are frying pan, clothing and…musical instrument. Plans to join community orchestra when chops recovered sufficiently for audition.</p>

<p>Their older brother abandoned performance years ago in order to concentrate on music production and has been working as a professional sound guy since high school - front of house, mixing, load ins, recording etc etc etc. But he delights in chatting with classical musicians and had a great time playing Suzuki songs on an instrumentalist’s cello at a recent gig.</p>