Next to a Performance Major...

College Majors Music Major
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<p>... what seems to be the next most popular choice for a music major? </p>

<p>After a lot of soul searching over the past week, my son is slowly coming to a sad conclusion that he just may not be of performance caliber (cello) but still has a very strong passion for music. He won't even consider anything else. So we've begun researching music ed. and other music related possibilities. </p>

<p>Also curious - - I see so many young musicans pursuing performance degrees but aren't there more musicians than there are positions available? Educate me, please.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>If you look at the majors offered at university music schools, your son might find something that sparks his imagination.</p>

<p>Here are a couple links at NYU, as an example (for the first one, hover over "Academics" to see the list of majors)</p>

<p><a href="http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://undergraduate.tisch.nyu.edu/object/deptnotes.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://undergraduate.tisch.nyu.edu/object/deptnotes.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>rudysmom, I just started a thread resulting from a similar realization from my son! It's about B.Arts with Music Majors. Must be in the air! I have been pouring over CC the last few days.</p>

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<p>yes, there are definitely way more performance majors that there are positions to be filled. My son, a performance major, is well aware of the odds against him, especially considering that he started college well behind the other trumpet performance majors at his college. He is making tremendous improvement, but he knows it will be very difficult to land a position. However, he is prepared to freelance for awhile and do whatever it takes. And...if he finally realizes that he can't make it as a performer, he is open to the idea of a related position, including possibly music education, even if it does require going back to school at that time.</p>

<p>With my son, his passion is to be a performer, and he will pursue it with his whole heart. Perhaps it won't work out, but he will never know if he doesn't try.</p>

<p>To those without such a strong passion for a particular occupation, it is probably a wonderful idea to look into other related careers.</p>

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<p>rudysmom- There are many choices beyond a performance major. And yes, there are many, many highly skilled performers than there are full time job opportunities. It can be daunting, scary. You have to be perseverent, dedicated, and to some great extent lucky. You can ace the dream audition right of out of school, or spend years trying for a last chair in a regional orchestra. Most perfomers tend to supplement their income through teaching at any number of levels and areas, as well as free-lancing and developing their own local/regional performance opportunities. Life for most musicians is comprised of a stack of 1099 forms.</p>

<p>First, let me ask if your son has decided he's not of performance caliber, his teacher has so informed him, or has he been evaluated by a professional other than his current teacher? Knowing how gung-ho he seemed from your previous posts, I'm kind of curious as to why the sudden change.</p>

<p>Music education is an area many strong performers pursue if they don't have the desire to try and make it as a professional performer full-time. Pedagogy (studio teaching) as opposed to music ed, which is geared more to teaching in the public & private schools, music history, music theory and ethnomusicology, composition, conducting, performing arts management, music production and technology are a few alternate degree programs.
Within music ed, there are specialty areas: Suzuki, Kodaly, Orff. </p>

<p>On a personal note, my son started out and did five years as a double major, viola performance and music ed. He was one semester away from completing both (student teaching and one course), but instead decided to finish next month with just the BM in performance and a very heavy music ed minor. Honestly, this scares me, but it's his life, his career. He has to live it. His plan is to go to grad school and then probably an GPD in chamber music, and eventually teach at the college level. With a bit of luck and his ability, he might very well be able to go to grad school and beyond at minimal cost. Yet, while he has the ability and talent to succeed, it's honestly a crap shoot right now. He can support himself (I'm hoping) with substitute jobs, some studio teaching, some gigs, and some pick up work until grad school.</p>

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<p>My D is going to be a performance major. She loves playing her violin, and yet, has no intention 'at the moment' of actually performing for a living. She wanted only a BA or a minor, but the violin teacher at the school tied a lot of money to the performance degree, so she'll try it. The only thing that convinced us is that, at Miami, it IS possible to double major with a performance degree. (Also, although the violin teacher seems quite good, Miami Ohio is not exactly known for it's music program. If she were serious about becoming a musician, I'm not sure we would have followed the money quite so closely.)</p>

<p>At this point, nothing is set in stone. She can change her major. She can decide to teach privately. Or maybe some fire will ignite in her and she'll be a raging success. We're not in a hurry to know - we're just going to enjoy watching her find out. One of the reasons we decided to "follow the money" is the realization that as undecided as she is about what to do for the rest of her life, there's a good chance that there will be a fifth year of college, or grad school in her future.</p>

<p>Rudysmom - I really don't think your son needs to give up just yet. Targeting schools that have multiple majors while still auditioning for performance at them will buy your son some time to think about it while keeping his options open. Consider schools like Indiana - Bloomington that has a great music program and other things too. At some schools (like Miami), the BA and the performance majors are virtually identical the first two years. So after two years, if performance is no longer the goal, you have plenty of time for another major.</p>

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<p>violadad, The change of heart came in the last few days. But, in all honesty, it still may not be a complete change just yet. We'll see in the next 18 mos. or so. </p>

<p>We had the discussion with his cello teacher this week and asked her point blank some hard questions about his ability, the amount of time required to achieve the level needed for a performance major, etc. She said he definately had the promise and potential but unfortunately she hasn't seen him working hard enough, practicing enough. He's behind where he should be. She's afraid he would not be able to withstand the level of work & practice required. She said he would have to make some changes - - he has been resistant to her corrections and challenges over the last 8 months. They've not met eye to eye. This is one of the reasons why I probably should find a new teacher. Who knows, maybe he'll flourish again with a new teacher. As I've mentioned in a previous post/thread, if he politely questions her suggestions, she gets mad and pouts. Needless to say, the entire lesson ends up being a train wreck. (He's admitted to me that he feels he knows just as much as her - talk about stubborn confidence.) BUT, on the other hand, she is good in the fact that she pushes him to correct his bad habits. AS she's said, she's not here to be his friend. </p>

<p>Plus, I've had more serious conversations about what he expects from college, what his dreams are, what he'd like to see himself doing one day. (Not that we haven't already had this conversation many times before.) But he's maturing more, talking with other music friends, making many of his own decisions. The one most revealing sentence he said was, "Well, I never want to do what _ _ _ _ does!" He was referring to his cello teacher. He said he'd never want to traipse around and teach little kids. He wants to only perform. I reminded him that she performs too but teaches to supplement her income. I saw the look of fear in his eyes. So it immediately opened conversation to other possibilities. He's talking to more of his older music friends, tries talking to his useless school orchestra teacher. And we will continue to research all possiblities.</p>

<p>There is such passion. While practicing this afternoon, he was excitedly talking about his Bach Suites and all their intricacies; his newest favorite composer, etc. I know he will still major in some form of music, and I'll help guide him. He will ultimately, be the one to make the decision. And just for the record, I have never spoken negatively about a perf. degree. Just helped open his young eyes a little more. As you said re: your son, he's the one who has to live it. If it was me, I'd find this sort of life scary and overwhelming.</p>

<p>Thanks for your interest and help ~</p>

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<p>Thanks, binx. IU is one we're considering and also FSU.</p>

<p>I hope I can be as relaxed as you when this time comes. I guess part of MY anxiousness is all the research & education process that's involved. I'm not a musician so this is fairly foreign territory to me. But I'm learning!</p>

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<p>Something you said in your post about getting a new teacher reminded me of something. My D, as most of you already know, trails along behind a big brother who is majoring in music at Juilliard. D has been in his shadow for years. When we started college "trial lessons" last fall, she suddenly, for the first time, started hearing compliments on her playing from people who didn't know her brother, didn't ask about him, didn't praise him. It was finally all about her. You could have knocked me over with a feather when she agreed to become a performance major -- because it was ME who had to talk her into doing music at all in college. I insisted that she at least minor, because if she went in with it just as an EC, I felt it would get dropped quickly once she got busy with other things.</p>

<p>I realized then that putting her in situations where she could get out from behind the shadow was giving her the chance to evaluate her music based on what it meant to her, and not how it compared to her brother's.</p>

<p>And I think getting your son a different teacher might have the same effect. In fact, try to start this summer with trial lessons at colleges. That might be enough - to hear encouragement and respect from someone at that level.</p>

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<p>I've had several on this board suggest this. That's another thing I'm researching. (Man oh man, sometimes I need to get some actual work done at my real, paying job!!) Thnx.</p>

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<p>rudysmom- your post addressed a couple of key points: the student teacher relationship may have reached an impasse, it's hard to say. Realize that most players hit a plateau of varying lengths, due to poor motivation, dislike of the particular rep being studied, ineffective instruction... the list goes on. Most snap out of it, but in some cases it does boil down to the teacher being able to take the student only so far. Perhaps a change of venue is in order regarding teachers. You three are the best judges there.</p>

<p>It's wise for him to get as much "outside" input on music as a career from as many sources as he can. He will gain insight, see pros and cons from different perspectives. He'll hear the stories of success, and those of disappointment. The more info he has to weigh his own internal desires with honest, real life scenarios the easier it may be for him to come to grips with his own path.</p>

<p>You mention his passion. This is key. Passion has to exist for success to happen. I know this personally from my son, as do many on this forum with their own talented kids. Music drives my son; I can honestly see him doing nothing else, nothing that fulfills him. Others have it as an advocation, a source of secondary pleasure, but not their raison d'etre. </p>

<p>Perhaps in persuing these (if I haven't previously provided them) your son may get a better understanding of some alternatives and a deeper knowledge of what a music career might entail.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/%7Enavmusic/careerpaths/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~navmusic/careerpaths/index.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/787%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/787&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Personally, I applaud you guiding and not pushing, on way or the other. My degree is in European history, I spent 15 years in marketing in a managerial capacity. I'm now self-employed in the building trades. I make less money, but I'm far happier. I could not allow my son and daughter any choice in their higher education pursuits other than in specific paths that they chose. I just hope they find their happiness earlier in life than I did.</p>

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<p>Thanks for these links, violadad ~</p>

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<p>In regard to the number of performance majors greatly outnumbering performance jobs, this article in the NYTimes about Juilliard grads is particularly sobering.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/arts/music/12waki.html?ei=5088&en=32e995fbd9080073&ex=1260853200&partner=rssnyt&pagewanted=all&position=%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/arts/music/12waki.html?ei=5088&en=32e995fbd9080073&ex=1260853200&partner=rssnyt&pagewanted=all&position=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I feel very good that my D, who will start college as a violin performance major this fall, does not intend to pursue an orchestral career and has no illusions about where she stacks up against her peers. I think it's better to realize this going in. Yet, she wants a career in music and feels the best way to achieve that is to continue to develop, refine and broaden herself as a musician by studying as a classical performance major. At the same time, she was looking for a school that offered study and performance opportunities outside classical music, that offered non-traditional collaborative opportunities such as film, that provided training in producing recordings and the music business, and that encouraged students to pursue and create their own path to a performance career. </p>

<p>Nothing makes her come alive like performing. I think the trick is for a student to create their own performance context with mentors and like-minded peers instead of solely trying to gain entrance to the stark and unforgiving world created by others that is classical music.</p>

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<p>Some of the early passion is centered around having an identity, which gives them something to be known as, i.e. Nancy the pianist, Carl the drummer, etc. The catch is in whether their passion can sustain the work, in other words whether Nancy is passionate about playing the piano or Carl playing the drums, and joyful to spend hours alone in a practice room developing their skills in their art, instead of socializing and "being" Nancy the pianist, etc. For artists, this identity can carry them through the late adolescent years with their own version of BMOC, not an athlete, not a brain, but an artist. Eventually the reality of what the commitment is emerges, and it is crunch time. Loving music and finding joy in it is totally different from being responsible for it, and that is the crux of study, developing the skills to assume that responsibility in a way that approaches a version of perfection. </p>

<p>Once the decision comes to abandon the quest, it can be very difficult to find something which is as all encompassing of ones life, there can be some floundering, searching, and general frustration....life intrudes.</p>

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<p>hkstrpd - My D seems to be following a similar path to yours. At this point in time, she cannot see herself as a teacher, for example. But we think that is a possibility for the future, and as my H says, the more valuable teachers are not the ones who study only "teaching methods" but the ones who are experts in their field. So getting her performance degree, and then later pursuing certification, is definitely a path we're open to. In the meantime, performance will give her an opportunity to ease into college with something she is extremely comfortable doing.</p>

<p>The Juilliard article you link to is one I've read before. I actually find it rather comforting -- all those graduates with music degrees are employed! :) Just like any other degree - some end up changing careers completely, and some end up on a tangent, and some end up doing what they set out to do. To me, that's justification for pursuing performance. Any hesitation I have about S2 or D pursiung performance is no different from my eldest, who pursued economics. "Will he be employed?" "Can you get a job with that degree?" "Will he still be living at home when he's 35?" </p>

<p>I guess I'm a bit influenced by the fact that I have a nursing degree that I used exactly one year following graduation, quit, and never looked back. And I took that degree because my mother felt it was so employable. Since that time I have worked (never more than part time) as a free-lance writer, piano teacher, mental health advocate, substitute teacher, church secretary, ..... and I'm probably not done yet.</p>

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<p>binx - I have no worries about my D being employed. She can write well and that is a rare and valuable skill in most any field. The question is can she have a music career. I think performance majors need to have a broader sense of what a music career might entail and music schools should do a better job in preparing them for those possibilities and helping them create opportunities outside of professional soloist / chamber musician / orchestral musician. But I think it's getting better.</p>

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<p>I am not at all concerned about my daughter majoring in music and finding employment. I realize it is a long shot that she will find employment as a performer and she realizes that music may be her avocation rather than vocation. I am an attorney who no longer practices but I am a headhunter for attorneys and there are plenty of attorneys out there with music degrees from the top conservatories - Juilliard included - so I do not feel she is closing any doors by majoring in music. Not that I would ever let her become a lawyer! At least the people with the schools are being honest with her so far. One admissions person asked her what she thought a BM would qualify her to do and she said "to go to graduate school." The person laughed and said "good answer and it is exactly right. I just wanted to make sure you were being realistic."</p>

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<p>My husband was a piano/composition major back in the pleistocene era. Here is what he has done with it over the years (both sequentially and simultaneously):</p>

<ol>
<li>musical theater music director & composer</li>
<li>piano salesman</li>
<li>admissions director at conservatory</li>
<li>newspaper music critic</li>
<li>director of instrumental studies at conservatory</li>
<li>classical music consultant to large performing arts center</li>
</ol>

<p>Basically, every dime he has ever earned has had something to do with music but he has never been purely a performer. He has enjoyed his career(s) very much.</p>

<p>Our D, a cellist, has finished her masters and in addition to performing, teaches privately & at several community music schools and works part-time at a music management/publicity company in NYC -- and supports herself! One of her cellist friends, after getting his M.Mus, entered a music management program at Columbia and plans a career in that field.</p>

<p>Lots to do! Don't worry!</p>

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<p>Thanks to each and every one of you for the education!! You are all wonderful. We hope to someday get past these "baby steps!" ~</p>

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<p>Wow, what a timely topic! It looks like my D is getting more realistic, too. :-)Today she expressed her educational intentions as "going to start with languages/linguistics major and music minor to see how it goes and, if successful, maybe switch to double major in music/linguistics". Something like that. Which means she might try to avoid the colleges with audition-based admissions; which, consequently, will probably majorly alter most of her college list. :-)</p>

<p>So, which colleges are known to be the most flexible in letting students study music and languages, changing, as needed, their plans on the way? :-)</p>