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<p>Got that one down most of the time!</p>
<p>I thought about majoring in music Ed, however my mom was afraid she’d be paying more for college than i’d make in a year. (Though, I’ve argued that it’d be the same with creative writing and honestly, my dad and I will likely pay for most of my college)</p>
<p>My mom doesn’t really want me to be a performer ( though I’ve made it into prestigious audition only programs before, so it’s not out of lack of talent). She’s mainly afraid because she hears tabloid stories about singers and actors going crazy, I think. I think she supports creative writing because she’d rather me be a writer than a singer, honestly.</p>
<p>My dad is much more open to my majoring in music as long as I have a backup plan (which is something I completely agree with).</p>
<p>It is a very difficult time to be a music ed major and get hired in a school system in these days of budget cuts so it is a field one has to be really passionate about… I know of three at the moment who came out of very good music ed programs, good student teaching experiences, good placements, in various stages of graduate degree programs as in NY you must have a master’s within 5 years of undergrad in order to teach… they are all working as leave replacements, appointed per diem sub positions, one who went to high school with d and was a music major with her at same undergrad school just found out he will be one of the 18 faculty positions being cut by our local school district in his second year as a leave replacement position.</p>
<p>Its a very difficult time to be looking for a job period. We are just coming out of a recession. </p>
<p>Architects have something like a 20% unemployment rate. If you think that it is hard for a music teacher to find a job, imagine how hard it is to find a job as a classical musician where there may be 200 candidates for one position.</p>
<p>The nice thing for the OP is that in five or six years, when the OP is graduating from college, the economy will hopefully be better than it is today. Schools will likely have recovered from any budget cuts. In my school district, funding increased this year for the first time in several years, and two additional music teachers have been hired at the middle and high school levels.</p>
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<p>Some of my best bosses were totally ignorant of how I did my job, but could still communicate what results they wanted and trusted me to handle the rest. Some of my worst were the ones who tried to micro manage based on a superficial subject area knowledge.</p>
<p>ashlysong, you can probably look up online and see what school systems in your area pay. In my school system, starting salary for a brand new teacher with just a bachelors degree is $35k/year. while that’s not exactly big bucks, it’s about average for new college graduates as a whole. Once you factor in that music teachers often also get coaches bonuses for after school activities, plus they get great benefits and summers off, and raises as they gain more experience and higher levels of education, it’s not a bad gig. The highest paid music teacher in my county (a PhD with 20+ years of experience teaching) makes over $90k/yr teaching elementary school music. In my state school district superintendents make close to $200k/yr, and there is nothing about a music ed degree that would prevent anyone from becoming a district superintendent.</p>
<p>You don’t need to go to an expensive private college to become a teacher. State U will do. Schools don’t pay graduates from expensive colleges any more than they do graduates from inexpensive state colleges.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to push you into a program that you don’t want to do, I am just saying that it may be worth some investigating since you expressed an interest in music, but are concerned that your parents will not approve.</p>
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<p>Some of the best bosses I had earned my respect by displaying that they had some knowlege of all aspects of our industry, and like your best bosses, they didn’t try to micro manage. So I guess the moral of the story is that if you are a boss, be knowlegable about all aspects of your industry and don’t try to micro-manage good employees. </p>
<p>Got it.</p>
<p>Actually, Music Ed majors often do well to go to large public universities in states where they want to teach. If that happens to also be the state where they have established legal residency, the cost of attendance can be fairly reasonable compared with even the starting pay for a music teacher in the local public school system. If they can add some scholarship money for academic merit and/or musical talent, so much the better. In our school district, the high school principal who earns six figures started out as a music teacher with a Music Ed degree.</p>
<p>(Crossposted with imagep)</p>
<p>Knowing the limits of your own knowledge can be the most important lesson of all.</p>
<p>Not sure if you are applying to a college or conservatory/music school. </p>
<p>If you do a BM/Performance degree, then there may not be much room for an English/writing major in 4 years; many students at schools that offer or require that kind of double degree do it in 5 years.</p>
<p>If you do a BA program, some have performance and others don’t. In our experience, many don’t, and performing is done in extracurriculars (and lessons can happen on or off campus). </p>
<p>The academic music major can be very rigorous, with a sequence of classes that is as demanding as any science.</p>
<p>I don’t know that much about music ed.</p>
<p>You do not have to work in music after getting a degree in music. It is a bachelor’s degree and will gain you entry to any job requiring a bachelor’s. Also, there are jobs in music that don’t involve performing, or teaching.</p>