My son has been taking lessons in percussion for several years and is very interested in majoring in percussion when attending College. I believe that he would be a good teacher as well and am very worried about steady employment once he has a performance degree. His teacher is encouraging him to focus on performance and is preparing him for the rigors of auditioning. He believes that this is the direction my son should go and my son is enthusiastic about the idea. I do not want to discourage him; he is passionate about percussion, I am just worried about what that future might hold for him. Any suggestions for achieving a degree that will allow for the opportunity to do both or either? We live in New York, by the way, and if he chooses to stay he would need a Master’s in order to teach. Maybe performance undergrad and master’s in Education???
All of my friends are music majors to say the least–really nice people. Here’s what you do: you can get away with a bachelor’s in music education, and it’s the “smartest” option that our music faculty suggests. You can teach with such a degree because a lot of programs will make you student-teach in the high schools or junior highs. You gain valuable experience on the job while as a student. No master’s required, but certainly fine to do. And you still do lots of performance which can qualify you for both performance and education jobs.
Majoring in performance however, that’s a different story. You have almost no education classes and instead it’s performance and theory. So then you’re able to think ahead for performance jobs like pit orchestras, but you’re shut out from a lot of music education jobs. It’s still possible to do it through certification and networking, but why not get the best of both worlds all in one go with a bachelor’s in music education.
How do you pay for school then? Avoid private schools. Make sure your son does well academically and does some SAT/ACT prep classes to get the highest scores possible for guaranteed merit aid and scholarships. If his SAT/ACT scores are bad, it doesn’t matter how good his grades are, you’re looking at very little scholarships.
And try doing some summer camps and all state auditions. Those’ll boost your profile if his auditions for music school go less than stellar because, hey–I’ve had less than stellar auditions before, particularly ones I practiced really hard for.
Best regards
I could suggest a few things for percussion. The idea of teaching is very good, as it is difficult to rely solely on performance as a career – unless he is exceptional, and is hired on, for example, in an established symphony. A combination of performance and pedagogy would be beneficial, and perhaps even composition or conducting as well later on. I think the broader and more well-recognized education the better, as percussion is not often a lucrative career option.
You may want to check out the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, as a potential place for study of performance and education in New York. In the city, there is Julliard and Manhattan School of Music, and others. There are many conservatories around the country. Perhaps the best all-around percussion program is at the University of North Texas-Denton. Many percussionists in high school and college participate in marching arts, and some of the best also participate in competitive drum and bugle corps later on until the age of 21, such as member corps of DCI (Drum Corps International). The latter is an example where percussion outside the academy still offers very high-caliber instruction as a corollary to accredited programs.
He may ultimately also become a member of P.A.S., the Percussive Arts Society, which has a conference each year (I think it is PASIC, the international convention). That organization is supportive and features all aspects of percussion, and can lead to more connections, education and resources. Perhaps his teachers will help him participate in some of these activities.
Thank you both for your input; He has participated in the Manhattan school of music summer camp and auditioned for and made the camp again this year. He comes home even more focused and excited about a career in music when he completed the camp. He was nominated for and accepted to participate in SCMEA in both elementary school and middle school however he has been nominated for, but not been invited to perform on the H.S. level, as he continues to be preparing level 5 NYSSMA pieces which is a large part of how the students are able to distinguish themselves; through score and level. While his score is always A+, his teacher will not skip certain pieces for the sake of moving up to level 6 because he believes these pieces are top important to ignore and require quite a bit of effort and time to tackle completely and thoroughly. His teacher also believes that his academia will be less important for performance schools and says most important is the audition, which got me VERY nervous. I believe that he needs to continue to be diligent with regard to his academia, and luckily he is continuing to do so. I just feel like to put everything on the expectation that he will be hired as a percussionist with any consistency right out of school is a huge gamble.
I agree with you re: academics. I don’t think it is necessarily bad that he is held back a level for A+ at NYSSMA now, though maybe only being close to the situation could judge it. He is only a freshman, after all. I remember going with an ensemble to NYSSMA my senior year and scoring 100 out of 100, but our instructor and performance were indeed very high caliber. At any rate, you’ve got time on that.
It may be a little difficult to balance, but it sounds like you may also want to continue pushing the well-rounded academic strengths with regular school teachers and curriculum, as well as excelling in the percussion program. Since he is still young, you could also potentially look at additional percussion / music instructors down the road, if you feel there is somehow an unbalanced approach taken by the current instructor. It is hard to discern from my end.
Editing to add: while it is true one must excel in the audition for top conservatories, that is no excuse to cut back on academics. Plenty of other instruments achieve just that balance, and for a percussionist so young, I don’t see why it is any different. Top percussion can have a bit of a ruthless focus to it, but if you son already does well in academics, there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn’t also continue to do well. I would also be a little suspicious of an instructor who couldn’t allow a young musician time for his studies.
I think I really value his skill and approach; he has his doctorate in percussion and he happens to be a music teacher in the elementary school and the middle school so I was surprised to hear that he wants my son to be on the performance track. Of course my son did tell him that this is his goal so I know he does not feel he is pushing him but supporting his desire. My son has expressed an interest in teaching, so this is not something I have pushed on him but now I sense that he would prefer to just go for the performance track and hope for the best. Of course he has time to change his mind, however I wonder if there is a way to do both a performance track AND music education track at the same time???
I think there is a way to do that. Having his doctorate is reassuring, and it is possible that the instructor sees a real potential for performance there. I will think on it more. One possibility could also be like above; if the instructor helped him get into a very strong performance undergrad, and that was truly his life’s passion, he could then spend the year after graduation in auditions for major percussion positions. If he lands one then, it could become his career. If not, he could then prepare for an education-oriented graduate program.
But there are probably other possibilities. Again, he is young. Maybe you can also feel out if this switch you mention was brought about by pressure, even subtle or atmospheric, from the instructor. If he had stated an interest in education, I wonder what the deal really is. Young students can sometimes feel a pressure to adapt to strong-minded instructors, even if the latter are well-meaning and highly educated.
I’m just throwing this out there and I don’t know much about majoring in percussion.
But I do know musicians who hire drummers. And some of the BEST percussionists–honestly, in good markets, live out of their cars. They need another skill to keep them going. Talent is not the factor–it’s that technology makes it cheaper to buy a machine than hire for regular gigs. Sad but true.
The music industry is very tied these days to technology. and percussion is the first to go.
I would suggest you post this query on the music majors section of this forum. There are many folks there with students who majored in music, music education, or some other combination of music majors.
I will give you my opinion…
Many fields require a masters degree now. A bachelors in music performance is not a horrible thing. Some will become performers, and others will work in the music field in some other capacity.
And still others will get advanced degrees in any number of other fields.
Re: gouf78, while that is true for drummers, I am under the impression that we may be speaking of a performance path in classical and related areas – that is what Manhattan, Julliard, Eastman etc. signify and excel in, though they would offer other areas of performance. That is a much different path, and it is as viable for percussionists as it is for string and brass instruments. The difficulty lay in the paucity of spots in major symphonies and philharhmonia for any instrument, but that has really always been the case.
I do agree that it would not be advisable to expect decent career prospects as a popular percussion performer, and also that the music industry has been turned upside down with digital. The compensation and stability in that arena is just not there now. An experienced instructor may be able to recognize a potential gifted performer early and send him on a path to classical performance, but this student is quite young right now, and even that path could be enhanced with other areas such as education, etc.
Yes, he is looking at classical training, but the positions are still few and far between. I suppose we have a lot to think about, some real research to do, and thank goodness we have time to think things through. I appreciate the suggestion to post on the music majors forum. I don’t know there was one!
I second the suggestion to post on the music forum. The advice you will get there is a bit different from what you are getting here.
Here is a good essay to read about ways to study music: http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html
I hope that if your son wants to pursue a performance degree, you will come to see that that may be fine for his future and not entirely dependent on an orchestra job.
Many musicians do sacrifice some academics in favor of practice, rehearsing, performing, and classes at, for instance, conservatory prep on Saturdays, and it can work out. For conservatories not affiliated with a university (free standing), the main thing will be the audition. For conservatories/music schools that are part of a university, usually he would have to get into both the university and the conservatory, with the audition being important for the latter. For a university/college program (BA) there may or may not be an audition for admission, but a supplement to the common application can really help with admissions: including a video or CD, a music resume, and teacher recommendations.
A BM or BA in music is as valuable as any other bachelor’s degree, and gives access to many jobs in music and outside of music, and access to grad schools, law or med school, etc. Often music students will do internships, work in outreach or education, gain skills in technology or recording, during their years of study that can also help. Entrepreneurial studies are big at conservatories these days.
Music education is a fine degree if teaching is someone’s primary goal, but I would not do it as a backup plan. I know it takes courage in this day and age but for undergrad years it really is okay to follow a “passion.” Music ed can be a grad degree (and so can performance!). Lots of possibilities after graduation.
There are many things going on in music these days besides symphony orchestras. You might want to buy a book online on the topic of planning a career in music. I wanted to give you a title but I cannot find it at the moment!
Another great book is “Creative Colleges” which covers music, art, theater and writing programs.
People on the music forum can give you ideas on specific schools but this post didn’t seem to be about that so much as the general idea of majoring in performance and the economic risks of doing that. There is a thread about this at the top of the music forum that you might want to read. Good luck!
Compmom is right come on over to the music major thread. I’m posted a response for you there. I’m a percussion performance/music ed parent of an Eastman percussionist. I’ll answer questions for you.
I’ve got some friends (some from HS and some from DCI) that went this route, one of them was percussion… something of the things you might notice from the list, is that they basically all have Masters degrees. My friends have had good luck with the military bands. These groups are very good, but they are definitely a notch or two down from the bigger symphonies (but probably pay better and have more stability than smaller symphonies). These were very good musicians, of the all-state variety (multiple years) and competitive summer music camps. One of them, the one that attended Juilliard, was on a completely different level (perfect pitch, national level solo competitions, etc), and you can see he now has one of the most coveted music jobs in the world.
Friend 1 (Bassoon):
Ithaca: Performance and Education
SF Conservatory: Performance (Masters)
Job: Elementary Music Teacher
also plays gigs on the side
Friend 2 (Flute):
Eastman (Rochester): Performance
New England Conservatory: Performance (Masters)
Job: Military Band (after bouncing around small and seasonal symphonies for a few years)
Friend 3 (Trumpet):
New England Conservatory: told he wasn’t good enough after 2-3 years.
Now has an engineering degree.
Friend 4 (Percussion):
Julliard: Performance
New England Conservatory: Performance (Masters)
Job: Boston Symphony Orchestra (some freelance gigs while looking for a permanent job)
Friend 5 (Violin):
Cleveland Institute of Music: Performance
Cleveland Institute of Music: Not sure (Masters)
Job: Teaches at 2 colleges
Friend 6 (Tuba):
Eastman: Performance
Rice: Performance (Masters)
Job: Military Band (1 tour with Blast!)
Friend 7 (French Horn):
???
Boston University: ?? (Masters)
Job: still looking (1 tour with Blast!)
Friend 8 (French Horn)
Eastman: Performance / Education
Northwestern: Performance (Masters)
Job: still attending school
Friend 9 (Trumpet):
South Carolina: Performance / Education
Cincinnati: Performance (Masters)
Job: Military Band
Friend 10 (Trumpet):
Texas State: Music Ed
left without finishing
Job: USMC Commandant’s Own Drum and Bugle Corps
… is now back at school finishing the ed degree
I also have a number of friends that went the straight music ed route. Most of them have elementary/middle school teaching jobs with their undergrad degree (most of them took 4.5 or 5 years I think).
My son graduated from the New School Jazz Performance section in 2011. He is a drummer with some local bands in Brooklyn now and doing the kind of music he wants (Sort of indie/folkie/rock type stuff). Working as a barista in Soho to pay the bills. He is slowly starting to make a name for himself and playing with some bigger names, but it is a long haul. The most valuable thing about the New School (and we knew this going in and knew that this is a VERY left wing school), is that he would make connections better if he was where he would eventually want to be. Connections and networking are the most important part of music performance (imho). If we had to do it all over again we would have paid for more serious lessons in HS including classes in theory. Most kids that are making a living doing this don’t finish school and are of with bands once they know what they want. This may not help if you are classically inclined.
Hi - you might check out Ithaca College. We were impressed with their music program - both performance and music education - and they seemed to incorporate both in a nice way.
Cheerios; I am glad that your son is actually making it slow and steady, though it may be. Since my son seems to be most interested in training classically, I think he would be auditioning almost anywhere he was fortunate enough to be invited to once he received his degree.
BT, we will look into Ithaca; thank you for that tip…
My S is starting in the fall as a performance major at Ithaca, and we are so excited about their program.
My husband was a percussion performance major at Berklee. (early 80’s) He regrets not getting a degree in education.
Although he still plays, he is not working FT in the music industry an more. If he wants to play, he needs to make good connections in college and work his behind off. Best of luck.
I don’t think connections count for as much in the classical world. Surely it might mean people share opportunities with you, but the vacancies are advertised for all to see. And I don’t think they will take someone of inferior skill on the basis of “connections”.