My son is a High School freshman and has been taking lessons in percussion for several years. He is very interested in majoring in percussion when he attends 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???
I posted a response in your other thread on the parents’ forum 
Hope you get some help here and welcome!
There are many good music ed schools in New York which have strong performance programs, too, Eastman and Ithaca offer both. Top SUNY music ed schools are Potsdam’s Crane and Fredonia. Outside NY, Hartt is well regarded for music ed and performance. It is difficult to pursue both music ed and performance degrees. Performance requires hours of practice to achieve national level playing skills and music ed requires the student to practice many different instruments which will cut into playing time on the main instrument. Since your son is only a freshman, you and he have a few years before a decision is made.
If he chooses music ed, then select a school in the state where he wants to teach. The instate schools will be able to walk him through the teacher certification process which is specific to each state. Also, the alumni networks will help getting that first job placement and even with substitute teaching placements. He will learn so much more over 4 years as a music ed undergrad than cramming the teacher certification into a masters because he won’t have all the practicum opportunities. Most undergrad programs have the music ed majors practice teaching in their sophomore and junior years before that all important student teaching placement during the senior year. If he only does a masters in music ed, then he will not have the experiences or practice time on secondary instruments. Many of sons fellow music ed grads, are pursuing their master’s in performance at top schools. Choosing music ed as an undergrad doesn’t mean he will have to give up performance at the grad level but he will be well be better prepared to teach.
Working on performance skills now is a wise course since even music ed schools require an audition and scholarship offers are made from those auditions. Also, have him keep his grades up if he not pursuing the conservatory route, that way he will be eligible for academic scholarships as well.
percussionboymo,
I am a parent of a percussion performance/ music ed major at Eastman. It is definately possible. My son just finished his sophomore year and is doing great. Even landed on Deans list which requires at least a 3.9. It is very, very possible to do both. We are also from the state of New York. If you have specific questions send me a pm. I’m around here every few days and will try to help. First and foremost get your son with a top rate teacher and try to get him to camps such as the New York State summer School for the Arts or Eastman Percussion Summer Symposium. Good Luck it is possible!!!
This seems to be a case where the teacher wants the son to major in performance and the parent(s) are worried about the economics of this path, so that music ed is perhaps a “backup.” Percussionboymo, does your son show an interest in teaching or is he excited about performance mainly?
Compmom, good point. I didn’t pick that up. My own son absolutely LOVES his music ed part. He even volunteers 3 hours every saturday morning with the pre school music program at Eastman’s community music school. He isn’t interested in following a performing career at least orchestra wise. It’s been suggested that he may want to pursue that but he really want to teach at the college level.
Music Ed is only required to teach K-12 in public schools. If he is not interested in that then it can be a waste and insisting he go into K-12 as a safety can make for a less than enthusiastic teacher. Not good for him or his students. He can have a private studio which can provide a good income if he excells at performance and develops a reputation. There are a lot of discussions here on having a career with music performance as a degree. There are many opportunities. He is a freshman now. Let his performance develop and don’t worry about college majors and careers yet. Many things can change in the next several years.
Here are a couple of posts from the other thread, first one is mine:
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!
From soccerguy315 (reposted here by compmom- hope that’s okay- great post soccer guy!)
Yesterday at 11:25 pm
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).
The two percussionists that I know teach at the college level and still have performance as a major focus. One is a composer as well as percussionist and teaches at a university, the other performs with small contemporary classical ensembles and also does some work with electronics, teaching in a digital arts program.
From the perspective of a parent of a now grad student in music, I guess you could say that just about anything can happen with our kids. Life is full of zigs and zags. Backup plans make sense but in the long run they may actually limit opportunities. Following genuine interests can lead somewhere that is fulfilling and also sustaining financially, but it is scary sometimes That is just one point of view, though…
Thank you very much for the input and perspective. My son was planning to go to school for music Ed until his teacher suggested that he go the performance route. He took this as a sign that he might be good enough to make it in that world and was, I believe flattered, as he respects his mentor completely, as do I, I might add. He is worried about the shrinking music programs in public schools (ours included, which has always prided themselves on a wonderful reputation in music). So we are all too aware that any area that involves music and or the arts is risky no matter what path is chosen. I am a firm believer in following what we are passionate about and we have tried to provide as many opportunities for our son as possible since this is he is passionate about music, specifically percussion. I think the idea of performance undergrad/masters in Music Ed may be something to consider if masters programs readily consider performance degrees for their programs? My son is going to Manhattan School of Music this summer, but I will follow up on Bigdip’s suggestion to look at the Eastman summer program.
The key thing is where his passion lies, someone who truly has the gift and wants to teach, specifically in a public school setting, may want to go the music ed route. However, there are also a lot of people who went into music ed as a ‘safety’, and ended up as teachers who would rather be performing, and it wasn’t good for them or their kids, to be honest. I don’t know if with music ed you can get a master’s in music ed if your background is performance, for that I would contact schools offering an Med degree and ask them (often masters are kind of stand alone, but it all depends).
As others have pointed out, you don’t need a Music Ed degree unless you plan to teach in the public schools, private schools don’t necessarily require it, and teaching privately or at a college level doesn’t require it (and quite honestly, if your son wants to teach percussion at a high level, it may be better not to do the Music Ed Degree, because Music Ed degree students need to learn about all instruments and other things that would take time away from learning his primary instrument. Not saying someone majoring in music ed cannot achieve a high level on their primary instrument, just saying I think it is a more difficult path with a music ed degree because of all the requirements around the Ed degree that take time away from performance…).
The other thing is as has been written on here ad infinitum, a music degree is a college degree, and if he doesn’t make it in music, it has as much value as a lot of other college degrees do, the ones unlike Comp Sci, engineering, and accountancy that are specific to a particular job, and music majors tend to be wanted by employers for other skills they bring:)
Speaking of picking a school that is in the state that you want to teach in, don’t some states have incentive programs for staying in their state like accelerated student loan repayments?