<p>Have a son starting in Music Education in the Fall, have looked over the music courses and was wondering if I should expect lots of textbooks or do professors usually assign non-textbook work? I've heard that textbooks can run around $500 per semester and wad wondering if music majors tend to pay more or less since some courses (lessons, ensembles, marching band, etc) may not require texts</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Fewer textbooks means less cost than most majors, but believe me, he will be buying music, instruments, repairing instruments, paying for coachings etc etc etc etc. Music majors have plenty of chances for extra expense.</p>
<p>D is a music performance freshman. First semester books were around $400. After the defibrillator paddles cooled down she told me that most of the books were good for 2 years (Musicology/Theory sequence). In the books category, it is not nearly as bad as the engineers but musica is right (as usual).</p>
<p>And the fun really begins when the prof requires a specific book which is only available from the Paris Conservatoire and the person in charge of the ordering sent for 8 copies when they needed 18! That caused problems all around.
Kids can sometimes find the texts in the library and once they are established at school, they can often buy/borrow them from another student who has taken the course before.</p>
<p>S is performance freshman. I was unprepared for the music books and since he is percussion, the percussion instruments he would need. The actual textbooks we got on Amazon used. They don’t have a mark on them. But the music books were bought online with additional shipping. It all added up-I’m waiting for the “I need a bookshelf for my music library at school” that I know will be coming.</p>
<p>Son is a freshman music ed/performance major. So far he has spent about $500/semester on books and music. Hopefully this will level off in coming years as he learns which teachers actually use all the material they require. The studio teacher asked for about $200 worth of etudes and repertoire pieces which I certainly hope he will be able to use for more than this year. The most annoying part is that the 1/2 credit courses all seem to require about $70 in books while the 4 credit ones are requiring about $150 in course material.</p>
<p>I think we spent around $350 the first semester, but I bought most of the books from Amazon and used my American Express points to pay for them. In the end I think I spent something like $7 out of pocket on one music book that I couldn’t find on Amazon.</p>
<p>And many of his books will be used for multiple semesters. His music history books will be used for three semesters and his theory and aural skills books for 4 semesters, so the first semester will likely be the most expensive.</p>
<p>The college published a list of books required for each class and even had an automated system which created a list of books needed from his class schedule. The only books not on the list were for his applied music professor and he had those (about 15 of them @ an average cost of $7 each) listed on his studio website. The studio professor also had 3 pdf books which he put together himself which we downloaded for free from his website and spiral bound (we happen to own a print shop so that part was easy).</p>
<p>No books required for ensembles so far.</p>
<p>A lot of the music DD worked on during lessons was available in the library and she just checked it out there. It saved a lot on music while she was only using pieces for her lessons. Her text books were another issue, though. We had a harder time getting them used so I think her first semester was really high, over $500, including books for her other non-music classes. But as others have said, you only get one for history, theory and aural skills so the average over several semesters is less. But budget for that first semester.</p>
<p>I highly recommend getting them on Amazon. My D even signed up for a “student” account which offered expedited shipping (2 day I think) for free. She did well…about $200 for first semester.</p>
<p>Also look into renting books.</p>
<p>Also Amazon has a fairly generous buy back with free shipping on textbooks.</p>
<p>My son bought most of his books used on campus from other students (so no shipping fees). It takes some research, but many larger universities have fall book sales or have electronic sites for posting texts for sale. In some cases, he borrowed books from older friends that did not want to sell. As a music major, he has spend very little compared to our liberal arts son (who buys used off Amazon or used from the campus bookstore whenever possible).</p>
<p>It was the ear training books that busted my budget last year. Fortunately, most of those were reused for multiple semesters.</p>
<p>The new instrument that her teacher is recommending will more than make up for any savings in textbooks!</p>
<p>Physics major son has had great success buying textbooks off ebay- $250 book for $30 including shipping from India. Only hope he can train his younger brother to shop for text books!</p>