<p>Hi everyone. I know a lot of you on here are parents of music majors, or previous music majors yourself. Going to school for music has been my dream for a while. Unfortunately, neither of my parents can read music and don't really support my future career choice, music ed, and constantly tell me how I'll never get a job and that it's competitive and all that. I've tried explaining things to them countless times, how I except that it will be hard for me to get a steady job at first, and even so, a lot of schools I am considering applying to next year (I'm a junior) have high placement rates for graduating seniors. They constantly shut me down, and they don't think I'm talented enough to get into school for voice "because it's more competitive than instrumental" (which is false, as I have explained, but they don't know any better and are still convinced that "going to school for singing isn't as legit as going to school for an instrument") my mom got really upset with me this evening because I concentrate more on my vocal stuff than on my French horn stuff. I don't really know what to do. I'm sick of arguing with them over this. Does anyone have any advice on this subject? Thanks.</p>
<p>Hang in there. Many parents don’t know much/anything about music when their kids choose that path, but hopefully they are at least supportive. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like you have backing, and I really feel for you.
My advice right now would be to back off for a while and not engage in arguments with them about this. Keep practicing and compile your list of schools that interest you. There are some music ed schools which claim a 100% placement for their graduates- Lawrence in Wisconsin and Westminster Choir College in NJ come right to mind. You might well be a very attractive candidate because you study voice and horn, whereas the majority of music ed students will be track into vocal OR instrumental. The audition requirements for music ed are not as rigorous as for a performance degree- do your parents know that?</p>
<p>Are your school music teachers and your private teachers supportive, and can you talk to them? They and your guidance counselor can form a good support system for you.
Take a breather from the home drama and keep working hard. You appear to be a very focused and intelligent young person and know what you want to do in life- any student would be lucky to get such a dedicated teacher!</p>