<p>First of all, hello. The name's Jeff and I seem to be the newest member of College Confidential. Nice to meet all of you :) Anyway, on to the question.</p>
<p>I currently play guitar (aka I'm trying to get back into it after a few months hiatus) and would like to move on to bass, drums, piano, violin, and vocals in my college career. The problem is that that seems a little much for a physics major. My original plan was to minor in music, but with Republicans cutting out summer school grants altogether I don't think I could graduate in 4 years as a physics major and music minor, sadly. So what should I do? It seems as though most of the music program is allocated towards band/orchestra/choir people with previous experience (as I figure most music programs are).</p>
<p>I can probably work on guitar (acoustic, electric, and bass) on my own time, but should I choose between either piano and violin to take a course on?</p>
<p>If any clarification is needed feel free to ask. My mind is all over the place right now. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I applaud your curiousity for music, but tell us more what you want to do w/ your physics and what you want to do with your music and maybe we can help better. Skip the comments on politics as that probably belongs on another thread or classroom. If you are at a school that focuses on band/orch/choir you may have to focus on getting what you can out of learning one instrument more deeply, and/or take other music classes like theory, ear training, harmony and/or music technology to learn more about music in general. You can always teach yourself other instruments later when you have more time, but the theory and other music classes could give you a stronger base. I don’t believe you can minor in music performance, at least at the schools that I know. If you are trying to learn 5 instruments and vocals, you won’t have a chance to become performance level on any one of them because you’ll be spread too thin.</p>
<p>As of right now I can’t say where I’m going with physics or music. I like physics and astrophysics. I love playing instruments. That’s about all I can say, sorry. I’m not one of those kids who’s wanted to be a doctor his whole life because I’ve never experienced that before. I don’t want to sound lazy or incompetent when I say this, but I’m kind of playing this by ear. Will I stick with physics? Who knows. Music? Most likely, but I will probably cut down on the number of instruments. Guitar and piano sound like a solid enough base.</p>
<p>The more I wrote for this comment the more I thought about music. It’s not a stable enough (outside of a music teacher) career choice, hence it being a minor. Unless I can somehow fuse science and music and find something that combines my love of both then music is just a passion to either simply enjoy or make a little money on the side.</p>
<p>Metallica93: Have you ever considered acoustical physics or acoustical engineering? That’s science and music based. I’m not sure what you would do to reach that goal, but probably taking physics and music classes would be involved. Maybe you could Google more about the title and see if wherever you are offers any classes that could be applied to that kind of thing? I don’t know, just an idea; I’m not one of those people who is extremely knowledgeable. =)</p>
<p>How about acoustic engineering? Also, some music schools have a music production focus or major that is very close to engineering. You’re smart to keep more options open now, either way. Start broad with your course selection so you leave more options open longer until you sense where your passion lines up with your best skills.</p>
<p>You might want to check out U of Rochester. They are strong in physics, and they have some interesting programs and projects going on integrating music and sciences. Eastman School of Music is part of that, and you can take secondary lessons there if you are strong enough on piano. Still, there is plenty of music instruction going on at U of R itself. There is a lot of flexibility in your program at U of R. It might be worth a look.</p>
<p>Combining a physics major with a math minor is possible at most colleges that have a music dept and a physics dept. It gets a little more interesting when you include colleges with conservatory level music depts that offer a BM because they will want an audition and you’ll have a much tougher audition pool. But if it is a college not known for music you will probably be welcomed with open arms!! My younger son has played in several local college orchestras while in high school since they have a hard time recruiting enough students from their own population to fill out the ensembles. At my older son’s school where he is a physics major, they pay for students to fill in for the pit orchestra. Also, at his school you can take guitar lessons for credit and to meet general ed credits. If you are still in high school, think about adding an AP music theory class to your schedule. The son of a friend is at OSU as an engineering major but can very easily add the music minor because he had the AP credit in music theory and is in a singing group for credit.</p>
<p>When you say a minor in music, do you mean in instrumental studies, or do you mean taking classes like music theory and such as you would in a BA program? Music minor can mean different things…which raises the question, why get a minor in music? It sounds like you are thinking of it as a possible alternative path into going into music, and quite honestly, I am not sure a minor in music would do much there (other then taking some courses in music, not a bad thing). </p>
<p>You could learn those instruments on your own or have private teachers, through tehe school or not, and accomplish the same goals, and even assuming you could do that as a minor, not sure what value that would have either towards going into music or physics. If your idea might be someday to join or form a band, or be some sort of singer/songwriter, having a music minor probably wouldn’t do all that much towards that goal IMO.</p>
<p>Case Western has an excellent physics program and they also have their own music department (separate from that of CIM), so a double major is quite possible, or you could just take lessons at Case.</p>
<p>I believe I didn’t mention this because I had/have quite a lot on my mind, but I’m going to Illinois State University. I’m sorry for wasting your time pertaining to that My parent’s divorce made money tight so all of the higher end colleges I got into I couldn’t actually go to (Michigan, Northwestern, Wash U in St. Louis, etc). Probably would have preferred Michigan because private schools ask for way too much. Anyway…</p>
<p>Acoustical physics and engineering, huh? I’m surprised I haven’t heard about that. And when I say “music minor” I mean performance, theory, composition, etc. But like I said before, a music career isn’t what I’m interested in. The odds are against me and I don’t want to gamble on this stage. I just figured a music minor would keep me surrounded by music other than simply private tutors and such. It’s more than a hobby, but less than a career path (if that makes sense).</p>
<p>ISU has a pretty good music scene. See if you can audition for any of the ensembles. Bill Koehler is a cool guy, bass department head. IWU just down the street has lots of music too, good Jazz ensemble.</p>
<p>Perhaps I can focus on music my freshman year at ISU, take a few summer classes at my local community college, and then just pick up a physics-heavy schedule once I transfer. Again, ISU wasn’t my first choice, lol.</p>
<p>But I’ve been looking into acoustic(al) physics and engineering. Apparently I’d only be really profitable in big cities like New York City or Los Angeles because that’s where all the records and movies are made (exactly where I don’t want to go). The analysis and design of music/concert halls, religious venues, and determining psychological factors and quantitative measurements like reverberation time in order to get the design right just doesn’t sound appealing. In that case I was recommended something along the lines of music production.</p>
<p>Here’s a quote from a friend of mine that I agree with for the most part:</p>
<p>“A minor in music is beneficial for a physical scientist because it opens the other side of his brain (my exact sentiments). An employer sees a music minor and figures “This guy is not a stuffed shirt nerd and can deal well in a group environment (I question this, but I see his point, at the least).” Also, music is usable around the world. It offers an opportunity to advance your teamwork skills.”</p>
<p>While I would agree having a music minor might be a plus for some employers (as you point out, shows an interest outside academics), I am not even sure you can minor in performance…good question for the rest of the bunch, anyone know?</p>
<p>The other thing is you don’t even need in many schools to be a major or a minor to take instrumental lessons and be in ensembles, many schools have music as a kind of extra curricular. When I went to NYU in the dark ages, they offered lessons and ensemble to students who weren’t music majors (sorry I didn’t take them up on it), so it is possible to enjoy music without getting a degree in it, minor or otherwise:)</p>
<p>The more I think about it the more I think I won’t minor in it just to open up something else (astronomy, math, psychology, etc). It’s more than a hobby, but I guess I can live with what you’ve mentioned, musicprnt.</p>
<p>And as a side note, how do you quote someone’s message? I’m used to a “Quote” button and this “Quote message in reply?” check box doesn’t seem to work.</p>
<p>The number identifies a specific post and, if included in the quote tag, it will produce a small arrow linking directly to the post that corresponds to the number. One way to see the number is to go to the post in question. Click on the number at the far right of the header in the post (#20 for this message at present.) That will open up another tab or window with only that post in it. The URL for that tab or window will be be something like</p>
My parent’s divorce made money tight so all of the higher end colleges I got into I couldn’t actually go to (Michigan, Northwestern, Wash U in St. Louis, etc). Probably would have preferred Michigan because private schools ask for way too much. Anyway…</p>