Hi I’m a band director who actually did make it through in 4 years and I have the following piece of advice: DON’T DO IT. DON’T. DO IT. Take five years, take six years. Who cares. The anxiety and cramming and time management Eric talks about is real. It’s very real.
I'm about to go to college and the total credits needed is 121... That's 15 credits per semester at 8 semesters(4 years). What am I missing that people take 20+ hours per semester??
@@DrumCorpsLink a mentality that is pervasive in a lot of music schools is that nothing is good enough and there's always more to work on, so you'll end up taking more ensembles, lessons, or classes than needed for completing the degree. Also, if you're on a performance scholarship you often have more ensembles that are required to maintain the scholarship.
Current Music Ed major here! I’m a percussion student at Belmont University and I would say the number 1 thing to consider is performance degrees don’t open very many job opportunities, an education degree opens hundreds of different kinds of teaching jobs. Not to mention you’re still a classically trained musician and thus have the ability and know how to perform in many ensembles.
Hey man im a senior in highschool and im thinking of attending belmont i play 4 instruments but mainly percussion would u recoment belmont and woud u recommend music ed or proformance
@@alexfernandomusic Hey! The program here is really intense but all the staff absolutely know their stuff. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you it’s easy or a walk in the park but I will say is worth it. And the decision between music Ed and performance is entirely up to what you want to do. For me, I want to teach high school band and front ensemble so it makes sense for me to go for music Ed. If all you want to do is perform, whether that be in a local community band or the Nashville Symphony then go for performance. If you haven’t already, definitely come and visit campus. It’s a beautiful place to live and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to staff about how to go about choosing a major.
Current Music Ed AND Music Performance major (saxophone) here. I would take a LONG look at the progression plans that both degrees have, and decide which one you'd like to do based on that. For my university, they're so similar, I figured I'd just do both, but it's insanely hard. However, what people fail to consider for Music Education is what states the University you're learning at are going to qualify you to teach in. For example, my state has 3 state universities. Only one, mine, certifies you to teach in all 50 states with a Master's degree. The other two, even if you get a Master's, only allow you to teach in our state. In addition to that, if you decide on solely Music Performance, it's very likely that you can get teaching credentials post-college. I know a few people who went that route.
@@alexfernandomusic if you visit Belmont’s website you can either sign up to go to a preview day where you’ll get a tour of campus, meet you prospective department heads, eat lunch on campus, and a lot of cool stuff like that. That’s what I did but with covid I’m not entirely sure what they’re offering right now. I would for sure check out the website and look around.
High school band director here, so I have these conversations with my juniors and seniors quite a bit... The one thing I'll say that is a bit counter to what some others are saying here: do NOT go into music education unless you WANT to be a music teacher. My high school band director told me, when I was looking into music school, that music education should not be something you do simply to pay the bills. If you don't actually want to be a teacher, you will likely not get much enjoyment out of your job, and your students will often pick up on that, and that will affect their enjoyment, as well. I see a lot of variants of "Don't get a performance degree, get an ed degree so you can get a job." That's fine, as long as you WANT to do that job. If you have no desire to teach, there are much better ways to make a living. Also, the thing about taking more than four years, yes. Took me, and many of my colleagues that I know, five years.
I studied percussion at Ithaca College, and now I'm in my first semester of grad school. (Same college, now pursuing an MBA in entertainment and media management). I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I was in high school, but knew I liked music so I went to IC. I was in the "music undecided" major when I got here, meaning I would take all the music classes all freshmen music students take, and then I would choose a path at the end of the year. I thought I wanted to be a performance musician, but my professors didn't believe that's what I had in my heart to become because as much as I love music, I am not a classical musician at my core. My professors supported me in all my endeavors and I switched to music with an outside field in audio production which got me involved in working with the tv/film program and communications students. (Different than the standard sound recording technology major). I realized through my time in all of these diverse classes that I love music but want to be in the industry, rather than as a classical musician which many music schools gear you towards becoming. This allowed me to pursue other music opportunities like playing in a klezmer ensemble, the brass choir (as the drum set player), and in a few bands because I had more free time to spend time on opportunities besides required classical extracurriculars. This allowed me to choose if I wanted a junior and senior recital, which I did, and I was able to do exactly what I wanted and put on two recitals with an incredibly diverse palette of music. I don't think I predicted 4 years ago where I would be now, but I'm very happy with the choices I made and how it led me to this point. You can go to music school, take your classes and be a good player, but a lot of the learning comes with how you apply yourself to your craft both in and out of the classroom. Nothing is handed to you, you have to want it and work at it to prove how far you're willing to go in order to get it.
I have Bachelor of Music in Performance degree. I'm leaning toward not useful, but I can't say for sure. I do have a job in music, but I really don't know how much of a factor it was in my being hired as a music director at church. I know once they heard me play and got to know me a tiny bit, they wanted to hire me. I also know I got lucky on having a personal connection through my brother. If you're going for music education, that's more of a straight path toward a specific goal. If you're going for music performance, 1) make sure that's actually what you want to do rather than just what you or others assume you will do, and 2) expect to have to look for work in a much broader way (unless you're lucky enough to land a steady professional orchestra job or something). Depending on your exact program and your exact life plan, music school may or may not be for you. Proceed with caution.
I think going into Music Performance you have to know already that getting a job is going to be really tough and that being able to network and be very diverse is key to making a living after school. Even if you want to get into a full-time orchestra, you have to be able to support yourself while taking auditions, preparing, etc. after school.
If you want to teach, and REALLY want to teach, then music school is probably a good option. Just know, it's gonna suck at times, as 21 credits/semester is standard for those hoping to graduate in 4 years. If you want to do anything else in music, there may be better alternatives to music school. If you want to learn theory to be a better composer to write music for ensembles (maybe film or video game scoring) then music school might be okay just to learn how instruments work, but you can also just start writing and sell your music. If you want to learn music technology to work in a studio or live concerts your best bet is to start working freelance for an audio company and working as many gigs as possible (they actually pay very well pending on the job), studio work is harder to get into but your best bet is to just start recording and mixing as much as possible, and maybe go to a vocational school such as the School of Audio Engineering Institute in New York to learn audio better. Performance might seem tempting and if you're a jazz musician then learning jazz from professors is actually worthwhile, but if you want to play classical music then you should probably take private lessons and start at a community orchestra and look for openings at your local symphony. And if you want to play music in a rock band then music school is a trap. You will be focused on things that don't matter to you and will probably hurt your passion for playing music. You will probably meet really great musicians there regardless, but you're better off majoring in anything BUT music, like business or graphic design so that you have some other trades to work with that are applicable beyond the scope of playing in a band. The greatest benefit of music school is meeting amazing musicians, but the biggest downside is not being set up for a great career path (unless you're an educator) and will have to get very creative with how you market yourself to get a job that pays the bills, like that massive student loan bill that just doesn't seem to go away. Get a degree that will get you a job, otherwise just start working at the lowest level profession in the field you want to be in and begin climbing the ladder. It's a slow climb, and you might need another job to supplement the income while you get to better positions, but it'll be more worth it than having a degree you're not using that is also a big financial weight. For reference I am a 4-year college graduate and Majored in Music Recording Technology and Music (Percussion Performance and Composition). I worked several jobs during my undergraduate studies (sometimes 4 at a time) just so I could afford to eat as I didn't have a meal plan, averaged between 19-23 credits per semester and finished with a 3.4 GPA and am working in a school as a special education aide and directing Marching Band. I've had one gig as an audio engineer and though I could have done more, it wasn't full-time and student debt was dangling over me and still is. Granted I didn't go to the cheapest school I could find, but the situation would only really be different if I went somewhere cheaper because I would have less student debt. Consider all your options, and although Eric said that you have to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life at age 17, that isn't 100% true. I'm 26 now and am still figuring it out. I know our life puts such a high value on going to college but if your life is calling you in a different direction, consider it. You can enter a 4-year college at any time, don't feel like it has to be right out of high-school. Good luck to anyone who took the time to read this!
I have to say your comment was extremely helpful. I’m 17 in my junior year and I’m thinking about majoring in composition in college, and my only concern is the jobs. I assume that composition doesn’t mean I’d have to do something in composition initially, for instance I could do some sort of teaching work possibly. But composing truly is my passion and I would love to get a job involving it in some way.
I'm about to go to college and it's only 121 credits needed... 15 per semester and 8 total semesters, so what am I missing that you're supposed to take 19-21 credits per semester???
@@DrumCorpsLink I think it just depends on the music school. Also you might be asked to play in ensembles and go observe musicians/educators so that might be the extra 3-6 hours along with your regular 15 credits.
@@DrumCorpsLink yeah in my school an average academic class was 3 credits, so you took 5 of them to get to 15. But other classes such as Theory were only 2 credits and met twice a week instead of 3 times. Ensembles also were credits, but didn't often reflect the time spent on them. I took marching band which had band camp and met more often than a regular academic class but was only worth one credit. So those added to my total. Also I took recital attendance (attend 7 recitals/semester) which was 0 credits but required every semester to graduate.
If you want to be a professional orchestral musician, you sure as hell need to go to music school and study music performance. Taking lessons with someone once a week and playing in a community orchestra is NOT going to prepare you for the absolutely insane competition that is a major orchestral audition.
As a college grad with a Bachelors in Music (trumpet performance) with only one semester as a grad student, I concur that continued education is not necessary to become good at your instrument. If your desire is to teach music in a public school (at least where I'm from), then it is mandatory... plus a teaching credential. I also did the gig scene plus odd-end jobs like hotel security and catering to make ends meet. I did work as a brass and percussion coach at a private school for 9 years... then I made the best choice of quitting all that and joining the Navy as a musician... best choice of my life. EMC, great videos brother!
A little late to this discussion, I cannot emphasize how awesome it is to take courses at a community College either over the summer, or during the school year if you can during high school. Or even start at a CC if you feel like it. A lot of the time it's the better option to AP Classes as you will more likely have a less stressful schedule than AP and you are guaranteed the credits unless you fail the class, which is highly unlikely if you just pay enough attention.
So here’s my plan. I’m a junior now, I’m saving up to join WGI next year (if that even happens) and then I’ll go to Valencia College (a community college near UCF) I’ll go for music production and I’ll tech at my high school for drumline. After 2 years at Valencia I will transfer to UCF (if I can) and finish my classes. After that I’m going to want to teach my own private classes for either guitar or percussion and eventually teach a drum corps. Also I want to join the commandant's own
I go to University of Louisville and we have an agreement with local colleges that dont have one (including our community college), where students can join the marching band. I looked this up, and UCF's marching band will allow Valencia College students to join. So even going to a community college, you'd be able to do a marching band.
@@conradcash1472 right, and if I stay at Valencia for 2 years, I am automatically admitted to UCF. I don’t need to reach any specific things, they just throw me in there
Oh my god you’re describing me in college exactly, for my super-super senior year I took one class each semester because I failed the first of the series...
I have a Bachelor's of Science from an art and design university. However I went to the military. I was recruited after seeing the Electric Brigade at a high school concert in the Annapolis area. I had been doing my own production work for about 5or6 years up to that point. I went over to the recruiter after the concert and told him I wanted to do the mixing. This was a couple months after 9/11 and I was also from a very long line of military. I go to test and scored somewhat high for the Baltimore area 76 on ASVAB. however, they would not allow me into the MU (MUSICIAN RATE) as they were heavily influencing me with money and rank to do communications and electronics (which I was also very very interested in). My mom (army band) told me to take the money but keep my passion for music and production as a hobby and plan B after military. I knew though that I was going to end up using my GI BILL education funds for music school before even joining. After medically retiring 10 years later of disability, I enrolled in Audio Production where I could transfer a ton of credits from military service as I had years of studies and experience accredited by ACE which certified college credit equivalency. I got to do my program in about 3.25 years rather than 4. The entire time in the military I did make music and had several personal studios in home/barracks. I also made music in the 🏜️ and on 🚢. However, my proficiency in the music theory world was lacking (circle of fifths, notation, equipment knowledge, live sound, acoustics, biology of hearing, etc) and going to university strengthened existing knowledge and enhanced the world I thought I knew most of everything about. I did LEARN in school. It was slower than the pace I was accustomed to from military schools and environments but was structured and helpful nonetheless. The reason I chose the B. S. Approach to university was that I could use my science credits from military, and I would be able to transfer that into a science masters for teaching in my original field of telecommunications. I couldn't continue that path as my medical situation deteriorated and could no longer perform duties. Warning: be cautious of the military route toward GI BILL as it could lead to death or severe disability and your dreams and passion can become hindered or cancelled entirely. I did not consider that but also felt called to serve the country in 2002 so I did that anyway. As for the value of your music arts or scientific engineering, you must also consider the type of school you're interested in. Consider if the school is regionally accredited or nationally. I chose on that was regionally accredited as more credits would transfer and more serious masters programs would be available. There are so many schools for media and arts that are only nationally accredited which doesn't hold substantial value. There are many people in the industry who are aware of that and won't just give your degree full accolades. The school you go to matters. Most importantly, the University or school does NOT place you into the field like a vocational school does. You must build a portfolio and intern for experience while logging it. Many people go through school thinking it will be guaranteed work. I know loads of people who do not have jobs in the field they studied, not even close to related. Be careful with that too.
So here's my take on music school. First of all: each person is different, every music school is different, and each class at a given music school with the same professor will be different. Your mileage may vary. I never played in drumline or band. I took private lessons on drumset and played in bands with my friends. Long story short, if I hadn't quit music school twelve years ago, I don't think I would still be playing today. However, the tools I learned in music school (music theory, ear training...) have been invaluable as I continue to play in the real world. I guess the simple explanation is I got burned out. I remember getting ready for our big scales test (I was playing guitar at the time) and needing to get away from the stress of preparing, so I laid down on my bed with my guitar to play something totally different and forget about school. I closed my eyes trying to think of something to play and all I could see was the chalk board behind the piano with a bunch of notes on it and the circle of fifths. It was then that I decided to quit music school. i am now an engineer (the math and science kind, not the train kind), and I play music I love with people I love on the weekends, and I usually get some money for it too. The biggest advantage you will get from going to music school is the network of musicians you will develop by working with and playing with your classmates. I joined my first working band through someone I knew from school, and I made so many contacts playing shows and through different players who came and left.
Good morning! My name is Allison and I am currently in my 2nd year teaching music. I received my B.M in Music Education with a focus in flute. I had 19-21 credits per semester and I also failed my Music Praxis 2 times (also by 1 point each time) before I finally passed on my 3rd try. I spent 4 years in college and never thought it was going to end. But looking back, every hardship or obstacle was worth it! I love my job and I love what I do! Thinking about grad school now (Maybe UMASS or UD), but not sure what to go for! I think you had very nice insight and advice for young people thinking about Music School! I show my students your videos, and they LOVE it! Thanks for all you do! Merry Christmas! :)
I have a PhD in music education and went to renew my teaching certificate in Arizona, only to find out that I wasn't considered "highly qualified" because I never took a 100 level course on phonics. When I asked the department of education what class I needed to take to meet that requirement, I was told they couldn't tell me whether a class would count until I finished the class and submitted my transcript; however, they said my 700 level course on discourse analysis didn't count . . . I opted to not renew my certificate because I now work at an education nonprofit and don't need it. Also, it took me 4.5 years to get my undergrad in music education despite entering college as a sophomore due to dual enrollment credits. As an example of why it took so long, I had a required course for six semesters that counted for zero credits and multiple semesters of taking more than double the amount of classes as other majors. I say all of this to say there are many hoops to jump through that are often ridiculous, but it was worth it for my career options and interests (despite now teaching computer science lol).
Both my uncle John and uncle David went to Curtis. My sister went to Eastman School of Music in Rochester. All three are professional musicians. My sister is a violinist in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. My uncle John, a basoonist, retired from that same orchestra a couple of years ago. My uncle David went from being associate first chair French horn in the Philadelphia Orchestra to retired to conducting.
A very important thing to consider is that different schools will operate very differently, especially when it comes to the music program. There is no standard practice when it comes to the curriculum or pedagogy. The best way to determine if a program will work for you is to ask the people currently enrolled!
As a freshman I was like every other young buck with a wide eyed dream of becoming the next Buddy Rich. (you know who he is right?) So off I went to college and auditioned for a performance scholarship that was awarded to only one entering freshman regardless of what instrument you played. Long story short-I was awarded the one scholarship offered to entering freshmen that year and it paid for my first year's tuition. Enough proof that I was making the right decision majoring in music performance, right? Well, our percussion professor and assistant band director sat all of the incoming freshmen down one afternoon for that talk. You know, the talk about being able to actually use our degree once we graduated. We all switched over to the music ed degree program so we could teach upon graduation. And fast forward 26 years later I had taught high school band and retired at the ripe old age of 48. Then it was then and only then that I played professionally. With my monthly retirement coming in I could afford to do that. The salary for playing would not have been enough to sustain a family and living in a car was not an option. My advice for everyone is to follow your dreams for sure. Don't teach if you don't enjoy it or if you don't think you would enjoy it. You will be miserable and the students will see right through you. The percentage of performing degree majors actually making a living playing 100% and not teaching is slim to none for sure. Sort of like the young baseball or football players who want to play in the NFL or MLB. SMALL percentage. If you are dead set on playing-then get the best teachers and attend the schools that have a record of placing their grads in those positions. Eastman, Julliard, Berklee, etc... Eric- I was on the 5 year plan. Marched top 4 D.C.I. for a summer and taught what they called Class "A" corps back in the day for two years. This gave me two years of invaluable experience teaching, writing and talking (or actually being talked to) by D.C.I. judges at the post show critiques. Never took over 17 hours as I remember. And I agree with you Eric- MUSIC HISTORY IS THE WORST!!!!! Our music history professor had his doctorate in music history of all things, so you can imagine what his classes were like. I still have night mares about music history!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything he said was sooo spot on. Like it's worth it, if you're willing to put your heart and soul in. Being a music major is a commitment, and there are many ups and downs, but if you want to meet other people who love music as much as you do, go for it. The people are so supportive and understanding, and you will meet talented and smart people, don't let that discourage you. Music majors, we all come from different backgrounds and we are here to learn together. If you want to party at college, the answer is no. I'm currently double majoring in performance and music industry-recording arts; which put my schedule to 21 credit each semester. All the classes you take are important to be a musician. Personally, they benefited me in some ways, but if you are considering to be a music major, you have to understand the ability to manage time, social-life, and your health. I've seen many of my colleagues drop out or change their majors, but if you are committed to be an educator, performer, producer, whatever, you have to put time into it. It's all worth it in the end. Like he said, many experiences will come from different places outside of school, but I will say the education I received supplemented them. If you can't handle it, but you love music, there are options out there. If you want to continue your path as a music major, you could consider the victory lap or the 4+ year degree plan. This will take less load off, but you will be in school more. Many find this very soothing and less stressful, however there are financial losses and you won't be able to finish school as early as 4 years. Also, depending on your school of choice, many allow "non-music majors" to join ensembles with or without auditions. Music Minors are also a thing, and a great option if you still want to be exposed to the education of music. My final advise is, there are many ups and downs to being a music major. But I have met incredible people in the music building from supportive educators to my best friend to my partner. College is a place to meet new people! So join ensembles or student organizations. Be involved!! There are also MUSIC student organizations that 'Non music majors' can join! Also I really enjoyed this video and it really relieved my dark thoughts of discontinuing my music career. However, I will be almost graduating and considering graduate school!! Wish me luck!
I have a very interesting story with music school. I got out of high school wanting to be a music producer. I have played music since the age of 12 and I knew I could write decent music I just needed the education to make it better. Unfortunately, the college I went to doesn't have a good music technology degree so I HAD to pick my preferred instrument; the trumpet. From there, my private trumpet teacher forced me down to non music major lessons where, after a full semester and a half of music classes, the music school office came to me and told me to change my major. After some thought I switched to the only other thing I liked in high school; Physics. After I realized that quantum mechanics is HARD (some 2 years later) I switched to Data Science where I could use the skills I had gained in BOTH major studies. Moral of the story: college will help you refine skills you didn't even know you had.
Honestly, im in music school now, 4 years is a painful goal, you end up dropping classes and failing some. Its painful. Just be prepared for 5 years, not 4
I was one of those kids who had NO idea what they wanted to go to college for and so I kind of looked at the things I enjoyed and band was up there so ... band it was! Went for Music Education on euphonium and then in my LAST SEMESTER decided it wasn't for me, actually ... more like the admin/bs associated with teaching wasn't for me (I also graduated around the 2008 recession and was NOT interested in moving for a teaching gig) So I decided to graduate with a B.A. in music instead and now work in software. Even though I don't use my degree, it wasn't a waste in my eyes (met my husband there, got to make awesome music with people and met a lot of life long friends).I would have been in college anyways so I'm glad I got to do it with something I was passionate about at the time. I will say that the most important thing in college is NETWORKING and I sadly didn't learn that til it was too late. I did get an internship at The Cadets in 2010 from knowing some people on their staff from college
I am a junior percussion performance and music Ed major who took 24 credits this semester. You really have to love what you’re doing if you wanna go to school for music
Dang this hits home so many times. Did a 23 hour semester or 2 and yeah that was terrible, but I wanted out and I got out in 4.5 years. I tell folks to take summer semesters as soon as you get out of HS. Easier, and will get you out faster. Then there's taking CLEP tests to skip courses which I didn't find out about until after of course. I also recommend to major in something that'll get you a job like computer science or engineering for jobs that actually require a degree and minor in music. You get plenty of practical knowledge and not all the less useful stuff like Neapolitan chords, heavy studies in 12-tone music, and more trivia knowledge on stuff that no one will actually use or remember when they leave. The Air Force band came and played and did a Q&A after. At some point we got into financials and degrees etc and it came out that having a degree didn't matter as a performer cause the pay was the same, unless you wanted to be a conductor/officer. I questioned the purpose of college in front of the dean of the school of music and all the staff and yeah they weren't happy, but that's what happens when colleges sell the idea that you'll be able to use the degree to get a job and leverage salary. When all it does in most cases is check a box for HR.
College was an absolute waste of money for me. Aside from 4 solid semesters of music theory, I pretty much flunked out of everything else. I have no desire to ever go back.
Worth it? Depends on the individual. I was a Music Ed Major in the mid-90’s. Marched DCI Division 1 (That’s World Class now kids) in 95 & 96. Went to community college first, then transferred to University of North Texas, aka Percussion/Drumline U. Taught multiple high school drumlines out of high school for a number of years. Based on my involvement in the activity and my band directors in High School/College were both alums of UNT it seemed to be a natural progression. The main issue that I had is that I dove in without any plan whatsoever. I applied to UNT and auditioned essentially as a walk-on once I moved in. I quickly realized that the greatest emphasis was placed on sight reading. When I wasn’t in classes I would sit in Kenton Hall and watch the lab bands blast thorough charts. In retrospect I was not ready and needed some serious shed time to level up with whom I was playing with. I started to spend a lot of time in practice rooms between classes and work, until one night I was hit by a car crossing a street on my bicycle heading back to my apartment from the practice room. Broke my wrist which put me out of commission for 13 weeks. The second issue was that I had no idea on how to pay for classes. Prior to going to UNT I was on a scholarship so outlay was minimal. Now I had to pay my own way. The first time I ever heard of the concept of out-of-state tuition was when I received my first bill. I had a part-time job but that could not keep up with what I was spending. Enter student loans. That took the pressure off for a while but it blew up in my face during the recession. Needless to say, SallieMae doesn’t forget; she got her money and then some. Glad that’s done with. What did I end up doing? Worked big box retail for 15 years moving into various management roles. Made a great living. Now I’m into Construction, helping run the family business. My take on the whole thing is you need to consider: Supply vs Demand: What is the current demand for musicians or Music Teachers? Depends on where you want to go. Down here by me, the school districts barley pays for a band director and the room. Everything else is funded by boosters. Are you lucky enough to take over an established program, or do you have to start from the ground up? What will your support system look like? Are you willing to move where the opportunity is? In the areas that have high levels of successful programs (Indiana, California, & Texas for example), what makes you stand out from the hundreds of other candidates competing for the same spot? Are you willing to take starting pay to get your foot in the door? Are you willing to work for people you don’t like, don’t know your worth, and continue to add value? Are you willing to hustle all day every day? If you want to make a living performing music, can you put out a piece of content online every day? Document your journey, it doesn’t have to be pretty. Most people’s bullshit detectors are pretty sensitive these days as a lot of content that’s put out online is superficial. Honesty gets eyeballs now. Who’s hiring right now? Have you looked at the companies/industries that have jobs available? Have you seen what they pay? Is that something you’re willing to learn? For example, right now a lot of construction trades are in great need of good people. Depending on the trade within the first couple of years you can earn $50k-$75k depending on the trade and/or market. Become fully experienced you can get into six figures quick. Are you willing to hustle? Get your hands dirty? Hell, some trades focus on prefabrication and work mostly indoors. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, but you gotta do the work. No way around it. Mike Rowe famously said “Don’t follow your passion, but bring it with you.” When I was a Music Major it was some of the poorest years of my life; but I had a blast making music and sharing that passion with the generation coming up behind me. I took that experience in music and parlayed that into a comfortable middle class living doing non-music things. That’s where I found the demand to be at that time Do I regret being a music major? Not really. I enjoyed my short time at UNT. I enjoy the reactions I see when I tell my co-workers what I did in college. Would I have done it differently? Sure, but if it was that easy everyone would do it. It all depends on your personal values. Those values WILL change over time. Nothing wrong with that. Will I be involved in music in the future? Probably. That itch stays with you and eventually ya gotta scratch it. Or, ignore this whole thing and pick six numbers in the PowerBall.
I have never been to music school myself. But I did start in Drum Corps in 1972 and later spent 4 years active duty as a Marine. I do know a lot of Band directors who also marched with me in Drum Corps, a surprisingly large number of them were in the Drumline. I would love to see more education geared towards younger people who want to learn marching percussion skills. I started in Corps at the age of 11 and loved almost every minute of it, not all the flying drum sticks aimed at my head as I learned how to play lol. We called it the physical abuse approach to musicianship.
Music education was such a cookie-cutter major where I went to school! I changed my major from the MED track to just a B.A. in music with a minor in education. This let me take classes outside of the music school - like dance, yoga, and and movie theater production. These were cool experiences that I couldn’t get being stuck inside the music school. College was so expensive for me, so I decided to milk it for all its worth and take everything I could... but that’s just me!
I was a music ed major for two years and found that the analytical nature of the theory and so on, the engineering of music so to speak, was dragging down my love of playing and performing. I simultaneously was falling back in love with physics and the geosciences. So I switched to a physics major with a strong music minor, dove back into performing and never looked back. I was playing in more ensembles and having WAY more fun than 90% of the music majors after that. Being good at music and loving to perform music does not necessarily mean that it is the occupation for you. It turned out to be my dearest avocation, but my work was somewhere else.
If you go to music school for music education, think of it this way. Go to school to really master your instrument or instruments. You don't learn how to drive a car before you get your license. The day you get your license is when you learn how to drive. Similarly, you don't really learn how to be a teacher until you get a teaching job. Until then, use your time in college to practice and get as good you can. Time is money!
I just graduated from my school earlier this year. When I was told the course load, I decided to add a 5th year. Not only that, since I added another year, I decide to get another degree by adding some classes each semester. Since both degree had most of the same classes (Music Education and Music Composition), It was easy to tack on another degree by adding an extra year. Its not for everyone, but with some planning, breaks, and a schedule, it can be managed and done.
the tl;dr is, You don't necessarily need a music degree to get a performance job, but you do need chops and school can help get those chops for certain things.
Music history is a part of a mused degree. If you wanna teach music you gotta know why Mozart was different from wagner and it’s more than just the spelling of their names. Being a band teacher is so much more than being a percussion teacher, coming from a band teacher who is a percussionist, and you gotta accept that
Current music ed student here at Western Michigan University and I gotta say, practice and take your time. Many classes are gonna be hard and you may have to withdraw and retake a class or two. I had to do that with Aural skills which sucked but just keep on pushing
I failed the PRAXIS 3 times and the PLT 3 times. I know the feeling and it sucks. In the end of 5 1/2 years at Marshall, I’m now a middle school band director. So, worth it? Yes but it was stressful.
I started music school at a descent university as a music Ed major (knowing I wanted at least some job security) but also knowing I wanted to be a pro Horn player. After about a year and a half I figured out music wasn’t for me for a full time career, but I kept with the degree anyways to get out in four years with hopes of going to law school to study IP. (Which I do now yay) I can agree with EMC, a lot of what I learned from music that applies to life I learned in drum corps (Bluecoats and crown) but I did learn great deal of problem solving skills and professional skills from school as well as having built some great relationships and connection. If the only thing you want to do is teach music, get a music Ed degree. If the only thing you want to do is play music, get a music performance degree. If you have any doubts in your mind about either of these things, I recommend exploring other options.
A lot of your experience at Rowan was what I experienced at William Paterson, minus the changing majors and unexpectedly graduating. I did the repeating of the course I failed and got the music degree from there. But holy crap, the reflection on young me and the lack of time management with 21 credits on top of doing DCA and DCI was rough.
After two year and and Associates in Music at a Junior College at 39 which took 3 years to earn. Once at the University for Music Education they sat me down and explained the odd/even rotation and every other year when it came to some classes, particularly music. They were like your no longer a music major your education and you'll be here another 4 years. I was ohhhh...??? After one semester in the education side I switched to Music Industry. Which was for me at least way cooler. As a percussionist I still took lessons and performed with the symphony. Cool stuff. Now, after graduating, I do lighting and sound and have my own music arranging gig. Along with teaching drumline. Did I need the degree. No I didnt. But, it did enlighten and the experience was awesome. The younger musicians looked to me like a big brother.
I did my Music Education Degree in 6 years, and that was with 15-18 credits a year and 6 credits for 4 spring semesters. If you want to teach music you just have to be ready to go for more than 4 years. For what it is worth - I love my job. Teaching music to kids all day is pretty sweet overall. Don't rush through college...it is a lot of fun.
I still don't believe that they didn't pull you out of recruit training and send you to OCS. I've known a few Marines that have had that happen to them and another that went to bootcamp, went to SOI, MOS training, then the fleet, only to get sent to OCS because S-1 caught it during his new join audit. Crazy stuff.
For anyone who is considering majoring in music I SUGGEST that you research the degree requirements like gen ed and stuff and try and take classes in high school that you can take care of those credits in high school (like AP, community college etc). I did and I was able to start college at SDSU with 40 credits done out of the 131 I need to graduate (I am currently enrolled on 15 credits so 40 credits was like over a year worth of classes)
Ya, I gave up on music major when it came to history and theory. I just wanted to play, no composing, no teaching.....just tooting my horn....er....oboe
I’m graduating from music school and immediately after graduating I’m shipping to boot camp to be a USMC musician, so, for me, music school helped me gain the confidence and skills in order to win my audition. Also, I don’t know if the marine band will be my career, so if/when I get out, I will have my music ed degree to fall back on and I’ll teach public school! :)
Can you do a video about the best things to do if u want to become a musician for example like private lessons are good if u learn like this or group lessons if you learn like this as someone that is interested in becoming a musician when there older also what advice would you give about sight reading because I’m like trash and need help
I think one thing to understand going into music school is that you have to know what you want to get out of it. There are no guides once you are done with college. You have to make your own career and be your own entrepreneur. Although you probably didn't learn video editing and how to be a character on camera, college probably did teach you how to manage projects which is necessary to run a successful RUclips channel.
I got an undergraduate degree in music before heading on to law school. My two cents: music programs tend to place you in one bucket and are not great at making you well rounded. Regardless of whether you are performance, education, composition, music industry, B.A., etc., in order to be successful as a musician, you need to have well rounded skills that cross disciplines. For instance, as a performance major, you should know how to teach private lessons and other things.
@@theredhun I agree with you there There are a lot of things music school does well in preparing you for a life and a career. That being said though, I think some improvements can be made to the overall education in order to allow students to be ready to have a career. For instance, performance majors should take some music business classes/music industry classes or marketing classes to learn how to promote themselves. Likewise, education majors should still be doing regular performances and things like that to stay proficient on their instruments because there will be times when you will have to play gigs even as an educator.
As a music ed major I was required to take weekly lessons, be in at least 1 ensemble a semester, give recitals. I also went to a university instead of a conservatory because I thought regular ed classes were really important. I LOVE the idea of business classes, etc for performance majors.
Performance degrees are the real scams. Music Ed is rough but, assuming you can pass the required certification tests, you can pretty much teach wherever you want.
My experience with music school was entirely different. The only similar thing was my advisor having me take 21 credit hours. I was in the music Ed program at Cleveland state university. My applied lessons professor was mentally abusive. Told me I was worthless, told me I played horrible every lesson and even said I wasn’t cut out for anything with music. He even threw stuff at me if I didn’t play well. (This sounds like something out of whiplash but goddamn it sucked) it got to the point where I was skipping classes just to practice and be at his standard. Later on I would ask my advisor if I could potentially switch professors for my applied lessons but she had said “well no I don’t think that’s a good idea. The only way you could do that is if you switched your major entirely.” He would then threaten me and on that day would drop out. My music school experience wasn’t fun and honestly took the fun and magic out of music. Now obviously not every music school is going to have bad professors. I definitely think if this is a passion of yours then you should take the opportunity and rich for your goals.
Sorry to hear it, friend. This sounds horrible. Does this person still teach there? If so, it may be worth writing a letter to the dean about this. No one should treat their students that way.
Yeah so I’m basically only doing music school so I can have a major after college. I’m not the school type. But music is my passion so I’m doing that during school. Love it. I’m a percussion performance major. So far so good (I’m a sorta sophomore) I have set it up so I’ll be here 5-6 years. No rush man. Along the way, I’ll be teching for schools, hopefully get hired on as a percussion teacher somewhere nearby where it’s needed.
Figure out a good back up plan early, kids. I know a butt ton of people who went up to a masters in something in music (performance, Ed, conducting, etc.) and are now in jobs not related to music.
I could write a dissertation on this topic. The short answer is that music school is great... for the right people. I went to music school and it was one of the best decisions of my life. However, depending on what your goals are and how much debt you will acquire, it could be a bad decision to go. If you have a wide idea of what success for you could be, music school makes a lot more sense.
Current Music Ed. Major at Georgia State University. Honestly Music School has really worked for me so far. My advice; just stick to what you feel is right. I can't tell you how to live the rest of your life.
I really want to be a highschool band director and not stuck teaching 8 year olds so I need to do some thinking. Im currently enrolled at ohio state university newark and I plan to transfer and audition for the music program. Question also, what would be good for auditioning. A snare drum solo a marimba solo? I know mallet percussion but it was never my forte. I always like drums/battery more. Im not sure what I should do.
Be careful with live audio/studio production schools like Full Sail, Art Institute... They are ridiculously expensive and most likely not worth it. Try to find other ways to learn and get experience: volunteer, get a mixing board and mic up your band, RUclips videos....
Bruh I’m a sophomore music education major and I felt the whole 21 credits thing in my soul. I will say luckily my degree is a 4.5 year program, so I take 17-18 credits per semester, but it’s insane haha.
What is it like auditioning for the marine corps? And how hard is the audition music/everyday music you play? (asking for tenor parts) Thinking about auditioning and want to know how difficult the music is, as is it as hard as all the random stuff in your videos? Could you make a video answering these questions, or even a comment would work.
Here's my two cents: Pause and think is this economically viable and smart? Unless you want to teach music, DO NOT GET A DEGREE IN MUSIC. I have an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in music performance for percussion. Students and prospective students: music jobs and gigs DO NOT PAY anywhere close to what you think at all, practically don't exist, and performance jobs consist of either professional orchestras (which are impossible to get and fading) or the military. If you want to teach, KNOW THE SALARY and job market. Ask friends who teach, know what you are getting into, and that you are teaching a field that primarily only exists for the purpose of teaching it. The absolute hard truth is that you as a student are so in love and so busy with the craft that you don't often stop to think of the real world. Note: I am now almost done with my executive MBA, got an incredible dream job that actually pays and allows me to enjoy my family and the arts without the pressure of trying to earn from a passion.
Ok, so let's have a serious chat on this... Before you decide what degree to get, you should ask yourself do you need this? I was going to do music ed (my senior year of high school I had like 2-3 regular classes and the rest was ensembles), but then I realized that I love making music, but I'm not sure I want to teach it forever. So, I did what most college students do, I went to business school... Do you need a business degree to do business? No, but if I wanted to work at a good size company you need it. Then I thought I was going to go to law school, I invested lots of money into the prep classes... Nope, I figured there are a lot of business school grads, so I needed to specialize me, so I got an MBA.... Here we are 20 years later, did I get the job I wanted? Am I earning fat cash? Yes and kind of... Could I have done all of this without the college? Maybe, but probably not
I turned down a scholarship in music for a bachelor of science in business management at ASU. Smartest decision of my entire life. Music is much better as a hobby than a career for most people. You have to make concessions in life and do what the world needs, not what YOU think it should need. Keep this in mind if you want to succeed...
Negative. Every musician gets E2 pay in boot camp, degree or not. Because of my degree, I was contracted to pick up E4 in 2 years, and E5 in 3 years. But it is common for musicians without degrees to pick up those ranks in a similar amount of time.
Hey Eric! Currently in my first semester at Rowan going for music education (percussion) and first of all it’s great to know you’ve walked the same halls and played the same instruments as me😂 Nonetheless, I’ve gotten lots of advice from people like you (some that you know) but still made the leap to pursue this degree. Do you feel that I should take my time or try and bang it all out in 4 years. I’m currently maxing at 18 credits a semester and planning on summer courses. Thanks so much!
I have asked Eric (sorry if that's not your name man I suck with names) many times to do this, you should review my high schools marching band. They have a youtube channel where they post videos of all their performances and its called Olentangy Orange High School Marching Band. I believe we are the biggest high school marching band in ohio. On their youtube channel, there are 3 or 4 videos of just drumline if you would rather do just drumline. Pls do this, I really want to see if we are as good as we think.
Good Morning, do you have any good trombone solos for a high schooler that are pretty advanced, last year i played Morceau Symphonic by Guilmant and I want to take it a step up, do you happen to know of any?
21 credit points each semester, for 8 semesters? Preposterous! Well, actually, that's what studying telecommunications engineering was like. Needless to say, my social life wasn't great.
I was a total and seriously dedicated band geek and I wanted to be a band director to continue that fun. I went to the University of Miami for a year. Yeah..., 18-21 credits is a bitch! I got stupid, fell in love, and decided I’d rather be a wifey. I completed an AA in Music Education at community college. I have performance anxiety so teaching was really nit going to be right for me. I later got to enjoy playing in a German Band (yeah.... Oom Pah Pah...don’t laugh...cuz free food, free beer and getting paid).... Seasonal work but it was 7 years of great fun!
Do you know anyone that got into a military band while in college? What happens if they do that? Are they able to just drop college and do the military band?
Eric, you promised this video quite a while ago about why you didn't go into Music Education. Now I know why! Lots of good comments here from your Followers! 😉
Just got into the music school of my dreams and I get THIS notification cmon man😂😂😂
I almost sent this to you earlier LOL
O which one
@@jwaj Wright State University, it’s not primarily a music school but their music program, especially their percussion program, is fire
@@c_zar591 That’s epci
It's not to late to take a year off
Hi I’m a band director who actually did make it through in 4 years and I have the following piece of advice:
DON’T DO IT. DON’T. DO IT.
Take five years, take six years. Who cares. The anxiety and cramming and time management Eric talks about is real. It’s very real.
SPOT ON
I'm about to go to college and the total credits needed is 121... That's 15 credits per semester at 8 semesters(4 years). What am I missing that people take 20+ hours per semester??
@@DrumCorpsLink a mentality that is pervasive in a lot of music schools is that nothing is good enough and there's always more to work on, so you'll end up taking more ensembles, lessons, or classes than needed for completing the degree. Also, if you're on a performance scholarship you often have more ensembles that are required to maintain the scholarship.
@@DrumCorpsLinkas a music major you’re expected to participate in as many 1 credit hour ensembles as they can put you in. Usually 3 or 4 per semester.
Make the gong hi hat Eric. We’re not asking.
Edit: Frz akus’s idea not mine
yes
yes
yes
Yes
Y E S
Current Music Ed major here! I’m a percussion student at Belmont University and I would say the number 1 thing to consider is performance degrees don’t open very many job opportunities, an education degree opens hundreds of different kinds of teaching jobs. Not to mention you’re still a classically trained musician and thus have the ability and know how to perform in many ensembles.
Hey man im a senior in highschool and im thinking of attending belmont i play 4 instruments but mainly percussion would u recoment belmont and woud u recommend music ed or proformance
@@alexfernandomusic Hey! The program here is really intense but all the staff absolutely know their stuff. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you it’s easy or a walk in the park but I will say is worth it. And the decision between music Ed and performance is entirely up to what you want to do. For me, I want to teach high school band and front ensemble so it makes sense for me to go for music Ed. If all you want to do is perform, whether that be in a local community band or the Nashville Symphony then go for performance. If you haven’t already, definitely come and visit campus. It’s a beautiful place to live and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to staff about how to go about choosing a major.
@@JacobS0527 how does the visiting thing work do i have to set that up or just show up
Current Music Ed AND Music Performance major (saxophone) here. I would take a LONG look at the progression plans that both degrees have, and decide which one you'd like to do based on that. For my university, they're so similar, I figured I'd just do both, but it's insanely hard. However, what people fail to consider for Music Education is what states the University you're learning at are going to qualify you to teach in. For example, my state has 3 state universities. Only one, mine, certifies you to teach in all 50 states with a Master's degree. The other two, even if you get a Master's, only allow you to teach in our state. In addition to that, if you decide on solely Music Performance, it's very likely that you can get teaching credentials post-college. I know a few people who went that route.
@@alexfernandomusic if you visit Belmont’s website you can either sign up to go to a preview day where you’ll get a tour of campus, meet you prospective department heads, eat lunch on campus, and a lot of cool stuff like that. That’s what I did but with covid I’m not entirely sure what they’re offering right now. I would for sure check out the website and look around.
I'm a freshman in high school and I think I've decided well.
@Nick does Quad drumming nicee
@Nick does Quad drumming multi instrumentalist
But no I don't play percussion but I compose music for it
I've always wanted to learn
@Nick does Quad drumming i don't have any equipment to practice on. Not even a practice pad but I'd be cool to learn. But i doubt we live close so idk
High school band director here, so I have these conversations with my juniors and seniors quite a bit... The one thing I'll say that is a bit counter to what some others are saying here: do NOT go into music education unless you WANT to be a music teacher. My high school band director told me, when I was looking into music school, that music education should not be something you do simply to pay the bills. If you don't actually want to be a teacher, you will likely not get much enjoyment out of your job, and your students will often pick up on that, and that will affect their enjoyment, as well. I see a lot of variants of "Don't get a performance degree, get an ed degree so you can get a job." That's fine, as long as you WANT to do that job. If you have no desire to teach, there are much better ways to make a living. Also, the thing about taking more than four years, yes. Took me, and many of my colleagues that I know, five years.
Amen. Hated the massive time commitment as an adult. It was fun when I was a kid.
I studied percussion at Ithaca College, and now I'm in my first semester of grad school. (Same college, now pursuing an MBA in entertainment and media management). I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I was in high school, but knew I liked music so I went to IC. I was in the "music undecided" major when I got here, meaning I would take all the music classes all freshmen music students take, and then I would choose a path at the end of the year. I thought I wanted to be a performance musician, but my professors didn't believe that's what I had in my heart to become because as much as I love music, I am not a classical musician at my core. My professors supported me in all my endeavors and I switched to music with an outside field in audio production which got me involved in working with the tv/film program and communications students. (Different than the standard sound recording technology major).
I realized through my time in all of these diverse classes that I love music but want to be in the industry, rather than as a classical musician which many music schools gear you towards becoming. This allowed me to pursue other music opportunities like playing in a klezmer ensemble, the brass choir (as the drum set player), and in a few bands because I had more free time to spend time on opportunities besides required classical extracurriculars. This allowed me to choose if I wanted a junior and senior recital, which I did, and I was able to do exactly what I wanted and put on two recitals with an incredibly diverse palette of music. I don't think I predicted 4 years ago where I would be now, but I'm very happy with the choices I made and how it led me to this point.
You can go to music school, take your classes and be a good player, but a lot of the learning comes with how you apply yourself to your craft both in and out of the classroom. Nothing is handed to you, you have to want it and work at it to prove how far you're willing to go in order to get it.
did odesuess go there?
That's awesome! I know a bunch of percussionists from IC! Tell Conrad I say HELLO!
Man, this couldn’t have came out before the semester started??? 😂
I have Bachelor of Music in Performance degree. I'm leaning toward not useful, but I can't say for sure. I do have a job in music, but I really don't know how much of a factor it was in my being hired as a music director at church. I know once they heard me play and got to know me a tiny bit, they wanted to hire me. I also know I got lucky on having a personal connection through my brother.
If you're going for music education, that's more of a straight path toward a specific goal. If you're going for music performance, 1) make sure that's actually what you want to do rather than just what you or others assume you will do, and 2) expect to have to look for work in a much broader way (unless you're lucky enough to land a steady professional orchestra job or something).
Depending on your exact program and your exact life plan, music school may or may not be for you. Proceed with caution.
I think going into Music Performance you have to know already that getting a job is going to be really tough and that being able to network and be very diverse is key to making a living after school. Even if you want to get into a full-time orchestra, you have to be able to support yourself while taking auditions, preparing, etc. after school.
If you want to teach, and REALLY want to teach, then music school is probably a good option. Just know, it's gonna suck at times, as 21 credits/semester is standard for those hoping to graduate in 4 years. If you want to do anything else in music, there may be better alternatives to music school. If you want to learn theory to be a better composer to write music for ensembles (maybe film or video game scoring) then music school might be okay just to learn how instruments work, but you can also just start writing and sell your music. If you want to learn music technology to work in a studio or live concerts your best bet is to start working freelance for an audio company and working as many gigs as possible (they actually pay very well pending on the job), studio work is harder to get into but your best bet is to just start recording and mixing as much as possible, and maybe go to a vocational school such as the School of Audio Engineering Institute in New York to learn audio better. Performance might seem tempting and if you're a jazz musician then learning jazz from professors is actually worthwhile, but if you want to play classical music then you should probably take private lessons and start at a community orchestra and look for openings at your local symphony. And if you want to play music in a rock band then music school is a trap. You will be focused on things that don't matter to you and will probably hurt your passion for playing music. You will probably meet really great musicians there regardless, but you're better off majoring in anything BUT music, like business or graphic design so that you have some other trades to work with that are applicable beyond the scope of playing in a band. The greatest benefit of music school is meeting amazing musicians, but the biggest downside is not being set up for a great career path (unless you're an educator) and will have to get very creative with how you market yourself to get a job that pays the bills, like that massive student loan bill that just doesn't seem to go away. Get a degree that will get you a job, otherwise just start working at the lowest level profession in the field you want to be in and begin climbing the ladder. It's a slow climb, and you might need another job to supplement the income while you get to better positions, but it'll be more worth it than having a degree you're not using that is also a big financial weight.
For reference I am a 4-year college graduate and Majored in Music Recording Technology and Music (Percussion Performance and Composition). I worked several jobs during my undergraduate studies (sometimes 4 at a time) just so I could afford to eat as I didn't have a meal plan, averaged between 19-23 credits per semester and finished with a 3.4 GPA and am working in a school as a special education aide and directing Marching Band. I've had one gig as an audio engineer and though I could have done more, it wasn't full-time and student debt was dangling over me and still is. Granted I didn't go to the cheapest school I could find, but the situation would only really be different if I went somewhere cheaper because I would have less student debt.
Consider all your options, and although Eric said that you have to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life at age 17, that isn't 100% true. I'm 26 now and am still figuring it out. I know our life puts such a high value on going to college but if your life is calling you in a different direction, consider it. You can enter a 4-year college at any time, don't feel like it has to be right out of high-school. Good luck to anyone who took the time to read this!
I have to say your comment was extremely helpful. I’m 17 in my junior year and I’m thinking about majoring in composition in college, and my only concern is the jobs. I assume that composition doesn’t mean I’d have to do something in composition initially, for instance I could do some sort of teaching work possibly. But composing truly is my passion and I would love to get a job involving it in some way.
I'm about to go to college and it's only 121 credits needed... 15 per semester and 8 total semesters, so what am I missing that you're supposed to take 19-21 credits per semester???
@@DrumCorpsLink I think it just depends on the music school. Also you might be asked to play in ensembles and go observe musicians/educators so that might be the extra 3-6 hours along with your regular 15 credits.
@@DrumCorpsLink yeah in my school an average academic class was 3 credits, so you took 5 of them to get to 15. But other classes such as Theory were only 2 credits and met twice a week instead of 3 times. Ensembles also were credits, but didn't often reflect the time spent on them. I took marching band which had band camp and met more often than a regular academic class but was only worth one credit. So those added to my total. Also I took recital attendance (attend 7 recitals/semester) which was 0 credits but required every semester to graduate.
If you want to be a professional orchestral musician, you sure as hell need to go to music school and study music performance. Taking lessons with someone once a week and playing in a community orchestra is NOT going to prepare you for the absolutely insane competition that is a major orchestral audition.
As a college grad with a Bachelors in Music (trumpet performance) with only one semester as a grad student, I concur that continued education is not necessary to become good at your instrument. If your desire is to teach music in a public school (at least where I'm from), then it is mandatory... plus a teaching credential.
I also did the gig scene plus odd-end jobs like hotel security and catering to make ends meet. I did work as a brass and percussion coach at a private school for 9 years... then I made the best choice of quitting all that and joining the Navy as a musician... best choice of my life. EMC, great videos brother!
A little late to this discussion, I cannot emphasize how awesome it is to take courses at a community College either over the summer, or during the school year if you can during high school. Or even start at a CC if you feel like it. A lot of the time it's the better option to AP Classes as you will more likely have a less stressful schedule than AP and you are guaranteed the credits unless you fail the class, which is highly unlikely if you just pay enough attention.
I'm one of those people you met at music school! (even though I wasn't technically in music school...)
Honestly, a music performance degree is a piece of paper saying you can play your instrument.
So here’s my plan. I’m a junior now, I’m saving up to join WGI next year (if that even happens) and then I’ll go to Valencia College (a community college near UCF) I’ll go for music production and I’ll tech at my high school for drumline. After 2 years at Valencia I will transfer to UCF (if I can) and finish my classes. After that I’m going to want to teach my own private classes for either guitar or percussion and eventually teach a drum corps. Also I want to join the commandant's own
UCF’s music program is great, I loved it!
I go to University of Louisville and we have an agreement with local colleges that dont have one (including our community college), where students can join the marching band. I looked this up, and UCF's marching band will allow Valencia College students to join. So even going to a community college, you'd be able to do a marching band.
@@jac23mj that’s what I heard :)
@@conradcash1472 right, and if I stay at Valencia for 2 years, I am automatically admitted to UCF. I don’t need to reach any specific things, they just throw me in there
@@ZOMBEY-KILLUR Honestly that's a really good idea.
Oh my god you’re describing me in college exactly, for my super-super senior year I took one class each semester because I failed the first of the series...
It's either 21 credit hours and 10 classes or 8 classes and you're struggling to keep your full time credit hour position...
I have a Bachelor's of Science from an art and design university. However I went to the military. I was recruited after seeing the Electric Brigade at a high school concert in the Annapolis area. I had been doing my own production work for about 5or6 years up to that point. I went over to the recruiter after the concert and told him I wanted to do the mixing. This was a couple months after 9/11 and I was also from a very long line of military. I go to test and scored somewhat high for the Baltimore area 76 on ASVAB. however, they would not allow me into the MU (MUSICIAN RATE) as they were heavily influencing me with money and rank to do communications and electronics (which I was also very very interested in). My mom (army band) told me to take the money but keep my passion for music and production as a hobby and plan B after military. I knew though that I was going to end up using my GI BILL education funds for music school before even joining. After medically retiring 10 years later of disability, I enrolled in Audio Production where I could transfer a ton of credits from military service as I had years of studies and experience accredited by ACE which certified college credit equivalency. I got to do my program in about 3.25 years rather than 4. The entire time in the military I did make music and had several personal studios in home/barracks. I also made music in the 🏜️ and on 🚢. However, my proficiency in the music theory world was lacking (circle of fifths, notation, equipment knowledge, live sound, acoustics, biology of hearing, etc) and going to university strengthened existing knowledge and enhanced the world I thought I knew most of everything about. I did LEARN in school. It was slower than the pace I was accustomed to from military schools and environments but was structured and helpful nonetheless. The reason I chose the B. S. Approach to university was that I could use my science credits from military, and I would be able to transfer that into a science masters for teaching in my original field of telecommunications.
I couldn't continue that path as my medical situation deteriorated and could no longer perform duties.
Warning: be cautious of the military route toward GI BILL as it could lead to death or severe disability and your dreams and passion can become hindered or cancelled entirely. I did not consider that but also felt called to serve the country in 2002 so I did that anyway.
As for the value of your music arts or scientific engineering, you must also consider the type of school you're interested in. Consider if the school is regionally accredited or nationally. I chose on that was regionally accredited as more credits would transfer and more serious masters programs would be available. There are so many schools for media and arts that are only nationally accredited which doesn't hold substantial value. There are many people in the industry who are aware of that and won't just give your degree full accolades. The school you go to matters.
Most importantly, the University or school does NOT place you into the field like a vocational school does. You must build a portfolio and intern for experience while logging it. Many people go through school thinking it will be guaranteed work. I know loads of people who do not have jobs in the field they studied, not even close to related. Be careful with that too.
Just learned that music majors likes Music Theory, Ensembles, and Instruments but not History.
So here's my take on music school. First of all: each person is different, every music school is different, and each class at a given music school with the same professor will be different. Your mileage may vary.
I never played in drumline or band. I took private lessons on drumset and played in bands with my friends. Long story short, if I hadn't quit music school twelve years ago, I don't think I would still be playing today. However, the tools I learned in music school (music theory, ear training...) have been invaluable as I continue to play in the real world. I guess the simple explanation is I got burned out. I remember getting ready for our big scales test (I was playing guitar at the time) and needing to get away from the stress of preparing, so I laid down on my bed with my guitar to play something totally different and forget about school. I closed my eyes trying to think of something to play and all I could see was the chalk board behind the piano with a bunch of notes on it and the circle of fifths. It was then that I decided to quit music school. i am now an engineer (the math and science kind, not the train kind), and I play music I love with people I love on the weekends, and I usually get some money for it too.
The biggest advantage you will get from going to music school is the network of musicians you will develop by working with and playing with your classmates. I joined my first working band through someone I knew from school, and I made so many contacts playing shows and through different players who came and left.
The band director at 1:16 is Dr. Matt Sadowski, current director of bands at UC Berkeley
Good morning! My name is Allison and I am currently in my 2nd year teaching music. I received my B.M in Music Education with a focus in flute. I had 19-21 credits per semester and I also failed my Music Praxis 2 times (also by 1 point each time) before I finally passed on my 3rd try. I spent 4 years in college and never thought it was going to end. But looking back, every hardship or obstacle was worth it! I love my job and I love what I do! Thinking about grad school now (Maybe UMASS or UD), but not sure what to go for! I think you had very nice insight and advice for young people thinking about Music School! I show my students your videos, and they LOVE it! Thanks for all you do! Merry Christmas! :)
I have a PhD in music education and went to renew my teaching certificate in Arizona, only to find out that I wasn't considered "highly qualified" because I never took a 100 level course on phonics. When I asked the department of education what class I needed to take to meet that requirement, I was told they couldn't tell me whether a class would count until I finished the class and submitted my transcript; however, they said my 700 level course on discourse analysis didn't count . . . I opted to not renew my certificate because I now work at an education nonprofit and don't need it. Also, it took me 4.5 years to get my undergrad in music education despite entering college as a sophomore due to dual enrollment credits. As an example of why it took so long, I had a required course for six semesters that counted for zero credits and multiple semesters of taking more than double the amount of classes as other majors. I say all of this to say there are many hoops to jump through that are often ridiculous, but it was worth it for my career options and interests (despite now teaching computer science lol).
Both my uncle John and uncle David went to Curtis. My sister went to Eastman School of Music in Rochester. All three are professional musicians. My sister is a violinist in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. My uncle John, a basoonist, retired from that same orchestra a couple of years ago. My uncle David went from being associate first chair French horn in the Philadelphia Orchestra to retired to conducting.
4:22 “I did a lot of watching”
And I did a lot of jumping back in my seat at the sudden closeness 💀
A very important thing to consider is that different schools will operate very differently, especially when it comes to the music program. There is no standard practice when it comes to the curriculum or pedagogy. The best way to determine if a program will work for you is to ask the people currently enrolled!
As a freshman I was like every other young buck with a wide eyed dream of becoming
the next Buddy Rich. (you know who he is right?) So off I went to college and auditioned for
a performance scholarship that was awarded to only one entering freshman regardless
of what instrument you played. Long story short-I was awarded the one scholarship
offered to entering freshmen that year and it paid for my first year's tuition. Enough
proof that I was making the right decision majoring in music performance, right?
Well, our percussion professor and assistant band director sat all of the incoming
freshmen down one afternoon for that talk. You know, the talk about being able to
actually use our degree once we graduated. We all switched over to the music ed
degree program so we could teach upon graduation. And fast forward 26 years later
I had taught high school band and retired at the ripe old age of 48. Then it was then
and only then that I played professionally. With my monthly retirement coming in
I could afford to do that. The salary for playing would not have been enough to
sustain a family and living in a car was not an option. My advice for everyone is
to follow your dreams for sure. Don't teach if you don't enjoy it or if you don't think
you would enjoy it. You will be miserable and the students will see right through you.
The percentage of performing degree majors actually making a living playing 100%
and not teaching is slim to none for sure. Sort of like the young baseball or football
players who want to play in the NFL or MLB. SMALL percentage. If you are dead
set on playing-then get the best teachers and attend the schools that have a record
of placing their grads in those positions. Eastman, Julliard, Berklee, etc...
Eric- I was on the 5 year plan. Marched top 4 D.C.I. for a summer and taught what they
called Class "A" corps back in the day for two years. This gave me two years of
invaluable experience teaching, writing and talking (or actually being talked to)
by D.C.I. judges at the post show critiques. Never took over 17 hours as I remember.
And I agree with you Eric- MUSIC HISTORY IS THE WORST!!!!! Our music history
professor had his doctorate in music history of all things, so you can imagine
what his classes were like. I still have night mares about music history!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything he said was sooo spot on. Like it's worth it, if you're willing to put your heart and soul in. Being a music major is a commitment, and there are many ups and downs, but if you want to meet other people who love music as much as you do, go for it. The people are so supportive and understanding, and you will meet talented and smart people, don't let that discourage you. Music majors, we all come from different backgrounds and we are here to learn together.
If you want to party at college, the answer is no. I'm currently double majoring in performance and music industry-recording arts; which put my schedule to 21 credit each semester. All the classes you take are important to be a musician. Personally, they benefited me in some ways, but if you are considering to be a music major, you have to understand the ability to manage time, social-life, and your health. I've seen many of my colleagues drop out or change their majors, but if you are committed to be an educator, performer, producer, whatever, you have to put time into it. It's all worth it in the end. Like he said, many experiences will come from different places outside of school, but I will say the education I received supplemented them.
If you can't handle it, but you love music, there are options out there. If you want to continue your path as a music major, you could consider the victory lap or the 4+ year degree plan. This will take less load off, but you will be in school more. Many find this very soothing and less stressful, however there are financial losses and you won't be able to finish school as early as 4 years. Also, depending on your school of choice, many allow "non-music majors" to join ensembles with or without auditions. Music Minors are also a thing, and a great option if you still want to be exposed to the education of music.
My final advise is, there are many ups and downs to being a music major. But I have met incredible people in the music building from supportive educators to my best friend to my partner. College is a place to meet new people! So join ensembles or student organizations. Be involved!! There are also MUSIC student organizations that 'Non music majors' can join!
Also I really enjoyed this video and it really relieved my dark thoughts of discontinuing my music career. However, I will be almost graduating and considering graduate school!! Wish me luck!
Music school isn't required for a career in music, but you'll probably practice a heck of a lot more in it than out of it...
I have a very interesting story with music school. I got out of high school wanting to be a music producer. I have played music since the age of 12 and I knew I could write decent music I just needed the education to make it better. Unfortunately, the college I went to doesn't have a good music technology degree so I HAD to pick my preferred instrument; the trumpet. From there, my private trumpet teacher forced me down to non music major lessons where, after a full semester and a half of music classes, the music school office came to me and told me to change my major. After some thought I switched to the only other thing I liked in high school; Physics. After I realized that quantum mechanics is HARD (some 2 years later) I switched to Data Science where I could use the skills I had gained in BOTH major studies. Moral of the story: college will help you refine skills you didn't even know you had.
Honestly, im in music school now, 4 years is a painful goal, you end up dropping classes and failing some. Its painful. Just be prepared for 5 years, not 4
I was one of those kids who had NO idea what they wanted to go to college for and so I kind of looked at the things I enjoyed and band was up there so ... band it was! Went for Music Education on euphonium and then in my LAST SEMESTER decided it wasn't for me, actually ... more like the admin/bs associated with teaching wasn't for me (I also graduated around the 2008 recession and was NOT interested in moving for a teaching gig) So I decided to graduate with a B.A. in music instead and now work in software.
Even though I don't use my degree, it wasn't a waste in my eyes (met my husband there, got to make awesome music with people and met a lot of life long friends).I would have been in college anyways so I'm glad I got to do it with something I was passionate about at the time. I will say that the most important thing in college is NETWORKING and I sadly didn't learn that til it was too late. I did get an internship at The Cadets in 2010 from knowing some people on their staff from college
I am a junior percussion performance and music Ed major who took 24 credits this semester. You really have to love what you’re doing if you wanna go to school for music
Dang this hits home so many times. Did a 23 hour semester or 2 and yeah that was terrible, but I wanted out and I got out in 4.5 years. I tell folks to take summer semesters as soon as you get out of HS. Easier, and will get you out faster. Then there's taking CLEP tests to skip courses which I didn't find out about until after of course.
I also recommend to major in something that'll get you a job like computer science or engineering for jobs that actually require a degree and minor in music. You get plenty of practical knowledge and not all the less useful stuff like Neapolitan chords, heavy studies in 12-tone music, and more trivia knowledge on stuff that no one will actually use or remember when they leave.
The Air Force band came and played and did a Q&A after. At some point we got into financials and degrees etc and it came out that having a degree didn't matter as a performer cause the pay was the same, unless you wanted to be a conductor/officer. I questioned the purpose of college in front of the dean of the school of music and all the staff and yeah they weren't happy, but that's what happens when colleges sell the idea that you'll be able to use the degree to get a job and leverage salary. When all it does in most cases is check a box for HR.
College was an absolute waste of money for me. Aside from 4 solid semesters of music theory, I pretty much flunked out of everything else. I have no desire to ever go back.
The worst part for me in college was the fact that Music Theory/Aural Techniques was an 8 am class MTWTF
OUCH!
Worth it? Depends on the individual.
I was a Music Ed Major in the mid-90’s. Marched DCI Division 1 (That’s World Class now kids) in 95 & 96. Went to community college first, then transferred to University of North Texas, aka Percussion/Drumline U. Taught multiple high school drumlines out of high school for a number of years. Based on my involvement in the activity and my band directors in High School/College were both alums of UNT it seemed to be a natural progression.
The main issue that I had is that I dove in without any plan whatsoever. I applied to UNT and auditioned essentially as a walk-on once I moved in. I quickly realized that the greatest emphasis was placed on sight reading. When I wasn’t in classes I would sit in Kenton Hall and watch the lab bands blast thorough charts. In retrospect I was not ready and needed some serious shed time to level up with whom I was playing with. I started to spend a lot of time in practice rooms between classes and work, until one night I was hit by a car crossing a street on my bicycle heading back to my apartment from the practice room. Broke my wrist which put me out of commission for 13 weeks.
The second issue was that I had no idea on how to pay for classes. Prior to going to UNT I was on a scholarship so outlay was minimal. Now I had to pay my own way. The first time I ever heard of the concept of out-of-state tuition was when I received my first bill. I had a part-time job but that could not keep up with what I was spending. Enter student loans. That took the pressure off for a while but it blew up in my face during the recession. Needless to say, SallieMae doesn’t forget; she got her money and then some. Glad that’s done with.
What did I end up doing? Worked big box retail for 15 years moving into various management roles. Made a great living. Now I’m into Construction, helping run the family business.
My take on the whole thing is you need to consider:
Supply vs Demand: What is the current demand for musicians or Music Teachers? Depends on where you want to go. Down here by me, the school districts barley pays for a band director and the room. Everything else is funded by boosters. Are you lucky enough to take over an established program, or do you have to start from the ground up? What will your support system look like? Are you willing to move where the opportunity is? In the areas that have high levels of successful programs (Indiana, California, & Texas for example), what makes you stand out from the hundreds of other candidates competing for the same spot? Are you willing to take starting pay to get your foot in the door? Are you willing to work for people you don’t like, don’t know your worth, and continue to add value? Are you willing to hustle all day every day? If you want to make a living performing music, can you put out a piece of content online every day? Document your journey, it doesn’t have to be pretty. Most people’s bullshit detectors are pretty sensitive these days as a lot of content that’s put out online is superficial. Honesty gets eyeballs now.
Who’s hiring right now? Have you looked at the companies/industries that have jobs available? Have you seen what they pay? Is that something you’re willing to learn? For example, right now a lot of construction trades are in great need of good people. Depending on the trade within the first couple of years you can earn $50k-$75k depending on the trade and/or market. Become fully experienced you can get into six figures quick. Are you willing to hustle? Get your hands dirty? Hell, some trades focus on prefabrication and work mostly indoors. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, but you gotta do the work. No way around it. Mike Rowe famously said “Don’t follow your passion, but bring it with you.”
When I was a Music Major it was some of the poorest years of my life; but I had a blast making music and sharing that passion with the generation coming up behind me. I took that experience in music and parlayed that into a comfortable middle class living doing non-music things. That’s where I found the demand to be at that time Do I regret being a music major? Not really. I enjoyed my short time at UNT. I enjoy the reactions I see when I tell my co-workers what I did in college. Would I have done it differently? Sure, but if it was that easy everyone would do it. It all depends on your personal values. Those values WILL change over time. Nothing wrong with that. Will I be involved in music in the future? Probably. That itch stays with you and eventually ya gotta scratch it.
Or, ignore this whole thing and pick six numbers in the PowerBall.
I have never been to music school myself. But I did start in Drum Corps in 1972 and later spent 4 years active duty as a Marine. I do know a lot of Band directors who also marched with me in Drum Corps, a surprisingly large number of them were in the Drumline. I would love to see more education geared towards younger people who want to learn marching percussion skills. I started in Corps at the age of 11 and loved almost every minute of it, not all the flying drum sticks aimed at my head as I learned how to play lol. We called it the physical abuse approach to musicianship.
Music education was such a cookie-cutter major where I went to school! I changed my major from the MED track to just a B.A. in music with a minor in education. This let me take classes outside of the music school - like dance, yoga, and and movie theater production. These were cool experiences that I couldn’t get being stuck inside the music school.
College was so expensive for me, so I decided to milk it for all its worth and take everything I could... but that’s just me!
I was a music ed major for two years and found that the analytical nature of the theory and so on, the engineering of music so to speak, was dragging down my love of playing and performing.
I simultaneously was falling back in love with physics and the geosciences. So I switched to a physics major with a strong music minor, dove back into performing and never looked back. I was playing in more ensembles and having WAY more fun than 90% of the music majors after that.
Being good at music and loving to perform music does not necessarily mean that it is the occupation for you. It turned out to be my dearest avocation, but my work was somewhere else.
If you go to music school for music education, think of it this way. Go to school to really master your instrument or instruments. You don't learn how to drive a car before you get your license. The day you get your license is when you learn how to drive. Similarly, you don't really learn how to be a teacher until you get a teaching job. Until then, use your time in college to practice and get as good you can. Time is money!
I just graduated from my school earlier this year. When I was told the course load, I decided to add a 5th year. Not only that, since I added another year, I decide to get another degree by adding some classes each semester. Since both degree had most of the same classes (Music Education and Music Composition), It was easy to tack on another degree by adding an extra year.
Its not for everyone, but with some planning, breaks, and a schedule, it can be managed and done.
the tl;dr is, You don't necessarily need a music degree to get a performance job, but you do need chops and school can help get those chops for certain things.
Music history is a part of a mused degree. If you wanna teach music you gotta know why Mozart was different from wagner and it’s more than just the spelling of their names. Being a band teacher is so much more than being a percussion teacher, coming from a band teacher who is a percussionist, and you gotta accept that
Current music ed student here at Western Michigan University and I gotta say, practice and take your time. Many classes are gonna be hard and you may have to withdraw and retake a class or two. I had to do that with Aural skills which sucked but just keep on pushing
I failed the PRAXIS 3 times and the PLT 3 times. I know the feeling and it sucks. In the end of 5 1/2 years at Marshall, I’m now a middle school band director. So, worth it? Yes but it was stressful.
1:17 who is that conductor? That looks like my band director from highschool who now is a professor at North Western University. An amazing person!
Literally the only thing good about going to Rowan was goofing around with you and Anthony.
100% yes.
I started music school at a descent university as a music Ed major (knowing I wanted at least some job security) but also knowing I wanted to be a pro Horn player. After about a year and a half I figured out music wasn’t for me for a full time career, but I kept with the degree anyways to get out in four years with hopes of going to law school to study IP. (Which I do now yay) I can agree with EMC, a lot of what I learned from music that applies to life I learned in drum corps (Bluecoats and crown) but I did learn great deal of problem solving skills and professional skills from school as well as having built some great relationships and connection. If the only thing you want to do is teach music, get a music Ed degree. If the only thing you want to do is play music, get a music performance degree. If you have any doubts in your mind about either of these things, I recommend exploring other options.
A lot of your experience at Rowan was what I experienced at William Paterson, minus the changing majors and unexpectedly graduating. I did the repeating of the course I failed and got the music degree from there. But holy crap, the reflection on young me and the lack of time management with 21 credits on top of doing DCA and DCI was rough.
After two year and and Associates in Music at a Junior College at 39 which took 3 years to earn. Once at the University for Music Education they sat me down and explained the odd/even rotation and every other year when it came to some classes, particularly music. They were like your no longer a music major your education and you'll be here another 4 years. I was ohhhh...???
After one semester in the education side I switched to Music Industry. Which was for me at least way cooler. As a percussionist I still took lessons and performed with the symphony. Cool stuff.
Now, after graduating, I do lighting and sound and have my own music arranging gig. Along with teaching drumline.
Did I need the degree. No I didnt. But, it did enlighten and the experience was awesome. The younger musicians looked to me like a big brother.
I did my Music Education Degree in 6 years, and that was with 15-18 credits a year and 6 credits for 4 spring semesters. If you want to teach music you just have to be ready to go for more than 4 years. For what it is worth - I love my job. Teaching music to kids all day is pretty sweet overall. Don't rush through college...it is a lot of fun.
I had like the exact same experience in my undergrad music school is cool but I dont have a job in my field
Another idea for No Tick November, as we are nearing the end of the month: The Hardest Flub Drum Solo of 2020
I still don't believe that they didn't pull you out of recruit training and send you to OCS. I've known a few Marines that have had that happen to them and another that went to bootcamp, went to SOI, MOS training, then the fleet, only to get sent to OCS because S-1 caught it during his new join audit. Crazy stuff.
For anyone who is considering majoring in music I SUGGEST that you research the degree requirements like gen ed and stuff and try and take classes in high school that you can take care of those credits in high school (like AP, community college etc). I did and I was able to start college at SDSU with 40 credits done out of the 131 I need to graduate (I am currently enrolled on 15 credits so 40 credits was like over a year worth of classes)
Ya, I gave up on music major when it came to history and theory. I just wanted to play, no composing, no teaching.....just tooting my horn....er....oboe
Me in my senior year of a music performance degree: "Please God tell me it was worth it."
I’m graduating from music school and immediately after graduating I’m shipping to boot camp to be a USMC musician, so, for me, music school helped me gain the confidence and skills in order to win my audition. Also, I don’t know if the marine band will be my career, so if/when I get out, I will have my music ed degree to fall back on and I’ll teach public school! :)
Love it, man! Keep up the great videos!
You should do a video where you show us what is in your stick bag
There is plenty to do in music besides Performance and becoming a must teacher.
Can you do a video on all the military bands and the instruments available for each?
Can you do a video about the best things to do if u want to become a musician for example like private lessons are good if u learn like this or group lessons if you learn like this as someone that is interested in becoming a musician when there older also what advice would you give about sight reading because I’m like trash and need help
I think one thing to understand going into music school is that you have to know what you want to get out of it. There are no guides once you are done with college. You have to make your own career and be your own entrepreneur. Although you probably didn't learn video editing and how to be a character on camera, college probably did teach you how to manage projects which is necessary to run a successful RUclips channel.
I got an undergraduate degree in music before heading on to law school. My two cents: music programs tend to place you in one bucket and are not great at making you well rounded. Regardless of whether you are performance, education, composition, music industry, B.A., etc., in order to be successful as a musician, you need to have well rounded skills that cross disciplines. For instance, as a performance major, you should know how to teach private lessons and other things.
Agreed. A lot of the learning comes with how you apply your skills both in and out of the classroom, not just studying and playing well.
Me too! But I actually do feel like I was prepared for a lot, including law school.
@@theredhun I agree with you there There are a lot of things music school does well in preparing you for a life and a career. That being said though, I think some improvements can be made to the overall education in order to allow students to be ready to have a career. For instance, performance majors should take some music business classes/music industry classes or marketing classes to learn how to promote themselves. Likewise, education majors should still be doing regular performances and things like that to stay proficient on their instruments because there will be times when you will have to play gigs even as an educator.
As a music ed major I was required to take weekly lessons, be in at least 1 ensemble a semester, give recitals. I also went to a university instead of a conservatory because I thought regular ed classes were really important. I LOVE the idea of business classes, etc for performance majors.
I’m in high school and am in concert band indoor perc and marching band so I debated on it I had private lessons and I am not sure tbh...
Performance degrees are the real scams. Music Ed is rough but, assuming you can pass the required certification tests, you can pretty much teach wherever you want.
My experience with music school was entirely different. The only similar thing was my advisor having me take 21 credit hours. I was in the music Ed program at Cleveland state university. My applied lessons professor was mentally abusive. Told me I was worthless, told me I played horrible every lesson and even said I wasn’t cut out for anything with music. He even threw stuff at me if I didn’t play well. (This sounds like something out of whiplash but goddamn it sucked) it got to the point where I was skipping classes just to practice and be at his standard. Later on I would ask my advisor if I could potentially switch professors for my applied lessons but she had said “well no I don’t think that’s a good idea. The only way you could do that is if you switched your major entirely.” He would then threaten me and on that day would drop out. My music school experience wasn’t fun and honestly took the fun and magic out of music. Now obviously not every music school is going to have bad professors. I definitely think if this is a passion of yours then you should take the opportunity and rich for your goals.
Sorry to hear it, friend. This sounds horrible. Does this person still teach there? If so, it may be worth writing a letter to the dean about this. No one should treat their students that way.
Fun fact, EMC...ShaunT from the Insanity workouts went to Rowan. My brother-in-law roomed with him!
Yeah so I’m basically only doing music school so I can have a major after college. I’m not the school type. But music is my passion so I’m doing that during school. Love it. I’m a percussion performance major. So far so good (I’m a sorta sophomore) I have set it up so I’ll be here 5-6 years. No rush man. Along the way, I’ll be teching for schools, hopefully get hired on as a percussion teacher somewhere nearby where it’s needed.
Figure out a good back up plan early, kids. I know a butt ton of people who went up to a masters in something in music (performance, Ed, conducting, etc.) and are now in jobs not related to music.
I could write a dissertation on this topic. The short answer is that music school is great... for the right people. I went to music school and it was one of the best decisions of my life. However, depending on what your goals are and how much debt you will acquire, it could be a bad decision to go. If you have a wide idea of what success for you could be, music school makes a lot more sense.
Current Music Ed. Major at Georgia State University. Honestly Music School has really worked for me so far.
My advice; just stick to what you feel is right. I can't tell you how to live the rest of your life.
Oh my, this sounds like my 5th year, still no degree.
I really want to be a highschool band director and not stuck teaching 8 year olds so I need to do some thinking. Im currently enrolled at ohio state university newark and I plan to transfer and audition for the music program.
Question also, what would be good for auditioning. A snare drum solo a marimba solo? I know mallet percussion but it was never my forte. I always like drums/battery more. Im not sure what I should do.
im a current music ed student, look on the music website for your school and you should find a page that has audition requirements
For Snare: Delecluse No.9
For 2 mallet Marimba: Coleidescopio by Gene Koshinski
For 4 Mallet: Velocities by Joseph Schwanter
Be careful with live audio/studio production schools like Full Sail, Art Institute... They are ridiculously expensive and most likely not worth it. Try to find other ways to learn and get experience: volunteer, get a mixing board and mic up your band, RUclips videos....
Bruh I’m a sophomore music education major and I felt the whole 21 credits thing in my soul. I will say luckily my degree is a 4.5 year program, so I take 17-18 credits per semester, but it’s insane haha.
The anxiety and stress of getting my MusicEd doctorate
What is it like auditioning for the marine corps? And how hard is the audition music/everyday music you play? (asking for tenor parts) Thinking about auditioning and want to know how difficult the music is, as is it as hard as all the random stuff in your videos? Could you make a video answering these questions, or even a comment would work.
Here's my two cents:
Pause and think is this economically viable and smart? Unless you want to teach music, DO NOT GET A DEGREE IN MUSIC.
I have an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in music performance for percussion.
Students and prospective students: music jobs and gigs DO NOT PAY anywhere close to what you think at all, practically don't exist, and performance jobs consist of either professional orchestras (which are impossible to get and fading) or the military. If you want to teach, KNOW THE SALARY and job market. Ask friends who teach, know what you are getting into, and that you are teaching a field that primarily only exists for the purpose of teaching it.
The absolute hard truth is that you as a student are so in love and so busy with the craft that you don't often stop to think of the real world.
Note: I am now almost done with my executive MBA, got an incredible dream job that actually pays and allows me to enjoy my family and the arts without the pressure of trying to earn from a passion.
Ok, so let's have a serious chat on this... Before you decide what degree to get, you should ask yourself do you need this? I was going to do music ed (my senior year of high school I had like 2-3 regular classes and the rest was ensembles), but then I realized that I love making music, but I'm not sure I want to teach it forever. So, I did what most college students do, I went to business school... Do you need a business degree to do business? No, but if I wanted to work at a good size company you need it. Then I thought I was going to go to law school, I invested lots of money into the prep classes... Nope, I figured there are a lot of business school grads, so I needed to specialize me, so I got an MBA.... Here we are 20 years later, did I get the job I wanted? Am I earning fat cash? Yes and kind of... Could I have done all of this without the college? Maybe, but probably not
Without music school, you don't get a teaching job. So scam or not, I have to go.
I’m even more stressed now
Did you have to fulfill the same requirements as other Marines (ASVAB, physical requirements, basic training) to be in the MDBC?
I turned down a scholarship in music for a bachelor of science in business management at ASU. Smartest decision of my entire life. Music is much better as a hobby than a career for most people. You have to make concessions in life and do what the world needs, not what YOU think it should need. Keep this in mind if you want to succeed...
Au contraire! You should have gotten E3 pay going through basic, so your degree was worth a little bit for a couple months there.
Negative. Every musician gets E2 pay in boot camp, degree or not. Because of my degree, I was contracted to pick up E4 in 2 years, and E5 in 3 years. But it is common for musicians without degrees to pick up those ranks in a similar amount of time.
Hey Eric!
Currently in my first semester at Rowan going for music education (percussion) and first of all it’s great to know you’ve walked the same halls and played the same instruments as me😂
Nonetheless, I’ve gotten lots of advice from people like you (some that you know) but still made the leap to pursue this degree. Do you feel that I should take my time or try and bang it all out in 4 years. I’m currently maxing at 18 credits a semester and planning on summer courses. Thanks so much!
I have asked Eric (sorry if that's not your name man I suck with names) many times to do this, you should review my high schools marching band. They have a youtube channel where they post videos of all their performances and its called Olentangy Orange High School Marching Band. I believe we are the biggest high school marching band in ohio. On their youtube channel, there are 3 or 4 videos of just drumline if you would rather do just drumline. Pls do this, I really want to see if we are as good as we think.
Good Morning, do you have any good trombone solos for a high schooler that are pretty advanced, last year i played Morceau Symphonic by Guilmant and I want to take it a step up, do you happen to know of any?
Let me give the answer to "people I don't know personality" NO do not go
21 credit points each semester, for 8 semesters? Preposterous!
Well, actually, that's what studying telecommunications engineering was like.
Needless to say, my social life wasn't great.
I was a total and seriously dedicated band geek and I wanted to be a band director to continue that fun. I went to the University of Miami for a year. Yeah..., 18-21 credits is a bitch! I got stupid, fell in love, and decided I’d rather be a wifey. I completed an AA in Music Education at community college. I have performance anxiety so teaching was really nit going to be right for me. I later got to enjoy playing in a German Band (yeah.... Oom Pah Pah...don’t laugh...cuz free food, free beer and getting paid).... Seasonal work but it was 7 years of great fun!
This is way off topic but you should do another video like chickened and Demond’s. But the name has to be stupid, like roosters and monsters!
Do you know anyone that got into a military band while in college? What happens if they do that? Are they able to just drop college and do the military band?
Hey hey drum guy
You went to school with my pit tech, Jake Fuscia :0
do you do drum lessons?
NOT the military school of music, bolo one test and your sent to pack parachutes or scrape hulls or worse, a grunt
Eric, you promised this video quite a while ago about why you didn't go into Music Education. Now I know why! Lots of good comments here from your Followers! 😉