Re: Re: colleges


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Posted by Bryan on April 19, 1999 at 13:59:52:

In Reply to: Re: colleges posted by anonymous on April 19, 1999 at 11:15:39:

I have to agree with Mr. Anonymous here. Personally, I've never understood the whole "Ed degree to fall back on" philosophy. The reason you are considering a performance degree is because you want to PLAY THE TUBA. This isn't rocket science. The reason to get an Ed degree is so you can get certified to teach as A BAND DIRECTOR. If you find out later on that you aren't cut out to make a living playing the horn, why would you want to be a band director as a backup? Why not a salesperson, businessman, auto mechanic, waiter, etc.? In other words, I don't feel the two fields are that related and therefore you should seriously ask yourself if you could be happy being a band director at any point in the future. If the answer is no, then don't even consider getting an Ed degree.

I am in no way slamming band directors - that is a completely worthwhile and respected profession. Most of us owe our love of the tuba and our continuing commitment to music to some band director along the way that inspired us. I'm simply saying that you should recognize what an Ed degree is really for. Furthermore, most (not all, but most) college level teachers have performance degrees, not Ed degrees. On the other hand, there are some notable famous and wonderful pro players that have Ed degrees (Dave Fedderly and Chuck Daellenbach come to mind). I think if you ask them why they got Ed degrees, they wouldn't say for something to fall back on, but rather they had seriously considered music education as a career before they got their gigs.


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