Posted by carrie on February 27, 2000 at 18:29:14:
In Reply to: College costs and beyond posted by Gary Press on February 26, 2000 at 18:46:44:
I think what i've read here is pretty interesting. I just graduated in May, w/ a major in communications and a minor in music. The 1st 2 1/2 years of my college career, however, i was simply a music major. That's right: tuba performance. But I never held any aspirations for symphony work. I HATE playing almost any orchestral works. And I have since early high school. I found my favorite medium to be small brass ensembles, particularly the quintet. When I finally made the change in my major it was for some of the following reasons:
1)The fact that I wasn't getting the kind of opportunities i felt a performance major should have (and this went for all of the performances majors, not myself).. and some other issues w/ the school
2)The concept that all performance majors want to be orchestral players. Thankfully, my teacher understood that I had absolutely no desire to be one.
3)The understanding that I by no means did i need a music degree to play, only a few connections, a lot of hard work, and the opportunities. In fact, the more obvious it became that i would need to go on to grad school for music, the less i wanted to do so. (interestingly enough, i do want to go on to grad school for communications!)
As for the cost, etc. I knew what I was getting into, and was willing to work a job or two other than playing to make it. Even now, w/ a 'useful' degree, i still don't have the best of jobs. But I'm more than okay w/ that. So the point of all this is:
I think it's great that so many of you are honest w/ your students about the challenge of performance. Don't simply recommend they get that ed degree to 'fall back on'. i had zero motivation to become a band director, so this just wasn't a realistic option for me, and i'm sure, others. Don't downplay the fact that there are ways to perform OTHER than orchestras. (I love to listen to them, i think they are the most mundane parts to play).
And let them know that they can perform and have *real* jobs, too.
Anyways, I just wanted to offer a perspective of someone who just recently left college, and pretty recently a performance degree :)