Are you thinking about becoming a Music major? Are you obsessed with your high school choir or band and think it might be what you want to do for the rest of your life (or at least in college)? Here’s what you need to know before you decide.
The Negatives
Time - My first semester as a music education major I had 20 credit hours. For comparison, my roommate (an English ed major) had 15. When you combine basic classes like history and English, with music classes like piano and music theory, plus two choirs, voice lessons, opera rehearsals, and “extracurriculars” like clubs, you get a pretty busy schedule. Add to it the two hours of practice we’re *supposed* to get each day and homework from all of those classes, and you might want to start praying you have time to eat three meals a day… or maybe two. Two is enough right? And don’t forget to add the twenty or so recitals you have to attend a semester to the list of things to do too.
Jurys - Private lessons are awesome, and teach you so much about your voice or instrument and about music in general. The final exam though? Not so awesome. That exam is called a Jury, and all you have to do is perform any combination of all of the music that you’ve learned in one semester in front of the entire music department staff. To be honest it’s not as terrible as it sounds, but the first one will make you pretty nervous.
Failure - When you’re in a math class and you fail a test, the only people that know about it are you and the teacher (unless you choose to tell someone else). When you’re in a piano class and you fail a test, odds are you messed up that piece you were supposed to learn but instead binge watched all six seasons of Gossip Girl in one week. The worst part is, you messed it up in front of your whole class. This can be applied to almost all of the music classes we take. Recital lab especially, where you're grade is determined by whether or not you performed in front of the whole music department. Someone once told me that one of the hardest parts about majoring in music is that your successes and failures are displayed for everyone to see. It is one of the things that makes our major so much different from all of the others.
While there are probably some more cons (noise wars in the not-so-soundproof practice rooms, having to sing at 8:00 in the morning), The pros definitely outweigh them.
The Positives
Interesting Classes - Although there are lots of them, the music classes you have to take are actually pretty cool. Music theory teaches you how all of the music you learn really works, how it was written, and what makes it so great (or not so great) to listen to. Ear Training does exactly that: trains your ears to hear rhythms and melodies and everything in between. Piano is challenging if you’ve never played, but it is really fun to learn a new instrument. If it were up to me, I would much rather take all of these classes than a bunch of math, or any of the other classes I already had too much of in high school.
Instant Friends - Ever wish you could meet new friends without worrying about if you will have anything in common with the people you talk to? Join the music department. We are all band, chorus, piano, or some other type of music nerds who will almost definitely love to talk to you about one or all of the above subjects. Just mention how much you love musicals, Pentatonix, or any other music related topic and one of us will probably come running.
Amazing Faculty - Not only are the music students one big family, but so are the professors. The choir and band directors, private teachers, and even the music building secretary are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. They are always around to help with anything, and genuinely care not only about your musical success, but how you are doing in all aspects of your life.
The most important positive part of being a music major is being able to constantly pursue your passion. A love for music is something that will never leave you whether you get a job in teaching or performing. The things that you learn in your time as a music major will shape the person that you become, and every minute you spend in a class or a practice room contribute to the musician that you will be after your four years in the department are over. Even though sometimes (or a lot of the time) it’s stressful, the reward of sharing the music that you love so much with the world makes it all worth it.
