When the masses of college students hear the words “Music” and “Major” used in that order, they typically tend to think of someone who is either one or all of three things: Throwing away their life, lazy, or not willing to amount to anything. On the other hand, when the term “Science Major” lands on the eardrums of college students, they tend to think of intelligent, hardworking (almost to the point of insanity), and driven individuals.
From experience, I can say that neither of these stereotypes are true, the former much more erroneous than the latter. While science majors don’t necessarily have to be intelligent, or hardworking, or driven to succeed. Those three things definitely help, but they’re not all needed for success. I can tell you, however, that the music majors of the world would not be able to function if they possessed any of the three characteristic described above.
To know my experience with these types of people, I guess it would be prudent to learn a bit about me first. I was interested in music from the time I was a small child. My parents had these classical music CD’s of Vivaldi, Mozart, Grieg, etc and thought it was cute when I could say their names. I enrolled in the choir program at my elementary school as soon as I possibly could and participated in both choir and band all the way through high school, even made it to Illinois all-state for band twice.
Given that extensive music background, it would be logical to predict that I’d be a music major in college. In truth, a lot of my friends that had a similar musical history went on to go to school to be music educators, producers, and artists. I, on the other hand, did not. Here is where the science major aspect of the dichotomy comes from. I am a Biology and Neuroscience major, with no intention of ever majoring in music. However, the Music Major’s world I’m immersed in is none other than the Carthage Choir in which I participate in my time at college.
When I first came here, I never really anticipated in participating in any form of musical ensemble. I gave up my connection to the French Horn, an instrument that had been my trusty companion for seven years, gave up my ties to theatre which was one of my only spots of relief from the day in high school, and was about ready to quit singing. However, a little bit of sidewalk chalk and some encouraging words from my father persuaded me to audition for one of the two choirs in which I was allowed to perform. Through some stroke of luck, I made it into the Carthage Choir as one of only three non-music majors in the entire choir, a bit intimidating if I do say so myself.
For the first time I was surrounded by people who knew so much more about music than I could ever hope to know. People who were all much more talented than myself, that actually worked outside of Choir to perform better in it—something definitely unheard of in high school and I’m sure in most cases of college. At this time, I was still part of the misinformed group still believing in the stereotype of the lazy, cultists Music Majors.
However, with each passing day and conversation, I found myself believing in that stereotype less and less. I learned that while I had to juggle a couple lab reports a week and a few hours of reading and note-taking per day, these people not only had rehearsal for one musical ensemble, but in some cases had rehearsal for four of them—daily. In addition, they had hours of aural skills and music history, enriching both their ears and minds in the 8-part harmony of the musical requirements. Some had theatre rehearsals until late in the evening and others balanced all of this with a job requiring ridiculous hours.
The strangest part of this, however, was that most of them had a positive attitude daily, excited to be part of music. I realize everyone has their doubts about what major to choose and stick with (heck, some days I just want to drop everything science), but they seemed to feel that way less than others. They still hated some of it, but they were so confident in their choice. A choice that they were courageous enough to make.
Don’t get me wrong, the life of a science major is far from easy. However, if I had a nickel for every time one of my brethren spoke ill of those in my musical family, I’d have a hefty sum of money. The fact is, that no one really gives music majors enough credit besides music majors. Moral of the story here is that if you see a music major that looks like they want to die, give them a hug, a few words of encouragement, or most importantly a coffee, because they probably didn’t see their bed until well into the early morning hours.
