What’s So Hard About Being a Music Major
(Subtitle: “Oh, I thought about majoring in Music, but I decided I wanted something less easy.”)
(Sub-subtitle: How to rebut people who think music isn’t work)
So sometimes, people can assume that music is easy. Anyone can sing, after all, right? It’s just tapping/rubbing/breathing through something, right? How can classes on that be hard?
Well, they are. They are hard. Here’s the lowdown on why being a music major is something worthy of knighthood (or at least fewer side-eyes at the holidays, Aunt Carol).
Sheer number of classes. I’ve taken, on average, 8.5 classes a semester while I’ve been in college. To a high school student, that sounds like average, or maybe a little high - however, that is TWICE the number of classes you need to be normally considered a full time student! They get away with it by considering a lot of classes only one or two credits, leaving me to take an average of 20 credits for those 8/9 classes. This equals 20 hours of in-class time per week. The problem is…
The amount of work assigned for those classes! When every class has readings due by the next class period, and you have four or five classes a day, plus three papers to write, plus a quartet to orchestrate, plus a recorded Aural Skill assignment, what you get is three hours of homework some nights on top of the five hours you spent in lectures. 3 hours of homework, four nights a week, is another 12 hours of stuff each week. Then you add in…
Essentially mandatory extra-curriculars. Sure, being in that extra ensemble isn’t required. However, the winners of the concerto competition the past four years have been in that ensemble, so you feel a little superstitious and join it. Then you realize it’s probably not good to have no small groups on your music CV for grad school, so you join one or two of those. Boom. There’s 7 hours of rehearsal a week, right there. Then add in the six or so concerts you’re expected to attend, and that averages out to another 1 hour per week over the course of the semester.
Practice time!! Oh right, your actual instrument! As a performance major, I’m expected to practice 24 hours a week on my repertoire (!!!). However, because I am not super-human, I usually manage about 8 singing hours and 4 reading hours.
Length of the average day. A lot of music major classes are put at 8 am. I don’t know why. A lot of rehearsals run until 9 or 10 pm, just because we have SO MUCH OTHER STUFF TO DO! Fourteen hour long days aren’t fun, kids.
No weekends. The thing with being a music major is that most concerts end up being on the weekends. A concert that you’re performing in is also known as “a really good way to prevent yourself from doing social things that weekend.” Furthermore, in order to realistically get in all your expected practice time, you should really practice at least once each weekend. I don’t see HR majors putting aside two hours every weekend to practice their hiring chops. (Sorry HR majors.)
No social life. If you don’t have weekends, and you often don’t have evenings, you don’t have a booming party life. I hope you like your roommates and the people in the music department.
Incredibly high level of competition. Once you graduate, unfortunately, you are going to have to keep pulling LONG hours and working your tail off if you want to become the best of the best. Musicians accidentally undercut each other sometimes because we all love what we do, and therefore will do it for peanuts. That means that to get paid decently, you need to be REALLY GOOD.
Little EXTERNAL reward. People don’t respect the title of “musician” the way they do “doctor” or “accountant.” They aren’t going to nod and say good job. Good thing music is there for you!
Requires ENDLESS dedication. Seriously, after all of the above, you NEED to need music like air if you’re going to keep at it. And/or just be a stubborn mule who is GOING to keep going, even when that passion for music seems to fade a little.
So. Being a music major is work. It really is. If you love music, though, don’t let this scare you off! Some people have a taste for this kind of labor - don’t fail to at least attempt it just because it seems like a lot.
To all you music majors and prospective music majors out there: I commend you!
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