Music Major Pitfalls

Here is a place not only music majors, but any musician, can talk about things they feel they aren't necessarily good at, or anything that makes it not so great to be a music major! This is all in good fun of course!!! Feel free to ask anything (: Things that Sarah post are tagged as #S, and James's posts are tagged as #J Also, we track the tag: whyamiamusicmajor

[whyamiamusicmajor]

Bach: Every note and every chord have purpose.

Wagner: Hold my beer.

Debussy: Hold my beer.

Ravel: Hold my beer.

[officialcrow]

taco bell’s canon

[entreat-me-not]

If I’m going to be singing Puccini and Verdi, I can’t be looking like a bottom in my headshots. Puccini and Verdi tenors are not bottoms.

(via entreat-me-not)

[entreat-me-not]

Voice Recital Gothic

You show up twenty minutes late to your own recital with Starbucks. You’re wearing normal clothes and sunglasses and have a bag hanging off your elbow. You struggle to find a place to put your drink for a solid ten seconds before you give an exaggerated throat-clearing and shout Caro Mio Ben for an hour. Your teacher only rolls their eyes because of the sunglasses.

[whyamiamusicmajor]

Hi So I've recently been accepted into a music school and I really want to major in vocal performance, but everyone keeps telling me how I'm never going to be able to support myself and that I should major in music ed. However, I really have no desire to become a teacher. I was just wondering if it's really true that I'm never going to support myself I guess.. I'm just really conflicted at the moment.

ugh Music education is a career, not a back up. Especially if you don't even want to teach. If you go through you education and find that teaching music could be the right path for you then that’s a different story. but don't take that major if it’s not what you want to do, that just doesnt make sense. You do you, boo boo. I can’t stand the belittling of music education as a fallback for performers. Not saying you can’t be both if you want to, but for goodness sake, Music education is not a graveyard for musicians who can’t make it in performance.... And even if you struggle to get on your feet after majoring in performance, I GUARANTEE you’ll prefer that over being stuck in a profession you never even wanted. 

TL;DR

Do what you want to do and don't change your major just because it might be “safer”. 

Sarah

[whyamiamusicmajor]

Non-music major: Yeah school has been pretty tough lately, I-

Music Major: HA! 😂 Tough? 😤 Try practicing 🎤🎷🎺🎸🎻 20 2️⃣0️⃣ hours a day PLUS ➕ taking 🎼 MUSIC THEORY 🎼 You think your "classes" 📓📔📒📚 are HARD? 😥 Try being a 🎼MUSIC MAJOR🎼 for a day ⚰️😈

[entreat-me-not]

My favorite part of listening to professional ensembles sing Lauridsen’s Sure On This Shining Night is hearing every single men’s section do the same exact thing on the D4 in the opening motive because it’s such a fucking bitch to sing in the line.

[entreat-me-not]

Musician Tip

Don’t ever treat your colleagues with disrespect, especially while you’re on the stage together. Ever.

[soyoumusik]

Jury Season is here!

Hey fellow music majors, it’s right about now that everyone is starting to stress about your juries so let me give y’all some advice!

Juries are simply a way for faculty to assess your growth as a musician and make sure you’re actually learning from your private teachers and not just kicking back and smoking cigarettes during lessons.

Don’t change your routine! Bulk practicing is not recommended, stick to your usual practice regimen and everything will be fine. You don’t want to wear yourself out before your jury and you certainly want to make sure you’re still giving yourself plenty of study time for your other finals!

Juries are not something to freak out about. Your grade on your jury does not define who you are a musician. If don’t play your best don’t put yourself down, everyone has those moments, its just another part of being a musician.

You’ve been working hard all semester and you’re going to sound fantastic and I wish everyone the best of luck on your juries!

-Noah

[whyamiamusicmajor]

So Im a freshmen in college, music therapy major. Im not gonna lie, I absolutely dread Aural Skills. Music theory is no problem. I love that class. It's Aural Skills.. The singing.. Matching pitch. Im so bad it. I even have a tutor who's had to talk me down b/c he even says "aural skills" and I get anxious & my heart rate goes up. I also have anxiety so an anxiety attack almost happened. In front of my tutor. Idk how I'm gonna survive college if I do this every semester over a damn class.

Aural skills is tough!!! But the best thing you can do is practice. Sit at a piano and practice intervals. Sing them, then check yourself. The best way for it to become second nature is to just drill it. Practicing with friends can help (if a tutor isn't doing it for you).  If matching pitch is an issue, talking to a voice professor may help (if it’s a voice issue like accessing your range, or crossing your voice break?).

Soon enough you’ll be like me, solfege-ing harmonies with hand signs while intoxicated at a nightclub. 

Sarah

[whyamiamusicmajor]

I used to love music but as a subject it's so hard and now I'm starting to not like music as much as I did help

Find help with whatever you're struggling with (study groups, prof office hours etc). You’ll like it more when it makes sense, boo boo. 

-Sarah

[practicegoblin]

Today I got to my theory class a little late, as did most of us. and my professor sat down and asked, “Why are you guys here? Where do you want to be after you get your masters, where should i look for you in 5 years? What’s your dream?”

And is started out as a fun little exercise as a few people answered and shared that they wanted to be teachers or open up their own studios or be a conductor. But then Dr. Olander slowly went around the room and asked every single person to share. And each person’s eyes lit up and they smiled and they spoke softly about what lead them to this school and what they wanted to do with their degree, what their interests are and how they wanted to use their degree to help others or spread music or make a difference. 

Every person. 15+ people. It took nearly the whole class period. And Dr. Olander finished and said she was just curious and didn’t mean to take up the whole class talking about that, but she thought it was good to stop sometimes and remember why you’re here, where you’re going, who you are and what your dreams are. 

I started crying in the middle of class bc it had been so long since i had stopped to remember why i love music and why i want a masters and how badly i want to use it to change people’s lives with music the way mine was. 

So stop for a second. Don’t think about how much you’ve practiced this week, or your grades or your classes or scholarships or jobs or anything. Really stop. Stop and ask yourself, 

Why am I here? Where do i want to be in 5 years? Why do I love this? What is my dream?

Remember who you are. Stop and dust your dreams off, and remember. 

[notyourcaptainspeaking]

Dear musician friends (especially in the US): Today is not a happy day. Remember through this dark time why you play music, and how powerful it is. Remember Bertold Brecht and Dimitri Shostakovich and Woodie Guthrie, who used music as their weapon against tyranny. Remember all the times a performance has touched you like no other thing can, and channel that power to heal this broken world. And remember these words from Leonard Bernstein:

“This will be our response to violence: To make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

I love you all.

[whyamiamusicmajor]

Have you ever had a moment in a rehearsal where something finally just clicks and it sounds beautiful and makes you feel so good and for that minute everything, all the headache and sleeplessness, seems worth it. A 'this is why I study music" moment?

All the time. They’re the best, honestly. They happen in ensemble settings when the chord comes together perfectly and is balanced well. They happen after a really good opening night of a production (like the one I just had) when everybody is sitting around on the stage afterwards before they leave. They happen in lessons when a concept finally works and you’re so happy.

They’re the best. Cherish those moments and hold onto them!

-James

[whyamiamusicmajor]

I love music, and I've been a musician for over 10 years now. I was considering being a music major and I'd love to play professionally. But I despise music theory. I'm anxious over everything in this class and I feel inadequate and the textbook keeps giving me rules for music that will just get taken away and it's not that I don't understand it, it's just that everything feels pointless so far and my textbook makes me feel stupid even though I understand it. What do I do to make things better?

Music Theory is the bane of a lot of musicians’ existences, honestly. It’s really hard if you don’t have somebody there to explain it to you in person. There’s a reason why most places don’t teach Music Theory online. There are entire courses dedicated to teaching people how to teach Music Theory. So don’t feel bad at all!

If you want to major in music, you shouldn’t let Music Theory stop you. Everybody has that one required class that scares them when they start majoring in music. But if you work hard and get help when you need it (no, seriously, get help from your teacher if you don’t get music theory. It’s life-changing.), you should be okay!

-James

[entreat-me-not]

I get a little bit gayer every time a guy dies in the Cell Block Tango.

[whyamiamusicmajor]

So I plan on being a music major when I graduate, majoring in Bassoon and hopefully becoming apart of a symphony or philharmonic after I graduate, you know any universities that have a good double reed programs? Also do you think that Bassoon Major is a good idea? Idk I love playing but it's terrifying to go into something like this and not know what the classical music scenes gonna be in 3 to 5 years from now 🙃

@sammieshine <<<<<<< not a bassoonist but she’d probably have more insight on double reed than I do.