Advice for prospective college music majors

ByBret Pimentel
Photo, Surat Lozowick

Planning on being a college music major? Good for you! But if you’re like I was as a high school senior, there are some things you haven’t thought of yet. Now that I’m on the other end of things—a college music professor, teaching music majors—I have some advice that I share with potential students (and that I’d like to send back in time to my younger self). I hope these tips help you get off to a good start on your own college music studies.

  • What you need the most right now, before starting college, is a good private teacher. If you’re not already taking lessons, it’s time to start. (Note that if you have your sights set on a top-tier school, most of the people auditioning will already have years of serious private study under their belts!) A good teacher can help you choose some possible schools, prepare audition material well, and get a sense for what advanced music study is like. Oh, and sculpt you into a fine young musician. The money you spend on lessons will pay off when scholarships are awarded.

  • Get into a good practice habit now. It’s common for music majors to have practice requirements of 3 or more hours per day. It will pay off, but some students find it hard to get used to at first. Start a program of dedicated practice now, and you’ll hit the ground running.
  • In a lot of ways, the most important factor that will shape your college music education is your studio teacher—the professor who will give you lessons on your instrument. The best way to get the education you want is to pick a great teacher, and then apply to the school that they teach at. Most will be happy to meet you while you’re still in the process of choosing a school, and maybe even have a lesson with you. Seize that opportunity!
  • Find out about the different types of music degrees. The most common are BM (bachelor of music), BME (bachelor of music education), and BA (bachelor of arts, with music emphasis). I’m including a few thoughts below about what kinds of career paths they correspond to.
  • Plan to start college with your trusty old instrument, mouthpiece, etc., and hold off on purchasing anything new until after school starts. Your new studio teacher may have specific requirements, and at least will be able to help you avoid costly mistakes. Likewise, hold off on buying etude books, sheet music, etc. until you’ve asked the studio teacher.
  • Know in advance that a college major in music isn’t like having high school band class all day. You’ll participate in ensembles, but you will also need to be ready to do face any fears you have about solo performance. You will also have to make your peace with music theory and music history, and get comfortable singing a little and playing the piano a little. Oh yeah, and keep up with your general education requirements: math, science, English, and so forth.
  • One more thing: being a music major isn’t for everybody. Even some very bright, capable, and talented students decide that a music degree isn’t the right path. And that’s okay.

I loved my experience as a college music major, all the way through three degrees. It’s challenging, but fun and rewarding.

Here’s a  nutshell view of the most common undergraduate-level music degrees:

The BME (bachelor of music education) has the clearest career path: when you finish your degree, you will have the credentials you need to apply for jobs in your university’s state (and possibly some additional states) as a band director (or orchestra or choir director) at the high school level and lower. You will study music, plus things like educational psychology and classroom management. You will probably need to do at least one solo recital, and your studies will culminate in a semester of supervised student teaching.

The BM (bachelor of music, sometimes referred to as a “performance” degree) is focused on playing your instrument, and doesn’t qualify you to teach music in the public schools. In fact, you could make the argument that it really doesn’t qualify you for anything specific, since you don’t need a college degree to be a professional musician (although if your goal is play well enough to make a living at it, college-level study can help you along that road). The most solid reason to choose a BM degree (as I did) is that you have your sights set on a career in college-level studio teaching; remember that this pretty much requires continuing on to a master’s degree (2+ years) and a doctoral degree (4+ years), and then entering a very competitive job market. As a BM student, you will likely put on several solo recitals, and participate in chamber music groups as well as large ensembles.

The BA (bachelor of arts) with an emphasis in music is a more broad-based degree, generally with less rigorous music coursework but with other requirements that might include things like philosophy and foreign language. Like the BM, the BA doesn’t have a particularly well-defined career path, but a BA degree may be appropriate if you have a career plan that would benefit from knowledge of music but doesn’t require high-level performance ability or teaching credentials.

In many ways, the most practical approach is to dive into the BME degree, as it comes the closest of any of these to guaranteeing you a job right out of college; plus, if you change your mind and are talented and hardworking, you may be able to transition into a master’s program in performance and work toward college teaching instead. But if you’re sure (as was I) that middle school or high school teaching isn’t your thing, then a BM or BA might make more sense. And there are some less-common music-related degrees that you can research, as well, like music therapy, music business, or sound recording.

Have additional advice you would give to prospective college music majors? Please share in the comments section below.

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    • Musician in “popular” styles (such as rock, blues, hip-hop, country, and many more). Even if you wish to study these in college, there currently aren’t a lot of options. But some classical or jazz training in a band or orchestral instrument, widely available at universities, will deepen and expand your musical understanding in general, and sometimes present valuable opportunities.
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    Q&A: The big picture

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    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

    Here are some of the questions readers sent me in celebration of this blog’s 10-year anniversary. I have edited, combined, and otherwise adapted some of them but hopefully there are answers here for those of you who were kind enough to inquire.

    Why does music move humanity so profoundly?

    My personal belief is that music is divine in origin, and that there is something inherent to humankind that responds to music. Since I believe that everyone is a child of God, I suppose the love of music is a divinely-inherited trait. Leaders in my faith have said, for example, that “Music is given of God to further his purposes,” and observed “Music is truly the universal language, and when it is excellently expressed how deeply it moves our souls.”

    If that’s not your style, you may prefer Darwin’s speculation that the earliest attempts at human language were more like musical gestures than like words. An ability to relate to these sounds is at the foundation of language in the more modern sense, and thus underlies virtually all human experience and culture.

    In any case, even as a faith-plus-science kind of guy, I’m definitely out of my depth here, so feel free to share your theories in the comments.

    Are applied music studios in higher education sustainable considering the supply of music graduates exceeds available employment?

    There are issues here for sure. I can only vouch for my own approach:

    Most of my university students are music education majors, and where I live this does seem to be sustainable. My graduates for the most part are able to land and keep jobs doing what they are trained for: directing middle school and high school bands.

    Many of my students at some point inquire about the degree in performance. If they are interested in that route and have the skill to pursue it, we have a long talk about the career path of a performance major. Essentially, a bachelors degree in performance qualifies you for one thing, entry into an masters program. The masters qualifies you for a doctoral program, and that qualifies you to teach in higher education and perpetuate the cycle. We talk seriously about the prospects for employment in higher ed (slim).

    On the other hand, a college or university education isn’t a trade school certificate—it is meant to produce a well-rounded citizen of the world, with literacy in key fields of human thought and skills in areas like communication and critical thinking. If a prospective student wishes to study the art of musical performance for reasons that are not necessarily 100% practical, then I would like to see that opportunity available to them. Schools and students should be clear with each other about their goals, so there isn’t any confusion about, for example, guarantees of employment.

    Some of my students have leveraged some of the more general skills developed in their musical education to pursue careers in other fields, which I find to be a perfectly good outcome. There is also at least some anecdotal evidence that college music majors are welcomed by challenging, high-status programs like law and medical schools.

    When will woodwind makers deplete resources of grenadilla/mpingo wood?

    I don’t know the answer. My understanding is that these woods are not in danger of extinction, exactly. But the culling of the tallest, straightest specimens for products like oboes and clarinets has potential to cause an evolutionary bottleneck, since only trees that are unsuitable for instruments (because they are curvy, for example) are left alone to reproduce.

    I think that the inevitable conclusion to this is alternative materials for instruments. This will be a tough sell for some musicians, but will ultimately be for the better. If modern science can develop amazing new materials for everything from mobile phone technology to medicine to space travel, why not for music? I’m confident that the “wood”-wind instruments will continue to exist in materials that are more sustainable, stable, affordable, crack-free, ergonomic, and beautiful-sounding.

    Why does the principal oboist tune the orchestra?

    Tradition. We have methods of providing a reference pitch that are far more accurate and reliable than even the best oboist. But the ritual is a comfortable one.

    There are lots of additional theories. I’ve written previously about why a bunch of these don’t make sense, and that post continues to draw comments largely based on questionable understanding of “overtones.”

    Thanks for your questions! These are some tough ones.

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    Manuscript paper
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    • Preparing lectures, presentations, program notes, and so forth (theory, history). What makes this repertoire piece, this composer, this technique, this performance practice important? Context is crucial.
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    • Arranging, adapting, transposing, and transcribing music for soloists or ensembles (theory, aural skills, keyboard skills). This can be elaborately creative or simply functional. But every working musician and music educator at least needs to be able to take a given piece of music and make it work for a different instrumentation, taking into account instrument ranges, chord voicing, and balance.
    • Making and communicating interpretive decisions (theory, history). Good interpretive decision-making can mean following the “rules” with strictness, or making informed decision to bend or break those rules. Understanding the canon—insofar as one exists—of performance practices, and having the vocabulary to discuss them with precision, helps tremendously in either case.
    • Demonstrating musical effects for students/ensembles (theory, aural skills, keyboard skills). Good music teachers don’t let the instrument(s) collect dust, even if their primary outlet is as a conductor. Music is an aural tradition, and a “picture” is worth a thousand words. (“Instruments” in this situation includes the voice, for singers and non-singers alike.)

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    I was a very committed college music major. I had picked music as a career years earlier. Being a music student felt like a central aspect of who I was. While I did struggle at times, and had other (perhaps more widely marketable) skills I could have fallen back on, quitting the music-major track never seemed like a real option.

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    • You don’t have to be a music major. Even if you’re good at it. Even if you really do love music. Even if friends or teachers think it’s the right choice for you. Even if you have already invested time, money, and effort into it.
    • There are other ways to make music a part of your life. In many cases you can continue to be in college ensembles, take music courses as electives, and maybe continue to receive music scholarships. (Check with your music department.) Beyond college, there are probably opportunities to make music in community ensembles, garage bands, churches, theater productions, lesson studios, volunteer efforts, and more. Even if you never play or sing again, your background in music opens up richer possibilities for you as a listener and patron.
    • There’s time to try something else. Music degrees are intensive and usually thrust you right into lots of major-specific courses right from your first semester. That can feel like a trap, like if you change majors you are wasting semesters you already completed and starting over as a freshman. But in the scheme of things, isn’t it worth extra years and dollars to graduate in a field that feels right to you?
    • This is your decision. People might try to talk you out of switching majors. Being a music major can feel like kind of a club or fraternity/sorority or cult, but it isn’t really. You aren’t betraying or disappointing anyone by doing what’s right for you. Be aware that in some cases professors or fellow students may be thinking about how your decision will affect them or their classes or ensembles. They probably don’t really mean to put their own interests above yours. Good teachers and friends, in the long run, want what’s best for you, even if it isn’t a music degree.
    • But you don’t have to rush into a decision. If music has been your life for years and now you’re having second thoughts, it’s worthwhile to figure out whether you’re dealing with a real change of heart or just some temporary frustration. Sometimes I have seen students transfer out of the music department, only to transfer back in later, now a little behind. If you need to dabble in something else for a while to find out whether music is your thing after all, then go for it. But minimize the flailing if you can. Before making a decision, give yourself time to think things through with a long-term view. Consult with people who know and love you, plus your music professors, plus people in whatever alternative fields you might be considering.

    Music is great but it’s not the right career for everyone. Make your life choices carefully and honestly.

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2 Comments

  1. Those are all great pieces of advice. I have a few more to add.

    1) As far as choosing schools goes, looking for a great teacher is definitely good advice, but I would not just go by one person’s opinion or suggestion of a good teacher. I would look at the history of the studio and seeing what graduates (recent ones and ones from a while back) are doing to earn income, where they’re living, try to hear recordings of them, etc.

    Also try to hear people in the current studio. Having great players in a studio to gain perspective on what you need to work on, to play next to you, to help you out, etc. is incredibly valuable. While all these things might also be the result of good recruiting, in addition to a good teacher, I know from personal experience how valuable a great studio is and how much I have improved because of it.

    2) Get ahead of the game on theory, ear training, and piano skills BEFORE you show up on campus as a freshman! Be comfortable reading both treble and bass clefs, learn all your major and minor scales on piano (and possibly some easy pieces). Learn all your intervals and be able to identify basic chord qualities when they’re played on the piano. These kinds of things might be able to get you out of the first level of theory, ear training, piano, etc. Even if it doesn’t, it will give you an edge in the class and you’ll have an easier time understanding.

    On that same note, if you’re in any IB or AP classes in high school, by all means take the tests seriously! Passing these can get you out of a few general-ed classes, which also lets you get ahead, gives you more time, etc. You can definitely use all the time and free credits. If you end up adding a minor or double major, or if you end up wanting to take some classes outside of your required ones, this is extremely helpful so won’t have to stay extra semesters!

    3) Show up to your classes, show up on time, and do your best to form good relationships with teachers and ensemble members. Showing that you care and you are interested in doing well (even in the midst of frustration) is important. Unlike a lot of majors, you will have many of the same teachers and students in your classes again and again. These people will, in many ways, be like your family away from home. They’ll also become your sources of networking and recommendations in the future. Having a good attitude and showing that you’re responsible can and will help your grade, make people more likely to want to play music with you, and make people more likely to recommend you for desirable positions or gigs. These habits will transfer from school to the professional world.

    Great article! I hope my additions are helpful. They are based on direct experience and observation.

    Reply

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