"A few people said something to me this morning that really set me off and I feel compelled to write something on the blog about it. I was essentially told that being a music major is easy.
AMEN, CHRISTIE!!! And I'd love to say that it gets better....but this is still one of the biggest frustrations I have as a professional musician. There is a perception (unfortunately fueled by the popular music industry) that music is just something you do if you have talent--it doesn't take any particular training, knowledge, or intellect. I can't tell you how many times I've had people calling up asking, "We've got a women's group meeting tomorrow night - do you have some students that could come over and sing for 45 minutes for us?" They have NO CLUE about how demanding music is!
It really frustrates me that people view music as easy because it isn't. Not in the slightest. I would pay BIG money to see the girls who made the "music is easy" comment to me, sit through Theory or Musicianship Skills and UNDERSTAND the concepts or memorize the 8 page German Aria I have in voice."
Take music theory, for example. In most college courses, it's a given that only about 10% of material is retained after the class is over. Music theory, however, is cumulative. You have to retain ALL of it to be able to succeed in upper-level classes or in grad school. It impacts your success as a performer, conductor, and/or educator immensely.
Most majors have 3 or 4 hour credit courses, so a student can take 4-5 courses and have 15 hours in a semester. In music, however, most classes are 1-2 hours credit--and your music professors (who shall remain nameless....ha ha....) always tend to have more expectations than a 3-4 hour course in another major.
It's not just uneducated people that have this perception, either. I've had to battle perceptions here (with success, fortunately!) that ensembles at Lambuth are activities rather than academic classes. Hmm....let's see....required by the National Association of Schools of Music...studying vocal technique, music history, foreign language pronunciation, religion, poetry...sounds like academic content to me, how about you?
So, music majors, "fight the good fight, with all your might"!
2 comments:
i've been sitting here talking to one of my bros as i read the post...i was asking him if he thought personally that his major was easy. he said that for him its easy enough that he can stick with it, but challenging enough that he keeps learning new info. i feel the same way about music. im good at it and have natural talent but some things that my profs want me to do are very difficult.
as for pass/fail courses, football is not a course. you cannot major in cheerleading. i am a tuba performance major.....i have to play in a certain number of ensembles as stated in the lambuth catolog. o want you guys to get credit hours and all that stuff, and i think it sux that you cant get a grade in there, but i have to take these courses for my major. sports are there for scholarship....and i know you guys couldnt afford it if you didnt play sports, but as for getting a grade for it......
tht o doesnt make any sense cause its sposed to be an i oops
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