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Opinions of life as a music majorDate: October 4, 2012 by Eleanor Stenner  Views: 1327
Hello all,
I just signed up on ChoralNet so I'm very excited!
I need a little help for an article I'm writing for my Journalism class about the life of a music major at Samford University-- how they balance School of the Arts requirements with social activities, how much stress is put on them as students, and the determination and drive that they have. As most of you know, music students delve deep into their studies beginning first semester and rarely (as it seems) come out of the music building!
I would love your thoughts on this-- observations of your own communities and students and how they deal with their many time-consuming yet rewarding demands.
I will let you know if I use one of your quotes and shall send the article your way!
Eleanor Stenner
Samford University A Cappella Choir singer
Replies (3): Threaded | Chronological
on October 4, 2012 11:06am
Hi, Eleanor, and welcome to ChoralNet! You'll find a wide range of highly opinionated and wonderfully helpful people here. But I have to point out that you won't get very many direct answers to your questions because very few of us are at all familiar with Samford or its music majors.
But there are some generalizations that may help you organize your thoughts. Just for starters, I suspect that Samford, like most schools, does not accept absolute musical beginners as music majors. And this is a HUGE difference from many other majors, in which it is assumed that someone can select a major at age 18 with a high school education and succeed in that major. And that's because, if you stop to think about it, music is both a creative art and a RE-creative art, as are the other recreative arts including dance and, to a slightly lower degree, theater. Most future musicians and most future dancers are already immersed in learning to be performers by the age of about 7, and if they are not they have a lesser chance of catching up with those who have been. So that right there contributes to a degree of focus on one's art that makes "us" different from "them," the "them" being typicallly unfocused undergraduate students.
Now our goal as professors in music is to help our students use their time efficiently so as to prepare them for moving into the next level in their specialities in the few years we have to work with them. For some students that will mean preparing them for entry-level jobs in the "real world" of music perforrmance, but probably that's true for no more than it is for the number of college athletes who will be able to move directly into professional athletics. For the majority (remember that really helpful bell-shaped curve!) it will mean preparing them for acceptance into good graduate programs for the next stage in their development. And for some it will mean giving them a chance to discover either that (a) they made a wrong choice and do not really want to pay the price demanded for success as a perforrmer, or (b) lack the necessary talent OR the equally necessary desire to follow through a demanding program.
One way we can try to accomplish OUR job is to limit the majors we accept to those who have already proven that they have both the talent and the drive to succeed, but it's still a guessing game because personal feelings and social distractions affect absolutely everyone. So the second way is for us to demand a commitment that includes a rigorous class schedule, hours of daily practice and rehearsals, and hoops to jump through including semester juries and continuation exams and recitals.
But it's interesting that you're concentrating on the balance between studies ("School of the Arts requirements") and social activities, because that's a terrific measure of the depth of someone's commitment to his or her field. If the social activities win out you're probably not going to be looking at a future professional musician at the top of the profession. One of the first lessons my son learned when he started touring as a member of Chanticleer was that for a singer, your body is your instrument, and you simply cannot abuse your instrument and still do your job.
I don't know how much you know about the history of higher education, but the older European paradigm was that students attended university for socialization (and graduate school for an actual education!!), but did NOT go to university to study performing arts. A musician, artist, or dancer would go to conservatory, NOT to university. And someone wanting to teach music would go to a teachers' college or "normal school" (from the French for some obscure reason!) and not to university. North American universities--and I'm sure Samford is similar--try to be all things to all people, and some are more successful at it than others.
Again, welcome, and best of luck with your current project. And enjoy and make the most of your wonderful undergraduate years.
John
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 Community tags: College and University Choirs
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I explained to the complaining person that many of us were taking mandatory ensembles for zero credit for two years, then for 1/2 credit as juniors and seniors. Because of my instrument and major, which weren't the same, I took 3 ensembles, 2 required and one because my services were requested, 3 hours each for a total of 9 hours/week, for 0 credit for 4 semesters and then 1 1/2 credits/semester for my last 4 semesters, AND sang in a madrigal group for at least 2 hours a week.
My college had just emerged from "normal school" status to liberal arts model, so we also had to do a ton of general education credits and methods courses that had very little to do with music education, one of the reasons that our music credits were deliberately kept low.
We all loathed marching band ("best phys ed you can imagine but please don't refer to it as music") and it showed, but we had amazing ensembles and played and sang amazing repertoire. Many of us went on to be successful in the field of music and those of us who didn't were pretty successful doing something else.
I think from what I've been hearing from current music majors that life in college music programs may be a little less regulated than it was when I was in school, especially in teacher training. One fine clarinetist at our school was seen with a beer in his hand one Friday night, and he'd been removed from the attendance list by Monday morning.
Still we had an intensity and since of purpose that I'm not sure exists on today's music causes.