As stated, I graduated in 2015 from a Conservatory in the Midwest with a degree in Jazz Studies. I'm a full time musician now, dividing my time between gigging, teaching privately, composing/arranging, doing transcription/copyist type work, and of course practicing! Here are some general things I'd like to say, beyond that just ask!

1. As insanely busy as a music majors schedule is you almost ALWAYS have more time than you imagine to PRACTICE. Looking back I probably wasted a lot more time than necessary, whether it was on the internet, with friends, etc. not saying those are bad things, no, please take some time for yourself and with friends it's important to get away from studying for a bit! BUT, if you're a performance major especially, your primary goal is becoming proficient at your instrument. Enough to hopefully get a career, land an orchestra gig, get on a cruise etc. etc. And if you REALLY don't think you have time, everyone has 10 minutes before bed. If you're not with your instrument in some capacity every day then you are pissing in the wind.

2. Speaking of being busy, don't make fucking excuses in your classes. Seriously. Sorry to curse but literally no one cares that you got 3 hours of sleep just like everyone else most of the time. Best advice I can give is keep your head down, stay humble, shed, do work to the best of your ability. As I've seen in professional situations now, musicians who make excuses in rehearsals about not being able to practice, or being too tired etc. are the people we DO NOT CALL EVER AGAIN. I try to imagine saying excuses to my toughest professor now, and how he wouldn't give me any slack. So do a little dialogue with yourself, would "Dr. "hard-ass" be letting me off the hook if i said this right now?" if the answer is no then lay low.

3. You want to be an Ed major? You need to fucking practice too. Ed majors at my school were the laziest and most ignorant group of students. None of them practiced, complained about practicing, OR LITERALLY THOUGHT THEY DIDNT NEED TO BE GOOD AT AN INSTRUMENT TO TEACH and always HATED listening to music that was "weird" "scary" in class...don't call stravinsky weird or scary. Regardless of what you think of something presented in class, or even by a friend, describe it with a more scholarly approach. Everyone Please appreciate all types of music, because someone's love for for 12-tone music is not less or more important than someone's love for Charlie Parker. I hope that future educators take a larger responsibility in understanding that being proficient (not AMAZING but competent) at an instrument wildly improves your ability to teach (in my opinion). For the MOST part, a lot of amazing instrumentalists have the ability to be good teachers without going through the hoops of taking ed courses. But ed majors who aren't good/care about an instrument just aren't.

4. Practicing is a fickle beast. But here's some things I've learned and implement. Whatever style/instrument, it's best to have a goal when you sit down. If you noodle or run excerpts/scales for 40 minutes, that probably isn't the most productive practice session. If you have only 20 minutes thats GREAT because you can be extremely focused for that amount of time. Almost any professional musician who is older will say they have less and less time to practice, but when they do it's incredibly focused. It's not about how many hours guys, it's about how you spend that time. In general, in any situation, please pay careful attention to tone, timbre and dynamics. I feel like those basic elements are lost when we get caught up in technique, scales, learning rep etc.

Here are topics I know a lot about:

Jazz

Music History

Theory

Audiation

Performing

Being a full-time professional musician

How to write emails, resumes, bio's

Research

etc. etc.

Lay it on me, friends!

If you want to study music, by god you better love it. I've been a drum set player for the last 10 years and was sought after at the high school level so I decided fuck it, I'll be a music major, it's the next logical step I guess. I got to school, realized I had no idea what the fuck was going on and wanted to quit right away. Some good friends talked me out of it and once I caught up to everyone else, it seemed alright. Then juries came, the pressure was put back on, and I wanted to quit again. But sure enough, I made it through that too. Since then, every single semester of this degree has led to a gradual deterioration of my mental well being until I finish my end of semester assessments and can finally relax. Without fail, every semester ends with me considering suicide at least once while practicing. That's not a joke. Last year it got to the point where I couldn't even sit at a drum set without getting agitated, like a tingling in my spine that wouldn't go away. I've gone through weeks long periods where I don't even want to listen to music of any kind. This process has made me question everything I thought I knew about myself, like I don't even know who I am anymore.

This post is more of a vent than anything, it's that time of the semester again, but I will say this. Studying music will test your love of music. You might think you love it, but ask yourself. Can I spend every day thinking about music? Can I spend hours on end listening to music I don't care about? Can I present my most vulnerable side to people who's job requires that they pick me apart bit by bit? If the answer to any of those questions is no, just be aware that music study will not be easy for you.

Personally I regret not getting into jazz earlier than I did. I play sax, and I just started this year. What is your regret, and what did you do about it?

Weird way to word the question I'm asking, bu what I'm trying to find out is if I should continue taking private lessons after its no longer required. They're expensive for one, and I feel like I would get more out of putting my time into my tech classes (learning other instruments) after I finish this year. My professor doesn't really agree with me on this, but I want to get a second opinion. Thanks!

I would love to be a jazz major but I don't know what I'd do after school

I'm looking for someone with awesome design skills to create and image for the banner (something musical, whatever you feel would be cool) and an alternatively designed reddit alien to reflect the image of this subreddit and make it look pretty. While I COULD do it myself, I don't have that great of skills with image editing and I thought it'd be fun to make it a contest! :D The banner must be 100px height and over 2000px width. The reddit alien can be any size, I can mess with that later, just create a reddit alien that looks like a music major/musician. All submissions are due bye October 31st Please send me a PM of the banner or reddit alien or both if you choose to design. And if you do choose to design, have fun with it! Thank you!

We all know how hectic a music major's schedule can be, and we have to fit in some practice time somewhere. What is your method for how and when you practice for maximum efficiency?

This semester, I took a matrix of my schedule and filled in the empty blocks with practice periods. Within these 1-hour chunks, I have 5 minutes of set up, 20 minute practice, 5 minute break, 20 minute practice, 5 minutes to put my instrument away, and 10 minutes to get to my next class. It has worked reasonably well for me.

I also like practicing in the morning, because by 5pm I am completely worn out and can't focus as well.

I really feel like I'm not getting enough practice hours in (about 2 per day on my primary instrument, and about one per day for everything else [methods instrument(s), conducting, piano, secondary instrument(s) I'm playing in ensembles, etc.]). If anyone has any tips for cramming more practice time into the day without completely draining myself, I'd love to hear it.

Hello everyone!

I am currently at my third year of studying Computer Engineering, and to be quite frank I've realized (a bit late) that it really might not be what I want to do. I did band all throughout high school and loved it, I will be going into my third year of marching Drum Corps, and I love it. However, what's stopping me is my parents. I come from a strict family to say the least. Certainly, explaining why I would want to switch majors this late will likely be met in opposition. I've thought long about it and I know I want to be a Music Educator, and I even already have experience in the field being a tech for high school marching bands for the past two years. The main thing will be having the money for a professional instrument (looking at 5000-7000) and convincing my parents. Do you guys have any tips?

Sometimes or days I can practice for hours and not seem to accomplish much. In fact most days. I'm not a music major but I'm looking to audition for schools next year. My instructor tells me, each week I should be practicing at least an hour a day to show adequate progress each week, but I often will practice a total of 3 hours throughout the day and I find my progress most weeks barely adequate. She seems to think I'm doing okay, but not as overjoyed each week like she used to seem.

I think its important to mention I spend most of my practice on just learning the notes and rhythms. (I am a harpist if that's important) But I spend very little time on musicality. I usually work on musicality in tandem with the notes and by the time the notes are learnt I feel it's been decently realized musically. I will spend an amount of time on musicality after the piece is learnt but the ratio of learning notes to everything else is easily 7:1 which I know it just should not be. And I can spend a month or two learning a single 5-7 min piece.

I've been playing harp for a total of two years and been playing music for I guess 5 years (but only seriously for the past 2 years). I'm most advanced on the harp, learning music of a grade 8 level RCM.

I just feel I spend so much time learning the notes I want it to come to me faster but I don't seem to know how.

I feel it has to do with a lack of focus or something but I'm really not sure. Any advice is appreciated.

Sorry for the ramble and poor formatting.

I really wish I played a string instrument like a Cello. Also I wish I could sing, if that counts too! :)

What instruments do you wish you could play well?

During the first studio we had this year, my professor asked the group what 'success' means to them. Everyone had similar responses, as far as meeting goals, surpassing expectations, as well as being in a place that makes you happy.

What do you think of defining your success? As a successful musician specifically? When do you think you will reach a point of success/ever will reach a point of satisfaction? My professor had a final question: does it matter how other people view your success?

I would love to hear many thoughts about this topic, as I feel as though it is a constantly changing idea for everyone.

So as the title says I'm a high school senior looking for college advice. So I guess I will start off with a little about myself, I'm a senior clarinet player, last year I was first chair all state bass clarinet player, Im a principal clarinet for my high school wind ensemble (my high school is pretty good) as well as principal clarinet for my youth symphony. I also have music theory training and a double proficiency on alto and tenor saxophone. basically I just want to know what recommendations are out there for good colleges to attend for music ed as well have strong clarinet programs as well as any general advice anyone would like to give. Thanks

I'm taking suggestions to put on the sidebar, so suggest away!

Hi. Welcome to /r/MajoringInMusic! This community will serve as a subreddit dedicated to support current, prospective, or former music majors! We encourage active discussion and hope you enjoy your time here! Good luck on you're journey, just where will your degree in music take you?

Hello! I’m currently a High School Senior, going to be a future Music Major (I’m starting off with Music ED with a possible double major in Music Performance). I was wondering what laptops most Music Majors use. My college doesn’t require a specific laptop (from what I understand), so I’m curious on what most people use.

Extra Info about me Hi all, I'm a high school Junior who's lately been considering what major's I'd like to pursue (I know I'm young, but not having something decided is nerve-wracking for me). I've played piano since I was about 6 (17 now) with like a 3-4 year break. I'm decent, but my love for music is immense. Considering that it would seem like a no-brainer to major in music, but I've also a love for biology. I don't want to give up music so at the very least I'm going for a minor, but as someone who's going to be applying to universities soon I'd like to ask some questions before choosing where I apply (only 2 schools around here have good programs for music and bio).

Questions:

1. People who were interested in two majors, how did you make your decision to choose music over the other?

2. How important is ear-training? I excel in my music theory class (counterpoint, RNA, voice leading, etc.) but when it comes time to hear mM7 chords or triad inversions, I'm mediocre and can only do that kind of stuff with a piano.

3. Do you get taught how to preform? I get nervous playing in front of people by myself, less so in band situations. Is that something you just naturally develop from your classes?

4. What can this major be used for? (Besides using it to stand out on like a med-school application) What jobs in the music industry does this set you up with?

Sometimes I feel as though because I'm a performance major, I need to work harder so I shouldn't be taking time off (a day off over the weekend or not shredding on my cello for at least 2+ hours a day+studying). I'm a freshman doing my first semester so the adjustment is still taking place I think. Every minute I'm not doing something school related I feel guilty, especially during the weekends when I spend time with my girlfriend whom I live with as we're both in school full time. Is this normal?

I'm a cellist in a jazz conservatory (Humber college in Toronto) and I'm finding it extremely difficult to find the motivation to practice and find the right balance. I decided to go the contemporary route as I found classical quite stuffy and the hours of practice required to do well are significantly greater. Most of my former teacher claimed to have practice at least 4 hours a day. And let's face it, the number of classical cellists in the world is quite high, it's not as if I'd be doing anything groundbreaking. However, I'm finding jazz school is really hard for me. Everyone is speaking a different language that I'm slowly starting to understand. In the meantime, it's quite alienating. It's an extremely tiny string program, there's only one other string player that's also a freshman. I'm also the only cellist in the entire school, so it puts a lot of pressure on me. It's also hard because string instruments work fundamentally (and are taught differently) than your standard jazz instruments so often I find my professors ignore us, although I have been making a point to ask as many questions as I can. Anyways, I guess my main issue is that I'm finding it hard to practice, I average anywhere from 45 mins to 2 hours a day (usually it ends up being two 40 minute sessions per day) but I find that it still isn't enough. Sometimes I feel really frustrated because I don't even know where to begin or I start thinking about all the things I need to know/get done and become overwhelmed. Not to mention my non-performace classes and elective, which I find much easier to get done. Sometimes I wonder if I actually want to do this, but I'm not sure if it's just me telling myself that because I'm too lazy (or maybe too scared) to try? My commute to school is also an hour and a half each way to and from school, which is also another factor that makes school hard. Do I just need to suck it up and try harder? Anyone have any tips for me? Any answers are greatly appreciated.