College culture shock

[Dean]

Perhaps this is the "big fish in small pond" syndrome? Its just like anything else in high school--GPA, SAT scores, blah blah blah... Means very little once the collegiate experience begins. The sooner these college freshman understand this, the better off they will be.

My own experience was quite the opposite. Although I loved playing in high school, I was completely surrounded my musical ignorance, and was ignorant myself because of it. I realized this very quickly my senior year of high school, so I knew I had to START working ASAP.

I have seen the "big fish" syndrome a few times. Yes, some of them did drop. Others were AMAZING players for college freshmen, and because of they, they coasted through their entire undergrad, because they played "well enough" to graduate already. I can only imagine how great they would be now had they kept a good work ethic throughout undergrad...

Maybe its not that bad a thing anyway. Not everyone is meant to be an amazing player, even if they have a really good head start. This is especially true if they obviously dont want to put the work into it. They need their own reasons, and I dont think that teachers or peers can make them have those reasons....

[Roger Lewis]

Perhaps what is occurring is the realization that the field is quite crowded now and the potential for career positions as a player have become very competitive. This is especially true for euphonium players where your only true playing opportunities are the military bands - very few spots.

The field is overcrowded now. This is due, in large, to better living through chemistry. Before the advent of beta-blockers, those who did not have the "nerve" to perform left the field because it was too stressful, or from a lack of success as a player due to performance apprehension. Now that beta-blockers have become as commonplace as vitamins, the field does not “cullâ€

[Leland]

I dropped out of college after a year.

Why? I just hated school, that's all. I had some crappy teachers (the "English Literature" teacher simply used her class for her political soapbox), and didn't enjoy being around the other students.

No, really, I HATED school.

So, rather than waste time & cash, I left, and started working in the real world.

After a couple years of that, I realized that, unlike my coworkers, I didn't want to drive pizzas or work phones for the rest of my life. The best days of my week were when I was doing something musical.

So, with the prompting of some good friends in a certain summer activity, I went back to school, ready to work & do my thing.

Sometimes, I think that people just aren't ready for college right after high school. Maybe they're not prepared to work, maybe they've already been working their tails off for years and need a break.

[ThomasDodd]

Sometimes, I think that people just aren't ready for college right after high school. Maybe they're not prepared to work, maybe they've already been working their tails off for years and need a break.

I agree with you hear. Maybe not years, but take a little time between HS and college. I spent 1.5 years on active duty training with the Corps, then worked a summer away from home ( 10 hours away) doing security untill I found a technical job. So 2 years of the real world before college. And I mean the real world, not sponging of my parents for 2 years.

Looking back that was one of the best decisions I ever made. Comparing myself to others I knew, the focus level was quite different. And boot camp taught me a lot about "stress". College was not even close to stressfull. Parenting is. Work isn't.

-Thomas

[brian_c]

Australia is wierd

Actually, Australia is normal; it is the US that is weird.

The university system in the US produces far too many arts and humanities majors than the market can employ in such positions. This is a well-known phenomenon. Don't worry about a few people quitting. It is not that they are ill-prepared, but rather that something has convinced them that quitting is better. Maybe they felt those market signals so many of us missed (at first).

[jmerring]

My shock was that the tuba had a range that went above second line 'F' in the staff. My first lesson contained a middle 'C" and I was flabbergasted! The thing that really bothered me, was that my instructor in college was the same one that gave me 'superior' ratings in solo contests. He and I had spoken after the contest and he never menitoned anything about the enormous range. When I was told to prepare the first movement of the Hindemith Sonata, for a freshman recital, I almost got sick!