College is an important part of becoming an educated person, which will benefit you in many ways beyond any professional benefits. If you expect college to provide you with a profession, then you may be disappointed no matter what your major course of study. I would recommend studying what interests you enough to motivate total commitment. Consider these points:Casey Nidetch wrote:I'm a senior in high school looking for the best college major for me. I love playing tuba and have always wanted to be a performer. I think that I would love a performance career and would love to spend my days playing, but I know how difficult it is to get a job. I also think that I would love to teach music in schools, but I don't want to regret not going for a performance career. What made you decide to go for a performance or education degree? Do you regret anything?
1. To rephrase something Dr. Sloan rightly says, if you are willing to live, eat, and breathe the subject you choose, then you will likely get so good at it that someone will be willing to pay you to do it. Even playing the tuba--but you have to broaden your perspective beyond sitting in an orchestra. You should also recognize that this is not the path to riches, and if you want riches, study finance and spend your days thinking about money. Prepare to be unhappy, unless that subject really moves you. But anything less than absolute and total commitment will not be enough to succeed, even in professions that pay mediocre workers well.
2. Talent is required in musical performance, and some don't have enough of it. The motivation to work as hard as the comment above implies is probably a sign of talent. But recognize that you must accept nothing less than superior excellence, putting in the work that it takes to achieve that. I love playing the tuba, and I love thinking about it. But I don't believe I could do it 8+ hours a day without it driving me mad, and I do not have the discipline to work on fundamentals until I perfect them. Clearly, I'm not qualified to pursue it as a career. I may be reacting to my own limited talent--whatever. You'll know pretty quickly if that motivate drains you. The top performers are energized by that focus and drive, not drained (at least most of the time). Keep that in mind.
3. People who are well-educated and willing to work hard seem to find a way to make a decent living for themselves, no matter how disconnected their work turns out to be from their major course of study.
4. If you really want a performance career, and if you really want to be trained to do that job instead of becoming generally educated, then move to a city where there are great tuba performers willing to teach you and plenty of opportunities to perform, and focus on that. If that doesn't sound right to you, then reread Items 1-3.
5. Don't use music education as a "backup". If you love to teach and love the idea of teaching, then go for it. (You also need a high tolerance for BS and an even-keeled personality.) That path takes commitment and motivation to be successful just as much as performing.
6. Go back and reread Item 1-3. Study what interests you to the point where you are willing to do it with a high level of commitment, and you'll do fine. The high level of commitment is the key.
7. If the major course of study you choose falls apart on you in the first couple of years of college, then you have your answer concerning interest, talent and aptitude. Change course. I switched from architecture, which had driven me since early childhood, to engineering, when I realized that what I really wanted was to design things in the three-dimensional world. It turned out that architecture was more about air and sales than about designing things.
Rick "who hates working with people who chose their profession solely because of potential remuneration" Denney
