Article: An Impossible Choice: Music Majors, COVID-19, and an Uncertain Future

We are living through remarkable times. I was explaining to my six-year-old the other day that literally no one alive has ever lived through something like this. That applies to people and to institutions.

Higher ed has been under some immense pressure of late for a number of reasons. And this pandemic has really accelerated a lot of those pressures, which is putting it lightly.

This article by Zach Finkelstein and Dana Lynne Varga dives into the choices that current and former college music majors are currently faced with. There are no good choices.

“With fewer or no opportunities to perform live at school, can music degrees live up to their mandate to prepare students for a career? In other words, what is the value of a socially distanced degree in music performance? And if the value is significantly reduced, and given the extraordinary financial stress on young music students and their families, what is the best course of action?”

Particularly interesting is the end of the article where the authors map out how a student who is either deferring or taking a year off could continue their education on their own for a fraction of the cost of attending college this upcoming year.

It will be fascinating to see how all of this plays out, both this year and moving forward.

Did I mention we are living through remarkable times?

Click here to read the article.

Beware schools that only make you better at following a path

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

99% of all college music degrees in the world today have curriculums which are designed to help you follow a path better than the next woman or man. And there's a reason for this.

They were all designed many, many decades ago when it was close to impossible for anyone to blaze a trail for themselves.

There were gatekeepers everywhere you looked deciding who was allowed to make an album, who got to write a book and who got to do just about any other artistic endeavor you can think of.

But those people are all gone.

To make matters worse, there are thousands upon thousands of students graduating every single year with music degrees in the United States and all over the world who are being taught these same "just follow the path better than the next person" skills. And they're all competing for the exact same jobs. (A number that is getting smaller with every year that goes by.)

What you have there is a math issue.

What are the odds that you are going to one of the incredibly lucky few who will find a path that's already been cleared and will make a great living, both financially and artistically, as a result? They are not good.

Of course it happens. But you have a shockingly better chance of finding success in the music business (whatever success means to you) by taking Emerson's advice above and leaving your own trail.

Look around at all of the people who are making their own go of it. They are everywhere.

And you certainly have the best chance of success by getting an education that provides you skills for both the "path" and the "trail" approaches to a career.

Once you get out into The Real World™, literally no one gives a crap that you went to Northwestern or that you studied with (insert famous teacher here.) No one.

So if you're looking for a school to attend to be a music major, consider what skills they are offering you as a major factor rather than just going to the famous place or to study with the famous person.

You'll be happy you did.

© 2017 Andrew Hitz

Sunrise in The Berkshires which has nothing to do with anything in this post but it's pretty so I threw it in!