The Chicago Tribune tells us that, in this time of economic uncertainty and job-market transformation, there’s one area of higher education that’s booming more than others:
Applications are soaring at music schools across the country, often mirroring the overall rise in college enrollment but in many cases surpassing the interest in other disciplines. Never mind that the chances of landing a paying job in a decent-size symphony orchestra have diminished, with many ensembles going out of business in recent years. Never mind that jazz clubs are becoming an endangered species.
The article goes on to wonder out loud why such an impractical career choice should be acceptable to parents and students, when prospects for any job are shaky, at best. There’s also the expected spin about music study providing essential life and professional skills that employers want, even if the student isn’t able to connect on their musical career.
But the deeper question is this one: are students enrolling in music school with professional aspirations? Is a conservatory perceived just as any other professional school on campus — medicine, business, engineering — as a path to a career in that domain? Or is the intensive study of music something else, entirely?
When all bets and assumptions are off about what constitutes a ‘practical’ education, perhaps students are just choosing to following what they’re passionate about, whether or not it translates easily into a corresponding career.
Evidence suggests we can’t see that career path anyway, given the rapid change in business and work. According to quotes in this article, uncertainty is the new normal for education, particularly professional education:
Educator Karl Fisch sums up the challenge: “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented yet, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” According to former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 may not have existed in 2004.
So, why not study music? It’s as good a guess as any. And if you don’t want to guess, you might as well follow your passion to see where it takes you.
My wife and I often talk about writing a book called “Lies to Live By.” Our primary example is “Do what you love, the money will follow” by Marsha Sinetar. Doing what you love is almost certainly a NECESSARY condition for success, but current business and professional conditions are required to complete SUFFICIENT conditions for success.
These students are probably doing what they love, participating in a lie to live by. Right on!
I began my professional music studies because that was what I was passionate about, just as your article suggests. Like many aspiring musicians I was given the sage advice of finding something to fall back on. I didn’t realize that my musical training would be what I have fallen back on time and time again. I have moved between jobs in the arts and the private sector. Sometimes those transitions are seamless and sometimes they are not. The thing that has sustained me and my family between “real jobs” is my small music studio. I keep a small core of students all the time and during lean times on the job market I have opened up additional lesson times. The natural turnover of students who move away or move on to some other activity allows me to shrink my studio back down when the next career move pops up. It doesn’t get much more practical than paying the mortgage! I say do what you love.
As more and more students choose a music-related major, and their parents prefer them to choose music as their major, it shows a trend of the change in the coming years. I don’t think music related majors are impractical careers, on the opposite, I believe those are who are long sighted and practical.
First, colleges prepare students for their future, and their future need to consider the coming market. Although the US suffer the great depression, it will recover in several years. Art is based on economics, at that time, people need art in their life. It is the right time for students study music, so that when they graduate they will have job markets and the need of art can meet as well.
Second, if studying music is the will and interest of students, choosing music as their major could not only satisfy themselves but become a way make money in the future, why not insist on studying music.
As more and more students choose study music related major, and their parents prefer them to choose music as their major it shows a trend of the change in the coming years. I don’t think music related majors are impractical careers, on the opposite, I believe those are who are long sighted and practical.
First, colleges prepare students for their future, and their future need to consider the coming market. Although the US suffer the great depression, it will recover in several years. Art is based on economics, at that time, people need art in their life. It is the right time for students study muxic, so that when they graduate they will have job markets and the need of art can meet as well.
Second, if studying music is the will and interest of students, choosing music as their major could not only satisfy themselves but become a way make money in the future, why not insist on studying music.
Honestly, the music profession has never been a lucratively promising career path. There has never been an overwhelming need for professional musicians, and even for the best of the best, there has never been much hope for making a huge sum of money.
Which is why I think that the economic crisis is mostly unrelated to conservatory enrollment. Musicians do what they do because it’s what they love, not because they want to be wealthy. At a time when unemployment rates are high, why not be unemployed looking for a job you love rather than be unemployed looking for a job that you chose because it would make you money?
I agree with Charlotte, we all know and realize that the music industry is a risky one. One minute you’re selling millions of records and selling out performances and the next minute no one could care less what you do. One does have to be mindful of this. Informing one’s child of the risks and possible disappointments in this career is one thing, but discouraging and depriving them of their passion is absurd. I would be ecstatic if my child were to excel musically. Like they say, “Do what you love, and love what you do”. The artist obviously has to possess a genuine passion for what they create and I believe that alone will suffice.
I think that others from my generation would agree with the fact that when we were young we were repeatedly told that we could grow up to be whatever we wanted to be. Whether this was a reaction to the new femininity being proclaimed that allowed women to have work and children successfully, I do not know, but as someone who long aspired to make a living as an even more probably career as an actor I always was told to follow my dreams. Three people from my graduating class of 100 chose to attend a music conservatory instead of a traditional college and now two years later none of them are there anymore. Although music conservatories and arts schools help prolong the dream, they also can provide a much needed encounter with the reality of leading a life as a starving artist. A year as a theater major was enough to convince me that Hollywood was not for me, sometimes when peoples dreams are really strong they need that kind of experience in order to change direction in their lives.
Personally I think it’s wonderful that the parents involved are even letting their children attend a music institution. Some people need to figure out what they really want to do and if that means biding your time at music school for a year or two so be it! What profession has any certainty these days? When the law field is laying people off and you have paralegals working at Wal Mart I think it’s safe to say do what you love, because there isn’t necessarily a profession that can guarantee a big paycheck anymore.
I enjoyed your idea of comparing a music school with other professional schools within a university. I think this is a great thought that not many people consider. Musicians, actors, and artists receive the same kind of training intended to prepare them for a career in their chosen field as business majors, engineers, or pre-meds. The only difference is that students are usually expected to have precursory knowledge or talent in one of the creative schools, while other schools only require a base knowledge of math, science, etc.
Music and art school do seem kind of impractical but i think students should be able to study what they want. Why not? Its a good point that most jobs in the next several years have not even been created yet. I think a music conservatory is a professional school because it is training and preparing them students for what they want to do.