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Dear PianoWorld,

I'm not really sure what to do with my life. If worst comes to worst i'll graft a trade but no matter what over the years i've never been able to shake this pull toward music. I love writing my own music and i do regularly although most times i never truly finish a piece, more just drafts and shadows of something that could be. i wouldn't mind becoming a session musician, but composing something, whether it be incidental music of film or whatever, or whether it be for theatre, would be something i'd enjoy greatly. so do you think i should go to university? what are the benefits? what's the worth of the debt of it?

Some background information:
I'm 24 years old and i'd plan to apply next winter when i'll be 25 and if i was successful i'd be going to music college at 26.
i applied a year or two ago to the royal college, royal academy, guild hall (all london) and royal northern (manchester).
I gained an interview at the guild hall and royal college (for composition) but they told me my theory was too far behind and my compositions were too old fashioned.
Well now, my theory's better as i study it a lot, and my compositional style has become more modern, but not in a contemporary sense, more of a jazzy/incidental style (i know that makes no sense, perhaps i'll post something).
So what do you think, should i bother? or should i go by way of another route? what can i gain from university?

In the past, at age 18 one often went to University to help one decide what one's future choice of career would be. Times have changed, and with the cost of a university degree exponentially beyond what it was in the '60s and '70s, one now has to be pretty sure of what career one wants to pursue before entering upon the debt-incurring ride that current university training involves. Add to that the fact that you are no longer 18 and would be almost 30 by the time the university degree is completed, this is a moment for very serious consideration and reflection.

In a situation such as this, I would seriously consider seeking outside professional career guidance. Get help from someone who doesn't necessarily share your "love [of] writing [your] own music," and who doesn't even understand it but who, rather, can more objectively weigh the pros and cons of university training, what it might (or might not lead to) and who can help you in making your choices.

Best of luck in finding the right path.

Regards,

HM,


University training in music can be very good. It can be excellent. BUT it depends on whether or not you want to meet the model of music being taught wherever it is you study. So for example the comment to the effect of your compositions are old-fashioned - well, there's a model of a "professional composer" they're teaching in their program.Your music, right now, doesn't seem to fit that model. There's nothing wrong or right about that but there is the question of whether or not your interests will be best served by university programs that think you're "old-fashioned" from the outset.

I totally agree with BruceD about getting some outside career guidance - that's advice that 1000% on target. Questions to ask are:

What do you want to do and what are the qualifications and skills that you need to do it?
Where do you get those qualifications and skills?
Are you going to have to play catch-up as you acquire the skills and qualifications you need?

What you also need is a mentor. Someone who really knows music and music industry and music professionals. Someone who can advise you directly on the skills you have and the skills you'll need to develop - and the skills you'll need to play catch-up with.

One last comment. PW is a great source of background information. There are a lot of experienced professionals and very talented and informed non-professionals who contribute to the forum. But, end of day, PW is primarily an anonymous internet forum. It's populated with members who have interesting opinions. But theres a difference between, on the one hand, interesting and well-meaning opinion and, on the other hand, professional accountable advice.

As BruceD has suggested, you need professional guidance re: career options and how to pursue them. As I'm suggesting you need a mentor - someone who really knows the roads on which you might be travelling. Someone who can advise you on the pros and cons of "this" road "vs" that road. Someone who can tell you WHO they've seen do what you're now looking to do and WHO they've seen reach goals from the background and circumstances you know have.

If you do your research all will become clear. Bottom line: you NEED a career/educational counsellor and you need a mentor.

Hope this helps.

Thank you both for your advice. I used to know a few people i could ask, i will have to recontact them. Thanks again, i appreciate your responses. Personally i think i'll probably disregard the whole university thing, the debt just doesn't seem to balance with the benefits.

You could also see if any of the professors give private instruction in composition.

I think you are reaching the point where you are too old and need to seriously focus on earning money. You are entering your prime earning years and have no real job (you haven't mentioned one yet... just getting a trade). You are wasting your time and jeopardizing your future by putting all of this off. People are going to be less likely to hire you for your first job when you are in your 30s. I think, you need to start training for your trade seriously now and then break into that field and continue with music and composition on the side as a hobby.

Personally, I think you should always go with what you love but that doesn't always mean you will be able to make a living from your passion. A musician's life can be 'jack of many trades' in their craft. Teaching, performing, composing, recording, accompanying....well I think the list can go on. Good luck!

rada

And what do you do?

I am an emergency medicine physician. what does it matter in regards to the question from the OP?

The reality of the situation is that he'll be close to 30 when he earns his degree and is going to be in a lot of debt while trying to find a job in a field where the job market is very scare as it is even for highly trained and talented people. I think it makes more sense to get a steady paying job and to do music composition on the side as a hobby, when you take into account that the composition people at the schools he applied to said his compositions and theory skills were lacking.

People need to stop living in fantasy land where you can be what you want to be and should do what you love to do. It doesn't pay the bills.

Music is of great importance to you and it makes you happy. Fortunately you get to keep this relationship with music whether it becomes your career or not. It would be better to enjoy music at every turn as an amateur while living well in a secure career than to try and create a career out of music this late in the game. If you did go with music as a career choice now, you might find yourself not liking it so much with a great deal of undue pressure to be successful at it from an income perspective.

Starting off behind in university will also mean you have to work much harder than the average student. I think you will be much happier if you follow boo1234's advice to enter the job market sooner rather than later. What's most important is that you figure out what transferable skills you have and what skills are worth developing so that you can be competitive in the job market. Just don't let your passion for music get lost in the shuffle.

The university setting is quite unnecessary for you from what you've said. If you can afford private instruction, you will likely get everything you want provided you have the time and resources to keep up with it.

It's great that you are being so thoughtful about this and it is NOT an easy decision to make. The advice about getting a mentor, career coach or academic advisor is spot on and of great importance. Even when in school, most people don't take advantage of these kinds of resources. This is the best place to start.

I agree with the consensus here.

Everyone has dreams of only doing what you love, and making a good living out of it, but that usually only works in some jobs, and only if you are super lucky or super talented, or (more likely) both. Much more realistic to keep your love as a hobby, and maybe making a bit of money on the side with it, in your spare time, but to have a day job that pays your bills.

I have several hobbies, and managed to make some money out of two of them (photography & mountaineering - I've sold quite a few landscape, mountaineering and portrait photos over the years) but that only just about covered the cost of the holiday/expedition I took to get those photos. As for music, I realized early on that it could never be anything other than a hobby - I had no real talent, and I started learning piano too late (aged 10) to develop a proper virtuoso technique. So, I play for fun, do the odd concert for charity, and compose for my own pleasure. (I have a pile of my own opuses which almost no one has ever seen or played other than myself). And my other dream of becoming a nuclear scientist also dissolved as part of my reality check in my late teens when I went to university......

wow you must be a very sad, sad person.

I think some people are getting the wrong idea, i love doing lots of things, and i have worked since i left school, so let's not talk to me like a child.
I was simply asking the pros and cons of university education, as the title hints. Don't patronise me.

If I were you, I would go back to school. If you can work and support yourself, and becoming a highly paid professional is not *the* main goal of your life, you can get by somehow.

Consider this scenario: You decide not to go back to school just now; you still love music and want to study it; you continue with your life till past age 30 and then decide to go back to school, with the same considerations you have now, but that much older. Would that be easier?

I think the main snag in choosing a formal education is that it provides no direct route into any aspect of commercial music (film/theatre/sessions). You’ll need lucky breaks and a lot of energetic networking.

Could you get involved in a band of some sort? Many session guys started off through gigging, building a reputation from there.

Okay, two things - money isn't everything in life, and there are ways to do this without going into debt.

This is something i have also been deeply considering but i didn't need to post that on here for an answer!!

as you can see my biggest problem is considering more than doing.

I went back to school when I was 28 and finished in two years. During that time, Dr. Jean Barr, now of Eastman, took me out into the hallway after sight-reading class and told me that I should change my major from music to something else.

And, for the record, when my news story hits, and it is very close to happening, I will not fail to mention that occurrence.

Hey, when Tchaikovsky showed him his 1st piano concerto, Rubinstein told him it was not good at all - so much for opinions on composition.

There isn't a major composer of record who didn't write a lot of junk before they hit their stride. Someone's age has nothing to do with it.

As far as university is concerned, I predict that, in as little as ten years, our educational system will be drastically re-vamped and won't even remotely resemble what it is now.

Berklee has over 37,000 students studying online, and they are rated one of the highest schools in the nation, when it comes to distance learning. The best ear training instructor I ever had was at Berklee online.

So, for now, find yourself someone to study composition under privately and then just write, write, and write some more. Whatever you do, continue to listen to your heart and your head, and the rest of the world can just take a flying leap!

No one is patronizing you. You provided limited details about your situation. I still stand by my assertion that you should study music on the side as a hobby. If you want to get a degree from a university, that is great. Just make sure it is in something with practical application like STEM, accounting, or business.

I have seen many of my friends make mistakes like getting degrees in medieval art history because they "love" it and they end up unemployed, in part time jobs, or waiting tables... not that there is anything wrong with waiting tables, but they could have done that without their degree that they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for.

which is why i was asking the benefits of music university, i am well aware of people going to university for nothing more than "waiting tables", as you put it.

Although i don't agree with you cold cynical view of life i know what you are saying, but no more than because others have posted the same advice already. As Pogo said, money isn't everything; i come from a rather poor family and i have seen how the other half live. It's quite depressing actually.

And there's no need for me to detail my entire biography, i asked for advice on university, not advice on how to live my life. but for the record, i have been paying my own bills for quite a few years now, and even support other members of my family to some degree.

On a side note: we don't pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for education here in the UK