Music's on my mind.

September 21, 2009 1:01 PM

I find myself increasingly unhappy about the fact that I'm not a music major... but what can I do with a music degree, really?

I've thought on this since the beginning of High School, and ultimately decided pursuing a music degree wasn't a great idea. I'm currently in the sciences (freshman, undergrad), and while I do enjoy the material, being here and getting involved in music has made it clear to me that that's what I want to be doing.

I want job stability, I don't want to be working at McDonalds with a bachelor's degree, and teaching isn't for me. I should note that if I do decide to major in music, I'd do a double in the sciences because I'm still intensely interested in them. The only reason I'm not doing that now is that the career I'm thinking of requires me to double in something else, so if I do decide to pursue my musical passion I'd be shutting out that option.

I'm afraid that if I'm having second thoughts now, I'll end up having them the rest of my life. But I'm also afraid to pursue music, because what if I do end up working at Starbucks?

So I'm here to ask... what else is out there for someone w/ a music degree? Or, if you hold a music degree, do you regret it?

posted by anonymous to education (34 comments total)

Soundtracks, studio work, production, engineering, music business, songwriting, etc. There are a bazillion ways to make "music" your profession that don't involve playing in a major orchestra, being a rock star, or teaching.
posted by The World Famous at 1:03 PM on September 21

Since you're also interested in the sciences, you could eventually find work that combines science and music degrees. For example, there are scientists who study how plants and animals react to music. Or you could work in neuroscience and study the effects of music on the human brain. Or go into the mental health field with music therapy. There are all sorts of options. Don't give up on your passion.
posted by amyms at 1:09 PM on September 21

If you don't like teaching, you may have a really hard career ahead of you as a musician unless you are really good.

I guess you can't answer my questions, so just think about what you actually see yourself doing. If it is playing in a symphony, that's a tough gig to come by. Being a musician is a lot of being reliable and being good and being low maintenance to get on call lists and earning what you can when you can. It's showing up on time, keeping your mouth shut, doing what is asked of you, and being good at your instrument.

You can find stable careers, but it is hard. Symphony spots, military groups. studio musicians and such for performance, but a lot of it is teaching either private lessons or at schools of music.

If you don't like teaching, maybe it's best to keep your music on the side. There are plenty of community groups and semi-professional groups all over the place to play with. You may even be able to make some side money. But the road is tough for a vast majority of performers, especially if you don't want to teach.

That said, I have friends who wouldn't trade their performance degrees for anything and would hate their life if they had it any other way.
posted by cmm at 1:12 PM on September 21

I'm sure you'll get some good answers here, but I would go talk to someone in the music program at your school and ask them this question. Most schools will have a pat answer to your question (Example), but it's also important to ask what non-teaching jobs graduates of the program at your school have gotten in the past few years. That will give you a better idea of whether the program is a good fit for you or whether, if you decide to pursue music, that another school's program may fit your career goals better.
posted by BlooPen at 1:14 PM on September 21

I'd be interested in knowing what your current science career goal is and why you have to have a double major for it? Without knowing more details it seems like you should double major (since apparently you are doing it anyways?) in music and a science. But I guess that doesn't help you, or answer the question directly...
posted by lucy.jakobs at 1:14 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]

The only reason I'm not doing that now is that the career I'm thinking of requires me to double in something else, so if I do decide to pursue my musical passion I'd be shutting out that option.

This is a big red flag that Mystery Career is probably not for you.

You are three weeks into freshman year; you don't need be thinking about specific careers, anyway. If you want a double in music and science, do it. No employer is going to tell you "You're great for the job, with your good engineering background and all, but we have a policy of not hiring music majors. Now go back to Starbucks where you belong, hipster."

College is not vocational school. Set a good precedent for the rest of your life and study what you want to study. You won't regret it.
posted by Commander Rachek at 1:22 PM on September 21 [3 favorites]

My mom has a degree in music, aka "fine arts." She's a piano teacher. She has also been a sign language interpreter, music therapist and lunch lady.

I have a degree in voice performance. I also did enough undergrad coursework to fulfill the requirements for the music history option. After five years of working for the university in public relations (and additional work before that working as an RFP writer for a software company and a legal assistant), I just finished my master's in journalism. I had also been accepted to other programs in library science and public affairs. Many of my music school friends went on to med school, law school, grad school in German, biology or any other program they felt like. I have never, ever, intended to be a professional performer of any sort.

The important thing is to decide what you want to do and then prepare for it. At my major public university (where I both work and am a two-time alumna), we don't have strict pre-professional programs; we just encourage people to make good preparatory choices in their coursework while continuing to do whatever they'd like.

I went to the music school because I could and because I thought it would be interesting. I mainly wanted to have a solid academic background while I honed other skills in areas I thought would be useful in a variety of fields. I wanted to work for the university when I got out, and that had more to do with what I knew about the university and how it worked than whether I could sing a scale or make some sort of chemical reaction.

I should also point out that employers view former music students as interesting, creative and well rounded. In addition to the core competencies that every undergraduate should master, you would also have the experience of teamwork (small and large ensemble work), discipline (practice), performing under pressure, critical historical study... there are a lot of advantages. Every time I've told people what I did as an undergrad, they've said, "OooooOOOOoooh!"

Good luck with your decision!
posted by Madamina at 1:31 PM on September 21

I'll give you another side of it: I stuck out my science degree even though it became increasingly unsatisfying to me; there wasn't anything else clearly beckoning me so rather than experiment I chose to stick to a "safe" course and not experiment. After 4 years, though my grades were quite good (I graduated with honors), the thought of pursuing my original plan of a PhD was so abhorrent I was having nightmares about graduate school on a regular basis. I couldn't even bring myself to take the GREs.

Through much of my working life thus far my degree major has had virtually nothing to do with my jobs. I do not think my prospects would be substantially better or worse if I had taken a less "commercially viable" major. I try not to waste a lot of time on regrets but I sincerely wish I had tried harder to listen to my heart in college.
posted by nanojath at 1:32 PM on September 21

Many jobs out there don't care what your degree is in as long as you have one.

I work in IT and no one I work with has an IT related degree.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:33 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]

I'm typing this right now from a practice room at my university, where I have been dealing with this same dilemma. I decided that I love teaching, and I'm now passionately pursuing a career as an elementary music teacher. 4 years ago, I was pretty sure that I wanted to be a professional jazz trombonist, then I wanted to play in an orchestra, and then I wanted to be a high school band director. And now I'm here. I know that you say you don't want to teach (and that's good to realize at this point - you don't want to become a burned out teacher who wishes you were doing something else), but my point is that things can (and will) change in the next 4 years.

I have two friends who recently graduated with undergraduate degrees in performance from this school (a large state school with a mediocre music program) and are now grad students at Juilliard, with the ultimate goal of playing in a major symphony orchestra. I have seen the amount of energy and time that they put into practicing and I knew pretty early on that it wasn't for me. Not to burst your bubble, but realize that becoming a professional orchestra musician is an immense commitment. Be prepared to practice 3+ hours every day. I know several people who are pursuing double degrees (usually biochem [as pre-med] or CS) and almost all of them ended up going on to their non-music fields. I'm sure that they would tell you, though, that they enjoyed the extra year that they spent in school (most ended up taking 5 years) and they appreciated the enrichment that the music degree gave them. But do the math -- there's no way you're going to be able to balance course loads for 2 degrees, PLUS your 3 hours of practicing, PLUS your homework PLUS a job.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but I think it's worth it to be realistic. With a music degree, you can pursue a career in acoustics, audio engineering (another tough field to break into, unfortunately), music therapy, etc.

OR, you can just continue cruising along with your 2 degrees and decide in a few months. This is probably what I would do. Give yourself a chance to sink into your music program. Develop a relationship with your instructor and talk to him/her. Talk to your advisor (as someone mentioned above) and, if he/she isn't useful, talk to upperclassmen in your department and get their advice.
posted by rossination at 1:34 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]

What would majoring in music give you that you can't get without changing majors? Are there significant music opportunities at your school that are only open to music majors? Majoring in something other than music gives you career options, and doesn't cut off the possibility of making a career in music, provided that you take the time to work on your music outside of class time. Unless majoring in music confers some specific, unique benefit, I'd stick with your current major and spend a lot of your free time working on your music.
posted by decathecting at 1:40 PM on September 21

Keep in mind, there are not a lot of non-teaching jobs that involve music that require a degree in music. Unlike the sciences, many music jobs require you to have skills in your instrument, but those skills are ones that you can either teach yourself (to a certain degree), or learn by getting lessons and taking a few music classes as electives. Most of the people I know who took music as a major did so because they wanted to teach music or because they just wanted a degree, and didn't care what it was in, so they chose music. Most of the people I have been involved with in the music field do not have a degree in music.

Now, if you plan to be a classical composer than a strong music education is certainly going to be something you don't want to skip. If you want to be a performer, however, the real thing you want is guidance and time. Find a good teacher, and set aside 3-4 hours a day to practice (and if you aren't practicing that much every day, don't plan on getting too far as a musician unless you have a crazy natural gift to rely on).

The biggest benefit of a formal music education is the connections you make in the school. Once you've spent several years with a group of musicians, if they need someone to fill in on a gig or to come in for a recording, they will call you before they start searching around (assuming you are any good and connected with them well). Half of being a successful musician nowadays is networking, and a school will naturally get that started for you.
posted by markblasco at 1:40 PM on September 21

FWIW, there was a string quartet in my 10 person physics study group as an undergrad, and my first year roommate doubled in physics and music ethnography (or something like that, he did field work with previously unrecorded kinds of folk music in rural India).

I'll say that the lab work in a biology/chem background and the programing and mathematical work in physics/pretentious chem are vocationally useful skills. Believe it or not, there is still industry located in the United States.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 1:42 PM on September 21

The only reason I'm not doing that now is that the career I'm thinking of requires me to double in something else, so if I do decide to pursue my musical passion I'd be shutting out that option.

There's really a career out there that absolutely requires a double major of two particular majors? That seems unlikely. If you can handle the course-load, it seems like double majoring with Music and a science would make sense. Or even just majoring in a science and taking music courses outside of your major requirements if you decide that you aren't going to pursue a career in music.

If you're not sure about what major(s) you'll end up with when you graduate, make sure you take a lot of the GenEd courses in your first few semesters (although don't go too overboard with that, because putting off all of your difficult courses until your senior year is no fun either).
posted by burnmp3s at 1:43 PM on September 21

I'm a music major that fought being a music major every step of the way - it felt right to me, though, and in the end, I went with my heart.

I'm currently in graduate school for music, but with my undergrad degree, I did teach. I also worked for a non-profit in Washington, DC, as well as a think tank. The field in which my degree was in seemed to be less important, especially in the social sciences, than my connections and my other skills.

I'm not saying that'll work for you - I went to a small liberal arts school for undergrad. Now that I'm in graduate school at a huge music program, I see undergrads being pushed through the gears at a scary rate, each other them being trained to do exactly one thing, be it teach band, be an alto, or compose.

There are ways to find other things - keep the double major if you find it enjoyable. But don't forget that music impacts people in different ways, and while some can live without it, it's so passionate a calling that you can't get away. Trust me, it hurts even more when you try to ignore it.
posted by SNWidget at 1:47 PM on September 21

Many jobs out there don't care what your degree is in as long as you have one.

On the other hand, many jobs demand that you have a very specific university degree, and in many cases the degree is something you need to be working toward from year one. If you want to do one of those jobs, do what it takes.

You're going to hear from a lot of people that you don't have to decide now, that you can just do general education classes for the first year or two, and decide later, etc. What you're not going to hear so often is the fact that, if you do that, your choices as to what programs to be in when you do decide what to do will have been narrowed significantly, and that there are programs that demand a commitment from the beginning in order to be accepted into the program, etc. Learn exactly what really must be done before you believe someone who says you don't have to decide now.

There are many music careers that do not require that you have a degree in music. They do, however, often require that you be unbelievably good at music anyway. I know a lot of extremely successful (in terms of money) musicans who are very talented and who have no music degree. But they are in specific areas of music that do not require a music degree. Whether you need a degree to have a music career depends largely on what sort of music career you want.

We don't know what sort of music you do - do you play an instrument? What instrument? Do you want to be a "classical" musician? Do you want to play in some sort of group? Do you want performance to be your career? If so, what sort of performance? If, for example, you play the violin and you want to get a degree in violin performance and you specifically want to only play chamber music, the career options for you will be largely dependent on your willingness to at least teach in some way. If you want to play percussion in a major symphony orchestra, there will be a specific career path in order for you to be able to do that. But it all depends on a) what you want to do, and b) what you are willing to do.

But don't put off deciding. Waiting to make a decision means losing opportunities.
posted by The World Famous at 1:51 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]

As someone who works in the music business (arts management for a non-profit) and who got a bachelors in music performance, I wanted to chime in and say that double majoring in music plus anything else is REALLY HARD.

Timewise, as a music major, you have to spend hours and hours of practicing each day. Depending on your instrument, expect to spend 3 - 5 hours in a practice room each day working on your solo rep and orchestral excerpts. (Probably more hours if you're a string player.)

That's on top of ensemble rehearsals (2 hours per day for 3 days a week for *each* ensemble), music history/theory/etc classes, and homework for those classes. And if you want to succeed as a performer, you need to put in as many hours as humanly possible practicing your instrument, playing in ensembles, and getting coaching from the best professors and professional musicians that you can find.

I figured out about halfway through school that I was seriously interested in arts management. So for awhile I dabbled in other areas in order to try to make myself more marketable (business classes, working campus jobs in arts management) and I made it work out, but just barely. I can't imagine having a full additional non-overlapping major like sciences. (And science degrees are so time intensive!) My conservatory discouraged double majors unless both were in the music school (performance + composition or similar), which really annoyed me at the time, but now I fully acknowledge was a wise move. When auditioning for performance programs for grad school, I never would have stood a chance if I'd spent the last 4-5 years pursuing another degree as well.

Aside from the comments about double majoring, I do want to point out careers in arts management as a fairly decent way to make a living while still working in the arts. I thoroughly enjoy what I do, and careers in the field are a good option in order to stay connected to the art and have an artistically satisfying career, while actually being able to pay your bills. There's all sorts of options you can explore that fit your interest - arts administrator for a top 10 symphony orchestra, general manager for a small community chorus, grant writer for large arts presenter - and you don't necessarily need a degree beyond your music degree, as long as you don't mind working your way up and try to do some internships throughout your time in school.
posted by soleiluna at 1:54 PM on September 21 [2 favorites]

To be a serious downer:
You will more than likely have college loans once you graduate. You will be expected to begin paying them back ~9 months after you graduate. Hopefully you will have a job. You will need a transportation to get to work. You will need a roof over your head while you are not at work. You will need insurance. You will need dental work. You will need food to eat.

Two weeks ago, there was a big annual company concert. There are a lot of talented musicians who work with me. Some of the guys I know work here just to play that show every year, as its fun. Some perform more and play a few of the other shows throughout the year. A bunch of other guys run studio projects on the side. There is almost always a small jam session between co-workers some time during the week.

Out of it, I know one guy that launches his own studio full-time within the next few months; and I'll be wishing a good friend goodbye this week as his band makes a big step towards touring full time (they've toured for years prior, but this is where they've been signed with enough stuff that they might just "make it").


Don't discount whatever field you are studying; picking one doesn't mean you can't work in another. Everybody needs a dayjob, and the great thing about music is - there are always people around you who enjoy it.
posted by Nanukthedog at 2:03 PM on September 21

This is not a direct answer to your question, but you might appreciate my point of view. I was a music major during my freshman year, decided it wasn't for me, and went on to get a degree in Political Science and a law degree. I changed to a non-music major because (a) I wanted a stable career, and (b) I did not want to teach but did not think I was quite good enough to have a stable career as a performance major.

I've been out of school for almost ten years now, and although I'm not entirely happy with my career choice, I do not regret giving up music as a career. Music is a lot more fun when you don't have to worry about making money. That said, I do have pangs of pseudo-regret almost every day, but it's not really the kind of regret that makes me wish I followed through on that music degree. It's more along the lines of: I wish I had time to practice 8 hours a day, because then I could develop all these great skills; or: I just sat in with this great band, wouldn't it be fun to play with musicians of this caliber every weekend? Then I think about all the things I'd have to give up if I were a professional musician, and the regret goes away -- until the next time I hear a great lick on a recording and wish I had time to work it out.
posted by crLLC at 2:08 PM on September 21 [2 favorites]

I am generally of the follow your passion school or course/major selection, but in fairness I am 28 and just recently found my first "real" job, so that shows what I know.

One thing you ought to consider is that if your college is anything like mine (small, liberal arts, takes studio art seriously) you are about to choose two extremely time consuming majors before you really have your feet wet.

You are only 3 weeks into college, and I am not going to say this as an insult, its just a statement of fact, you know exactly shit about where you are going to be in 4 years and how you will respond to college. You do not need to make a decision right now, nor should you think that you have too. It is entirely possible to run a science major alongside a BFA (my ex did psychology and photography and did very well in both), but you need to be aware that you will have no free time ever.

Also remember that lots of people minor in things that they are profoundly interested in but dont see themselves making a career out of, ask me about my minor in ceramics...
posted by BobbyDigital at 2:10 PM on September 21

Also, I have to agree with some of the previous posts: I can't imagine double-majoring in music performance and something as demanding as a science career. Unless you are a total genius at one of the two things, you will probably end up being mediocre, at best, in at least one of the two fields. Being a top-flight musician requires many hours of practice and many hours of rehearsals/performing. You need to be thinking about music at least 12 hours a day.
posted by crLLC at 2:16 PM on September 21

Yes, what is the double major involved? You probably don't need to specialize so soon...and if you really want to, you can always do the required double science major courses post-baccalaureate.

Anyway, why do you have to do a music major? Why not take music classes and do extracurricular music activities? That might work as well...
posted by kathrineg at 2:17 PM on September 21

I have a friend who went to Oberlin and did their double degree program, receiving bachelor's degrees in both music performance and religion (which was just a topic that she found interesting and enjoyed studying liberal arts-style), then went on to a good graduate program in music performance and now is full time in a symphony orchestra. My friend is brilliant and talented, but I don't think she is the only person to ever do this.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:21 PM on September 21

I don't understand why not majoring in music has to mean not pursuing music. I did not major in music, and yet I spent my entire college career playing music. There are so many opportunities for you to continue playing music both during and after college that I strongly urge you to stop thinking about majoring in the sciences as the end of your musical career and just find some bands/orchestras/jam groups/whatever to join!
posted by kthxbi at 2:37 PM on September 21

It's said above, but I'll echo this: don't make the mistake of thinking of college/university primarily as a vocational school.

Really. In fact, I'd say don't think of it as a vocational school at all but as a rule if you want to work engineering, the hard sciences, some kinds of medicine, or almost any branch of academia, they are your vocational route. So there are exceptions. But many (probably most) major courses of study don't map directly to any single given kind of job. And vice versa.

I have an acquaintance who was majoring in computer science but taking dance classes. One day he compared the experience of being in the computer lab to being in a dance class, and saw pale out-of-shape perplexed people with wan expressions in bad lighting vs happy people enjoying moving, listening to music, and exercising. He changed his major and spent four years of the prime of his life enjoying himself and learning how to learn how to move athletically and artistically. And now he's a programmer and teaches dance classes on the side.

Not a bad move at all, really. He didn't sell his time out early. And when it comes down to it, anybody with the patience for it and a modicum of logical ability can learn to program computers. A good computer science program can make you a considerably better programmer, it's true, but you can learn to do the job at a median level enough with a few classes, a book or two, and some spare time invested in it.

I strongly suspect that a lot of the jobs in the world are the same way. Not all of them: careers where we want masters doing hard jobs as effectively as possible aren't like this, we send those people on tracks of focused study lasting 5-10 years, and then they're green for a few years while they learn to practice.

If you want one of those jobs, fret about your choice of a major. Otherwise, study something you're enthusiastic about while you're figuring out how you'll get a job that'll pay your rent. Maybe you'll also a practical minor that you also like or have a high tolerance for. Maybe you'll turn that into a related internship. Maybe you'll pick a part-time entry-level job somewhere while you're in school in some field that you think'd be OK. Maybe you'll think of something else. You probably will think of something else if you're industrious, creative, and more or less happy with what you're doing at the moment. Maybe you'll even study that something else later. But in the meanwhile, you'll be engaged in getting a general education and learning to work hard on a discipline of your choice.

The time will come when you will have to give something -- probably including a lot of your time -- to the rest of the world in order to make a living, and it's wise to think about how to prepare for that. But why sell your time and your education out now, particularly in a period of life where our society offers you some time to choose?
posted by weston at 2:51 PM on September 21

So, here's a question I can't answer, but seems like it might help the OP:

Previously stated: Music majors have to spend a lot of time practicing and rehearsing to successfully graduate, and professional musicians need to have spent a heckalotta time becoming incredibly proficient to be a successful musician. Aside from having been "forced" to practice more, what are some reasons that having a degree in music gives a 22-year-old a better shot at making a living playing music?

Maybe this is a question OP should be asking the music department.
posted by aimedwander at 2:56 PM on September 21

Aside from having been "forced" to practice more, what are some reasons that having a degree in music gives a 22-year-old a better shot at making a living playing music?

Certain types of music jobs require a degree (or multiple degrees). For example, you're not going to get to play in a major symphony orchestra if you don't go to music school. On the other hand, if you want to be a guitar player in a band playing at the Gathering Of The Juggalos, you don't need a music degree.

Moreover, the benefit of a music degree isn't just the practice time. It's pedagogy, theory, knowledge of the technical aspects of music. In short, it is things that people by and large do not learn through music as a hobby. Any career that requires not only proficiency in those technical aspects but quick and easy proof that you have that proficiency is going to need you to have a music degree.

Hypothetical: Two musicians apply for the same studio musician job that requires extensive sightreading and rearranging - including transposing, etc. - a movie score that uses seven or eight different styles of music. The session is tomorrow. One of them says "I have the skills to do that job. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in composition and performance." The other says "I have the skills to do that job. I have been playing as a hobby through college and I'm really talented." Given that the necessary skills cannot be demonstrated in a "playing" audition, which of the two would you pick for the job?
posted by The World Famous at 3:27 PM on September 21

I don't have a music degree, but I thought I would like to give a perspective as a double major in one practical field (soc/ physical sciences) and one non-practical field (Creative Writing ). I graduated from a top five undergraduate institution.

I love both of these majors, but creative writing what I really want to do in my life. I could devote my entire career to being a writer... like the 50 other kids in my class. I have won writing prizes and I consider myself to be fairly good at it. But so do some of the other kids in my class. And after college, they find themselves teaching writing classes, or getting unpaid internships at publications, or working in minimum wage occupations -- barristas, anyone? Here's the thing: there are too many wannabe writers, and not enough demand for them.

Not saying that there's anything wrong with being a barristas, but I'm not really the kind of person to do something like that. I value stability and a peace of mind too much to do something like that. In addition, I need stability in order to be creative. There's nothing more taxing and creative-energy-sapping than wondering how you're going to pay off your credit card bills next month or worrying whether your checking account would be overdrawn with that one additional expense you charged to it.

So I compromise. I work in my practical field, but I promised myself that I would still continue to read and write as much as I could, and that I would take time off in the future to pursue a MFA in creative writing.

My advice to you is: double major. You sound like the type of person who can do both, even if it means sacrifice. More importantly, you are a type of person who does not want to work in Starbucks. Have a backup plan. Follow your dreams, but don't follow them blindly.
posted by moiraine at 4:05 PM on September 21

Well, these days you might end up working at Starbucks anyway even with a science degree.

If your heart is screaming, "MUSIC MAJOR!!111!!!", though, you might just want to give in to it, because odds are the screaming won't stop and clearly, practical logic is not dousing that desire. And you're probably not going to be returning to undergrad college for a third bachelor's degree if you change your mind after college.

But if you are three weeks in as a freshman, do you have to declare right off? Take some classes in both majors and see if you can deal with the juggling of the two majors.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:07 PM on September 21

I did a degree in music, and I work in IT. I remember one of my lecturers saying:

"Colleges and universities were once places of learning, not vocational training centres. Don't be afraid to learn for the sake of learning"

My degree taught me many valuable things, things I apply in my career in IT all the time. Being able to work well in a team environment (playing a different band every week or 3 - 4 bands in a single week), being able to use technology in creative ways, analytical skills, communication skills etc.

But intimately, I just really enjoyed studying, learning more about music, and learning more about myself.

I love working in IT. I love still being involved in music. I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted by Admira at 4:20 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]

Museum education, non-profit arts programs, performing artist in residence for starters. I hold a number of music degrees and now work in museum education at a fantastic music museum. There are always organizations such as Young Audiences, LEAP, http://www.revels.org/, or even working for a symphony, opera, or theater, teaching, organizing, performing, coordinating. There are wonderful job opportunities listed at idealist.org. As jenfullmoon notes, in this economy a college degree does not guarantee a job anymore, so you might as well grab the bull by the horns. The other thing to keep in mind is that college is awesome and should be awesome. You can work hard but have fun learning, and if you're not having a great time learning, then it may be time for a change.

Luck to you!
posted by cachondeo45 at 4:31 PM on September 21 [2 favorites]

Just an anecdote, my english teacher last year (high school sophomore) had a masters degree in guitar performance.
posted by kylej at 5:00 PM on September 21

I seem to remember some universities will allow you to pursue a second undergrad degree after being awarded your first, and they would treat all your previous general requirements as taken (so you only needed to take additional classes in your new major to have an additional degree in 1-3 years and not repeat the English/Math/Science/history requirements). The catch was that you could not count any previous classes in your new major towards your new degree. IE, you could not double-major in business and comp-sci now with a few music-dept electives, and then return for a new bachelor's degree in music using those electives to give you a head start.

Nthing that doing a music degree alone is a pretty demanding schedule.
posted by K.P. at 5:28 PM on September 21

My bf got a music composition degree from U.C. Berkeley and his first job out of college was at Tower Records. He went back and took a bunch of programming classes and now he's in software. So the music degree didn't help him with a "stable" job.

But now he's also actually playing music, and let me tell you, he is heads and tails ahead of everyone I know in terms of music theory and knowledge. The composition major didn't help his performance skills necessarily, but he has a rock solid knowledge of the priniciples of music. So, my conclusion is that if you want to be a musician, being a music major would be pretty useful.
posted by gt2 at 8:45 PM on September 21