MahlerBrass

That's very inspiring Mr. Laureano. Before I went to college and decided that I was going to do music as a career, my brother (who is an amazing bassoon player), gave me a huge lecture on what to expect as a teacher and performer, one of the quotes that I remember very much from that conversation was when he said "Music isn't a career, it's a way of life," man was he right. Although I'm not even out of college yet, I got my hands full around town doing freelance stuff, not to mention convering my own practice stuff for ensembles or lessons, and a full studio of lesson kids in surrounding areas. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but just wanted to leave with that quote, one that has helped better understand what I was getting myself in to.

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Music isn't a career, it's a way of life.

trickg

Since I don't know your background I can only say that with the financial responsibilities most adults have combined with having certain material desires in life, eventually you NEED to worry about the size of your paycheck. It's the reason that I am on my current career path.

I always thought that I wanted to be a high school band director until I started volunteering at an area high school, working with the marching band and the Jazz band. I found that I couldn't deal with the apathy of many of the kids - I was busting my butt, putting my energy and effort into trying to teach kids that couldn't care less. I also couldn't deal with the arrogance. Here I was, WORKING as a marching musician in the Army and had been for years, yet these kids always seemed to know more than me. Yeah, right. Apathy and attitude, and I found that I couldn't deal with either of them. Maybe Lara knows her nature well enough to have already come to some of the conclusions that I came to nearly 10 years after I initially thought I wanted to teach.

Back to the subject of how I chose my current career field, let me first start off by saying that I tend to be a bit of a "grass is always greener on the other side" kind of a guy, but the one thing that has remained constant in my life from the time I was about 13 is my desire to play and perform music with an ensemble.

From the time I was in Junior high, I wanted to do SOMETHING with music for my life's work. I always liked playing and performing, but in high school I came to a couple of realizations. One was that there are a lot of trumpet players out there, many of them way better than me, and that paying playing opportunities where you could actually make a good living playing were on short supply, and you either had to be very good, in the right place at the right time, or know someone in the business that could do you a favor. Another realization that I came to was that in my apathay regarding all else that didn't involve music, my grades were so bad that scholarships for college didn't seem likely, and since I don't come from oodles of money, college was going to be rough for me financially. Then an Army recruiter called, I found out about the Army Band program, and after passing a screening audition, I ended up enlisting in the Army to play trumpet.

Did I mention that I am also a bit of an escapist? If I am confronted with a hard decision, I tend to take the path of least resistance and Joining the Army at that time was for me a great way to escape. While my classmates were sweating over college and scholarship applications, wondering where they were going to go or what they were going to major in, with the stroke of a pen, I cast aside any need to worry about such things for the next three years. I enlisted in the delayed entry program in late September of my Senior year of high school and spent the rest of that year blissfully carefree knowing that my next step in life was signed, sealed and delivered. All I had to do was show up on the right day to get sent off to basic training and the rest would be handled by someone else.

But after about 7 years in the Army, I started looking at what I had accomplished and what the future held for me if I remained in the Army. The answer to both of those questions was "not much" and I began to start working toward the old goal of becoming a high school band director, attending college courses at night and volunteering at a local high school to work with the band several days a week. After a year and a half of that, I came to the conclusion that teaching high school was not for me. Years of experience had given me enough knowledge, but the kids sapped my desire for that line of work, so once again I was at square "1". It was at this point when computers and the dot coms really started booming.

A friend of mine decided to sever his ties with the Army by going to a tech school, taking courses in programming, and getting a good job as a computer programmer. He seemed to think that would be a good course of action for me too since he knew that I was unhappy with what I was doing with my life in the Army. So, I did what he did - I had re-enlisted on an incentive school option - I re-upped for 4 years with the understanding that I would get semester off to go to college full time. It was finally my turn to get a semester off, and rather than signing up for courses at a "normal" college, I invested a good chunk of money and signed up for courses at a computer technical school where I obtained the skills necessary to become an entry level programmer. I finished the tech school courses within a month of my official Army separation date, and was actually working at a new job before I finished with Terminal Leave. After 5 years of this, I now work as a database administrator....and I wish that I was doing something with music.

In some ways I feel like I sold out. I get paid well and I'm pretty good at what I do, but most of the time my heart is not in it and I think that I would gladly take a cut in pay to go back and do something else. I still gig on weekends with a rock and roll party band, but this has become somewhat frustrating too because with everything going on in my life as a husband, a father of two, and my career in technology, I never feel like I have the time to work on my craft as a musician anymore. I know I can be better because I used to be a lot better.

So, in the end, I have always just shucked and jived and have done whatever comes next. At the moment, I have decided that to try and change careers again would be financial folly, so I'm actually working on getting a Microsoft Certification to increase my pay and make me more marketable should I ever decide to leave my current company.

Sorry for the over-long post. I try not to ramble, but I wanted to give a full picture that life can and does throw you curveballs, and that your best laid plans at age 17 may not amount to a hill of beans when you are twice that age. Also, sometimes you do what have to do, not necessarily what you want to do, because that's what the responsibility of life and family dictates, however, if you can, try to make a living doing what you love.

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Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius

ScreaminRaider

Lara,

I was in the same situation that you are in right now when I was in HS. I wanted to be a band director, but wasn't sure whether I had what it takes. My director explained to me that It was a tough career. You have to be dedicated to going at it 150% every day, and even on saturdays. Now that I am in college, and have taught privatly, and done some masterclasses at various Middle Schools, and I have decided that I love it, no matter how stressing it may be sometimes. My advice to you is finish HS, and go to College not knowing yet what you want to do, It's ok, thousands of college fresman do it. The main thing it to find something you love. Do something that you would do for free. It doesn't matter if you major in basket-weaving with all the football players, find a career that you love.

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Jonathan Wright

Manny Laureano

Quote of the week!

ML

dizforprez

"Do something that you would do for free. "

or as my trumpet teacher in college would say: " what would you want to do if you had all the money in the world and never had to work again?"

I am not trying to lead you where you dont want to go, it is just I hate to see people saying they dont have the ablities to do something when they might not have all the info they need yet to make such a decision.


I was pretty much in the same boat as you when i got out of HS. I wanted to be a BD but thought alot of the same things you did so i went pol sci at a school that didnt even offer a music degree. after one semseter I knew i had to be in music, so i changed schools and majors. after getting to a music school I found out there was alot more to music than just being a band teacher. So I teach band but i keep taking lessons on the horn trying to grow, I hope one day to go back for a DMA in trumpet and maybe teach at a college.

Lara, you might want to think about going to college as a music BA major for the first semseter or two then picking what you like best in music. There are alot of differnt types of degrees in music, you dont have to go either performance or education. If you go to college with the field of study picked out I think you will already be ahead of most people.

riffdawg2000

Gosh .... I REALLY do like that!

Lara - what is wrong with just having an 'idea' when going off to college ... find out what the core classes and music classes are for each discipline ...

Most classes @ colleges do require some of the same classes..no matter what the major ... Pol Sci, English 101 & 102, some math & science, etc...
Any Music degree is gonna require theory also ... so ...

Semester 1
Eng 101
Math 110
Band 101
Sci 101
Applied Lessons
Mus Theory 101

Semester 2
Eng 102
Math 111
Band 102
Sci 102
Applied Lessons
Mus Theory 102

By the end of your freshman year, you might have decided exactly what fits you. Maybe not ... but I bet there is an 85% chance you will.

AND...if you decide *NOT* to major in Music Therapy or Education, I bet you that your Music Theory, Applied Lessons, and Band credits can be applied to your degree as General 'Electives' that all majors require.

Just a thought ...

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Joel Thomas
Atlanta, Georgia

trickg

"What would you want to do if you had all the money in the world and never had to work again?"

This is a great question. For me, I would want to travel, play music, read, work out (Physical fitness and keeping fit is something else that I really enjoy, but never seem to have enough time to do.) and in general, just enjoy life. I'd like to be a travel and food critic too!

I also think that I would like being a session musician, but I'm not sure that I have the potential to get my chops to a place where I could actually do that. I'm a good player, but to be a first call session player requires a high level of chops, great sight reading ability, and consistency that I just don't know if I'm capable of.

If I had all of the money in the world and never had to work again, I'm sure that my life would be full of entertaining diversions, none of which would really matter in the long run.

__________________
Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius

Still Trying

I had not planned on posting on this thread because I have too many thoughts are conjured up by the topic to be too concise in answering the original question. But some of the answers have prompted me to dive in any way.

#1. I was talked out of being a music major in college by my Dad, who was primarily responsible for my wanting to be a music major in the first place. My Dad had been in the music business most of his life and was a firm believer in maintaining one's musical interests as a profitable sideline to your "day job". He had experienced the frustration of trying to support a family as a full time musician, and concluded there was no reason one should not be able to enjoy playing as much as he wished, as long as he wasn't depending on music income to pay all the bills.

In my life's experience, he was wrong. It is not easy to find all the playing you wish once you've graduated from college and no longer have access to all those school related groups (marching band, concert band, orchestra, stage band, ensembles) that one kind of takes for granted, when in school. It really is not that easy to find unlimited playing opportunities in the real world, if one chooses to pursue another type of career, other than music. At least this has been true in my experience. Even if opportunities abound, your chosen career will demand a dedication of its own, which is likely to encroach on your playing opportunities. As an extreme example, I've worked chemical plant startups that required extended 12 to 12.5 hour shifts for days on end. At one point I worked 12.5 hours a day for 95 out of 98 days in a row. That did not leave much time for practicing, much less playing gigs So if playing trumpet is important to you, this is something to consider.

#2. A prime perrequisite for teaching school is a love for kids. Before I went to work in the petrochemical field, I taught school for 11 years total (9 years public school, 2 years in private school). I have three secondary teaching certifications in Texas: History, biology, and mathematics. And I formed the opinion from teaching that there are basically two types of individuals one encounters in the education profession-those who love kids and those who don't. It might sound funny that someone would be in the teaching profession and didn't love kids. But there are a lot of people in the profession, who prepared to be teachers, and after they got in a classroom, discovered teaching really wasn't what they liked to do. The kids got to them, so to speak. Most of those folks go into administration or some other support activity relative to the classroom. The teachers, who love kids, have a tendency to stay right there in the classroom.

If you are tempted to be a band director, I encourage you to examine your heart carefully to see how much you really love kids. Because you don't just teach music. You teach kids. And it might sound trite, but you owe it to yourself, and to your future students to love kids, if you ever plan on becoming a part of the education community. Me? The day I left school teaching, I went home and cried like a baby, because I loved it so much. It was really embarrasing.

#3. One of the prime reasons for acquiring a college education is to acquire a skill, which can be turned into an income. A doctor, lawyer, or accountant just has a high priced skill. They acquired a skill through education that can be turned into money. When you get out of college, unless you are independantly wealthy, you are going to have to get a job and support yourself. If you have a degree that cannot be turned into money, you are very likely to come to the decision at some point that you wasted your time and money in acquiring a worthless degree.

If you're not a world class trumpet player, (and inspite of the thousands and thousands of us who play trumpet, the number among us who are truly world class is very small), then finding that you don't really like to teach is likely to leave you feeling like you have a worthless degree. If you aren't good enough to make a living playing, and you don't like to teach, what are you going to do with a music degree.

In my case I knew I wasn't world class material and was never going to challenge Herseth for his chair at the CSO. What I didn't know in college was how much I loved to teach. If I had known that, I would have majored in music, and been a band director.

I think you need to consider all these things. But the advice about just doing something you love can be very bad advice if your degree can't be turned into an income down the road. If your degree is worthless as an income producer, what's left? Tossing burgers at McDonalds or working what ever you can get for minimum wages?

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S.T.

What do we have that we did not receive, and if we received it, why do we glory, as if we received it not?

trickg

S.T, you make some fantastic points and have really boiled down my overlong post as to the reason that I'm a database programmer and not a musician - as a DBA, I have a marketable skill that I can use to earn a good living - as a musician, I'm good, but only good. I'm nowhere near good enough to to make my living doing it, and even some of those musicians who are good enough are still struggling due to lack of opportunity.

You also made a great comment about teachers loving kids. My wife is one of the most over-educated under-paid people I know. She has a Master's degree in Education Administration, plus a handful of other credits. She could easily get a position as a Vice Principal and follow it up soon after with a school of her own, but she won't ever leave the classroom. Why? Because she dearly loves the kids and loves to teach them.

So, you've got to bring home the bacon and unfortunately, you can't always do that by doing something that you love to do.

__________________
Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius

dizforprez

joel pretty much hit was i was trying to get at when i said you might want to try a BA in music. your first year of college is pretty generic. you could do a BA in music and change to anything after the first year and not lose a step.

Patrick,
I would pretty much do the same as you if i never had to worry about $. but as to if those things matter that is a different question. I think a life spent in self betterment is not a waste. I believe the best way to improve the world is to improve yourself.