Conducting, Composing, And College

I figured this would be a good place to get in touch with people who are well-established or semi-established conductors, composers, people in higher ed. I have a few questions since I will be a High School senior next year.

Currently I am looking at going to UGA (University of Georgia) for an Undergrad Composition. From here I am looking at going to Graduate School in a more lucrative place local (such as Belmont, Bervard, Furman, etc) to do a masters in Conducting with a possible concentration in Wind Band. Then again going up for a DMA or PhD (Still lost in the difference) up in Cincinnati, Julliard, and more of those upper schools.

My hope is to teach higher ed, be a clinician, be a composer, be a conductor for a big ensemble, or basically that path. I was wondering if the people here have much experience to pick my mind and give me advice. I LOVE conducting and I LOVE composing. I feel like it would be a great life for me.

I beg you to ask me questions, point me to people, point me to websites, and give me advice just because I want to be informed.

Thanks

-Patrick

Based on your writing, it's hard to envision your ever being granted a Phd. You should take that into account when making your plans.

Notice that I never said composition for PhD. Please read.

Beyond the fact that your post just sounded rude and was helpful none whatsoever.

Notice that I never said composition for PhD. Please read.

To clarify: I don't think I've ever seen your music. I was referring to the way you use language.

To clarify: I don't think I've ever seen your music. I was referring to the way you use language.

Then that is a more outrageous claim. To be so judgmental on that basic level is utterly ridiculous. Just because I made a post with uncertainty on the question I was asking does not mean that I am "illiterate" with the way I use my words. Exact phrasing for what I was asking was escaping me. You can feel free to just leave the thread if you are going to be that ridiculous. I have PLENTY of testing credentials to refute that ridiculous statement you just made, beyond the fact that the expanse between now and when I would be going for a PhD would be more than enough time to refine my writing even more. Sunday is a relaxed day, so beyond the fact that I never asked about writing, I do not plan to write my best prose on Sundays. The topic refers to music, as does the forum, and not a single person's writing style or ability.

Thanks and have a nice day.

I wouldn't try to think too far ahead at this point.  If conducting and composing are what you want right now, find the best school that you can, go learn, try anything else that interests you while you're there, and work REALLY HARD, so you'll be ready and well-qualified for whatever comes next.  Worry about grad school in 4 years.  (:  

Step one:  college and composing and conducting whenever you can.  

I'm in the same boat as you except I'm already a senior and will be going to college this fall, focusing whole-heartily on composition. Remember most music schools require auditions on a musical instrument, so make sure you refine your playing. I was accepted into UM and FSU (I didn't apply anywhere else), and while I feel my compositions were strong, I think my playing was the more impressive part of my auditions. Granted, I've only been composing for two years. They like to see someone who can not only compose, but also play their instrument at a high level. 

What is your favorite color?

Thanks, I'm just looking ahead because I know what I want to do and I see myself doing it.

Thanks, yeah I love playing too, so I have been refining it.

Navy

You're welcome

I don't think you are thinking too far ahead at all. Your goals and ways to get there vis a vis higher education are very admirable. In my experience it is rare for any individual, and especially for someone of your age, to actually have a plan mapped out. If you love music this much and are gifted enough to go the distance, than it will serve you well.

Give yourself allowances for change though. Change of school, change of specialization, change for things beyond your control, technology, economics, politics, whatever. I knew a piano major who was a cut above the rest of the department because in addition to being well prepared and musically brilliant, she planned! Just in her third year she already new the teacher whom she would study with in Paris for her Master's.

From what you describe you probably know that the competition is tough and that a Doctorate degree will be required to teach at most schools. However, a community college would welcome you with a Masters, during which you can work on your higher degree.

Best of luck to you!

a community college would welcome you with a Masters

Not likely unless you're somehow distinguished in your field. 

Not likely unless you're somehow distinguished in your field. 

We must assume that he's not getting into music just to be average. ;)

We must assume that he's not getting into music just to be average. ;)

Well as far as actually having a realistic career in music goes, being distinguished is average. No one goes into music with the goal of being average (not in the sense I have just described) but the unfortunate reality is that most people fail. 

Patrick:

Another piece of advice is to grow a thick skin. Pay no attention to the morons on this site. They have little to offer but hot air and buzz kill.

Patrick:

 

Another piece of advice is to grow a thick skin. Pay no attention to the morons on this site. They have little to offer but hot air and buzz kill.

Exactly: the idea that the odds are not against you is the mindset of someone who is inebriated with ambition. Unfortunately, being a doe-eyed dreamer is useful to approximately 0 people. Also, I like that you're advising our friend Patrick here to 'grow thick skin' while simultaneously ignoring people who might make him second-guess his own abilities and goals. Surely, you're speaking literally here and will provide a link to some collagen pills or something?

CAUTION:  Long rant:  

On the subject of teaching, I've always loved Marguerite Wildenhain.  She is a potter, not a musician, but her advice still applies.  "Often American art school graduates take teaching jobs... They have never proved they could make it on their own, as all other professionals do.  That is why they teach.  The job will save them the painful experience of finding out how very little they know.  Please imagine a doctor training medical students when he has had only a first aid course as training."  

You do not have the right to teach, unless you can make a living without the teaching income.  How will you know what to teach to produce successful students otherwise?  Will your students go on to teach students who go on to teach students who go on to teach students...?  It is doing us all a disservice to help perpetuate a system like that.  It makes for a lot of mediocre music.  The world needs a few great music teachers, but lots and lots of great working musicians.  

Be willing to undergo some serious privation instead.  My pottery teacher lived in a tent for a year while he figured out how to make a living as an actual potter.  A friend lived out of his car while he got his music career started.  Most of the artists and musicians I know have made the decision not to have children, or to only have one.  Be ready to go without health insurance for years.  Be ready to chose between buying food and putting five dollars of gas in the car to get to your gig.  Relationships and friendships will end when you can't afford to go out on Saturday night, or always have performances on the weekends.  You drift apart because you don't see each other often and your non-musician friends start to spend more time with other people...  Get ready to say, "I'm sorry, I'd love to come to your wedding, but I just can't afford the plane ticket."  

But if it's worth it to you, be a musician.  And if you are really called to teach, be sure you know what you are doing.  If you are serious about teaching, you owe it to your students to be a GREAT teacher.  One who can prepare them for careers as working musicians.  How good a job you do will mean the difference between THEM making it as musicians and them not having the five dollars to put gas in the car and getting fed up and quitting.  It will mean the difference between your students becoming poor-quality teachers themselves, who occasionally perform, and them being great and sought-after performers, a select few of whom feel a need to give back by teaching.  

I was rather upset to get a survey from the career center at my very fine college about the value of my art education.  ALL of the questions were about where do you teach, how much do you teach, what is your second job, are you now a museum curator, do you own an art gallery?  None of them asked about art work, how do you sell it, how do you advertise it, who are your customers, how much work do you make in a year.  The assumption was that none of us had actually gone on to be working artists.  Clearly, we must be making a living associated with the art world, but not by making and selling art.  Oh, I was MAD!  

Okay, rant over.  Off to make some platters and practice a duet.  

Thanks Ken for your advice and encouragement. It is greatly appreciated.

Pate, I appreciate that perspective and I believe that too.

(Sorry for the lack of content in this, I am pressed on time at the moment, but felt like making it known that I am still reading off this topic with people's ideas, opinions, and suggestions.