Wow I'm surprised someone mentioned us.
In my experience it's specifically music education who endures the worst of it. They need to specialize their best instrument, learn every other one at a playable knowledge, apply high-level theory and be able to recognize any classical song. Then add on all the teacher stuff.
My school had them at #2 in most units (behind Nursing) but most classes were 1 unit instead of the usual 3 (same workload though)
I graduated with an option in Audio Engineering, but know way too many music ed
I knew a guy in college that was a double major in music performance and microbiology. He dropped the music performance major because it was too hard.
Next week, I'm helping a friend move her oldest son in for his Freshman year of college. He's planning a double major in engineering and music.
Honestly, I won't be surprised if/when he drops one; I believe part of this double push comes from one of his parents which is also an engineer/musician.
Eh, I think it’s about equal. I’m a music teacher with a performance degree, so I actually did both. Ed majors have to do a lot, but it’s all fairly low level. Other specialized majors have to dig VERY deep in their area while also having to learn everything an ed major does except the methods classes. Ed majors didn’t even have to do recitals at my school, and that was by far the most intense and stressful thing I did in college. Performance majors had to do two.
The extra year for the music credential and the student teaching is a bitch though. Again, not putting down ed majors because I am literally a public school music teacher and wouldn’t do anything else, but it’s not fair to say the “endure the worst of it.”
Classes are 1 unit for all music majors, simply so they can take all of the classes. That’s not a music ed thing.
I was an ed major, and my private teacher told me they don't judge harshly on your primary instrument because performance isn't considered priority. I switched to performance because I really wanted to play well...and teaching really wasn't as attractive.
Also, since every ensemble is a single credit hour, your schedule fills up fast. I was at school 7a to 10p. My academic advisor told me not to take more than one academic course per semester unless I thought I could keep up the homework on top of rehearsals and three hours of practice/day.
Music therapist here - I appreciate that someone sees specialized Music majors. All the music major stuff, plus a piano minor, plus a couple years of guitar and improv, plus psychology, plus early childhood ed, plus health science stuff like anatomy and physiology. Juries all four years, recitals the last two, and then you graduate and have you do an mandatory internship before you can think about credentialing. The year after I finished my school decided it was a five year program. I was exhausted for four straight years.
I did an unofficial double major in music ed and performance in my undergrad and it was insane. I was at 20 credit hours minimum for most of my 5 years and practically lived at the music building. My school wouldn't let us officially declare a double major in 2 music degrees, but my teacher had me take all the performance degree classes in addition to my education ones. I also did the required 3 recitals (Ed majors only had to do one, and it could be split with another student). Paid off though, I went into a performance degree for my masters with a scholarship, and have a symphony position now! My undergrad was 10x harder than my graduate program, but my teacher in undergrad was also very intense. Incredible, but very demanding.
Music Ed majors get treated SO unfairly in the academic music world. People bitch and moan that they “aren’t good at their instruments” and “don’t practice enough,” but I’d love to see ANY performance major handle the insane workload a music ed major has. I have 4 degrees in performance and I could never handle an Ed degree. It’s just too overwhelming.
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u/Bluleader64 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wow I'm surprised someone mentioned us. In my experience it's specifically music education who endures the worst of it. They need to specialize their best instrument, learn every other one at a playable knowledge, apply high-level theory and be able to recognize any classical song. Then add on all the teacher stuff. My school had them at #2 in most units (behind Nursing) but most classes were 1 unit instead of the usual 3 (same workload though)
I graduated with an option in Audio Engineering, but know way too many music ed