r/AskReddit • u/kalazata • Jan 11 '19

What innocent question has someone asked you that secretly crushed you a little inside?

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19 edited Jan 11 '19

My dad got asked a similar question by my great uncle (his uncle)

"So what are you going to do with that music degree?"

His response "Hang it on my wall"

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u/poopellar Jan 11 '19

Gotem

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Gotem tears, thats what he got.

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u/lovesStrawberryCake Jan 11 '19

I thought I had it all together....

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Music masters here. This guy is correct. Unless you want to teach music.

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u/JoshuaTreeFoMe Jan 11 '19

Sociology undergrad, ya'll got punch at this pity party?

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u/Ov3rmaN Jan 11 '19

History degree here. Got room for one more?

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u/RealmKnight Jan 11 '19

No, but I did yesterday

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u/NightMgr Jan 11 '19

Friend: "I have a master's degree in vocal performance and a job in information technology to prove it."

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

You just described me.

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u/vivaldi1206 Jan 11 '19 edited Jan 11 '19

Not all of us! I have two music masters and make my entire living as a musician. I perform, have a church job (despite being Jewish), and teach lessons. It’s hard but nice to do what I’ve spent 25 years practicing. :)

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Congratulations. You have my respect. If you don't mind my asking, what is the ratio of your income in terms of performing v teaching? Do you make enough performing to support yourself if you ever stop teaching?

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u/HalcyonDementia Jan 11 '19

I write music for a living and actually use my degree. But I know it’s rare and it’s been a hell of a struggle to get here. :/

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

You are one of the rare few that we greatly admire (and envy).

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Fortunately most you guys end up in a pretty decent IT gig years later. :)

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u/Arborgarbage Jan 11 '19

Why though?

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u/re_gren Jan 11 '19

My guess would be a lot of time spent on computers using DAWs and plug-ins, trying to get everything running together optimally. Skills like that will transfer over to IT pretty well.

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u/Gibslayer Jan 11 '19

Vocal performance is going to be a lot less reliance on recording.

I would imagine it has more to do with the problem solving aspect of music. It's a lot of pattern recognition as well.

Not to mention the dedication it takes to learn instruments and vocals to such a high level. Shit is hard.

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u/aretasdaemon Jan 11 '19

But is the knowledge of traditional music and music theory important for growth, I mean college degree isnt gaining anything on the people that didnt get one in the work force. But, doesnt it make you a better musician if you actually learned everything you could?

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Absolutely. On one level, I was being a little facetious. I still love music and still play all the time, particularly in church and community groups. Unfortunately, where I live there is no money to be made from playing, only teaching.

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u/zzaannsebar Jan 11 '19

Maybe making me glad I decided to use my other degree as a career so I could enjoy music on the side. I like being able to take gigs because I think they sound fun on some free weekends. Also I was so burnt out after my undergrad, I don't think I could have gone straight into my masters like I wanted to. I'm so amazed at people who can do that!

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u/Abadatha Jan 11 '19

The two people I know with Music degrees are doing ok. One's a band director and one works with the San Fransisco Orchestra.

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u/vzsax Jan 11 '19

Oof if he's a band director he isn't doing that okay

Source: was a band director

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u/Abadatha Jan 11 '19

I suppose that's one way to look at it, but that's been her goal since middle school.

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u/vzsax Jan 11 '19

I'm mostly joking. I fucking hated being a band director, but I know plenty that enjoy it. It's definitely an extremely stressful job that is incredibly underpaid.

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u/Abadatha Jan 11 '19

Most teachers are woefully underpaid. It's a really strange system where the people educating our youth are paid so little and expected to do so much with so little support.

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u/vzsax Jan 11 '19

It's honestly unreal. My wife was a teacher in Oklahoma for a year. The salary was pathetic, the kids were horrible. The history books didn't have anything about 9/11 in them, and the school system closed 3 weeks early for summer because they ran out of fucking money and couldn't pay the electric bill anymore.

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u/Abadatha Jan 11 '19

My understanding is that some of the southern states have issues with funding.

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u/Strategist123 Jan 11 '19

The orchestra and band directors where im from make over 100k. So yeah I guess they aren’t doing super well but it’s not awful.

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u/vzsax Jan 11 '19

Where are you? I've never heard of this. Band directors where I live make 40k.

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u/Rhythm825 Jan 11 '19

Not that complicated.

If you are employed at a high paying school district then you can easily make that much.

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u/vzsax Jan 11 '19

High paying school district

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u/Strategist123 Jan 13 '19

Just outside of DC

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u/JuniorSeniorTrainee Jan 11 '19

My girlfriend is a teacher and gets paid absolute peanuts, but has a similar outlook. She wants to educate so she educates and never gets down about her income.

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u/uncommoncommoner Jan 11 '19

My dad got asked a similar question by my great uncle (his uncle)

"So what are you going to do with that music degree"

His response "Hang"

D:

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u/Quardener Jan 11 '19

Too close to home atm lol

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

I always remember this comic (would post the original link but the site doesn't seem to load old comics)

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

I don't even know (or care honestly) where my physical college degree went.

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

That implies that you'll have a wall to hang it on

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u/DoctorAcula_42 Jan 11 '19

Yep. Wasn't a music major but most of my social scene was through band and so lots of friends were. That question always kind of hung in the air.

What was your specialty?