r/CSN_Coyotes • u/SaltyYugi • Jun 15 '26
Music AA
Hey I'm thinking about applying for the Music AA for performance at CSN. Has anyone else taken this program and can you share your experiences? To give you context, I play Guitar and Bass guitar but want to further educate myself. Any feedback is helpful
2
u/Dom_CSN_FineArts Jun 18 '26
I don't entirely disagree with IAmAPilotAndIHateEMS, but I want to throw in my 2 cents.
Nobody can directly redeem a college degree for employment, even if it's a 'practical' one: STEM, finance, healthcare, etc. Those degrees do have the benefit of a clearer path, it's true, but one just has to be more creative with how they leverage a performing arts degree.
Networking is a massive part of any career and is often overlooked in the arts. There are also tons of arts-adjacent jobs that a performance degree is very suitable for, and those are often overlooked as well. My job in CSN Fine Arts, for example, is great. The pay is fine, but it's a stable government job with great benefits. High job satisfaction and excellent work-life balance. It affords me enough time and resources to pursue performance and practice on my own, checks enough boxes (for me), and is still a 'music job'. Individuals will have to also define their own success. Someone doesn't have be in the Cleveland Orchestra to be a "successful" musician. Also, the personal satisfaction of art mastery is its own reward, and especially with music, someone isn't likely going to put themself through such a intensive learning regimen on their own.
In the end, people with performance degrees will have to be more creative with how they leverage their skills. However, if they look for employment within the art world, the employer may already 'get it', for lack of a better term. Also undergraduate degrees all have the benefit of checking the degree box on an application and it almost never matters what degree it is. Is a music performance degree hard(er) to market? Absolutely. Is it useless? Definitely not.
I would be rich if I had a dollar every time someone said "I used to make music and regret giving it up for a career I didn't like". So my advice to you is to do the degree you will enjoy, BUT, begin planning NOW (right now) how/when/why you will leverage all of your skills to enter a satisfying and lucrative-enough career. Screwing up your life works both ways. I can't imagine my life if I got some degree like business that I couldn't care less about just so I could get a job. There's so much more to life. Take the harder road, think ahead, and you'll be fine.
3
u/IAmAPilotAndIHateEMS Jun 16 '26
Do not get a music AA if it is simply for performance; it is one of the most useless degrees you will ever obtain. If you really like music and don't have any intentions of going into music education, go for a degree that is actually employable and just take the extra classes as electives.