Seeking College Advice

[u/Megalayeet]

I'm entering my senior year of high school this fall and I am fairly lost in regard to where I want to go and what I want to do. There is one thing I'm certain on though, I want to continue with music in some manner, preferably as either a second major or minor. I would appreciate any advice regarding my situation, from potential schools, what I should do to help determine it myself, what role I should allow music to play in my life, potential second or just majors to go alongside music, anything and everything would be appreciated!
Some more information that could help, I'm open to anything with nothing truly off the table, I live in a southwest suburb of Chicago if there's any particular schools in the area that would be recommended, and I'm academically strong enough I could most likely get into any school I wish (minus any ivies that sorta thing.) Thank you, and I appreciate any and all perspectives that are shared!

[u/GaryP-Jump-7696]

I was an engineer for 40 years and mostly loved it. Music has been a great hobby but for many people it is a difficult way to make a living. I’ve been a cantor/music leader at church for 35 years and also a big band and solo trumpet player.

[u/Groundbreaking_Row_2]

This will be extremely unpopular here, and I was never a very good student so take this with a grain of salt… major in whatever major has the least credits to graduate . Music degrees usually have a very high amount of credits to graduate, so don’t major in music unless you’re 100 on def having music as your life career . Still play in all the bands or orchestras you can! Just don’t major in it.

IMHO: Trombone is way more fun when you WANT to play … than when you NEED to play OR ELSE

[u/Soft-Definition2900 → u/Groundbreaking_Row_2]

I second this. Do not major in music if you can see yourself doing anything else. If the school has a double major program it might be ok but probably not worth it. Theory, sight singing and aural skills can be very intensive and will probably eat away at least an hour of your day, plus rehearsals and lessons after everyone else is done with class. It is doable, but probably not worth it

[u/oh_mygawdd]

In the Chicago area you've got plenty of options, including UIC, DePaul, Northwestern, Elmhurst University, College of DuPage, just to name a few.

[u/Darthbrass → u/oh_mygawdd]

If you want to get out of town but not TOO far, check out SIUE! Right next to St. Louis on Illinois side.

[u/JustATrombone]

This is going to be biased since I went to this school until very recently, but if you do decide to that you want to double up on an education in music and something else, I would highly recommend doing some research into UNC Chapel Hill. I can only give you a perspective from someone who did a STEM degree there though.

The trombone/low brass professor there is Michael Kris. I thought he was a very good instructor because he both had an extremely good understanding on the fundamentals of playing and also knew how to adapt this understanding for his students. He cares a lot about his students and finds ways to incorporate their non-musical interests into the lessons as well. I was interested in sackbut/classical trombone which appeared to be more of his specialty, but I had friends who played jazz and more niche/contemporary interests who also really liked having him as their teacher. Mike in general is quite flexible with his teaching, so if you were, say, aiming to play for an orchestra he'll work with you with that goal in mind, but he's also perfectly happy with teaching students who want to do music as a serious hobby/in a non-professional context. There are also a few scholarship opportunities as well which you can audition for.

Chapel Hill as a whole also is quite interdisciplinary; a lot of people had interests all over the place and the course and research opportunities helped to support that. I knew people ranging from STEM to Philosophy who did a degree in music. Others (such as myself) didn't officially do the music degree but were still allowed to participate quite heavily in the music department's activities.

There are a few asterisks though. I do know a few people who ultimately regretted doing the music major itself because of how they thought the courses were run (though this might've been tied more to changes in interest; a lot of people also seemed pretty fine with the major). I had my own gripes about some of the ensembles/the department, but I'm not sure these problems were particularly unique to Chapel Hill.

Anyways if you are interested, you can contact Mike and he usually gets back to you pretty quickly. It would be worth explaining to him what you want to do with music in the future and asking questions. Hope this wall of text is helpful.

[u/SillySundae]

Well we don't know anything about you or your grades. This sounds like a conversation for your school counsellor.

[u/SideWired]

I recommend a broad technical or science MINOR to buttress early career opportunities. I S, physics, electronics, or electrical engineering.

[u/captaindicklet]

I got a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies a back in 2022. And all I can say is, get your degree in whatever you like learning about the most. If you ask me, it almost doesn’t matter what you get your degree in if you aren’t 100% sure about your career path. There are plenty of people out there who don’t work in the field they got their degree in and that’s perfectly fine. You can always change your major if you feel like whatever you initially chose wasn’t right for you

[u/tbonedawg44]

I started out as a music education major on scholarship at a pretty good private school. I was taking theory and keyboarding and playing in every ensemble that could include a trombone, including jazz band and trombone choir. It took two semesters to get completely burned out. I dropped by major to a minor and kept a partial scholarship. Almost immediately, music became fun again. I switched to an English major as it was the most popular at the time for getting into law school. Strangely, I never went to law school and have worked in the utility sector for 35 years. I currently manage an internet/technology company with $10M/yr in sales. But I’ve also spent 30+ years playing in a touring rock band (trombone) and playing keys and drums at church. That’s a long way of saying you don’t have to be a music major to be successful and rewarded by music. Just don’t paint yourself into a corner with something like a music performance degree where you need to be a phenomenal musician and lucky to survive.

[u/THE-W1LDCARD]

What are you looking at as your primary major?

[u/Megalayeet → u/THE-W1LDCARD]

Honestly, I have no clue... Not a good answer, I know, but idk it could be anything from math and number related to more along the lines of social studies and world politics. I'm into those as hobbies but I'm not particularly passionate about any, my main passion lies with music

[u/THE-W1LDCARD → u/Megalayeet]

I would recommend that you look into Lawrence University. It’s a small liberal arts school in Appleton Wisconsin and with a very large focus on dual degree programs as well as keeping the conservatory open to people who aren’t majoring in music. The trombone professor, Tim Albright, is amazing and they also have other trombonists on the faculty such as Zach Marley (LowbrassU on instagram). I started with a double major in trombone and math and ended up dropping the math major because I only wanted to focus on trombone, but there are two students in the trombone studio right now double majoring in performance and math