What can a BA in Music get you?

[oyasumi]

What the hell do you want to do?

[Bogey]

How about teaching George.  There are many programs that will allow you to get you license/masters in about a year, or a bit more....and you do not necessarily have to get your degree with a music emphasis.  Just a thought.

[George]

How about teaching George.  There are many programs that will allow you to get you license/masters in about a year, or a bit more....and you do not necessarily have to get your degree with a music emphasis.  Just a thought.

I've considered teaching, but I'd really only want to teach in college. To do that I'd need to go back to school and I don't wish to do that.

I guess I'm not so much looking for a career as I am just looking for a job.

[btpaul674]

Haven't heard of Music Cognition. What is that?

Its a highly interdisciplinary study of music, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, acoustics and psychoacoustics to help understand how music affects the brain. its studies have yielded many beneficial results such as music in the contexts of society and culture as well as many marketing studies.

[Gurn Blanston]

Its a highly interdisciplinary study of music, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, acoustics and psychoacoustics to help understand how music affects the brain. its studies have yielded many beneficial results such as music in the contexts of society and culture as well as many marketing studies.

Or, you could consider just opening up a sonata repair....

[btpaul674]

Or, you could consider just opening up a sonata repair....

Too easy.

[George]

Or, you could consider just opening up a sonata repair....

Are you suggesting he fix Hyundais for a living? 

[aquablob]

Its a highly interdisciplinary study of music, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, acoustics and psychoacoustics to help understand how music affects the brain. its studies have yielded many beneficial results such as music in the contexts of society and culture as well as many marketing studies.

This is a field I've thought about going into. In a few weeks I will graduate with a BA in English (with a music minor), and am likely interested in pursuing music on the graduate level at some point in the future (though not right away).

My cousin is a professor of music theory/cognition, and I've spoken with him a little bit about the field -- enough to spark my interest. His father is a psychology professor, and they have done some collaborative research (.pdf file: http://tinyurl.com/2ug7lw). I don't have much of a psychology background, but they tell me there is room in the field both for those with a stronger psychology background and those with a stronger music background (me).

In the meanwhile, though, I'll be in the same place as George -- just (finding and) holding a job to pay the rent for a while.

[mahlertitan]

I've considered teaching, but I'd really only want to teach in college. To do that I'd need to go back to school and I don't wish to do that.

I guess I'm not so much looking for a career as I am just looking for a job.

if you really want a job that badly, stop being so picky. Try to get a job as a music teacher in a elementary school, start low, and work your way up to teaching in college eventually.

[lukeottevanger]

if you really want a job that badly, stop being so picky. Try to get a job as a music teacher in a elementary school, start low, and work your way up to teaching in college eventually.

That's not 'low'! - they are very different skills, that's all.

[Novi]

I should be more clear. I actually can be a very patient guy, its just that the type of work I was doing made it very hard for me to be patient.

I actually applied for a Masters Program in Music Therapy about 3-4 years ago. They wouldn't accept me because you need to be proficient in voice, piano and guitar. I was barely proficient in voice. 

Gee, they don't ask for much, do they ?

How about some sort of administrative role in a musical organisation?

[George]

That's not 'low'! - they are very different skills, that's all.

Well said, not to mention that they are skills that I don't have. 

[George]

Gee, they don't ask for much, do they ?

How about some sort of administrative role in a musical organisation?

That sounds interesting. I got the classifieds from the Sunday New York Times, but found nothing so far. 

[arkiv]

Not much room in orchestras?

[ibanezmonster]

So glad I didn't major in music. There were even a couple of people here that encouraged me to at one point (almost 10 years ago). Glad I didn't listen. That's a rich man's game.

[Cato]

What can a BA in Music get you?

An unemployment check!

Charles Ives faced this question over 100 years ago: that's why for him the answer was to become an insurance salesman.

Call GEICO!

Amazing: when I just now saw the topic, I thought: "The answer is: an unemployment check!"

When I went to page 1, I saw that I had responded precisely that 8 years ago!  Talk about consistency!   0:)   Or a lamentable inability to avoid cheap jokes!   

Other possible answers:

1.  A girlfriend who plays the gee-tar
2.  A spot in the subway
3.  Fame and fortune
4.  Personal fulfillment
5.  Joy

[Brian]

http://www.youtube.com/v/CK6ksA0QyE4

[(poco) Sforzando]

I just read Mozart in the Jungle. Depressing if you've got a music degree.

Even more depressing if you don't.

[(poco) Sforzando]

http://www.youtube.com/v/CK6ksA0QyE4

"Whose life sucks more? Brian's or mine?"

[jochanaan]

Not much room in orchestras?

Last I heard, for every position in a major orchestra, including down in the violin sections, there are at least 150 applicants!