Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Thoughts on college. What should I do with music?

=) Thank you, I am wise sometimes by accident..

You'll find it easier to become a scientist playing music on the side than being a musician and doing science on the side.

Thank you all for your comments. First off, I found two things particularly peculiar. How many people are seem to be interested in both physics and music (coincidence?), and how many musicians on a music forum seem to not consider music a feasible career. I guess classical music just doesn't have enough endorsement. I would kill to live when it did.

But regardless, I think one has to do what they love, not what offers the most money. My piano teacher is always playing concerts, or with orchestras, or conducting them, and his life completely enthralls and fascinates me. The real problem here is the fact that I only get one life, and every inch I give to music is an inch I lose from science, and vise-versa. There is no way I can experience both to their maximum extent.. in the same way that I will not be able to be a Lawyer, a Doctor, a Concert Pianist, a Scientist, a businessmen, or whatever else may interest me.. it really is kind of depressing that our lives are so focused. But anyways, I guess I have to decide how many inches I will give to music, so I don't damage my chances as a scientist.

Playing piano is what I have to stop myself from doing so I will get other things done, that is how much I enjoy it, so I considered the possibilities of the career. But I don't want it to be at the expense of everything else.

Additionally, when you get a family of your own, you should spend a fair amount of your time on them too. Not just your career...

That's just one of the hardest things to learn in life. How to prioritize between things we want or need to do. I would not worry too much anyway. Try to figure out what balance would suit you, and try to make sure you enjoy the things you spend time on. Remember, if you someday become unhappy about your prioritising, it is never too late to make changes. It might be impossible to completely change career, but it is not impossible to change jobs, take courses, move, join a band and start freelancing, or make other changes that makes a difference.

Hey Chris, sorry I had forgotten to respond. Yes, more often than not where I will do my graduate studies I will also be able to take classes in music or whatever else I would like from the university or college that I am attending. So I definitely plan to continue studying music through the school or on my own. I do not really plan to use my music degree for much of anything, maybe further down the road if I choose to take on a few students to teach it will be easier for a student to look up to me as a teacher if I have piece of paper saying I accomplished an undergraduate degree in music. A double major is easily possible if you are properly motivated. The only thing that is making my situation harder is that I did not choose to major in music until the spring semester of my sophmore year, which means I have to cram essentially over a year and a half of music classes I missed into my junior and senior year. Although the music major should not be overlooked as an easy major, I still am confident that I will not have problems. Am I happy? While my answer to that question should not have an impact on your decision, I am very, very happy!


Meet and greet professors and students where ever you plan on going. Although I am very satisfied with my decision to attend my college, I got lucky because I only visited and applied to a few schools. I wish I would have visited and applied to many more.


The sciences and music go hand in hand apparently, you more often than not see science/music people than english/music or other areas of study if they are doing two things.

As a professional chemist, and having majored in both music and chemistry in undergrad, I understand the difficult decision this can be.

For me, it ultimately came to what kind of career I wanted. I asked myself whether I'd be happy with even the best career as a soloist, and the prospect of spending my life traveling and constantly performing did not seem very appealing. I taught music for some time and disliked it (whereas I very much enjoy teaching chemistry and mathematics), and although I enjoy chamber music, I would still not want to devote the rest of my life for it.

It's also true that doing music as a hobby is much easier than doing science as a hobby.

I'm very happy with my career decision , and at the same time I do not regret at all the countless hours I spent trying to play piano at a professional level (even though my foundation in science is not perhaps as good as it could be). Had I not gone as far with music as I have, I would always find myself wondering whether perhaps I should've done more. It was only at the very end of my music degree that I really felt satisfied with all that I had done with music, and at that point it became much easier to "let go."

Although I have less time now to practice, I am still able to give a concert here or there, and I am perfectly satisfied with the way things are.

I do love science, and would not have been happy dropping it. The only way you can really learn about what you love is to do it, and in time (sometimes lots of time...) it'll become clear which path to take. Double-majoring was a great choice for me, but be very aware that I had lots of very rough days as a result. It's not easy, but the decision itself isn't either, and I think it's worth exploring every option thoroughly, for years if necessary, to make a decision that you won't regret down the road.

- Silence

i am very unwise, i am only 19 and just finished a year of a piano performance b. mus and am transferring to a bfa in composition (focusing in electronic and computer music composition).
i have done this so that i gain transferrable skills as i was having terrible pain in my ulna and my shoulder (certainly a problem of technique, but nobody in that small town of 5000 knew anything about it - xrays were done, etc.) so i decided to not bank all my money on the piano since if you get a performance degree and go on to do a masters, etc.. that is really your only skill.
so i've transferred to this because it is something i have more discipline and drive for, and as well - if music composition does not work out as i hope it will, i can always do software design/programming. transferrable skills!

something to think about, but almost certainly not for everybody.
just what i did, not necessarily what you will do.

As a professor of physics and engineering I am amazed at the number of students I encounter here who are double-majoring in some scientific field and music performance. Just in the past four years I have personally advised students double-majoring in physics and violin performance (2 of them, now physics graduate students), electrical engineering and cello (now a graduate student in applied physics), mathematics and piano (now auditioning for piano graduate programs), mathematics and trumpet (applying for graduate study in trumpet).

These students are passionate about both music and science, are very smart, work incredibly hard, and manage their time well. In addition, most of them entered the university with lots of AP credits and were able to complete both degrees in 4 years. Otherwise it would take 5 years. It does take careful course planning and consultation with advisors in both music and the scientific field.

My college (engineering) actually encourages these double majors and has formal mechanisms in place to facilitate such pursuits. An excerpt from the bulletin: Undergraduate degree options

Since you are a hard-working "A" student who is passionate about both piano and physics, you can seriously consider a double major if you also have good time-management skills. You can defer a decision as to which one to pursue in grad school sometime in your junior or senior year. I should mention that the violin/physics double major I counseled also got admission to Juilliard (for violin) and Princeton (physics) for graduate study. At that point she opted for physics but continues to play in chamber groups.

Angelina's advice is good...
Unless you have been through something that makes you 100% sure you want music as your career and you are soo passionate in it, I wouldn't go with the plan.

Am in music school myself in 3rd year. During my 1st year, everyone seemed so enthusiastic about music especially performing....now for most of the students, that has started to die out and some of them are regretting that rash decision that they made. They thought they liked music enough and just fancied studying it and that has what has happened now.

For me it still lasts...because I was 100% sure that this was what I wanted...and i've gone through alot to get this far

Chris, I've struggled to give you any advice, cause I just keep ending up at asking you which can you see yourself studying for life, which is just asking you what you asked! So I'm just going to share my experience.

I started university two years ago, studying maths not music. Now, although I don't know how passionate you are yourself about music, I was extremely passionate. Throughout the whole of sixth form, and a lot of my time before that, I involved music in all my waking hours (but was fortunate enough to still get my grades). Yet I chose not to take music in further education. This was because I felt I would be doing it for my sake only, but I wanted to use my higher education to give something back to the community, something I could not achieve with music for it would be just self-indulgence. Don't get me wrong, I'm very passionate as well about maths, but not quite as much as music I feel (maybe so, I don't know, maybe I'm just getting older), but I still have music as an interest, a serious interest, and having another outlet is considerably better than just the one, for one can become very narrow-minded that way.

Hey Chris,

I'm another example here of a science/music double-major: piano & molecular biology. I had a GREAT time doing it, and while it was a little more expensive to spend that extra year in college, it was one of the best long-term decisions I've made. I, like you, have interests in a wide range of fields, and am frustrated by the narrow focus imposed on us by society. I went on and got a graduate degree in molecular biology, and now I'm teaching college biology, but still playing ~2 hours per day at the piano and cutting a new CD each year to give friends and family members:) It's a very satisfying lifestyle. If you're as smart and as passionate as you sound, I think you MUST do a double major. If it turns out to be too much work, or less-satisfying than you thought it would be, you'll hopefully know by then which one you enjoy more.