Music Degree

[Womber]

Updates will be posted.

Theory I is offered in the fall semester. There are some prerequisite courses that need to be taken which I will take in the spring and summer semesters. Next fall I will start loading up on courses.

 

[lfmn16]

Not that it matters what anybody says because I’m doing this no matter what but I thought that I would ask my kindred spirits at TB what you all think about this adventure that I’m about to set off on? Way cool or crazy dumb?

I earned my master's in theology at 60. A real degree from a seminary, not an easy on-line diploma mill. Just because I wanted to. I'll never use it professionally. It was worth every penny. I'm going to finish my music degree at a local university with a good music program when I retire.

I hate that so many people think that a degree only has value to the extent you can use it to make money. It's one of the problems with the world today. A good degree program will teach you to think and that's useful in every field. A program focused on making money doesn't care if you can think or not.

 

[StatesideRambler]

A program focused on making money doesn't care if you can think or not.

And there is why so many colleges have morphed into trade schools.

 

[BBQisgood]

Yo @Womber !!

How’s it going? Any updates?

 

[Womber]

Hey, thanks for checking in.

Today was supposed to be the first day of classes but COVID is still a little high in this area ( Upstate New York ) so first day has been postponed until Monday, January 24.

I’m already in a little over my head and classes haven’t even started. The instructor emailed a questionnaire to all of the students asking how many Theory courses we have taken (none!) and how well we can read music (meh!).

I will not be deterred!!

 

[Womber]

Good morning!

For anybody wondering about how my formal music education is going, I have dropped the course, Aural Skills, that I was taking. The professor was using the Takadimi System of rhythm training, something that I was not familiar with but all of the other “kids” in class understood. I was quickly being left behind, not because I didn’t understand the concepts but because it was taking time just to get tuned in to the system.

I spoke to the professor who recommended some resources to get up to speed before making a go of it again in the fall which I may still do. The question now is “Do I spend a lot of time studying things not specifically ‘bass oriented’ (singing, piano skills, etc ) to get a broad music knowledge or would I be better off focusing my time more on getting better at bass?” I think that perhaps the middle ground is where I want to be - don’t spend the huge amount of time needed to get the music degree but take courses that can be applied more directly to improving my bass skills - all of the Theory courses, perhaps Composition, etc

 

[buldog5151bass]

I would start with theory. If you don't play piano at all, I would take a basic course (will help for theory exercises, also a skill that always can help).

 

[Womber]

Good advice. There is actually a basic piano course which is a co-requisite for Theory 1. Most of the other students in the Aural Skills class that I started taking had already taken both of those courses.

 

[buldog5151bass]

See if you can speak with the professor teaching theory. Tell him/her you intend to start in the fall, and let them know where you are, and where you are musically. You likely will be doing weekly exercises where you will be sight playing rhythms (even just tapping them by hand) and playing voice leading lines on piano.

 

[Discount Bassy]

I took four semesters of theory classes about thirty years ago and feel that the time spent has served me well. When the opportunity arises, I plan to take courses again, even if non-credit/audits. Given my druthers, it will be in a live classroom.

 

[StatesideRambler]

Piano tops my list of what you should get a handle on. There’s nearly nothing in Western music study that isn’t helped along by being conversant, even if not fluent, in piano. Talk to your advisor for guidance on remedying your stumble over the Takadimi System of rhythm training as well as prepping you for anything else that may similarly be a hitch or a diversion in your course.

The question now is “Do I spend a lot of time studying things not specifically ‘bass oriented’ (singing, piano skills, etc ) to get a broad music knowledge or would I be better off focusing my time more on getting better at bass?”

That depends on whether you want to be strictly a bass player or a musician whose primary instrument is bass.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

Do it if you can.