Finishing high school.. Should study music?
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Topic: Finishing high school.. Should study music?
Posted By: markjabari
Subject: Finishing high school.. Should study music?
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 9:03am
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Hi wandering what would you do.. I am finishing high school.. currently as the things go I will probably pass the IB but I like music & have some experience making music.. as thing are in music business what do you think I should do?? Study a normal carrier..& Have music as a hobby or dedicate to music ------------- http://www.polarflamemusic.com/vocals" rel="nofollow - Edinburgh Singing Lessons |
Replies:
Posted By: Pekka
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 10:26am
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If you want to be able to support yourself and a possible family, study for a normal working career. It's way more safe. But if you have a burning passion for music which exceeds for example the will to eat every day, go for music. You might not make any real money, but you might have a ton of fun. I went for a normal career with a music hobby on the side, it's clearly the best option for me in every way. ------------- http://iamthreepeople.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow">  <- Click on this!
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Posted By: UMUR
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 10:49am
As long as you don�t have kids, go for the music career. You can always study to become a doctor or a lawyer later in life, but playing music with a burning passion is something that�s usually reserved for the young ( with a few exceptions like Lemmy ). Don�t end up sitting with a feeling of lost opportunities. It will make you bitter. I speak from personal experience. I really wish now that I had pursued my musical career before I had my kids. Having kids and a household to feed puts limitations on your personal freedom that you can�t imagine.
I say enjoy your freedom and go play music. So who cares if you starve for a couple of years. I�m sure you�ll look back on those years as some of the best in your life when you get older and begin to reflect on your life. I know I look back on some of the years of my youth when I played with various bands as some of the best years of my life. Lots of creative thinking, tons of beers and *****************, Ladies ( well there was only one in my case, but that�s your choice) and no boundaries to crazy youthful behaviour. Go be a ROCKSTARRRRR. ------------- http://www.lyngby-boldklub.dk/" rel="nofollow - Forever TRUE - Forever BLUE! https://rateyourmusic.com/~UMUR" rel="nofollow - UMUR on RYM |
Posted By: Colt
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 11:11am
ROFPMSL
Jonas, always the perfect gentleman!  ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/colt2112" rel="nofollow - http://www.last.fm/user/colt2112 
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UMUR wrote:Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 11:17am
Rolling On the Floor Pissing My...   ------------- Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: UMUR
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 11:37am
^Yep that�s what I said. Crazy youthful behaviour. I actually did something like that in a London hotel once .
...and it wasn�t my hotel. I was out drinking with a girl I knew from High School. Not a girlfriend but a friend. One of the coolest girls I�ve ever met. Total heavy chick into the most brutal death metal and not only that. Whenever there was a fight, she�d be the first one to jump at the "enemy". I tell you that girl was made of solid steel. I�m too embaressed to tell the story in detail. But lets just say the cleaning lady probably had to do a bit more than vacuum the floor after my visit.
...see that�s what I�m talking about. That youthful rockstar mentality, just isn�t the same after you get kids and have to be a rolemodel. It�s not that I condone vandalism, but I miss those reckless days of living on the edge. ------------- http://www.lyngby-boldklub.dk/" rel="nofollow - Forever TRUE - Forever BLUE! https://rateyourmusic.com/~UMUR" rel="nofollow - UMUR on RYM |
Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 11:48am
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I'm in a similar situation as the OP. I would love to pursue music (I play keyboards and drums), but I'm also a bit concerned about the entire financial aspect of it... I still have some time before I really need to think about it, though.
------------- Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: UMUR
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 11:59am
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Don�t kid yourself Jeff. Don�t do it for the money. Especially after the collapse of the record industry it�s very hard to make money on playing music. And when I say money, I mean just enough money to get by. It�s not many musicians, who actually earn enough money on their art that you can call them wealthy. I heard Lemmy say once that he wasn�t exactly wealthy just because he was famous. ------------- http://www.lyngby-boldklub.dk/" rel="nofollow - Forever TRUE - Forever BLUE! https://rateyourmusic.com/~UMUR" rel="nofollow - UMUR on RYM |
Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 12:30pm
Oh no! I would never play music with an intent to make money! I mean I'm unsure as to whether or not I should pursue a job in the business world with music as a hobby, or if music should be a full-time thing for me. I kinda have a feeling that I'll have to do the first one. Hopefully there's a job out there I'm interested in.  ------------- Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 2:42pm
| I very, very nearly went into music, but decided having money would be a better way to support a musical hobby, so I'm studying engineering right now |
Posted By: Stooge
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 3:31pm
Cool. What discipline of engineering? I studied Electrical Engineering. ------------- https://armchairmaestro.com/" rel="nofollow - My Music Blog |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 3:52pm
| Well at my university the first year isn't specialized yet, just "general," but I'll probably be going into electrical next year |
Posted By: topofsm
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 4:31pm
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I'm a freshman in college and one of my sophomore metalhead friends and I have the same perspective: make music a hobby, and you can still do it while getting a well playing job. He's doing pre-pharmacy, and I'm doing chemical engineering. After both our grad schools we will most likely have a well-set job. Once you get a well-paying job, you can afford things like better strings for your guitar, better amplifiers, and a professional drum kit. We both know pharmacists and doctors who do such things. So for me, keeping music as a hobby works for me, and I might get, more or less, both music and a good paying job later in life. It's really what you want to do. ------------- Lost respect for these archives when I saw Creed added, among other bands. Not going to be foruming here anymore. You can keep my reviews if you want. |
Posted By: Stooge
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 5:18pm
I went through a 3 year Electronics Engineering Technology diploma program at a local college, and transferred to a university for 2 years to get an Electrical Engineering degree. Glad I got it, but damn the job market is rough now  .------------- https://armchairmaestro.com/" rel="nofollow - My Music Blog |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 5:20pm
| ^ I have a friend who was in the process of doing the same thing for Mechanical Engineering, but after he got his tech degree and then did one semester at the university he dropped out because he got a job offer |
Posted By: Stephen
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2011 at 9:29pm
i'd say, if you want the reality, it's very hard to live as full time musician, hence almost impossible, unless you want to bet spending 10-15 years with an uncertain circumstances which I think is pretty reckless and can cost you your future. Let me tell you a few reasons : 1. Musician lives from the royalty, concert, merchandises, etc, where if you really want to play music that you like (which I assume is metal-based), you have to admit that today, everyone is downloading MP3 which can be obtained freely in the internet. Idealistic people will buy your music, but how many ? 1.000 people ? 2.000 people ? remember, successful band that can sell million of copies have to spend at least 5-10 years to reach that, and how many is successful ? among Big Four of thrash metal, there are actually more than 5.000 competitors, so you can count up your odds there. this is a niche market and metal community is harsh, means that if you play something that they don't like, you'll be bashed off until you cry and don't want to play music again. I'm not kidding about this, pop/alternative rock community is far more forgiven and probably you'll survive if you go that path, but .. 2. being a pop musician, your fate is clearly decided on the major label's marketing strategy. If they see you as a potential money maker then chance you'll be promoted heavily and you'll get a lot of money from that, but even if you have a lot of money, you'll be under heavy pressure and contract which at some point, you'll reach a deadlock where if your time is up, label won't release your album, but since you're under contract, you can't release any album after your contract expired, so think about it, if you can make money in the first two-three years, but you're under 10 years contract, what will you do in 7 years of time ? 3. Musician is like doctor or IT guy, where each day you have to keep learning since many competitors will do the same and release a much better music from you, and this is very hard, unlike other jobs where with a limited amount of knowledge, you're learning by experiences, and not by textbook or academical knowledge. 4. Being in a band means that you have to deal with several personalities, you have to face the fact that cooperating with 4 or 5 guys every day is not an easy task, no wonder so many bands broke up after only an album or two, and finding another guy to fill in the chemical in your band is very hard. I can list a lot of other things but that's enough for you to consider. What I'm saying is, if you have passion for music, that's great, but consider that as your second job, means that you have to study at college to work a real job for a real money, and then, if you want to start a band later, or release an album by your own, that'd be no problem. Hope this helps :) |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2011 at 12:04am
| Really, though, if you want to play music and make some money, your best bet might be to learn jazz really, really well, and play as a session musician. The jazz training will prepare you to play virtually anything, but really you'll be playing music you hate 99% of the time and you'll get no credit for any of your creativity. |