can i have a music major if i am not good at music?

College Majors Music Majors
1

<p>I am going to be a freshman of university of Arizona and I just got the admission several days ago.
i had learned electric keyboard for several years, and i can play electric guitar…
i love music so much, i can practice guitar for whole day.</p>

<p>but i have some shortcoming:

  1. i am bad at singing.
  2. i don’t play the keyboard and electric guitar well(i didn’t play keyboard for a long time, and i just play the electric guitar for only 2 years).
  3. i am bad at music theory.</p>

<p>Do you think it is a good choice for me to take a music major? i love music so much…
Is there some majors that doesn’t require good performance at instruments but related to music? I just want to get a job that is about music…
I really need some advice…cause my father asked me to have a finance major, but i don’t like to make business(my father has a big company…)</p>

<p>I really love music!!</p>

2

<p>Performance majors have to be good at their instrument…which makes sense. </p>

<p>Music majors that have less of a performance requirement for those who still have to/want to play, but are not as great at it, might be Music Ed, Composition, or a general BA degree music major…but you still will have to be able to play/sing, but not at the level of a performance major. I’m a piano performance major. Some music ed/composition/BA music majors are good at their instrument, and others are not so great…just depends, but obviously performance isn’t their focus for their degree. Another one you might think about would be Music Business or a music technology/recording type major, which I don’t think it’s offered at a lot of schools, but you could look into it. My school doesn’t have that, so I don’t know much about it. We have performance, composition, music ed, and BA music.</p>

<p>You will have to pass an audition though, but an audition for a non-performance major isn’t as bad. Performance major auditions have the highest requirements/standards compared to other music majors…which makes complete sense.</p>

3

<p>At many schools, the standard for music ed majors is as difficult or almost as hard, as for performance majors and they must be able to play piano well and will be expected to learn other instruments/ choral work (voice) while in school.There is too much ground to be made up as an instrumentalist to even make application for a performance degree in graduate school a reasonable expectation.
The OP could consider a business degree that could be applicable somewhere in the field of music such as production or management and should sign up for lessons on an instrument for his/her own edification. But, with the credentials, or lack thereof, described, there really is not any feasible way to pursue a degree in music; that would be akin to not having basic arithmetic skills and applying to be a mathematics major. No school would take you seriously.Sometimes wanting something just isn’t going to make it so, but music is a lifetime skill so taking lessons and learning more about all types of music would be something that would be beneficial forever.</p>

4

<p>At some schools like U. of Arizona, you can study music in the college of arts and sciences, but you are not a performance major and you are not music education. It is kind of like studying any subject in depth in a college of arts and sciences at a large university. You would still have to learn music theory, study music history, and other music subjects. The U of A website says this about its Bachelor of Arts in Music degree: The program offers students a liberal arts education focusing on the study of music. While majors study an instrument or voice, the emphasis is less on performance and more on music history and appreciation.</p>

<p>Perhaps you can minor in business and still be a music major? Or vice versa.</p>

5

<p>It is possible to major in music for a BA and not play any instrument at all. Many BA programs have no audition and no performance requirement whatsoever. (My daughter is a music major at a tough school, in a tough music department, and does not play any instrument in connection to school, though she is a classical guitarist and has played both clarinet and classical guitar for quite a few years. Her music studies are completely academic though, with a focus on musicology, and composition.)</p>

<p>However, learning theory requires some level of keyboard proficiency, which, apparently, you have. So technically, this plan would be possible for you. You say you are “bad” at music theory. Not sure what that means, or what your experiences have been, so I cannot comment on that, except to say that theory is part of every music curriculum that I have seen.</p>

<p>Playing an instrument or singing helps in understanding the content of music courses, of course. It is possible that with your guitar and keyboard that you have acquired enough experience to give it a try, but it is hard to tell from what you have posted.</p>

<p>I would say, go to the University of Arizona, and try one or two introductory classes in the music department. You don’t have to decide your major for a year or two.</p>

<p>Whether or not you major in music, business or something else entirely (and be open to this), you can do internships or volunteer for music organizations and get some experience that way that may guide your academic choices, or may stand alone as preparation for jobs in the music industry regardless of what you actually study.</p>

<p>It is wonderful that you love playing guitar, and first and foremost, no matter what you do in school, you can continue to enjoy guitar!</p>

6

<p>My music theory is at this level: I can read the music score, i understand the basic music theory like music symbol, tone, half-tone, notes, meter, key, interval, chord…</p>

<p>but if you let me listen to a song, i can’t find the key of this song, and i don’t know how to write music.</p>

<p>The teacher that teaches me keyboard and guitar just teaches me how to play them, how to read the music score, I learned music theory by myself…</p>

7

<p>I am thinking about having two majors, but is it too difficult to have two majors that doesn’t related to each other?</p>

8

<p>In theory you could double major in music and something else (like finance), that all depends on the school’s requirements (I am talking academic music study, not performance here). People double major in unrelated fields like economics and history, math and spanish, etc, it isn’t uncommon. In academic studies in college, all kids have core requirements to take that doesn’t matter what you major in, and often taking a course for one major fulfils a core requirement you otherwise would have to take, saving a course (or perhaps more, for example, when studying chemistry, you have to take math courses that fulfil the core math requirement). Sometimes with dual majors they will wave some of the core requirements, though keep in mind that in dual majoring, you end up taking more courses and it could be intense to try and finish that in 4 years. </p>

<p>It all boils down to the school you are at in terms of what you can or cannot do. At one school, you might be able to major in music technology and be able to dual major with finance, at another they may not allow that with music tech degrees.</p>

9

<p>There are schools, mainly small liberal arts colleges, where students do not have distribution requirements and don’t even have traditional majors. Students can do interdisciplinary work in two or more areas, and introductory courses welcome newcomers, whether to music theory, sculpture or writing. One I know of is Bennnington in VT: others will have schools to suggest perhaps.</p>

<p>Music theory is very complicated, but you could learn it. Sometimes it is satisfying to learn about things you don’t know much about. There are schools where you could take introductory music theory and progress. There are other schools where your lack of training so far might make it hard for you. You will have to be careful about your choices, I think.</p>

<p>I actually admire you for asking about doing something you “love,” even though you keep saying you are “bad” at playing, singing and theory. No matter what you do, as I said before, I hope you continue with your music in one way or the other, and in a way that allows you to continue to enjoy it.</p>

10

<p>Thanks to all of your guys, i am going to ask my school if i can have two majors</p>

11

<p>alek- you have to pass an online music theory readiness test as one of the conditions for admittance into the UA School of Fine Arts as a music major.
Go to your school’s website for more info.</p>

12

<p>Sorry Alek, I forgot that you were already in the University of Arizona! I think you should read the website for the School of Music, where there is a lot of information.</p>

<p>One thing I noticed is that students getting a BA in music are required to minor in something else.</p>

<p>I also noticed that you can still do a music minor, if you fail the theory placement test. The usual freshman theory class is 120. If you fail the test, you take 119, “intro to music theory.” You would not be able to take the regular theory sequence until you took that intro class and passed the exam.</p>

<p>Freshman cannot declare a music minor in their first semester. After that, admission to the minor is “rolling.” Music 119 will count toward the minor, which is good. The site also says that all music classes, lessons and ensembles will count toward the minor, so the minor offers a lot of freedom of choice.</p>

<p>To apply as a music major, you do a separate application to the School of Music and have to audition. It looks like the deadline for entry in the fall is May 1, which is unusually late. It is unclear to me whether passing the online theory test is required for admission, or if the remedial class is also available to prospective majors. I would think students who are auditioning would be pretty proficient on their instruments.</p>

<p>You play keyboard and guitar, both of which are mentioned, but I would check to see if the school has electric guitar, or classical, or both. From what I can see on the guitar studio site, the guitar major is classical. It takes many years of practice to become skilled enough to major in classical guitar.</p>

<p>You tell us, yourself, that you are not an experienced or proficient musician. So admission to the BM program would be unlikely. Majoring in music in a music school for a BA might also be unlikely, depending on your continued progress.</p>

<p>I think you might want to start off as an undeclared major at the university, explore some things you might be interested in, including intro to theory, and decide on whether or not you want to be a music minor. That would mean majoring in something else.</p>

<p>Alternatively, and this may be your best bet, explore areas of interest in your first year, pick a major when you need to (often the end of sophomore year), and do music on the side, either in university extracurriculars or on your own. To really progress, you will need lessons with a good teacher, which you may be able to access at the U of A.</p>

<p>I think the real problem here may be that you don’t want to do business, and enjoy doing music informally. That does not mean that your only choice is to be miserable doing business, or do music, for which you lack confidence and experience in many ways. There are countless possibilities for study and for career, and you don’t need to decide now. Go to the university, a great school (congratulations!) and enjoy exploring for a year or two. And continue to enjoy your music. Good luck!</p>

13

<p>Thank you so much, i find a teacher to teach my music theory, i think everything will be fine:)
Thanks again for all of you guys</p>

14

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<p>Like others have suggested, you may be a good candidate for a BA in music but probably not a BM. </p>

<p>The BM is the type of degree where you can get out of school and are in theory properly trained for a job in music (although it those jobs may be hard to find). BM degrees almost always require a very high level of skill to even be accepted - and you have to demonstrate this skill at an audition as part of the application process. You sound like you are more oriented to popular (modern) music, most, but not all, BM programs train you as a classical musician or in jazz. The concept is that if you can understand and play classical music and/or jazz, then you can play most any music. Darius Rucker, and the members of his origional band (Hootie and the Blowfish) were all classical music students, and all recieved BM degrees at my son’s college (University of South Carolina) before they became pop/rock/country music stars.</p>

<p>The BA really only qualifies you to go to grad school or to get a job likely out of your field (like as an entry level manager/manager trainee at a business). </p>

<p>Some schools, like my son’s, will actually not allow you to have two majors that are taught within the same department - but other colleges may encourage it. Some colleges will encourage a double major but not offer minors. One of the colleges my son applied at highly ecouraged BA students to double major, but not BS or BM students. It’s all up to your college.</p>

<p>Also, you may want to consider majoring in something else, and doing a music minor. It just really depends on how serious you are about music and what your career goals are.</p>

<p>You can probably look that up on the schools website.</p>

15

<p>Music minor seems like a good option, but you can of course also do music informally…my S (in high school) plays bass guitar in 5-6 different bands…a rock band, a couple of church “praise” bands, a jazz band, an acoustic duo…I’d guess at AU there are a lot of other kids who want to play, just for fun.</p>