I saw that the FAFSA is out. S is had less than 3 complete weeks of school so far.
I went with my daughter to a prescreen workshop for musical theatre with the program director from Michigan. I am currently surrounded in file folders and printouts of audition requirements for her. It’s a good thing there is a 7 year break between her and my next kid, because I would lose my mind if we had to do this another time very soon!
I have been corrected by D. It was a professor from UM, not the program director. Lordy. I’m tired.
GoForth, I thought I would post this here, because it may very well be a part of the journey for a lot of kids. S is now less than 3 weeks into classes and he is having wrist issues. The big jump in playing and practice time and adding keyboard into the mix has taken its toll. He’s getting the appropriate attention for it, but I just wanted to share here so upcoming students are aware and take as many precaustions as they can to prevent overuse injuries.
I’m glad you brought that up @BassTheatreMom - something else to ask my S about on our next call.
One of these days, I would like to go back through the journal and make a more skeletal timeline, including details like this.
That is a great point @BassTheatreMom . S also mentioned something about wrist fatigue a couple weeks ago. I assume it is the right hand, although “maybe” S does more pizzicato for jazz, but also does a good dose of arco for classical bass class. Yes, keyboard skills class is in there, too.
I just texted S about it, and (maybe he was skateboarding while texting due to the number of typos, but) he said for the keyboard, the wrist strain is addressed by “moving in his seat”. Otherwise, he needs to stretch his hands, arms, and back daily. Clarification text just in says to move your body around on the piano seat for the far away notes so you’re not stretching the wrists too much. I think that S worked his way out of that pain.
Some other things that have happened that I can pile into this post while it’s here:
Bragging point for S: He said that when he met and played for his classical bass instructor, he was told about his classical playing: “Well, it’s not terrible.”
They have a baseline hearing test that they like all their jazzers to go through and get custom-fitted hearing plugs. So that has occurred.
In line with the topic of wrist pain as practice increases - S also has had some back pain. He has started getting that looked at, using the university resources as much as he can (I’m so happy about that). He is also looking at sitting on a stool versus standing, as an experiment to see how that works. I agreed with him that now is a great time to try stuff out and find what works.
“Well, it’s not terrible.” Love it.
I still chuckle when I think back at some of the words coming from the drumline techs in drum corps (I had an absence of being trained when I was younger, so I just soak all this second-hand instruction in like it’s brand new sage advice). My favorite one was, to the drumline: “It was good, … until you started playing.”
I wish they would have a laughter button at the bottom of the posts next to “Like and Helpul”! Your last post would definitely get lots of :))
I really treasure my vicarious experiences. I recall a tech at a drumline audition talking about how you have to “own your suck.” You have to find out how you suck, and then own it. Sounded like a great idea to me.
There was another phenomenon in the early days of S being at college, just a few weeks ago. I should add this into my eventual “timeline” chart. There were a few folks going the double major route, such as music and science. In all samples that S saw (in his location at that time), as soon as the student saw how much work would be required for music, which must have been apparent very early on, they all dropped the music performance major. Why would I add that to my anticipated “timeline” chart? - just to note that it is a normal occurrence at that point in time.
I think this is a useful point as we often try to stress to parents doing college searches that college is not simply an extension of high school with only higher level work. Performance degrees demand an incredible amount of time. In high school it seems like music demands a lot of time but in college it’s even more. Then there is the issue of competition or comparable talent in college. In high school talented kids can spread it out and remain on top but with comparable talent levels in college you can fall behind - a new reality for many kids. Even if a student is not bothered by any of this and can keep up, it can still be a scheduling nightmare. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible or not right for a top student in a dual degree program but parents/kids should note what you are seeing. I also saw this with my D friends. Lots of kids enter with big ideas (nothing wrong with that - my D flirted with a minor) but then reality sets in. Sometimes first semester of freshman year isn’t too bad to allow adjustment but it picks up steadily in my experience.
This is why I recommend students considering a double degree look first at the programs which are deliberately set up for that and offer full institutional support - such as Oberlin, Bard and Lawrence. This is not to say double degrees can’t be achieved at many other programs - but the burden might lie there more on the student to make it work and coordinate the scheduling and workload. It’s also why trying to graduate in less than five years adds stress, as well as limitations on electives.
Agreed. Dual degrees at supportive programs can be done. I know several Lawrence graduates that were very happy with their choice. The school and teachers support the dual degree and it took 5 yrs. As mentioned before, not all schools and teachers support dual degree students. If you ask and get vague answers or get the old “sure you could probably do that” I would be suspect. I would look for programs with current, successful, happy students with a curriculum you can review.
It should be noted that Bard actually requires conservatory students to do a double degree.
I was speaking with S on the phone recently. He made a comment about his experience.
Before:
Back in the high school days, all those months ago, he played with regionally great/top high school players. He knew that some of them totally de-prioritized their school work, but would practice and play a lot. Whereas, S had a pretty normal/heavy school workload like a typical student serious about college prep.
After:
Now, S has only one non-music class. It’s workload is nominal - it requires work, but is not nasty in any way. He observed that with this much smaller academic workload, his mind is much more free during each day to think about musical concepts. He feels this is valuable for being able to grow further and is really enjoying the opportunity to dive in more than he did before.
It is another note in the journal. Maybe some portion of students see the same thing and feel the same way, whether that happened during high school, during college, or otherwise.
Go Forth,
My conservatory grad is probably as well read as any liberal arts major. For him it was useful to not take stressful liberal arts courses so he could read and expand his knowledge base, based on what he felt he needed for his music. Every semester I tried to convince him to take classes at Harvard, Tufts, Northeastern. He refused insisting the time traveling to and from class was not worth it and when he reviewed his options he figured he could learn what he wanted on his own. I realize not all students are as self-directed or as motivated. But what is interesting is to see him today compared to his peers. He continues to read and learn and did not see his Bachelors degree or his Masters degree as the completion of his studies. Instead he continues to be curious and fill his free time with ideas. And I hope all that self direction will lead to something artistically satisfying for him. At a minimum it has taught him that he can learn anything if he sets his mind to it.
That is great info @StacJip . I suggested to S not to view college as a beginning or and ending, but as a tool.
I was just speaking to son yesterday, and he’s had a hard time getting comfortable with the flip from academics first and music second, to music first and academics second. He’s happy about it, but it’s the opposite of how he has prioritized everything in the past.
I hope that my kids, whether in the arts or not, have the attitude that yours does, @StacJip . Learning shouldn’t be limited to a classroom - and really, the classroom is only a jumping off point. Your son sounds like a really neat person.
I read StacJip a few more times, and another idea came to mind.
When S compared Frost to UNT, he noted that Frost has a teacher for Jazz Double Bass and another teacher for Electric Bass. He took lessons from each of them and liked them both.
At UNT, S takes lessons for Classical Double Bass and also for Jazz Double Bass. But, there is no instructor for Electric Bass. However, proficiency in electric bass is considered for lab band placement at some point. So that situation at UNT sounded slightly “unresolved” to us. Yet, after the initial head scratch, it seemed “OK” in that there would be a need to learn something important, but without a classroom setting, which sounds exactly like what is going to happen after college anyway. For the time being, S found another student with strengths and weaknesses that are opposite of S’s, so they give each other “lessons”.