<p>Typed a long answer this morning and deleted it. The gyst is that the answer will be so individual. Guarantees are hard to come by with any major, and music perhaps worse than many. Boiled down, my answer is: If your son isn’t at the top of his game in terms of practice, talent, ambition, and passion, then adjust your expectations as to what he will get out of a music degree, and then decide if you can life with that.</p>
<p>I have two children with music performance degrees. One has the talent, drive, and passion to make it as a performer, and the other doesn’t. No surprises - we knew what we had going in.</p>
<p>For one, he has moved seamlessly from school to work. He hasn’t “landed” yet, but is enjoying the ride. He isn’t rolling in money, but he is blissful nonetheless, doing what he loves. He says candidly, “I like my life.”</p>
<p>For the other, she had the opportunity to spend four years “being allowed to practice.” Something she admits she never felt she had when confronted with the pressures of academic life outside of music. She is grateful for all she learned along the way, and now is turning her attention to other things.</p>
<p>With both children, we did not spend too much time saying “what will this get him/her” in terms of career or finances or guarantees? Instead, we asked, “Is this something that will do them good” in terms of their education, their future, and their souls. </p>
<p>Especially with my daughter, we considered whether it was an appopriate detour along the way to the rest of her life, or if it was a legitimate and logical part of the rest of her life. When we weighed her options, we felt that music was actually giving her opportunities that she would not otherwise have. We, as a family, value music, and that helps. We do not see time spent pursuing the study of music as “wasted” or trivial.</p>
<p>I suspect my husband will always be a bit sad that no one followed his engineering path, and I guess I’ll never have a doctor in the family. But the education my kids received is part of the fabric that is them, and I’m happy that music is woven in there.</p>