<p>Just a question to the piano players on here, do y’all know where to find a free copy of My Immortal by Evanescence on the internet (searched all over and ran into dead ends every way)? </p>
<p>I figured out the opening part by ear but really have no chance at figuring out the rest.</p>
<p>I would say something that challenges the mind is much more significant that challenges you physically.</p>
<p>I’d say (as a runner, Ultimate Frisbee player, golfer and climber, as well as piano and guitar player and composer) that they are equal. They both make you think (strategy, for example, in sports). They both hurt (hand cramps, blisters on your fingertips that last for days). They both require a LOT of practice and maybe some form of inate skill. However, I will say that since a lot of people are active and achieve in sports, and music programs in the US are deteriorating while sports seem to be as strong as ever, sports are probably overused on college apps. Not to say that they’re worthless or anything even remotely like that.</p>
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<p>Well isn’t it still luck of the draw then because it all depends on what your parents push you towards. My parents never made me learn a musical instrument, and I’m terrible at playing them. However, I was pushed towards sports and I did pretty well.</p>
<p>Sports are fun, but the one thing that sucks major about team sports is the fact that it’s a TEAM SPORT. I realized this after playing football and soccer… Even the best players were sitting on the bench… Tennis? everyone plays and there is no such thing as " the bench". So pretty much… people have perspectives on different sports.</p>
<p>Hm…I was never forced into anything. I did a whole lot of different things when I was a kid and kinda wish that my parents would have pushed me a bit more in a few of them. They might have let me have too much of a say in that kind of stuff.</p>
<p>Oh, and learning guitar does hurt. My wrists and fingers killed me there for a while. Especially on the bass.</p>
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<p>What do you mean even the BEST players sit on the bench? The best players PLAY, the good players play less, and the average players barely play, the poor players don’t get off the bench. What is good and poor depends on how good the team is. The 12th man on a really good team, might start on another.</p>
<p>Some schools try to do the equal play time in some sports. It’s really dumb, I know, but I’ve seen a few around here that seem to do that.</p>
<p>Please dont jump on me for asking this question caused I am not really informed about musicians even though I do sing in the choir and made all-district.</p>
<p>DO musicians practice 3 hours a day for 5 months straight. Then come home exhausted and have to do 3 hours of homework?</p>
<p>Maybe so I really do not know so dont jump me.</p>
<p>I am biased towards sports though being a XC runner.</p>
<p>Marchballer, many musicians do. I already mentioned a while back a link where young violinists hoping for professional careers are reccomended to spend at least 3-4 hours day practicing, and that’s 3-4 hours of solid work, not playing a little bit and then getting a snack or resting like I’m sure most people are guilty of occasionally. Practicing for that long can be very draining, and that practice is expected to continue nearly every day for the entire year. Conservatory and professional players practice even more than that.</p>
<p>Yeah… musicians hoping for professional careers practice that much. </p>
<p>Athletes who “only” want to make the varsity team at their HS, let alone be one of the best, have to practice that much.</p>
<p>Swimmers who know they will never make it even close to the professional (or national) level practice that much and more at least 6 days a week all year (with 2-4 weeks off)</p>
<p>Another thing: since some of you seem to consider music such an intellectual pursuit, aren’t you impressed by those who can excel in different fields such as academics (school) AND physical pursuits rather than just intellectual things ?</p>
<p>Some musicians do practice that much or more for months. I practiced 2-3 hours a day (including class time) from August to December for Region tryouts, 3-4 hours a day from December to January for Area auditions, and 2-3 hours a day (including class time) from January to February for State chair placement auditions. During non-audition times I pretty much only practice the hour during class time and maybe an hour on my own time once or twice a week.</p>
<p>All-Region clinics start practice about January 20something-th from 3:00-9:00 the first day, 8:00-4:00 the next, and then a concert that night with your band. The try-outs for these bands generally start around 8:00 in the morning and the final results are posted around 10:30 or 11:00 that night.</p>
<p>Area auditions on January 14th-ish (to make the state band…the top kids from All-Region qualify for it) start at around 8:00 in the morning and last till 7:00 that night when the final results are posted. Basically you warm up for about half an hour in your instrument’s room before your audition number is up…and you go in the judging room to play your scales and slow etude. Then you sit and wait for friggin ever for your number to come around again and you play your fast etude. Then you sit around waiting for the results which tell you who’s going to State.</p>
<p>State, on the other hand, begins auditions around February 15th-ish at 7:30 at night…clarinets have to stay there till about 10:30 for everyone to play (and everyone’s in one room so you audition in front of your competition)…the results are usually up for everyone before midnight. Rehearsals are from 8:00-6:00 with a two hour lunch break and a couple stretch-your-legs breaks for two days, the third day you practice from 8:00-12:00, and then perform in your band’s concert.</p>
<p>Musicians may not be physically exhausted in the same way you are after running 5 miles or whatever you do, but practicing, rehearsing, and performing that much for anything is very draining (and I know that a wind instrument player’s mouth feels like hell afterwards).</p>
<p>And this post is entirely too long and over-informative…sorry.</p>
<p>::edit::</p>
<p>I’m not becoming a professional musician nor have I ever really wanted to be. It’s something I enjoy and I’m super competitive. Frankly, if I’m not one of the best at the things I do, I do what it takes until I am. That’s just how I work.</p>
<p>And though it probably seems like I had no social life in high school…I definitely did.</p>
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<p>Many musicians pratice up to 5 or 6 hours a day. My friend who is going to Oberlin’s conservatory practices nearly 7 hours per day. No varsity athletes put in over 4 hours +/day of practice towards their sport.</p>
<p>Um… I’m glad you know all varsity athletes. </p>
<p>I’m not familiar with all sports but I know swimmers in particular certainly put in more than 4 hours a lot of time in high school because our club coaches don’t like HS swimming so we go to HS swim practice (1 hr) or swim meet (2 hrs) then club practice (3 hrs)… = 4-5 hours and that’s only on school days nevermind weekends, and doesn’t include the time for travel etc</p>
<p>Well, most musicians practice year round, many athletes practice alot during season and may train some off season</p>
<p>Swimming doesn’t have a “season”. It’s year round if you want to be decent.</p>
<p>Most good musicians I know practice a lot before a concert, audition, or w/e but other than that don’t put in nearly as much time as serious athletes.</p>
<p>People planning on a career in music are obviously different but 98%+ of HS athletes are not planning to make a career out of sports so they must also be talented in other areas</p>
<p>Haha so I love that nearly everyone on this thread has at one point or another admitted that sports and music are equal, yet it’s still being argued. </p>
<p>As far as practice time goes, I think it’s pretty much equal, an exception being Drew00’s comment-
“My friend who is going to Oberlin’s conservatory practices nearly 7 hours per day. No varsity athletes put in over 4 hours +/day of practice towards their sport.”
-While this is almost true (I just finished two-a-day practices of 2+ hours each), I believe that hours aside from the pure physical excursion much be taken into account. Athletes almost always have to travel to practice, whereas many instruments can be practiced at home (true, there are lessons and whatnot). Much more significant than travel time is the time it takes to make sure you don’t kill your body (icing, baths, massage, extra yoga classes). </p>
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<p>This brings me to another point. Several people have said that sports are more physical and music more intellectual. Overall I think that is true, but not by a large margin. Athletes must have the mental strength to cope with injury, loss, stress and tactics before a game, stress and tactics during a game, team dynamics, and they must know their body and how far it can be pushed. </p>
<p>Musicians also must be able to deal with most of these things (especially when playing solo before a crowd). </p>
<p>On my soccer team there are some kids who are of average intelligence, and a few who could attend Ivies (even if it weren’t for sports). The less intelligent (with one, maybe two exceptions-as always) tend to make poorer choices in life that affect their play, bad decisions on the field, and get really stressed out. </p>
<h2>So I definitly thing intelligence plays as much of a role in sports as it does in music. Once again there will be exceptions for certain sports and also for certain types of music. </h2>
<p>But to the original topic of this thread-
I know for a recruted athlete there can definitely be an advantage in admissions if needed, but doesn’t the same hold true for a great musician who will play for the school (I’m not really sure). If not, then yes, it is a little unfair but that’s not to say that sports are overvalued, simply that music is undervalued.
As far as having sports ECs instead of music ECs (no recrutment), does that give an advantage in the admissions process? I’m not sure it’s fair if it does. But adcoms also have to be wary of people who say they’ve been playing an instument for (#) years. With sports, proof of involvement can be much more concrete.</p>
<p>Athletes get full-rides based on their outstanding talent. Musicians, on the other hand, pretty much only get full rides if they’re music majors.</p>
<p>I see why athletes do since they represent the school on a more public level and bring in the crowds for games, though.</p>
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Way false. Conditioning in the summer is intense. In the late summer for football, varsity athletes literally wake up, go to football practice, and then sleep.</p>
<p>Whoever said playing an instrument is more mental or intellectual than playing a sport doesn’t have brain cell two. For example, cross-country is a highly mental sport; it truly requires SUPREME focus and determination to continue and push past the pain threshold, which I guarantee you, if you have never ran in cross-country before, is incomprehensible. And this mental toughness is needed for an agonizing 16 to 18 minutes. (which will seem longer than a 10 hour band practice).</p>
<p>Playing music doesn’t require nearly as much mental effort. You are reading notes of the goddamn page! You are being told, step by step, EXACTLY what to do! NO THINKING REQUIRED! Plus, practing instruments is always the same: play this, play that, play this again, play a scale</p>
<p>Sports training is highly complicated. There are no directions on how to improve your game. Why do you think there are coaches? You don’t need a teacher to tell you how to practice the flute in your room. For sports you constantly need to be ananlyzing what foods to eat, what exercises to do, the best training methods, what drills to do, making sure your not overtraining, analyzing your results, preventing injuries.</p>
<p>Not to mention, the actual event of playing sports is harder than playing instruments. Again, music gives you precise, step-by-step instructions on what to do, and you’ve probably practiced those exact steps dozens of times. You’ve probably practiced some pieces so much you can do them in your sleep. Sound mentally exhuasting to you? Hardly. Sports require improvistation, quick-thinking, constant adaptation to your opponents, and constant analyzing of situations. A quarterback has to read the field, the point guard has to surprise the defense, a batter is working through his head what the hell kinda pitch is that guy going to throw next?</p>
<p>The only reason you feel music is more mentally difficult than sports is because generally more geeky (and thus presumed smarter, FALSE) kids play instruments while more stereotypically air headed jocks play sports. First, geeky does not equal smart and its no surprise many band kids are geeky, because they sit alone in their room all day!</p>
<p>I was val at my hs in a class of 700+ students. I played sports but not an instrument. I was certainly smarter than all of the band kids. (Btw, not one of the top 6 played an instrument). I did do some singing in choir, but I would say vocal music is a lot closer to a physical training activity like sports than playing a flute.</p>
<p>In sum, playing instruments is simply figuring out what holes to put your fingers in and then blowing. Yeah, it IS very similar to gay sex. Sports takes more effort, physically and mentally, then music. CASE CLOSED.</p>