College - Major or Minor?

Question

I was explaining to my dad of how I want to Major in Music Performance, and Minor in Business Management. Though the feedback was that I should Major in Business and Minor in Music. My passion is singing, and I feel as though I should Major in something like that, but he explianed to me that Business should be my major because it could help me out way more and get me further in my future than having a major in music can.

So which one should I major in, and which one should I minor?

Answer 1

Majoring in music performance is an incredibly demanding decision. Adding a minor in business means knowing ahead of time that you're doing 5 years or more for a bachelor's degree. Most music majors go over 4-years without a minor.

What you might want to look into is a major like music business or arts administration. These would include both and would give you an advantage over the business majors because it's a specialty area.

What you and dad might want to discuss is that you're going about picking your major backward. Neither degree will get you very far in your future if you don't have a career goal that you're preparing for. People who get the degree and then try to decide on a career usually end up hunting hard for a job. Those who pick a career and then get the degree in order to get into that career do much better finding a job later.

A degree in business is very valuable to musicians. Music is a business and an art. A degree in music isn't much use to a banker on the other hand.

Understand too that a bachelor's in music performance is a very specialized degree. It won't qualify you to teach music in public school for example. It prepares you to either perform or to go on to graduate school. A bachelor's degree in business provides very many options, but it's not so useful for an anthropologist. This is why you should look at careers first and then decide on a major.

Unless you're one of the lucky few who doesn't need to worry about working and can afford to get a degree just to learn cool stuff. Then you can major in whatever you want to.

Answer 2

Depends on how serious you are about pursuing music in the long-run. If it's just a really fun hobby, go with business, because you can do a lot with a business degree. However, if you can truly picture yourself wanting to sing for a career (or teach singing), then follow your passion.

Answer 3

It's EXTREMELY hard to make a good living in the music business, so the logical choise would be to major in business. There are a lot more job opportunities. Plus, you might be able to find a job that combines both, like working for a record company or something!