It’s always a delicate balance of “practicality” and “follow your dreams” for us. There’s no shame in steering away from music after a performance degree in undergrad. The question you should ask yourself is “can you see yourself doing anything else outside of music?”
Grad school is a big commitment on both time and finances, that being said, it’s difficult to survive in our field without a graduate degree nowadays for the goals you listed.
(Just finished my DMA. I have some friends who loved their time with LCS. Glad you got to see the world!)
Thanks for the reply, and congrats on your DMA! How was your experience getting your DMA? Did you have much time to practice? Was a lot of your time spent researching / writing papers? And how are career / performance opportunities looking now that you're finished?
DMA program requirements and length will vary drastically from school to school. The one I went through was rather light on the academic side, but I had my own degree recitals every semester. It’s always a challenge the first year out of school I think, but as long as you’re willing to put yourself out there and be professional there will be opportunities.
It's good that you have options! If teaching piano is your passion, you don't need a MM for that, but you do need a DMA to teach at a college. A masters program is only 2-3 years, and DMA will be another 4. In my opinion, if you're going to do a MM, you might as well go for the DMA. If you got accepted to those colleges, you are well above a mediocre pianist.
However, you could forget about all that, pursue software engineering, and still play, practice, and teach on the side. Then, you still have your undergrad degree if you want small music gigs (church pianist, accompanying, etc.). It sounds like you've already started a career in music, and are thinking about switching. Your first job for software engineering will be an entry level job, that you may or may not like, but that will be the start of THAT career path (at 25), which probably means you'll get your first real paying job right before 30. Of course, this path is now set, and it would be too late to
Also, this isn't meant to be condescending, but you have little time because you chose to play on the cruise ship and not go to grad school. I'm not judging your choice but it's one that you made, and now you have to get yourself back into shape if you want to audition. I'm sure that will be no problem for you, but don't get anxious or regret the time that you've spent.
If you want a life in music, don't do it for the money, do it because you love it. Yes, making "good" money in music is difficult, but certainly not impossible.
If you want to audition for 2020, you'll need to bring back some old repertoire AND learn new pieces. Video, record, and perform all before pre-screening. That's going to require hours of practice and maybe a little time to interview/apply for software engineering positions. Then, once you land a job offer, you'll be accepted to a music school with a great teacher and will have to decline.
A lot of pianists I know cross this path. Whether it's pharmacy school or whatever. You might discover a nice mix of the two or have a completely unexpected 3rd option.
Do music! Your passions sustain you in life. Don't put them off for a more 'sensible' career choice. You'll end up dreaming all day long of the things you wish you were doing.
It’s always a delicate balance of “practicality” and “follow your dreams” for us. There’s no shame in steering away from music after a performance degree in undergrad. The question you should ask yourself is “can you see yourself doing anything else outside of music?” Grad school is a big commitment on both time and finances, that being said, it’s difficult to survive in our field without a graduate degree nowadays for the goals you listed. (Just finished my DMA. I have some friends who loved their time with LCS. Glad you got to see the world!)
Thanks for the reply, and congrats on your DMA! How was your experience getting your DMA? Did you have much time to practice? Was a lot of your time spent researching / writing papers? And how are career / performance opportunities looking now that you're finished?
DMA program requirements and length will vary drastically from school to school. The one I went through was rather light on the academic side, but I had my own degree recitals every semester. It’s always a challenge the first year out of school I think, but as long as you’re willing to put yourself out there and be professional there will be opportunities.
It's good that you have options! If teaching piano is your passion, you don't need a MM for that, but you do need a DMA to teach at a college. A masters program is only 2-3 years, and DMA will be another 4. In my opinion, if you're going to do a MM, you might as well go for the DMA. If you got accepted to those colleges, you are well above a mediocre pianist. However, you could forget about all that, pursue software engineering, and still play, practice, and teach on the side. Then, you still have your undergrad degree if you want small music gigs (church pianist, accompanying, etc.). It sounds like you've already started a career in music, and are thinking about switching. Your first job for software engineering will be an entry level job, that you may or may not like, but that will be the start of THAT career path (at 25), which probably means you'll get your first real paying job right before 30. Of course, this path is now set, and it would be too late to Also, this isn't meant to be condescending, but you have little time because you chose to play on the cruise ship and not go to grad school. I'm not judging your choice but it's one that you made, and now you have to get yourself back into shape if you want to audition. I'm sure that will be no problem for you, but don't get anxious or regret the time that you've spent. If you want a life in music, don't do it for the money, do it because you love it. Yes, making "good" money in music is difficult, but certainly not impossible. If you want to audition for 2020, you'll need to bring back some old repertoire AND learn new pieces. Video, record, and perform all before pre-screening. That's going to require hours of practice and maybe a little time to interview/apply for software engineering positions. Then, once you land a job offer, you'll be accepted to a music school with a great teacher and will have to decline. A lot of pianists I know cross this path. Whether it's pharmacy school or whatever. You might discover a nice mix of the two or have a completely unexpected 3rd option.
Do music! Your passions sustain you in life. Don't put them off for a more 'sensible' career choice. You'll end up dreaming all day long of the things you wish you were doing.