Degree or No Degree?

I'm fast discovering that there's quite the little debate going on right now in the small circle of people I know regarding whether or not it's essential to have a degree in music from a recognized university, conservatory, or other institute if all you're wanting to do is perform. If you're wanting a career in music at all.

The main question that seems to get tossed around is when is a degree necessary, and when is it just icing on the cake?

Ironically I've found quite a few different opinions on this topic, and so I thought I'd share a few of those opinions with you and then throw mine into the mix as well just for the hell of it. Mostly because I think it's good that people throw these questions around. I think it's really important that everyone look at their own lives as individuals, and the only time I get upset when people have different viewpoints than I do is when they start insisting that everyone should think and be like them.

Okay...off the soap box and back to the topic at hand...

I've studied under three main voice teachers now, though I've also sung for various people throughout the country at different times and in different genres, venues, and styles. And everyone I come across seems to have a different take on what I'm coming to refer to as the 'proverbial question': degree or no degree?

Initially I started out going the route of getting a degree in, as it was officially called, Solo Vocal Performance. (Sounds kind of serious, don't you think??? Certainly very official, if nothing else...) But I almost immediately started running into trouble with the fact that I felt like I was being pigeonholed into something I didn't want anything to do with. I felt like the longer I was studying at the institute, the further away from my own goals I was getting.

And so in the end I left that particular major, and picked up a major in history instead, which I'm only a few terms away from finishing off and hammering on my wall.

Since then, I've met with resistance from some for still trying to pursue my dreams of becoming an opera singer, but I've also met other people who have had similar experiences to myself (like my current voice teacher), and are almost insisting there is no other way to do it then by forging your own path.

Truthfully, I still don't know what the best option is for the general population, even though I think I've at least found the best option for me personally.

I think a music degree is necessary for some professions, to be sure.

Conductors need it, composers need years of theory to understand what they're doing and analyze the music, teachers need it, and most instrumentalists have told me they need it too for some of their work. But I've still had plenty of people from those categories tell me they went a different route as well once they realized things weren't quite working out the way they wanted.

I think the thing I objected to in my own situation was more that it felt like everyone was being 'dumbed down' to the same level, rather than tailoring programs to each unique individual so that they could meet their full potential. Whereas now I have the freedom to do what I want because I'm not having to prepare for juries or obey certain 'rules' set down by the university. There are certainly other rules I have to obey, and other deadlines to meet, but those are all headed towards the end goal of a career. Not just towards playing somebody else's game to get the good grades so the G.P.A. doesn't suffer.

That's my biggest problem I think with that approach.

You put certain values on certain parts of the overall education, but music is so subjective. Each person will choose to focus on one thing more than another, and tailor it to their own specific career.

Especially singers.

We aren't like instrumentalists in the sense that every one of us has a unique instrument. Every one of us is born with a unique set of pipes that will perform a certain way, and we have to learn to play those instruments in our own time. Because the other reality is that what works for one singer won't necessarily work for another.

How can you put all of that into a degree program and ask everyone to do exactly the same thing?

Sure, I'll concede there are basics that it's good to know. It's important, I think, to have a basic concept of music theory, aural skills, and a basic knowledge of the keyboard. But I don't think 2-3 years of music theory is necessary. I think more time should be spent singing, and less time should be spent analyzing.

But again...that's truly just my opinion, because I've found a system that works for me. For someone else, a university setting might be just what they need to reach their goals. And that's perfectly fine.

At the end of the day, that's my ultimate opinion on the matter: that each individual musician should be allowed to dance to the beat of their own drum.