New Major

Tuesday night, I decided to change from music performance to music education! At the time it all seemed really random and sudden, but there's a story...

When I first came to BYU I wanted to double major in music education and elementary education. It's a five year program, but usually takes longer. The first year as a music major, students are just considered General Music Majors. At the end of the first year you declare your emphasis. So anyway, about halfway through the year I decided to do performance instead because I didn't want to turn into one of those typical music teachers who stops playing/practicing and loses what they worked so hard for for so many years. So I was accepted into the performance degree, but job options are bleak. The only job options I came up with were playing in a professional symphony (costing lots of time, money, and hard work. Even though it's a good paying job, there's no guarantee I'd get into one with a life-long contract), teaching at a university (which would require a doctorate...who knows with life's little surprises if I'd ever get that far), or just teaching a private studio in my home (which I could do with any degree). At the time those sacrifices for a symphony or university job didn't seem like that big of a deal, but since I got married and have higher priorities like my husband and future children involved, I've been deliberating for months over what I should do.

I thought about trying to get a masters in music education, because then I could actually be qualified for a decent job, but there's the problem again of time and money that may not be available. In a combined string music major meeting Tuesday night, the head of the music education department said there is a high demand for music educators across the country, and not many of the music majors are ed majors. He also talked about how, with a music ed degree, we can still do everything we want to do with music (perform, teach privately, etc), but in addition you would actually have a stable job. That really hit me, and it sounded like a perfect solution to my dilemma. So the next morning I ran around talking to my professor and the head of the music ed department to get everything figured out. Between their help and my own course planning, it looks like I will only graduate a semester later than I would have otherwise. There's a pre-requisite I have to take before I can officially be admitted (which is only offerred Winter semester), but this year I'm taking a woodwind workshop class. This semester I'm learning clarinet and saxaphone. Luckily Jason plays both, so I have a private teacher!

Anyway, that's what's new in my life. Oh, and today is our 3 month aniversary! We're going to eat a nice dinner on our beautiful China, play games, and watch a movie. I can't wait to get off work!