How to Develop a Strategy

Strategy Types

• The Goal Oriented Strategy: If you have a clear image of what you wish to do as a musician, then your strategy will be clearly defined. For example, if you know you want to lead a band and tour it all over the country, then your focus will be on developing performance, composition and organizational skills..
• The Flexible Strategy: If you know that you want to be involved in the music world, but are not sure if this will be as a performer, then you can use your college experience to find out how comfortable you are performing in public. You may discover, however, that you enjoy doing arrangements for third partries, or managing an orchestra, or running a music school or recording studio. Your strategy will thus change over time.
• Lists: Start by making a list of all the requirements required for a music degree. This includes prerequisites and requirements for your major (and minor, if relevant) and all the State degree requirements. The sooner you take your requirements, the more choices you will have later on. Once you understand all of these requirements, you can use the following guidelines for planning your long-term and semester schedules.

Choosing a College

Every college is as good as its professors and curriculum. Therefore, study the university catalogs carefully.

Some students are attracted by the reputation of certain teachers in a college, but many of the basic music theory and skills are taught excellently by relatively unknown teachers. Contact with inspirational teachers becomes even more important towards the end of your degree.

Some colleges allow you to select teachers of your choice for private lessons. For this, it becomes important to live in a city where great musicians abound - like New York City, Chicago, Boston or Los Angeles.

Here is a list of music colleges in the US

Getting Your Core Credits

Your major, including prerequisites, will only take up about a quarter of the 128 credit hours you need to graduate. Therefore, you have a number of other choices to make when making your long-term plans and choosing classes each semester.

Each semester will have a group of required courses, know as
"core credits". However, since each semester's requirements don't add up to the maximum of 18 credits allowed, you can add electives. There are about 200 elective courses you can take to meet the maximum. You owe it to yourself to take the time to find classes that are interesting to you when looking to fulfil your term credits.

It's a good idea to do well in all your required theory classes because you need to achieve fourth-term proficiency. You will get much more out of your Junior and Senior years if you have all the theory under your belt. Also, more courses will be available to you, since some courses have the prerequisite of passing the required courses.

Testing Out

Students can take a test before the start of a semester to see if they already know the material taught in a class. This is called "testing out". Students who test out of required courses and into advanced levels have much greater control over the shaping of their musical education.

For example, if all the theory prerequisites are met after the second semester, more courses can be taken in your areas of interest, like composition, or music business, or musicology. There are over 200 courses to choose from.

Taking an Academic Minor

You are not required to complete a minor, but if you are pursuing one, selecting a class for it is an easy way to fill out your schedule. Remember, you will often have a choice of which classes to take for your minor, so make sure you understand the requirements. You do not want to take a class because you thought it was required only to find out later that it was actually optional.

College Versus Apprenticeship

Should I just study under a master craftsman, and skip college?

This is a difficult question to answer, since the history of music is full of extraordinarily talented autodidacts. There is no question that a good mentor is fundamental. The question is: can I study with my mentor privately, or should I learn from him in an academic setting?

• Motivation: Music is an extremely absorbing activity. If anyone spends hours a day with their instrument, it is clear that there is great motivation. However, it is easier to lapse into an easy-going schedule when there is no external obligation to meet, like tests and exams.
• Preparing for gigs: Sometimes learning the material for a gig and the wish to make a good impression is sufficient to motivate students to study hard. However, since gigs usually arrive at short notice, it is dificult to put in place a long term practice routine to prepare for them. Remember: the most beneficial skills are developed over long-term practice regimens.
• Study at home: The pressure and reality of a working musician's life is unlikely to be replicated in a home study environment, and the college system is an excellent preparation for a musician's life. Remember, musicians are not just performers. They are also teachers, session workers, subs, travelers, composers, arrangers and ordinary citizens as well. This can be hard to negotiate without a solid preparation.
• Peer pressure: Another important advantage of college is that you confront yourself with other students, and this peer pressure raises the your standards. In some cases, a particularly talented student can serve as inspiration for you to do better work. The reasoning goes: "If he can do it, why shouldn't I?"
• Peer Exchange: Sometimes we learn more from a peer than from a teacher! Other students may be experts in a particular style, or have memorized a solo or chord sequence, or have some inspiring audio files. These productive encounters may not happen outside such a rich social context as a college.

Best Practices

The following are some tips that I have found useful in my own college experience, so I will pass them on:

• Be Original: Always try to be original. You need not pander to the standard way of doing things. Remember you are studying to be an artist, and your recognition in the world is dependent on how unique and memorable you are. Developing your personal style is not an overnight project, so start implementing this particular attitude as soon as possible. Remember: imitators aren't as interesting as innovators.
• Collaborate: Never miss out on an opportunity to participate with other musicians in a project. Most of the time you will be practicing or studying alone, but the true test of the value of what you have learned is how succesfully you can interact with other people, be they colleagues or audience.
• Participate: Class participation is one of the easiest ways to raise your grade. Simply being active in class shows your teacher you are engaged, and also helps you learn more effectively. It's often better to answer a question wrong, rather than not answer it at all, because you will learn from your mistake.

Time Scales

Your college course will last 4 years. But you should consider 3 different time scales during this perido of time

This is a difficult question to answer, since the history of music is full of extraordinarily talented autodidacts. There is no question that a good mentor is fundamental. The question is: can I study with my mentor privately, or should I learn from him in an academic setting?

• Scale 1: Week-to week tasks and assignments. These are the skills that you can absorb quickly, by reading a chapter or practicing a specific tune or exercise. Not much planning is required. These tasks are easily forgotten.
• Scale 2: 3 month period. This scale involves projects that require many hours of work, like a large scale arrangement or composition, or a long analysis or paper. This requires sustained research and work, and will leave a more lasting impact on your education..
• Scale 3: 4 years. This is the most important part of your college degree. You should think about what your ultimate goal at graduatiion is, and work consistently throughout the 8 semesters to achieve that goal. Is it a particular playing style you wish to attain? is it an innovative compositional idea or technique? is it a band sound that you are developing over the sourse of repeated rehearsals and gigs? Is it a new conception of music or music education? Is it mastering a difficult instrumental technique. You should think about in your freshman year what this goal is, and thinks about achieving it by the endof your senior year. this is what you will be presenting the world!