I've been asked many times why I am not a music major. In high school, I was always first chair flute, I played piccolo for 5 years, I played piano for countless, I taught myself many other instruments, and I participated in pep band and drumline as well as being the drum major for our marching band. Not to mention, I wrote a song junior year and the band performed it at our spring concert, with me directing. Hell, my freshman year of high school, people referred to me as "Piccolo Girl." Band was always my favorite class of the day, because it was my stress reliever. No matter what happened that day that made me upset, I could always go to band, play my flute, and let go of anything that happened. Music is my passion.
So, why am I not a music major, if I have this talent?
I could never let my talent go to waste, which is why I am still in band now, and I am a music minor, but I could never make music be my (somewhat) permanent future.
Why, you may ask?
For one thing, if I am forced to do something I enjoy, I end up getting sick of it. I never want to put myself through that misery of a love-hate relationship with music. Wouldn't that make me get sick of any major I choose? Yes, but I can't do that to my music. It's my passion; something I enjoy doing. I want to continue to enjoy it. I'm not passionate about anything even remotely close to my music.
Another thing is that because I have such a talent for it, it comes easily to me; almost too easily. I'm rarely ever challenged when it comes to music. I don't practice outside of rehearsals because I know I don't need to. Give me 3 rehearsals, I'll have a song down. I've tried looking at other books to practice out of, but nothing challenges me enough to really make me want to work for it. As much as I love it, it doesn't challenge me enough. I want to be challenged. I want to be stuck in one spot trying to figure the best way out. I can't get that with music, but with psychology, and working with people, I get that constantly. I love the challenge.
A final, but not so important, thought is that there are very few jobs out there for music performers. I wouldn't want to teach music, because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to performance, and I would kill those kids trying to get the music to sound the way I want it to. I would love to be in a professional orchestra, but it won't pay the bills, and I wouldn't like the traveling. I'd rather join a community band, where I am playing with other people who are there for pure interest and entertainment, and though they may not be perfect, I am playing with people who don't depend on it as their job.
Why am I a psychology major and not a music major? I love music too much to put myself through that misery.
