Why am I putting myself through this?

[latestarter]

I'm curious why music was singled out here... I had a career in retail befor IT (management) and worked with a woman with a degree in american studies who was very happy stacking shelves.

At the end of the day, the policy of our government is that everyone is funded for their first degree - whatever the subject. The universities have responded by creating a whole wealth of subjects to draw applicants in - the unis want the money.

My friend did a music degree and is a very talented musician - but she is also a very good IT business analyst! It doesn't matter that she didn't do an IT degree...

[Polldoll]

I could've taught pre-GCSE music and I know virtually nothing about music. About ten minutes reading before each lesson would probably be sufficient. GCSE and after, however, would require someone who actually knows what they're talking about. GCSE and after isn't part of the core, national curriculum though. People do it through choice.


Definition of a musician: "one who composes, conducts, or performs music, especially instrumental music".
(musician - definition of musician by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.)
Why is it not enough?


So, ultimately, it just makes you a more qualified musician.


Not really. To be a doctor, you need to do a degree in medicine. To be talented with music, i.e. a musician, you don't need to do a degree in music. It's not the same.

It is not enough just to learn to play the right notes in the right place at the right time, there is a whole other level to performance that you need to aquire through time, experience and learning.. Best place to to this is to study it to a specialist level ie degree. You can not learn musicality from reading a DIY music textbook.

Yes it makes you a more qualified musician, which in turn generally means that you are a better, professional standard musician! There are lots of great amature musicians out there (a high proportion are medics btw), they took lessons at school and play their instruments to a high level and gain alot of enjoyment out of playing in a local orchestra, but ultimately they are not earning a living from music. They would not be able to go into the BBC Symphony Orchestra and play a concert with them, they would be no where near the very high standard required!

Music and dance students work incredibly hard, it is a mentally and physically very challenging degree course. The competition to get in to music school is huge!! Once you manage to get a place, you dont get days off. You have to practice every single day for several hours.. If I took the summer holidays off then I would loose stamina, flexibility, range and be taking steps back. During term time I was in every day (including weekends) majority of the time I was in from 8am till 9pm. Now I cant compare this to accounting or marketing, but since I did a degree in nursing I will compare this. In nursing I might be in 3 days a week, and have say 15 hours of lectures/tutorials etc. I could do my academic work in between classes. At 5pm I could switch off and go home. If I didnt open a book for a month over the summer it didnt de-skill me that much! I could have evenings and weekends off! It wasnt that tough a degree, and I only worked a fraction as hard as I needed to on my music degree!!

Like I said previously, I am not familiar with the English teaching system, so if you think you can teach pre Gcse music then well done to you. I would love to see you teach the 10 year old pupils I have how to play the French Horn! I know the names of most of the body parts and systems.. can I teach pre gcse science and biology too, or would you rather have a teacher who had a qualification in this area??

[Arch_Angel]

Like I said previously, I am not familiar with the English teaching system, so if you think you can teach pre Gcse music then well done to you. I would love to see you teach the 10 year old pupils I have how to play the French Horn! I know the names of most of the body parts and systems.. can I teach pre gcse science and biology too, or would you rather have a teacher who had a qualification in this area??

Compulsary music education in this country (up to year 9) essentially amounts to being able to clap three blind mice and play hot cross buns on a recorder.

[Genevieve]

I'd like to see some evidence of that please.

Umm ok. Students on marketing and accountacy are timetabled in for lectures 3 days a week, lectures for maybe 4 hours in the day. They are off for summer from the end of May until Mid September (my boyfriend is studying accounting and my cousin just graduated in marketing so I have a fair idea of the attendance and work involved).
Some students won't even attend all of these lectures. Sure they also study after lectures but it's not physically demanding on top of this in the way that dance is.

Dance students I know are in at least 4 days in the week for 7-8 hours a day. They have taught classes and they have practical sessions, usually split up between morning and afternoon. They have constant assessment on academics and on their dance skills which include classical ballet, contemporary etc. They don't get a long summer like 'regular' students because their fitness levels would go down the pan. They are expected to practice constantly outwith uni.
As i'm sure you can imagine dancing for hours is pretty intense on top of classes it is a lot of work, and I respect their dedication and hard work.


See here: Drama and dance | Education | Education Guardian

[Kinkerz]

I would love to see you teach the 10 year old pupils I have how to play the French Horn!

Well obviously I couldn't do that. But if I was talented at playing the horn you mention, then I could teach it, with or without a degree in music. I doubt when people are looking for instructors to teach them an instrument, they look for the 'BA' after the instructor's name.

I know the names of most of the body parts and systems.. can I teach pre gcse science and biology too, or would you rather have a teacher who had a qualification in this area??

Pre-GCSE science isn't all about "body parts and systems", that's just biology (and even then there's a whole load of plant crap). There are two other dimensions to science...
Pre-GCSE music is *refers to Arch Angel's post*. It requires no real teaching.

If the teacher knew what they were talking about, then I wouldn't really care about their educational backgroud. My AS physics teacher did his degree in electronics, yet the electronics module wasn't covered by him. He taught the mechanics and particle physics. Still, he was a good teacher and really knew his stuff despite his degree being in a different field.

[Ashdon]

The way how I see it is that no degree is more superior than any other degree. Some people may see a degree as useless as it doesn't promise a wide variety of or any job prospects but fail to realise that some people don't use a degree as a means to earning money instead they might do it as a means to finding out more about something they like.

[Kinkerz]

The way how I see it is that no degree is more superior than any other degree.

I think they are, but as to which are superior, that's subjective.

Some people may see a degree as useless as it doesn't promise a wide variety of or any job prospects but fail to realise that some people don't use a degree as a means to earning money instead they might do it as a means to finding out more about something they like.

To use Arch Angel's argument, why should the tax payers contribute to someone "finding out more about something they like"?

[Ashdon]

To use Arch Angel's argument, why should the tax payers contribute to someone "finding out more about something they like"?

Why should they not? I don't think there's anything wrong with that. What your basically saying is that anybody who doesn't plan to work after any degree they complete shouldn't be funded.

[Kinkerz]

Why should they not?

Why should they?

[Ashdon]

They should because there's nothing wrong with helping other people in life to reach thier goals, if people stopped adopting this 'dog eat dog' mentality then we wouldn't need to have this convo.