Klarinet Archive - Posting 000480.txt from 1998/04

From: "Stephen C. Moore" <stevemoore@-----.com>
Subj: RE: Music Minors
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 10:06:50 -0400

Hi Kevin,

I just took a look at your webpages and your resume and noticed that mine is
starting to look very similar! I'm going in almost the same direction as
far as mixing music and computers - but I do have a few questions.. For
example with regards to doing both at the same time, do the sometimes
unusual work hours of software engineering (ie spending the night at the
office trying to meet an unrealistic software deadline) conflict with
playing in a symphony or in your case, being an instructor at a
conservatory?? BTW- how did you get that position without a degree? - I
didn't even realize that that could be a possibility for me.. I want to
stay with my CS degrees to a masters or doctoral level and be a
user-interface specialist for some big company, what kind of playing
opportunities do you think I'd be able to keep as my main hobby? I want to
be on the threshold of "too much" without actually crossing it! :) Thanks
for your insight.

Stephen C. Moore / stevemoore@-----.com

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-klarinet@-----.us
[mailto:owner-klarinet@-----. Bowman
Subject: Re: Music Minors

I'm emerging from lurk mode to offer a few comments on this thread.

I find it interesting that others are seeking to do what I dreamed of doing
when I first entered college. I began my university life as a computer
engineering major at a university that only allowed a "minor" in a
nearly related field (like mathematics, physics, or information systems).
However, I did register for indivudial instrumental study and auditioned
for (and subsequently played in) the orchestra (doubling 2nd and Bass
one year and doubling 1st and E flat another) and the wind ensemble.
Although I never officially belonged to the school of music, I was able to
"test into" an advanced Tonal Counterpoint class. Many of these credits
did count for electives and also improved my GPA. Unfortunately,
circumstances forced me to transfer to an engineering university that had
to music program and my involvement in music became quite sporatic.

Now that I have a degree in electrical engineering, I sometimes wish I had
just done the fun thing and had gotton a degree in music. Anyway, now
that I'm firmly planted in my engineering career, I have begun studying and
teaching (beginning and intermediate clarinet and sax) again and I find that
it is a great escape from the day-to-day activities of my "real" job. There
are
a couple of interesting things I have discovered: 1) a surprisingly large
percentage of engineers are also fine musicians, and 2) the analytical
skills
I use for engineering are closely related to the analytical skills I use in
teaching students.

IMO, if you are seeking a music minor, you have to ask yourself what it is
you wish to accomplish. If you simply want to stay involved in music, you
can do that without a minor. If you want to learn more about music, you
can still take advantage of the music department without a minor or read
and research at your leisure.

Kevin Bowman
Software Engineer
Integral Vision, A Division of Medar, Inc.
E-Mail: kbowman@-----.com
-- and --
Clarinet and Saxophone Instructor
Rochester Conservatory of Music, Rochester, MI.
Web: www.mich.com/~kjbowman