Klarinet Archive - Posting 000832.txt from 1998/06
From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl]College Scholarships
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 02:03:34 -0400
On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Matthew A. Cullen wrote:
> The truth is, I don't really know what I will be happy doing, and I
> really don't want to make the wrong decisions. I am scared that if I go
> into law, that I will hate it and end up being a failure... I know I
> love music, but I don't love the fact that it is so hard to succeed as a
> professional Musician, like many of you who are have. With a job so hard
> to find, I wouldn't be able to support a family, or live the a
> comfortable lifestyle... On average what does a starting professional
> musician make? What about a Corporate lawyer?
There are several things which I think it might be helpful for you to
think about. First, the decision you make as a high school senior won't
be engraved in stone forever, but in fact there will be opportunities to
change it. Actually, more than half of college students change their
majors at least once. After you have had time to study a subject, you may
learn that your expectations of it were not quite on target, and you might
like it either more or less than you had thought.
One thing that occurs to me is to ask, if you think there is a good chance
that you will hate being a lawyer, how did you happen to come up with that
as a major and a career track? Here is what I tell all my advisees, and
what I told my own children when they were wrestling with this decision.
What you need is a career field that you _love_. If you don't have that
kind of job, there isn't enough money in the world to make it worthwhile
to get up every morning and go to work in a job that you hate. Sure,
there are plenty of fields where there is at least a good chance that you
can make more money than you can in music. Among them is law, but not all
lawyers make big bucks. Used car salesmen probably make more than a lot
of musicians, but would you want to make a lifetime vocation of that? (I
hope I haven't offended anyone in that line of work.)
Musicians tend to get their personal satisfactions from their music, and
so, while they like to be and should be compensated enough to make a
comfortable living, they generally don't feel that they have to become
millionaires. Also, there is a certain factor of altruism involved for
musicians. They like to feel that when their professional life has been
concluded, someone other than themselves will be at least to a degree
better off as a result of their efforts. That's one of the great things
about being a teacher, but there are many other fields in music where one
can get that kind of satisfaction, including music therapy for one.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I happen to have one of the
greatest jobs in the world. I don't like to mention that too frequently,
because everyone will want my job! ;-) I have been involved in music
professionially as both a teacher and a performer for 39 years, and as a
student for about 10 years before that. I started out as a high school
band director, and now teach at the university level. During all that
time, I also have had opportunities to perform music in very high quality
organizations. I am a woodwind doubler, but primarily a bassoonist, and I
am fortunate to be in on of the few remaining positions in the country
where I can be a full-time college teacher and also play in an excellent
symphony orchestra. I also play jazz, shows, and about every other form
of music you can name. All day every day, I am around music. I hear it
coming from all sides when I am in my studio. Either I am practicing or
performing, or I am listening to my students play, or hearing music coming
from the studios of my faculty colleagues or the practice rooms. I work
with professional colleagues whom I enjoy and respect, and I like the
students I work with. Every day when I get up, I look forward to what the
day is going to hold in store.
In all my 39 years in music, I have never been unemployed for a single
day. I have never made a lot of money, but I had enough to provide for my
family, and it appears that I should have a comfortable retirement
whenever I decide to do that, although at the moment I am having so much
fun that I'm not even thinking about it. I have a roof over my head (a
rather modest one), enough food to eat (sometimes too much! :-)), and I
get to do a little traveling. I feel that I have helped some of my
students to learn more about themselves and about life, and some of them
take the time and trouble to tell me that they appreciate something that I
have been able to do for them.
So, what more could I ask for? What kind of profession could offer me
more satisfaction?
Here's my advice: Do something you love and which you have some aptitude
for, get as good at it and as knowledgable about it as you can, and the
money will take care of itself. To me, that's a prescription for a
satisfying career.
Now, on another occasion, I might tell you more about how hard it is to
succeed in the music profession, especially if you don't take a realistic
viewpoint about it and don't prepare properly.
Good luck!
Ed Lacy
*****************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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