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Music Is Not All About Talent

Talent is not all it takes to make it with a career in music. Although, talent is always a nice start, an extremely good educational music training is a better way to begin a journey in the field of music. Not everyone can just go on American Idol and become the next big thing. There are many music schools throughout the country, but Florida has some of the best.
- Clearwater Christian College, in Clearwater, Florida is an extremely small school with less than 600 students. It is a private school, but it is a nondenominational college.
- University of South Florida, located in Tampa, Florida is one of the largest universities in Florida. It carries more than 45,000 students a year. This is a public school and is not associated with a church.
These are only two of many Florida schools that have music programs and concentrations.
Schools that have programs in music teach either commercially or classically tuned music. There are three major degrees or degrees with special music concentrations.
- Bachelor of Art, B.A., which is a general music degree.
- Bachelor of Music, B.M., is a more in depth music degree that has specifications in composition, performance, voice, and/or music therapy
- Bachelor of Science, B.S., is an degree in education, but with concentrations of education in voice and instruments.
Schools that focus primarily on music are often smaller than major universities. This allows students to completely concentrate on learning every aspect of their future music careers. They are given more personalized instruction, so that the students can work on developing their musical talents.
The larger universities where students major in music are often for individuals who want a more rounded education with classes in more than just music. Academic lessons are required in universities and some students minor in degrees other than music. They will apply for a minor in education, for example, so that they will have multiple career potentials.

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Choose a Non-Traditional Music Career

Wynton Marsalis
Cover of Wynton Marsalis

Most people when they think of having a music career are singers or rappers. Some may even think of people such as Wynton Marsalis, one of the best jazz musicians of the 21st century. Those kinds of careers in music seems to be the most well known, but there are many other careers in music with less notoriety.
Musicians who want to be teachers can have a degree in music and education. These individuals will become music teachers for middle school or high school. They will be able to offer their knowledge of music arts to the students and encourage talented individuals. The salary for a career in music education would be similar to a regular teacher’s salary. This is the kind of position that one must enjoy. It offers a great amount of self enjoyment.
Teacher who like teaching music, but would like a higher salary than a schoolteacher can pursue a career in private lessons. These are the piano teachers that have students come to their home or studio on a weekly basis. These are also the kind of teacher that teach voice to would be singers.
Psychologists, counselors, and therapists have recently begun to use music as a path toward healing. Music therapy is a career path for those who like the art of music, but also want the practicality of science to help others. In this field of study, individuals would have to train with traditional scientific methods of behavioral analysis. In addition, they must acquire some musical education to be able to apply their learning of music to the behavior of science.
There are many others types of nontraditional music careers that have to deal with religious sects, engineers, composers, writers, movies, and computers. So, when searching for a dream as a musician, check out all avenues, not just the more popular choice.

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Using Music To Excel Learning

The first thing a child hears even before it is born is its mother’s voice. Every child remembers that sound. It is safe to say that sound activates memory cells in the brain. The sound of music helps memory.
Because a child’s brain develops from interactions with their environment, it is very important to introduce many different types of music at an early age. The critical developmental time is when a child is learning all the things that they need to learn.
It is important to expose a child to a wide range of different genres of music. Although classical and jazz seem to have a greater affect on learning and memory, all music should be examined. Music can also be used for children with disabilities such as dyslexia. Children with dyslexia often times hear words and sounds differently from other children. It has been proven that music and its rhythm, are the major reasons that music helps all children, especially ones with disabilities.
Music like math is considered a universal language. Therefore, if all children of different academics and nationalities were raised on many different types of music they would all be able to, in a way, speak the same language. This idea of music as a language can standardize students nationally, and integrate the learning process.
If a student were cramming for an exam, they stayed up all night, but to just thirty minutes to listen to classical music before the tests day he would do better than students who did not take thirty minutes before the tests to listen to music. In this example, it is shown that music helps improve and increase a person’s memory.
There are many factors that involve learning. One of the main aspects that concerns memory is the willingness to use music as a learning tool.

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The Top Two Musical Universities Today

Vanderbilt's Peabody School of Education was r...
Image via Wikipedia

Make no mistake, music is a rewarding discipline but also a challenging one in terms of finding a place to secure a living. The music field is extremely competitive! So it’s not for the timid.

The point is this: consider carefully where you choose to obtain your music degree. Because if you plan on hunting for jobs, you want the best possible education listed on your resume–not to mention the plain fact that having the “best” possible education benefits you, period! So here, for your benefit, are the top two schools of music your tuition money can buy.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSSETS

“U.S. News and World Report” brought to light the number-one status of this college in the music program simply for what it offers: top-notch resources. What else can you expect from Harvard, though? Just make sure your grades are up there. Practice rooms, a music library, a stunning music hall, electroacoustic composition studio, and even an ethno lab fill the vast auditorium-size void that accompanies a music degree. You can be sure of confidence that anyone looking at your resume seeing “B.A. in Music” or “M.A. in Performance Practice” will do a double take and consider seriously interviewing you for that dream job of playing the clarinet, flute, trumpet, violin or whatever instrument you play or direct. Promise.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Tied with first, though, with Harvard is also the prestigious Princeton, matching similar resources and a slightly wider variety of different sub-disciplines within the field such as a Certificate in Musical Performance and a B.A. in Music with Emphasis on Writing. On the graduate level, you’re skyrocketed into advancements, too, topping the musical chart with a Ph.D. in either Musicology (which is basically the “study of music” itself) or Composition.

Other schools have their place in the top list when it comes to the music field. But these are the top two. Choose your education wisely. Your future employer will thank you.

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Practice, Practice, Practice!

Name one kid that at one point or another never took up the clarinet, flute, trumpet, drums, guitar, ANYTHING. Pretty sure not one kid can be named. Music’s everywhere. It’s the idea of playing sounds sounding beautiful that mesmerizes the soul, especially inside a little one’s heart. To create something: it’s a fantastic and unearthly essence that can only be explained as God-given. Is it any wonder why music education is so important?

Can you imagine what the world would be like without music? Think of people walking aimlessly around the Earth with no sound to guide them. You can’t call out someone’s name, especially if that person adores and loves you, because usually your voice would be like music to that person. And thus, if music never existed, your voice wouldn’t ever exist either. Try to imagine every person on the planet going deaf and mute, and that’s what the world would be like without music. Think of all the souls sifting away into some void of nothingness and blackness, and that’s your empty space of a music-less existence. Why? Because you wouldn’t see any trees breathing in the wind. Their voices are the music of God. So are the birds. Actually ALL the animals and their echoes in the air represent music. They have a natural rhythm. Even the hustle and bustle of cities and all the white noise are a darker side of music; but that stuff won’t be there either. Nothing will surround you. Just a mere blackness that can only be described as death.

Is that what you want? A world without music? Can you imagine what it would be like to have no music education? Start practicing on that imagination. Practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, it might take you the rest of your life on that one. Because the thought of no music education is unspeakable. Personally, you should take up the clarinet. It sounds a whole lot better.

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Online Musical Education Courses

There’s no denying the fact that our public school system is severely lacking in funds needed to provide a high quality education. Many public schools are quickly doing away with programs that are essential for a student’s education. It always seems that the first program to be put on the chopping block is that of the musical program.

Music is an essential part of a student’s education. Studies have shown that those that are exposed to musical education have higher IQs, do better in school and have a desire to continue their education beyond high school. With all these great benefits it makes a person wonder why musical education is always being cut.

Luckily for public schools a new alternative to musical education is making its way into the classroom. Online musical education classes are being provided to students all over the United States. These courses are similar in nature to the online college courses provided by onlineeducation.com. The students log in, follow a series of lectures and instructional guides and are on their way to learning some of the great benefits of a musical education.

Online musical classes don’t just benefit students who might not normally get a musical education. They also allow a student to explore a number of different instruments. There are piano lessons, trumpet lessons and flute lessons all provided through these courses. This allows a student to jump from musical instrument to musical instrument until they find one that they truly enjoy playing and are good at.

Next time you hear that your school district is cutting down funding for musical classes don’t get discouraged. Think of all the wonderful opportunities that are out there for students on the Internet and consider trying out online musical education classes. You never know, you could be inspiring the next great concert pianist.

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The Basics to Becoming a Career Musician

While going into music full time may require some connections and good luck, no one will become the full-time musician they want to be without hard work and determination. These tips will help you discipline yourself and turn into the musician you want to be.

Find opportunities to perform in public. If you are serious about your music, you will do whatever it takes to get your name out there and to perfect your performance. If this means charging half of what you would like in order to guarantee a gig every weekend, it will be worth it in the end. The more experience that you have performing to an audience the better you will be.

Push yourself during your practice. If you are not practicing regularly, you cannot hope to pursue music as a full-time career. Even if you practice at regular times, you must still push yourself to master more different and difficult techniques. The more diverse of a musician you are, the more you have to offer to your clients for any situation. One musician only received a contract to play at a children’s art show because she knew a collection of Disney arrangements.

Keep up on your theory. Theory is the backbone to all music. By having a thorough grasp on these basics, you have the tools to transpose music, become a better sight reader, and improvise. If you have trouble keeping yourself into a theory book, consider taking a music class online with elearners.com, which will give you the structure and accountability to master or review basic theory as well as music history.

While music theory and low-paying gigs may be hard to swallow, the work is worth it if you truly love to play, and it just might lead to or prepare you for the higher-paying jobs that you dream about.

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