Being a music major surprisingly comes with a pretty big stigma surrounding it. Especially when it comes to being a music performance major, or more specifically, a vocal performance and theatre major like I am. It conjures up some specific, sometimes judgmental feelings, even within the School of Music itself.
The most frequent response I get after I meet someone new and tell them I’m a music major is usually some variation of an unenthusiastic “Oh, wow! That’s cool,” or “That sounds like fun,” or “I could never do that.” And, in truth, it’s probably not the traditional degree or class structure that most college students have.
I split the music major college experience into four equal parts. First, you have the regular classes. These can be lecture-style classes like music theory or music history, and interactive, performance-based classes for your primary instrument (for example, my first semester I took a class that was called Vocal Performance in English and the entire latter two months of class were just performances and workshopping repertoire).
Next, you have lessons and practice time. Every music major receives private classes/lessons for their primary instrument, and you’re expected to practice your instrument and learn repertoire for roughly five hours a week. This is because every music major has a jury, or final, at the end of each semester. The most basic jury structure for voice students is that you have to have four songs completely prepared to perform memorized (along with an accompanist that you have usually hired and paid for yourself). You start your jury with one song that you have chosen to perform, and the panel, comprised of all of the voice teachers and other voice/choral faculty, chooses another song at random for you to perform. It’s a relatively high-stress situation and makes up most of your grade for your lessons, which is why students prepare for it all semester.
Then, there are ensembles. Performance majors are required to take four semesters of an ensemble, but requirements could be different depending on if you are receiving performance scholarships. These scholarships will also often specify if the ensemble has to be for the student’s primary instrument. I receive a scholarship from the School of Music, so I have to participate in a voice ensemble every semester. I am a member of KU Chamber Choir, so I spend six hours every week just in Chamber Choir classes/rehearsals, and we often have additional rehearsals, concerts, and performances that take place outside of our regularly scheduled rehearsal time. Also included in ensembles are other stage productions like operas and musicals, both of which I have been involved in. As a music major, it is basically required that you participate in many outside-of-class activities.
Finally, you have homework time. Believe it or not, music majors do actually receive a decent amount of written homework, and we study/take tests like everyone else. If you really want to hit a nerve, ask any music major about their homework experience in Music Theory III and IV… some of the assignments take me an embarrassingly long time to complete.
With all of the fundamentals out of the way, I’m going to go through what a Wednesday typically looks like for me. I chose these days because they are when I have the most consistent schedules and they showcase all the different things music majors do. As a reminder, I am just one music major, and my days do not represent the schedules of all other music students. In general, I just want to provide insight into a degree that tends to be very different, almost unimaginable, to other students perusing more academically centered degrees as opposed to more artistic ones.
6:30 am
wake up
I always try to give myself plenty of time to wake up and get ready in the morning. Music majors pretty much always have early classes, and in a lot of these classes I’m performing or singing, so trudging to class still half asleep doesn’t really do much for me (unfortunately).
7:30 am
walk to class
I live in one of the on-campus apartments, so I always try to walk to class every day. It helps with waking me up for class, like I mentioned above. This is also usually my time to call my mom; we talk pretty much every day while I walk to my 8 am class and she gets ready for her 8 am meeting.
8:00 am
music history i
You will almost never meet a music major without frequent, if not daily, 8 am classes. Last year it was music theory, this year it’s music history. Music History I is all about world music and studying music and its development and definitions in a new country each week, so it’s pretty fun and definitely not a horrible class to have at 8.
9:00 am
music theory iii
I have Music Theory III almost every day of the week. This is one of my most tiring classes, and one of the classes that I think I would take a few hours later in the day if I could. Theory is often one of the most difficult, written work, and homework-intensive classes for most music majors, and although theory is particularly difficult for me since I knew little about it coming into college, I still find it to be really fascinating and a fun class to take!
10:00 am
practice
Practice is SO integral to the success of every music major. I guess in some ways, we make up for the hours that would be spent on homework and essays and studying in other majors through our hours of practice. In my practice sessions, I usually do about 20 minutes of warmups/vocalizations to practice technique (this is what really helps me improve!) and 40 minutes learning/reviewing/memorizing my repertoire.
11:00 am
lunch
I almost always walk back to my room to eat lunch and to relax for just a little bit. I like to grocery shop and make small meals, plus I usually have leftovers from eating out with friends and family, so it’s a good excuse to chill back in my room for a little while. I’ll usually do some homework during this time too, like watching the supplemental music history videos, doing some readings or responses for my acting class (not featured in this article because it happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays!), or writing my Her Campus articles!
12:30 pm
back to class
Depending on the weather, I will usually walk or sometimes take the bus back to class. If I get there early, I usually settle in somewhere outside to work on some more homework things or miscellaneous general stuff like sending emails.
1:00 pm
chamber choir
One of the highlights of my M/W/F schedule! I am a proud member of KU Chamber Choir and, although I’m in Chamber rehearsals for more time each week than I’m in any other class, I still never get tired of it. This (after various auditions and placements) is what I have chosen to take as my required ensemble. Even if you’re not a music major, ensembles can be so rewarding and an incredible place to make friends while fostering a love for creating group music!
3:00 pm
practice
After Chamber Choir ends and before Opera Production starts, I like to squeeze in a few minutes of extra practice time for the day, usually to brush up on my opera material before rehearsal for that. I also sometimes use this smaller block to brush up on any difficult material that we just worked on in Chamber Choir.
3:30 pm
opera rehearsal
As I am completing this article, I actually no longer have opera rehearsals because we just put on our production and finished our run a couple of days ago! It was a super exciting and rewarding experience, especially for my first opera ever. Usually, though, I would go to opera rehearsal from 3:30 to 5:30 where we would work on music or staging. It’s surprisingly similar to rehearsing a musical (if you’ve ever been involved in anything like that) but it’s different in a lot of ways too, as you’re often expected to do a significant amount of learning and memorization outside of rehearsal.
5:30 pm
back to my room
After opera rehearsal I head back to my room once again. Maybe, if I’m feeling really good about the day, I’ll grab a raspberry sweet tea from the vending machine on the way out and take it back to my room to drink with dinner. Once I’m done with my singing for the day, there is NOTHING stopping me from having a sweet treat.
6:00 pm
dinner + unwind
I usually make myself some dinner around 6, eat around 6:30 and watch some sort of show while I unwind from the events of the day. Currently my show of choice is “Gilmore Girls,” which I am indeed rewatching because there is no fall without “Gilmore Girls!”
7:30 pm
homework
This is when I start my larger homework assignments, namely written music theory assignments and music analysis, music theory keyboard assignments, and music history papers. Not exactly exciting, but this does tend to be when I feel the most productive aside from when I’m in class.
10:00 pm
other responsibilities
I never go to sleep unless I’m sure I’ve done everything I’m mentally and physically capable of doing each day, so I usually use this time for writing emails, updating my planner/calendar/assignment tracker, filling out forms and doing other work (for example, I’m studying abroad this winter break so I have had to fill out a lot of forms and do a lot of research concerning that).
11:00 pm
shower + get ready for bed
My nightly routine usually starts at 11. Sometimes I try to get to bed earlier, but I feel like I’m wasting too much time if I go to bed too early, so 11 seems like the bedtime sweet spot for me. My nightly routine usually includes a shower, my skincare routine, taking my vitamins and medications, drinking some extra water, and putting in my retainer (yes, I do wear my retainer nightly just like the orthodontist told me to when I got my braces off eight years ago because I am a rule follower!)
11:30
reading/relaxing before bed
I always need just a little bit more quiet time before going to sleep, whether that’s reading, watching another episode of “Gilmore Girls,” or doing the Wordle.
12:00 am
asleep
This section speaks for itself! I always try to be asleep by midnight so my body and voice can get some quality rest. Ending my day with some good sleep is one of the best feelings ever.