So you got a teaching degree? Was that the right decision?

Ah yes, it has been a while

Why now, Sara?

A little while ago I was prompted by someone to talk about my life post music degree. https://majoringinmusic.com/transferable-skills-music-majors-gain/

That after spending countless hours earning a music education degree with over 650 hours of student teaching and thousands of hours in a practice room or rehearsal room, that I took a volunteer position in the Peace Corps 4000 miles away in a village of 2000 people. I had a life changing experience and decided to go into public health instead.

I have no regrets about my career path.

In fact, it has helped me.

The scariest thing to me during my music education degree was getting up and conducting. You have to communicate non-verbally, and holding a conductor’s baton, I felt stripped bare. I felt absolutely exposed and naked in front of the musicians before me. Conducting for me was the most soul-baring experience I have ever had. But it also was empowering. If you could get up and do that and succeed, it was amazing. The rush of confidence was overwhelming. Conducting was by far my most difficult class, and the class in which my professors were the most critical. It was something that I never felt good at. But it reduced my sense of fear

In Peace Corps, I was a 3rd grade teacher, a middle school entrance exam coach, a camp counselor, a public health advocate, and a grant reviewer.

Fast forward a few years…I get my first teaching assistantship at my current institution. We go to TA training and learn how to do lesson plans. I pulled from my undergraduate and Peace Corps training. My first class I was assigned had a discussion section. I had no problem getting up in front of people and talking to them.

Now I’ve accepted a local part time teaching job teaching religious school once a week.

My undergraduate degree was not useless. It has made me a better teacher, teaching assistant, camp counselor, and facilitator.My path was not linear to where I am now, but I feel like my undergraduate experience set me up for success in my current field.

My music degree taught me how to have a work ethic. How to have self motivation when you think you can no longer do it. Spending hours on a project only to get criticized. Taking your existing technique and breaking you down and starting from scratch.Music school teaches you accountability and self-motivation which is necessary for a PhD degree. I’m not sure I would have the work ethic I do now without it. 

If you have a music degree, you should be comfortable walking into another field as long as you have the prerequisites and skills required for that position. The skills are transferable and I personally do not feel like I wasted my time. I did want I thought I wanted to do with my life, and then things changed and I pivoted into a different direction.

I still play and do wedding gigs once in a while. I still enjoy music even though it’s no longer my field of study or my job. I still got into graduate programs with a music degree. You just have to have the experience the admissions committee is looking for, the grades, and the drive to succeed.