5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Music School – Advice for Music Majors

Music school (or conservatory) is a huge jump from high school. One day you’re learning math with your childhood friends, and the next thing you know, you’re learning about music theory with a bunch of strangers who will hopefully turn into friends. Unless you went to a private music school during your K-12 years, this leap into your undergrad degree is going to feel big. Here are a few things I wish I knew before I went into music school–I hope this advice for music majors resonates with you and help you on your own journey!

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Eat and get enough sleep!

Let’s start with something that doesn’t seem difficult. Eating and sleeping are necessary for our survival, but when expectations are high, it’s easy to practice and catch up on assignments when you should be eating or sleeping.

The truth is that the only way you can practice your best or understand assignments is to eat regularly and get enough sleep.

One way to combat this is to eat meals with friends at around the same times each day. Schedule in your homework and practice time so you know exactly when they’ll get done. Sticking to a schedule will make you more organized all around, but if you give yourself a set amount of time to complete a task, you’re likely to get it done faster than you would if you hadn’t set that goal for yourself.

Without fuel and rest, our bodies start to feel like shells and our brains turn to mush. Practicing is important, but to stay in top shape, you need to eat and get enough sleep!

Explore anything and everything

As classical musicians, we tend to get stuck. We play music from the same eras by the same white composers, and we tend to be “stuck” in our ways because of the nature of classical music.

But haven’t you heard that college is the time to explore yourself and your interests?

This is the time to take a class that interests you, or try playing a different type of music! Collaborate with the composition students and make an entirely new piece of music. College is such a great time to experiment and create new things; to find what will work for your career.

Always look at every class being offered within your major (and outside your major, if that interests you!) and don’t discount anything just because you’ve never studied it before.

If you really hate a class right away, you can drop it and add a different class within the first week or two of the semester! 🙂

Be nice and make connections

You certainly don’t need to be friends with everyone, but being kind and respectful of others will get you far. Everyone you meet and interact with in the music world (and even outside it) is a connection you can cultivate and call on later on.

Please don’t be nasty. No one likes making music with rude, inconsiderate people. Being kind and respectful will not only help you now, but if an acquaintance needs you for a gig later on. If you were kind to this person, they’ll think of you in a much better light than they would if you had been rude to them.

I’ve been told anecdotes by other musicians and arts administrators that they would much rather hire a kind, average musician than a rude but outstanding musician. Kindness counts in professional situations!

Of course, please stand up for yourself if someone steps over you or is disrespectful. Part of being kind is also being kind to yourself. This means setting boundaries, which everyone has! You are in charge of your own boundaries, and if someone crosses them, you should absolutely stand up for yourself.

Don’t worry about other people too much

Don’t worry too much about what other people are doing if it doesn’t align with you. It is perfectly okay to have a professional relationship with others, rather than having true friendships. 

When I was in college, I didn’t want to hang out with others who partied or did things I wasn’t comfortable doing. However, I was perfectly happy to make music with them and have a professional relationship.

If your peers’ values don’t align with your own, it can feel very lonely. Stick to what you want (and know that it’s okay if you change your mind–college is a time of exponential growth!) and find happiness in your own way.

That being said, try not to burn bridges unless you absolutely have to. Losing friendships is one thing, but in music school, we’re also cultivating professional relationships. If a friendship is broken, it’s likely going to be very hard to maintain a professional relationship. Keep that in mind if things get bad. You may need to deal with someone you don’t like years down the road. Think about what you say before you say it, in case they come back in your life later on.

Friendship and collaboration over competition

It’s easy to get competitive as a musician. So many of us enter competitions and want to win prizes and opportunities. Sometimes it’s hard to not become jealous of our peers when they fare better than we do.

In music school, you’re all in this together. Each person is just trying to get a piece of paper in the end. Rather than hating on each other’s strengths and weaknesses, it’s much easier to lift others up, and to give and receive help when it’s needed.

There’s no competition when it comes to getting your degree–there are enough diplomas for everyone. 

When I’ve entered competitions at school, I feel more that it’s me versus the judges, rather than me versus other students. I have to admit I’m not a super competitive person, but I always worry more about what the judges will think of my playing than beating another person.

By lifting each other up, we can feel safer in our learning environment and make more progress in our studies. Having a healthier, safer environment helps us all in the long run.

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If you’d like help working through any questions you might have about getting to music school and navigating life as a musician, I offer College Audition Check-Ins where we go over anything and everything you’d like guidance on. These can include applications, choosing schools and audition repertoire, and even having mock auditions! Sign up for a College Audition Check-In here.