Make Your Passion a Career

[TRacer]

For any high school / college students who love drum corps / band but because you view it as a hobby, wouldn't consider being a band director or a professional musician as a career, follow your passion and get paid for what you love to do. It makes life a lot simpler.

The Chop 'N Bop School of drum corps music arranging.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" (oodily oodily oodily baka baka crash boomp GAHK!)

Has arrived. In the English language in the form of

"BHEEEEEEDAAAAAAAAHHHH!! BWEEEP BWEEEP BWEEEEP DoooWEEEEEOOOOOOOO!!"

sentence framents. Today! SPO-...!!

Edited August 29, 2013 by TRacer

[ranintothedoor]

I agree with drilltech1 that this thread is a great read!

A little background: I too am a band director, and run both the middle and high school band programs by myself. Starting my sixth year with a wife (my colorguard instructor) and a one year old at home.

My contribution to this thread is this:

If my wife wasn't here for practices and didn't bring my kid down to rehearsals during the marching season, I don't know if I'd still be doing this job. I LOVE teaching music and band/drum corps in particular, but family should be a priority over the job, and high school band directors have to pour in everything they have into it to be successful this day and age. Schools are getting by lowering expectations and it's up to us to continue to raise the bar of expectations (if I did a fifth of what I currently do, I'd still fulfill my contract).

Maybe it's my own fault, but it's because I am passionate about what I do and couldn't stand doing the bare minimum.

I guess my point is that yes, if you are passionate and can't imagine doing anything else, do it. But the personal cost is on the hefty side... there are tons of ways to be involved in music/band/drum corps without being a band director. Work to live, don't live to work... I highly respect BrassClef for figuring out that balance early in life.

[jonnyboy]

I might be wrong, but I put band directors and teacher/coach right up there in the lifestyle category. Successful school programs take a lot of time, and many of these folks are underpaid for the hours they put it.

I put myself in the BrassClef Jr category. I have a day job, but I have a basement full of drums. I do some buying and selling, and I help out with the local corps. You can get your fix of music/band/corps without being a band director.

[year1buick]

When I was in my 20's, I majored in Radio-TV-Film. I was a movie nut and thought it sounded really cool to work on movies. Being young and stupid, I didn't think much beyond that until I was about 3/4 the way through college and began to wonder how that was actually going to work out and pay the rent and bills. (Despite all the time I spent in high school band and DCI, majoring in music never really interested me.) I actually managed to work some in the field after I graduated (you may have heard of the show-- it featured a purple dinosaur) but there wasn't really much work in the Dallas area. I was also in a serious relationship with my future wife and the thought of moving to LA and trying to work my way in (and starving a bit along the way, most likely) didn't have much appeal. Once the show went on hiatus, I had to find work and ended up going from job to job (because R-TV-F degrees were in such high demand and all) and eventually decided to just go back to school and switch careers. I don't think I could say working on teeth was a life long dream-- it #### sure isn't glamorous, LOL-- but it's a good career and I can still enjoy movies from the local cineplex. :smile:/> For the most part, I live my life for the time after 5:00 every day and the weekends-- family time. For me, the career stuff (while certainly fulfilling) is really just a means to an end when you get down to it.

[Tim K]

For any high school / college students who love drum corps / band but because you view it as a hobby, wouldn't consider being a band director or a professional musician as a career, follow your passion and get paid for what you love to do. It makes life a lot simpler.

I've had two "careers" in my lifetime, both have been rewarding, and both have allowed me to give 100%. However, my dream was to be a writer, and not just a writer, I loved miniseries like "Roots" and became addicted to "Dallas" so in high school I began writing a novel about a family coming from Ireland, rising to the top, like "Roots" but they'd come to a crashing halt like a "Dallas" episode. Keep in mind I was only a sophomore in high school. It never dawned on me my idea was not all that original, but I took it seriously. I researched immigration, wrote an elaborate outlines, submitted a sample chapter that gave me the opportunity to attend a creative writing symposium on a scholarship, and taught me other lessons. Needless to say I never completed the novel, but since one of my careers was teaching, and I taught language arts, I had to do a great deal of writing, get kids to read, and teach children how to express their ideas. The writing skills were essential.

So, if you are a drum corps nut who loves the activity wants it to never end, you may want to consider teaching and if you're truly passionate, you may be the teacher who changes lives. And for those who believe that a hobby cannot be a career, well some of the most beautiful black and white landscape photos were taken by Ansel Adams, someone who started using a camera as a hobby.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Tim K

[Toby]

I agree with drilltech1 that this thread is a great read!

A little background: I too am a band director, and run both the middle and high school band programs by myself. Starting my sixth year with a wife (my colorguard instructor) and a one year old at home.

My contribution to this thread is this:

If my wife wasn't here for practices and didn't bring my kid down to rehearsals during the marching season, I don't know if I'd still be doing this job. I LOVE teaching music and band/drum corps in particular, but family should be a priority over the job, and high school band directors have to pour in everything they have into it to be successful this day and age. Schools are getting by lowering expectations and it's up to us to continue to raise the bar of expectations (if I did a fifth of what I currently do, I'd still fulfill my contract).

Maybe it's my own fault, but it's because I am passionate about what I do and couldn't stand doing the bare minimum.

I guess my point is that yes, if you are passionate and can't imagine doing anything else, do it. But the personal cost is on the hefty side... there are tons of ways to be involved in music/band/drum corps without being a band director. Work to live, don't live to work... I highly respect BrassClef for figuring out that balance early in life.

And it isn't just band directors, it's general music, too.

[MarkC]

Thanks for the clarification. I hope you don't beat yourself up over this. I've known plenty of band directors who would tell you that their job is just that...a job. They wouldn't want to do anything else, but what they do is stressful and quite time consuming.

As for teaching at night taking away from your regular day job and family...those directors you're helping out are with their bands during the day and during the night. (I personally believe it's one reason why the divorce rate is so high among the directors I know.)

If it makes you feel any better...those directors are probably more grateful for your presence than they could ever express verbally...and so are the band members.

Thanks for the kind words Michael. I've been helping that marching band for 15 years now and my former students have gone on to become engineers, teachers, band directors and even a couple U.S. Marines and I know I've had a positive impact on them. And hearing everyone's stories here about how they continue to make music a part of their life - in whatever form it takes - is really inspiring!

[drilltech1]

When I was in my 20's, I majored in Radio-TV-Film. I was a movie nut and thought it sounded really cool to work on movies. Being young and stupid, I didn't think much beyond that until I was about 3/4 the way through college and began to wonder how that was actually going to work out and pay the rent and bills. (Despite all the time I spent in high school band and DCI, majoring in music never really interested me.) I actually managed to work some in the field after I graduated (you may have heard of the show-- it featured a purple dinosaur) but there wasn't really much work in the Dallas area. I was also in a serious relationship with my future wife and the thought of moving to LA and trying to work my way in (and starving a bit along the way, most likely) didn't have much appeal. Once the show went on hiatus, I had to find work and ended up going from job to job (because R-TV-F degrees were in such high demand and all) and eventually decided to just go back to school and switch careers. I don't think I could say working on teeth was a life long dream-- it #### sure isn't glamorous, LOL-- but it's a good career and I can still enjoy movies from the local cineplex. :smile:/>/> For the most part, I live my life for the time after 5:00 every day and the weekends-- family time. For me, the career stuff (while certainly fulfilling) is really just a means to an end when you get down to it.

So you're a Crown fan, heh?

[Michael Boo]

Thanks for the kind words Michael. I've been helping that marching band for 15 years now and my former students have gone on to become engineers, teachers, band directors and even a couple U.S. Marines and I know I've had a positive impact on them. And hearing everyone's stories here about how they continue to make music a part of their life - in whatever form it takes - is really inspiring!

And I'd bet that makes up for the lack of pay and sleep deprivation. You'll remember that long after you've caught up on sleep and would have had all the fancy meals you could have enjoyed had you not spent your time helping provide a great experience to youth.

[Cadets98]

Nice theory but where are the jobs available?

There are very few education positions available nationwide because of cutbacks, shifting demographics, the woeful economy forcing those presently in these positions to postpone retirement, and/or the various perspectives of what makes a good scholastic music program (eg. vertical teaching, comprehensive ensemble offerings, etc.) not just band.

Music ed/music performance majors without additional licensing in ancillary subjects, particularly foundational subjects such as math. languages, special ed, and the sciences are not even being given the ed. interviews anymore in today's job market. "Because we want a good marching band!" no longer drives the hiring office or school boards. Only in a few "sunshine" states are there many open job positions usually given to those who graduate from local state university programs.

Add to this the staggering long time statistic that almost HALF of all music ed/music performance majors who take teaching jobs leave education for other employment within five years. (cf. studies done by professional educational journals such as the Chronicle of Higher Education et al. for better citations for these statistics.)

Usually the reason given includes one of these: need for fundraising when I just want to be a teacher, hassles with school board, hassles with dealing with the parents, I didn't want to get involved in budgets, school politics, and/or the fact that the students didn't have the same passion for the same importance for music education and skills as did the young educator. Fault sometimes lies with the college degree programs only sending student teachers to preferred, but not always realistic, experiences and failing to give realistic experiences in dealing with school administration hierarchy and priorities, budget restraints, and advanced skills in psychology and counselling to deal with the myriad personnel and family situations.

Idealism is wonderful but it doesn't pay the college loans so many will have face upon getting the sheepskin.

I've had to pick up too many fractured dreams from too many corps alumni and former students to support this without further planning and networking. I hope your experience is better.

Dude. It's really not that bleak. If you are great at what you do, you will get paid to do it. I was the first person in my graduating class to get a directing job even before I graduated and I turned it down to go do Blast. Now one does have to be good, but to me if you have a passion and you are good at it and you choose something else out of fear or looking for security, then you've missed out. C'mon man. The Road Less Traveled. Honestly don't listen to me. Just watch this.

Absolutely beautiful. And this video inspires me to keep coming back to teaching drum corps because I love it so very very much. And they do pay me a reasonable fee to do it that puts food on my table. Imagine that.