Post Grad

I graduated from college this past May, and I finished my final internship with the Percussive Arts Society in the beginning of January. The past 2 months have been the first time I have been back to the place where I grew up for an extended period of time in four years.

I have been seeing a lot of people I used to know. People I graduated high school with. People that know my parents. Former teachers. Parents of people I graduated with. My aunts, uncles and cousins. A lot of people. The questions I get are always the same.

Them: Oh it’s so great to see you again, are you living at home now?

Me: Yeah, I am for right now while I job search.

Them: Oh wow, so you are done with college now?

Me: Yeah I just graduated.

Them: Oh what did you get your degree in?

Me: Well I have a bachelor’s degree in business. My concentration was Music Industry Management with a minor in Special Event and Meeting  Planning

Them: Ohh…..well it was nice seeing you.

Haha the look on their faces is always the same. I grew up in a small town about 40 minutes north of Detroit. I’ve gotten this reaction from people about the major I choose in college since I was leaving for college. I got used to it for awhile, and I thought the reaction was getting better once I had my Yamaha and PAS internships in the music industry to back it up. No I don’t want to be a producer. Yes this is a real major. Yes I can actually find a job in this.

But then I graduated, and now I live back at home, and everybody sees me without a job. Now I get the “oh my god why would you ever choose that major, you are never going to find a job, what a waste” look on people’s faces.

So why did I decide to go after this, and am I crazy to have chosen such a narrow field?

I don’t think I am.

I grew up with parents who did not go to college. They worked hard. My father is a truck driver and my mother works the midnight shift at a group home for the mentally and physically disabled. They are the epitome of blue collar workers. I grew up in a blue collar town. I love them very much, but my parents have always lived pay check to pay check and have been very unhappy with their jobs. My mom hates her job. But does it because she has a mortgage to pay.

I decided at an early age that I didn’t want to live like that. You spend 40+ hours at work a week. I don’t want to hate it. I want to LOVE my job. I’m serious. I want to love it. So many people say “a job is a job, you have to make money.”

I don’t think that’s right. What is life if you aren’t happy with what you are doing? I don’t want to wake up every morning and wish my life was something else. It’s no way to live.

So when I decided I wanted to love my job. I looked at my interests, and one thing was immediately clear to me. Music.

Music has been a huge part of my life since I learned to talk. I began singing when I was three or four. I used to sing anything and everything on the radio. My mom told me she used to be embarrassed sometimes because I would always be singing in the grocery store (my mom hates attention, I apparently inherited my love for attention from somewhere else!). I had my first solo at a school concert in Kindergarten, and tried to get every solo possible from then on.

I started piano lessons in the 2nd grade. Started paying for them myself in high school when my mother no longer could. I paid for voice lessons in high school because I wanted to improve my range for solo and ensembles. Playing, singing and listening to music got me through the rough teenage years. The angsty hating my body, hating my parents, hating my life stages.

So when it came time to decide what major I was going to do, I considered choir teacher for a minute or so. But I never really wanted to be a teacher… I considered advertising because it seemed like a creative outlet. And then I saw a major I had never heard of at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan.

Music Industry Management. The program description said this:

The Music Industry Management Degree Program prepares students to enter the global, multi-billion dollar music and entertainment industry. This degree program provides the thorough business training sought by every branch of the industry. This program features two internship opportunities that allow the student to experience, first hand, work in their chosen areas of the industry. The Music Industry Management Degree Program consistently places interns and employees in the major markets of New York, Los Angeles, Nashville as well as regional markets like Chicago and Detroit. Interns can find themselves working for record labels, radio stations, manufacturers, agents, concert venues - many in major cities for companies most people recognize by name.

Music Industry Management is also a NAMM Affiliated Music Business Institution (NAMBI) supported by the National Association of Music Merchants, the organization that represents the global products industry. NAMM sponsors two world-class trade shows per year and Music Industry Management students are allowed to attend these at no cost (students are responsible for travel and lodging). The Winter Show is a tradition at the

Music Industry Management students can also take part in conferences and trade shows sponsored by the National Association of Music Merchandisers and the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association.

If the student is already a practicing musician they can continue their studies and practice, while those with no prior experience can learn the pleasure of making music with courses designed for the beginner. Business is the emphasis of this program and musical studies are incorporated to enrich the lives of Music Industry Management majors and enhance their understanding of the role of the artist/performer.

Business and Music - the perfect combination for select students.

(Ferris State University http://www.ferris.edu/bachelor-degree-music-industry-management.htm)

I read that and I was hooked. This was what I wanted to do. Music and Business- the perfect combination for me.

I went to an orientation and heard my then future adviser, Dan Cronk speak about the program and it’s graduates. I could hear his passion for the program in his voice. Could see his enthusiasm for the students. I knew right away it was the right choice.

My internships at both Yamaha Corporation of America, and the Percussive Arts Society, and my four Winter NAMM show experiences have proven to me, that I made the right choice.

Business and music are the perfect combination for me.

While I do not currently have a job, and yes it is hard to find jobs in the industry (as it is in almost every industry presently) there is no doubt in my mind that it’s going to happen.

I’m a great candidate, and I have a passion for this career path that won’t be stopped. So it’s okay. Keep asking me why in the world I would choose this, it only makes my desire stronger.