Why Be Anything Else?

Tonight I had a conversation with my roommate and during this conversation he alluded to an opinion that music majors had it easy while engineering majors were most assuredly the hardest major. Now, while his comments may be in jest, they reminded me of conversations I've had with others who seem to think the same thing. And while these conversations played over and over in my head, I got more upset. So I'm here to set the record straight!

Thinking about all the majors that laid before my feet as I was trying to decide exactly what I wanted to do, I cannot help but think, "I could have been an engineering major (really, I could have)... but why do that when I can do something challenging like music?" That's right here's the little secret, a music major is hard! It's not the fluffy major that many just assume that it is. Now, some of the people I've talked about this with feel like they have a good idea of what music majors are all about because they were in the orchestra, band, or choir. Excuse me, let me just tell you that being in an ensemble does not prepare you for the riggers of a music major. (I'm going to be comparing my major to engineering only because that is what it was compared to recently and it seems to be the socially accepted "hard" major of USU)
I am willing to say that a good 50% (at least) of music majors enter into it sorely unprepared. They are a great many that I have seen come and go in the department in my almost year and a half. Okay, so I get it, engineering majors have a lot of math. It's not like we are sitting in the music building holding hands in a circle singing kumbaya all day. We are immediately dropped into an ocean of music theory and my least favorite: Aural Skills.
So there's this thing about math that in my opinion makes it kinda easy. First, there are so many different ways to find the answer to one problem. And then you learn the rules and there you go. You got it. There's math for you. Okay so here's music, while there may be slight fluctuations in actual voicing there is very little leeway in chords and progressions. And then as your analyzing something things might not make sense, but you must realize that we learn the rules and then we learn how to break the rules... wait... yeah.
Another thing to be wary of is that as you write your progressions there might be a chord that technically works, but will be marked wrong because it "sounds a bit off." How do you like that as a measurement of grading? I've never been marked down on a math problem that was done correctly, but just didn't look right.
Now how many credits are engineer major classes worth? 3-5 credits. Oh no, right? This means it's hard... but wait, think about it this way. Music major classes: 1 credit (maybe 3 if you're lucky). Classes each has to take (assuming 18 credits)... Engineering: 4-6 classes. Music Major:10-14 classes. Yeah... our days are automatically long just due to class time. (And even in the early morning we're expected to be warmed up and at the top of our game. That's why I generally get up earlier than my roommates). (And let's not forget what that means come Finals Week.) After a long day, we have the homework for those 10-14 classes. Oh and logically we must think, the 1 credit classes must be way easier... haha, not so. My hardest class has always been this 1 credit class called aural skills (you may have heard me mention it before). Ever heard the rule that however many credits it's worth is how much time spent out of class each day you should spend on it? Well, that 1 credit class usually takes 2-3 hours out of my day... oh and it has 2 finals.
Oh and if we aren't busy enough, attendance to masterclasses, on-campus performances, student recitals, guest artist recitals, and ensemble performances are required.
Okay so aside from all this is the core of any music major's curriculum. Practicing.
Holy. Freaking. Cow. You spent three hours on a math assignment? (A complaint I've heard from multiple people) I spend at minimum 5 hours a day locked away in some practice room practicing voice, piano, aural skills, guitar, or my instrument of the month. Oh, yeah that's right. Music Education majors must learn to play every instrument or at least a good number of representatives from each discipline (woodwind, brass, string, etc). I'd compare that to something in the engineering department, but to my knowledge they don't have any requirement even close.
Back to practicing, you have to be okay with being alone most of the time. We rarely can get a group together to practice. It just wouldn't make sense. We do completely different things than everyone else in our department. And you can only reserve a practice room for 1 hour/day so how do I get the other 4 in? I enter a practice room and hope that the person who has it reserved doesn't come. If they do, however, all I have to say is that I'm lucky I live in Utah and have resources like an institute with pianos in the majority of the rooms (even though most are occupied) and churches with an average of six pianos placed somewhere within (and being in Logan we have churches literally right next to each other). However even with this, you are not guaranteed anything. I've never seen an engineering major battling his fellow classmates for who gets to use the textbook next.
I could seriously go forever talking about how much more challenging music majors are than people give us credit for, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I LOVE my chosen major. It's definitely what I'm supposed to be doing. However, if I didn't have my passion for music, I would have changed majors long ago. It is my love and life. It is what I was "put on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that is [has] became spiritual in calling" (Van Gogh).
So let me just reiterate: Why be any other major when I can challenge myself and be a music major? But seriously, next time you see a music major, give them a hug, they need and deserve it.