On Sunday, I was scheduled to sing a Messiah concert at my parents’ church, splitting the bass solos with another nice fellow named Tom. And then Tom got sick. So I sang most of his stuff, with the entire men’s sections singing “The Trumpet Shall Sound” because it’s flat-out too high for me to get all the way through without one of my testicles exploding.

So there. Bet you didn’t know that.

Now that that’s done, I’m basically done with my various extra-curricular musical endeavours for the year. I still have church services to do, but no more concerts. My wife is pleased by this, although since her class is done her life is a lot less stressful, particularly when it comes to my absences.

Sarah’s about 4 classes away from completing her master’s degree, which is pretty amazing to me. Her GPA right now is a solid 4.0, which is flat-out ridiculous. My GPA in college was Very Bad, mostly because, for me, going to college at 18 was like giving an eleven-year-old the keys to a motorcycle. The first year was a waste of time, the second year was life-threateningly unhealthy on a dozen levels, and the remaining three years were just numb. I ended up with a degree in a subject I’m not terribly fond of but am good at and which pays well, and now I have 35-40 years of life-sucking grind to look forward to.

How thrilling.

On the other hand, since Sarah will soon be done her degree (and has no interest in immediately continuing on into a doctorate, although that would be kinda cool), the free education that comes with her job will be unused unless one of us goes back to school, so I’ve been considering the possibility of doing so. Now, if I’m smart, I’ll go back and get a degree in computer engineering. This degree has a great deal of upside: I’d be more marketable, and probably be eligible for a payraise at work. The problems are that I have zero interest in actually studying computer engineering, and my GPA in college was so detestable that getting into the program would require convincing the-powers-that-be that I’m a worthy risk, despite my history. Begging professors to let me into a program that I’m uninterested in doesn’t seem like a winner to me.

The other option is to go back and get a music degree, possibly one in conducting. This has almost no upside; it has no bearing on my 9-5 career, and basically makes me eligible to make a few extra grand a year as a church choir director (and not even one in the Episcopal church, where I’d be expected to be able to play the organ, which I cannot, at the moment, do). Also, I run into an even worse problem getting accepted into the degree because I don’t actually have a music degree at all, let alone one with a nice tidy GPA.

On the other hand, if I were accepted (which isn’t a long shot as the previous paragraph would make it seem, if I can basically do some sucking up and get every musician I know to intervene on my behalf), I could get a master’s degree in music for free, and I’m rather interested in conducting as an avocation. Getting a music degree to help advance one’s hobbies would be a poor idea if I had to pay for it, but free? Not taking advantage of it is like giving away money. Plus, theoretically if I got the degree and my GPA was pimp, I could then contact the computer engineering department and say, “Hey look, I learned how to study!” and get the master’s in that later.

Just mulling this over. Your thoughts?

Categories: music, musings Tags:
  1. Rob
    December 12th, 2006 at 20:04 | #1

    I’ll frankly be a little pissed off if you get to do that. But, more jealous than pissed off I suppose. Rather, i’ll just kill you in your sleep. 🙂

  2. Stringer
    December 13th, 2006 at 16:25 | #2

    Even wonder why those directors have a smile on their face? One, they have a great vantange point for peeking. Two, their batons are ALWAYS BIGGER. And three, well, let’s just say it’s called FIRST CHAIR for a reason, eh?

    Personally, I’m much in the same boat. I h8 school. I have a high 2 something over about 30 hours and my ADD kicks in about 1/2 way into the semester. And I don’t have a baton (but I do own a tennis raquet).

    The older I get, the more I see that one of the keys to enjoying life is diversity. While I enjoy my hobby as my job, my passion – the thing I really REALLY enjoy (other than playtime in the shower) is sound engineering. I might even go back for THAT (uh, school, not shower time).

  3. Kyle
    December 15th, 2006 at 05:01 | #3

    You made me tired just READING about going back to school. Me no likey homework…studying…exploring my sexuality in the 2nd stall in the men’s room. But we’re here to talk about you. Life is the pursuit of happiness. You just have to decide which makes you happier – an easy life to make a hard living or a hard life to make an easy living? Me, I choose the hard life/easy living. Not because I like the crap I have to deal with at work, or the threat of being outsourced to a guy making $0.85/day, but mainly because I actually do like and enjoy what I do. And I have no other talents. (Unless you count writing long, rambling, semi-pointless comments on blogs as a talent.) In summary: go for it.

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