So, I’m back from tour.
And now I have no idea what to do about school.
I was planning on moving to Nashville, and going to Belmont University to get a degree in commercial music. Honestly, this is more on the advice of Tim Yates and my parents than on the advice of anybody else. The music industry is funny in that it’s mostly not about your credentials, it’s about who you know. And having had the opportunity to go on tour without any “real” credentials at all, I’m not wondering about the intelligence of spending the next fifteen years of my life paying for school when people will pay me to do what I want to do without having a college-level education.
Ugh. And I had this all figured out.
Timmons has always advocated just moving to Nashville and getting myself out there, while Tim Yates and my parents have always said “Get a degree!”. Here’s my thing: if go get myself experience, what are my chances of getting a gig that I want while simultaneously not having a degree in music? Also, what the heck am I going to do with a degree in music? I play the piano, but I have no desire to do so professionally, and given my experience with this industry so far, I highly doubt that a degree in music will help further my desired career in the sound and lighting industry. There are colleges that offer degrees in sound and lighting, but it’s a lot of money to learn probably a lot of what I already know. Also, the prospect of not spending several thousand dollars on a piece of paper is somewhat appealing.
So, it’s a dilemma. To college, or not? Darn these big decisions with far-reaching repercussions.
Exit, stage left.
Sparks