For quite some time, science has been my job, and singing has been hobby. Recently, it has come to my attention that I have a real talent for singing. So, I’ve decided instead of continuing to pursue a career as a researcher/faculty, to abandon it and go back to school for a B.Music in Vocal Performance. I’m going to try to do a double major in performing arts. Once admitted to a program, then I will quit my job.
My goal is to get into musical theatre, with some singing/songwriting. Of course, I hate to see my PhD go to waste, so I’ll continue to dabble with research as a hobby, perhaps during the summer work in research, and eventually incorporate music theory and music education into my research hobby. I’m very excited to see where this new path takes me.
It came up in one of my vocal lessons a while back. I asked my vocal coach if she thought I would have the talent to be a professional in musical theatre. She said I was already good enough to do amateur theatre, and with a lot of work, I had the raw ability to eventually become a professional.
However, on the chance that she was wrong, I hired another vocal coach to do an independent assessment. She said that I definitely had the talent for it.
Then, I contacted my alma mater and asked one of the faculty to give me an assessment as to whether they thought I could do a B.Music. They said, not yet, but I was on the threshold of being there.
Based on those three data points, I decided that I was being at least somewhat realistic.
What kind of science? You could always combine the two into something like psychoacoustics or acoustic theory. It’s always good to see people who have the courage to follow their creative urges; I humbly wish you Good Fortune!
I have a PhD in computer science. My research is on applications of machine learning in medicine and medical education. Primarily, I’m looking at ways to model neural activity to diagnose neurological disease and injury more accurately, earlier, or more cheaply.
On the singing front, I started learning “Ave Maria” in German today. How exciting!
Ok, all you people choosing between careers: That is SO last generation.
Every single one of my Millennial design students had a “side gig” going on. To get students talking in class, I started asking for a show of hands: Who here has an Etsy shop? How many of you are in a band? Who’s making T-shirts or logos or posters for a bar? Coffee place? Music festival?
And they were all planning on eventually having a day job and a completely different weekend job.
(I said they were just being realistic because they’d probably graduate and find a 30 hr/wk job, then two 10 hr/wk jobs to make ends meet)
Any idea what you’re looking to do? I’m sure it can be scary, certainly deciding to because a singer at 47 sometimes feels a little bit foolish (I’ve done extensive computations to ensure that I’m not sacrificing my financial future). I hope it works out in the end!
It’s a thought. It certainly wouldn’t hurt. @BeepKillBeep I have a LOT of interests and that’s part of the problem. I have to figure out how to make some of them make money for me instead of costing…
I’m also constrained geographically as my wife has employment as well.
I totally get it. My best friend is trying to figure out how to make his love of woodworking into his full-time job so he can quit IT. It must be something to do with COVID I think that has everyone reevaluating their priorities.
For me, one of the first things I did when I started thinking about taking up music professionally. I wanted to make sure:
My retirement was (relatively) secure.
I wasn’t going to starve to death.
So I put a lot of work into deciding how I can make it work. I think I have a reasonable plan, but who knows what the future will bring? I hope you figure it all out. Definitely keep us informed, speaking for myself, I’d like to know.
