Sightsinging / Ear-Training Students:
by Jody Nagel
Opinion
 
 
Please understand that getting university credits is not remotely the same as getting paid in some number of dollars per hour. If you have this type of American consumer mentality, then you WILL FAIL at being an educated person.
 
Yes, you are getting only one credit for your Sightsinging / Ear-Training section. That single credit does not represent any specific amount of work on your part; rather, it represents your Sightsinging / Ear-Training ABILITY. If it takes you a hundred seconds or a hundred hours per week to succeed, that is solely between you and yourself. If you do not consider the hours that it takes to become a musician to be "cost-effective" (in the capitalistic sense) then, by all means, go major in something that suits you more naturally.
 
Do not ask WHY Sightsinging and Ear-Training are required for musicians. That is an incredibly naïve view. You ARE NOT A MUSICIAN  UNTIL you understand  MUSIC. Understanding MUSIC is to understand sonic relationships. The root word of "musician" is MUSIC; it is not "fingerings" or "embouchures."
 
If you do not wish to become a musician, rather than just an instrumentalist or singer, than please do everybody a favor and go into some other field. Music, within a college of FINE ARTS in an institution of HIGHER LEARNING, is not for you.
 

 
Dr. Jody Nagel
February 2, 2002