General Music Chat

Hi,

So i'm interested to know how important you all think grades are - and on that note, studying music in education (university/college etc).

From the perspective of a successful musical career, do you think it's important?

I wrote an article on starting a career as a musician and am considering adding it regarding grades etc...

http://www.lastminutemusicians.com/how_to_get_gigs/?p=1012

Every man's definition of success is different.
Thus so are their path.

Grades in a class are important, as you are being judged 1) against the other students; 2) against the criteria that the class set. If the assignment is 'write a song with a I-IV-V chord pattern about monkeys' and you write a I-VI-II-V song about turtles, you didn't do the assignment correctly and your grade should indicate that, regardless that your turtle song was great or not.
This subject was one that came up with the 'peer review' grading in the Coursera songwriting class I'm finishing up this week.

"Studying" music in a formal setting works for some people, and not for others - there is no set answer. However, for a classic musician - ie. one playing with an orchestra or in a similar professional situation, a music school education is an absolute requriement.
I took a 'music theory for non-music majors' class in college (a few decades ago) and it taught me quite a bit. My grade was not that great - I think a B- because the professor didn't like my final paper, which I did on the physics of synthesizers. Little did I know that he was not a proponent of synths!