Financially Pathetic. - Page 7

On June 26 2010 23:17 Stratos_speAr wrote:


I'm a music major myself, so I can see how it is hard to have a job. However, there are jobs that can work, you just need to actually try and look.

That said, you are still spending your money really poorly. Yea, your situation may be kind of tough, but that's not an excuse to be stupid. Plenty of music people handle their money fine while dealing with the fucked up schedule that music entails. You need to control yourself and don't go out and nickel & dime yourself to flat broke. All of that shit was pretty unnecessary (especially WoW) and you just need to start practicing self control. Before you do any of this stuff from now on, ask yourself, "Do I really need to spend money on this crap?" Then, go to your checkbook, go over all of the numbers and see if you can actually afford it. That'll give you a good amount of time to think about if it's worth it.

Oh, and no, you do NOT need an iPhone. People have been using paper & pencil/pen for a very, very long time and they do fine. Hell, that's how I keep track of all of my shit. That was a pretty big expenditure. I'd recommend dropping that ASAP - you're basically buying into that Apple B.S. to keep the iPhone.

Finally, if things really are a problem for you, then consider living on campus in a dorm. You can get financial aid to give you a student loan to cover that and then you can keep what you are spending on rent for anything else from your other student loans (books, registration fees, etc...). It's a big reason as to why I won't live off campus (that and my campus doesn't allow it). Sure, you're still living off of money that isn't yours, but it allows you to actually live and then you can pay it all off after school when you get a damn job.

Oh, and on the topic of working,



4 hours a day for a performing ensemble? Is this one ensemble? If so, what kind of ensemble is it? Jesus christ I'm in one of the top choirs in the country and we only practice an hour to an hour and a half a day. If it's more than one group, don't be in every group. Unless you're at a completely ridiculous school, you should only be required to be in one group based on your primary performance instrument.

Private practice 5 hours a day is starting to push it. Consider cutting it back. It's just like anything else in life - and I'll use a SC example here. We see that it's actually detrimental to practice SC a shitload every day - the same is true with practicing an instrument constantly. Re-evaluate yourself and make sure you aren't practicing too much.

Lessons 10 hours a week. Ok, what? This is completely ridiculous. Are you taking multiple instruments? Are you seriously taking lessons on one instrument 10 hours a week? I find it very, very hard to believe that you can't cut back here.

Chamber music 20 hours a week. That can go along with your performance ensemble. I'd be willing to bet it isn't required and you also need to evaluate if this is multiple groups or one group (in which case they're asking for too much time). Again, I'd be willing to bet that it isn't required that you're in this group.

Overall, you seem to still have the high school syndrome going - you think you should be entitled to be in every group/club that you have interest in. Unfortunately, you need to learn that you CAN'T do everything that you want to do. You need to sacrifice certain things in order to get along in life. Once you get your graduate degree, then you can be in a ton of different groups, but to pay your way through college and actually survive, you're going to have to - like every other student - sacrifice some groups/clubs in order to live.

However, some people just can't sacrifice those groups - I completely understand that some have enough of a passion to skip a job so they can continue performing. If that's the case, then your situation is 100% your fault and you need to suck it up and learn to manage what little money that you have.