In my nearly six years of post-secondary education in music, I’ve discovered that there are six easily identifiable kinds of music major. Not every student fits one of these categories, but you’ll see these people on the regular, regardless of your school
The Basement-Dweller:
I don’t mean to use this in the pejorative sense. Instead, I mean that this kind of music major lives on a cot in the basement of the music building. They are so dedicated (and overloaded) that they don’t leave the building unless it’s to go to the library or the cafeteria. Occasionally. You can hear the basement-dweller practicing in the depths of the building at all hours, and you will. Frequently these people are also on the boards of multiple organizations, because they don’t know how to stop. Everything gets done, but the person is essentially a cryptid.
The Partier:
No one knows where the Partier gets their free time, or their free spirit. Frequently, these people are underclassmen, because upperclassmen and grad students don’t have the energy to club. They get more excited as the week goes on, frequently attend their Thursday and Friday 8ams hungover (or still buzzed), and spend all of their ensemble rehearsals on Monday talking about the rager they attended on Friday and Saturday. They are loved or hated, depending on the person’s loveability.
The Doesn’t Care:
Unlike the Partier, everyone knows where the person who Doesn’t Care gets their free time. It’s all the time they don’t spend in class, or practicing, or doing anything else. They are a true music-lounge-lizard. Frequently, they spend their time in the music lounge talking about how they’ll start practicing in a few minutes. They won’t until the day before their lesson, and then they’ll complain about how their teacher yelled at them. Will either shape up or probably become a Communications major.
The Self-Promoter:
This person has started three different ensembles, does solo work, and has the best social media presence in the school. You know this because it’s all they ever talk about. Their facebook feed is a daily update about what they’re doing, and ways to spend money to see their stuff. When they graduate, that kind of hustle is probably going to make them decently successful. However, to the people that they currently attend school with, it is the most endlessly annoying thing.
The Extra:
This person is always at Top Volume. You can hear them laughing from the next floor. They are often filled with High Drama. Frequently embraces the idea of being a diva/divo. If they don’t have a unique fashion sense, they’ll make up for it by being showy in some other way. If they’re a nice person, they’re beloved. If they’re a negative person, they will be… not beloved.
The Life-is-Together:
This person is a myth.