Rethinking College: 10 Non-Music Courses That Every Musician Should Take

Earlier in the week, I put together a checklist for college bound musicians so that no opportunity is overlooked and your potential for success is maximized as you prepare for a career as a professional musician. One of the items on the checklist was to take a business writing course, which made me realize just how many non-music related college courses there are that will greatly benefit you in your path towards success.

Unfortunately, many musicians are short-sighted by their own creative drive, so all of their focus of study is put into music theory courses, ear training courses, so on and so forth without taking the time to explore the many other facets of being a professional musician. Nothing wrong with perfecting your craft, but if you want to do this as a career, you must understand what baggage comes with it.

Being a professional musician means you are entering the music BUSINESS. It would greatly benefit you to take every opportunity to gain at least a basic know-how of the many other facets included in pursuing a career as a professional musician, as opposed to just focusing on music and hoping for the best:

Business Writing

As a band leader or solo musician, you are essentially running your own business. As such, you will quickly see that the music industry is like any other and that you will be expected to follow the same norms of communication. It is critical that you understand how to form a proper cover letter, resume and email, as unprofessional or vague writing will not be taken seriously and will be tossed out almost immediately.

Poetry

Lyrics... meet poetry. Poetry... meet lyrics. Nothing can help your way with words more than to spend a semester studying classic poetry, and dissecting each poem to see what makes it so brilliant. Just like studying music to learn more about song form and music theory, you have to put the time and effort into your lyrics if you want them to be taken seriously.

Entrepreneurship

This is a relatively new area of study for many schools, however it is one course that all musicians should consider studying. As mentioned above, band leaders and solo musicians essentially run their own business, which puts you right smack in the middle the entrepreneurial field. This course will teach you how to manage your time properly, how to stay organized and will give you a grasp for all of the basics that any good entrepreneur would need to know in order to get a business, aka your band, off the ground.

Social Media Marketing

Its time to forget the idea that people will 'spread the word' about your music if you just post a link to your Facebook wall. Social media marketing courses are beginning to be offered all across the country, and is a great course for any musician looking to understand the fundamental difference between spamming and marketing, and furthermore the difference between marketing and networking, all of which can be applied to your use of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

Web Design

A simple web design course will (typically) teach you two very important skills - how to work with and write basic html and how to use photoshop. Understanding the basics of HTML means the ability to customize or build your own blog or website. This may not seem like a huge deal, but when working with a blog, there are plenty of simple ways to tweak the code to make your page go from the 'nice template' look to 'custom build site' look. As for learning photoshop, with these skills you will be able to design your own logo, business card, album cover, t-shirt, etc. With basic photoshop understand and some natural creativity, you can save yourself quite a bit of money by not having to pay someone else to design all of these things for you.

Note: Not every web design course is the same, so some may not work with photoshop. Make sure you research the course before you register.

Creative Writing

Similar to the Poetry course, taking a creative writing course will be a big help in teaching you what makes a great story. Some of the greatest lyricists of all time, spanning from David Bowie to Eminem used creative writing to tell their own stories through lyrical narratives. Exploring the classics will only help you to justify your own unique style.

Accounting 101

Taking a basic accounting course will help you avoid the dreadful scenario of having money coming in night after night but being unable to account for any of it, only to learn that half of it has been blown on beer...

This course will give you the basic understanding of keeping a balance sheet and managing the in-flow and out-flow of your cash.

Public Relations

Although the concept of public relations is often thought to be evil, there is certainly an upside to learning how it all works. Taking a public relations course will help you to properly combat any negativity towards you or your music displayed anywhere throughout Twitter and Music Blogs and even in major publications like Rolling Stone or the NY Times. As your career starts to take off, jealousy will likely rear its ugly head and someone will try to bring you down. Make sure you know how to address these situations so you come out on top, instead of looking like a clown.

Legal 101

This one might be taking it to the extreme a bit, but it can't hurt for any DIY musician to have the basic knowledge of contracts and the terminology used within. Whether it is you yourself, or someone else within your organization that deals with it, almost any instance from signing to a label or booking agency to a licensing deal or even a single festival show, there will inevitably be contracts involved. Making sure that you understand at least the most basic of concepts and terminology will keep you from getting blindly screwed over, hopefully...

Film 101/ Photography 101

As an emerging musician going through college, your budget is going to be tight. There is not a whole lot of room for you to be spending money on things like music videos and merchandise, so why not take a basic, intro to film or photography course and learn how to properly frame a shot, work the basics of a camera and pace a story line. A well-excecuted music video, one that not only looks good but has unique concepts, can push you through the static to become a 'viral sensation'. This is by no means an easy task, and there is absolutely no silver bullet for how to make this one work, but being better prepared for making a video is at least a start.



Given that each school has a different curriculum and offers a different variety of courses, not all of these may be available to you. However, these are just a few examples of all of the different ways that normal, non-music courses can be helpful to the emerging musician, if only you put a twist on the way you look at it.