The Bachelors of Music degree has traditionally included a strong liberal arts emphasis in curriculum structure and an emphasis on solo performance skills and repertoire in the applied studio. Professions in music performance are highly competitive (even the very best schools can only claim that 15% of their graduates earn their living at performance) and therefore highly specialized. Solo careers are extremely rare, while careers in chamber music and orchestra playing are more attainable. This would not be the first time it has been pointed out that music academia does not necessarily provide strong training in skills which are vocationally relevant to its future graduates. In order to address the broad topic of college music curriculum structure and the music performing professions, this document focuses on violin pedagogy in undergraduate programs, specifically the Bachelors of Music (BM) degree, and the performance career specialties of solo, chamber and orchestra. Areas of critique include assumptions of academia about the nature of its responsibility for student's futures, relevance of teaching strategies to the job market, the employability of the well-rounded scholar, the lack of vocational counseling resources and other such issues. In the past ten years, sincere attempts at reforming college programs have taken place at such schools as the Manhattan School of Music, Eastman School of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Colorado and others. Taking these factors into consideration, the author offers a proposal for undergraduate violin instruction which incorporates vocational education and counseling, a career decision after two years and specialized training for the remainder, as well as a vocational minor to serve as a back-up plan. It is hoped that this document will promote healthy discussion about the programs of collegiate schools of music in their complex task of training well rounded students as well as employable ones.
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