My freshman year of college, the director of bands came into an orientation for new music majors. “You’ve picked a great major,” he told us. “Employers, even medical schools love to admit music majors because they’re such good time managers.”
I always wondered if he was blowing smoke; I found it hard to believe that a medical school would want someone who spent four years studying music theory instead of biochemistry. But he was definitely right about one thing: Studying music made me a time manager extraordinaire.
I imagine that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. When I was in college, I took 18-20 hours a semester, and usually 3-4 of those credit hours were ensembles, meaning that for one credit hour, I was in class 4 hours a week. You do the math. I didn’t spend a great deal of time studying, but I spent a ton of time practicing my flute—up to 4 hours a day over and above ensembles.
And of course, nowadays I get the thrice-daily comment: “I don’t know how you do it all!” So, although ordinarily I would hesitate to call myself an expert on anything (there’s always someone who knows more), in this case, I’ll risk it. Head on over to Real Zest to see what I have to say on the subject of managing time!
Kathleen M. Basi 