Career Choice: The Voices of Music Students

By Taryn Arnott and Louise Saunders

It is most times not easy for school leavers to make the right choices about the field of academic study that would help them attain their career visions. Factors including family upbringing, social-cultural experiences, early education, peer associations and perception of self all impact on the career choices of young persons.

This book researches and presents a sampling of first-hand accounts of the personal journeys towards the choice of music as a field of specialisation written by students at the Department of Music, University of Pretoria, South Africa. The self-explorations included in the book are insightful glimpses into the individual histories of the students that are worth telling. The varied individual stories are instructive to any young person who wishes to reflect seriously on self and capability before deciding on an appropriate field of higher academic studies.

“The study provides frank knowledge reflecting the pursuit of academic careers given by music students themselves, and gives a clear inside perspective informing readers of particular aspects influencing academic preference. As students operating within the realms of an academic institution, and with the tools of personal experience, and raw, honest accounts of the journeys of peers and past students into their academic careers as students of music, we hope to offer a distinctive perspective on the motivating factors influencing scholars when choosing fields of specialisation.”

—- Taryn Arnott and Louise Saunders (eds)