• I’m getting married in a few weeks. I got engaged soon after I created this site, and the timing wasn’t so great. There’s a lot to do to plan a wedding.
• Unfortunately, that means the site took a back seat.
• I have every intention of starting this up again soon. When I do, you can expect a new look, lots of video content, and some great new ideas to help you power through music school.

If you’d like to stay informed, you should find SingPlaySurvive on Facebook right now!

I can’t wait for the fall to arrive so I can get back to working on this site. For now, you can count on one new post each week.

Come back soon,

-bryan

Download the printable checklist

Congratulations, you made it to winter break! Now what are you going to do with yourself for the next few weeks? Yeah, see that’s the problem. Colleges are nice enough to give everyone time to recover after finals, but since you’re so used to being busy all the time, you don’t know what to do with yourself when you come home for break.

Well, to help fix your boredom problem, I put together a biiiiiiigggggg list of things you can do to keep yourself busy over break. Since this is blog about not only surviving music school, but kicking its sorry little butt, I focused this list on all the things you should do to to be really really really prepared for the coming semester. It might be a bit of work now, but If you complete it, you can count on heading back to school more prepared than the world’s most gung-ho boy scout. Invest a little time now, so that you don’t feel slammed through the whole next semester.

I also made a printable .pdf checklist of the whole thing, so you can track your progress as you go. Download it here, and get to work!

Fun

• This is a pretty “serious” list, so don’t forget to visit with all your friends. Relax, party, socialize, and connect with people. When it’s March and you’re stuck in a practice room for 6 hours a day, you’ll wish you had socialized more.

• Spend some time with your family. I know they can bug you, but they’re also an important piece of your emotional health. Don’t go home and isolate yourself for three weeks.

• Go to a concert. You spent the whole Fall performing, now get out to a concert, sit back (or jump around, depending), and enjoy watching someone else do all the work.

• Find a new hobby or campus club to get involved with. If you do everything else on this checklist, you’ll be better prepared for the spring, and you’ll have some time in your schedule. Don’t “wait and see” if you have time, because if you think like that, you never will. Find a club, and email the president so that you can’t back out on yourself.

• Visit a museum. You can always find something fun there.

• If you’re really bored, it’s not too early to start making plans for spring break. Decide if you’re going to go somewhere or stay home, and then find something good to do with that time.

• If you’re really really bored, read every post on this site (there are only 22 as of now, so it should be too bad).

Health

• Find a fitness routine that works for you, and start doing it. Learn the exercises now so that you feel comfortable and don’t have to fumble through them during the semester. If you get in the habit of working out now, you’ll probably have a better time sticking to it once things get busy. And, if you’re out of shape, you can deal with the initial soreness while it won’t interfere your practicing as much.

• Learn to eat better. I’m not talking about going on a diet. Just learn some general rules for healthier eating, and set some basic goals like, “I’ll only eat french fries once a week” or “I’ll eat a fruit and a vegetable at two different meals each day”.

• Sleep in at least one day a week. Come on, it’s break. You shouldn’t work too hard!

• Visit the doctor if you have any health concerns. A lot of students ignore runny noses, coughs, sore joints, stomach aches, etc. in the weeks leading up to finals because life gets busy. As a musician, you really don’t want to do this, ESPECIALLY if any of the symptoms could be part of a music-related injury. Make it your goal to diagnose and address any problems before heading back to school. You should start the spring off feeling healthy and ready to go, not wishing you had a few more days to recover from the flu or let your sore wrist get some rest.

• Pamper yourself. Get a massage, do some stretching, get a hair cut, and whatever other non-essentials will make you feel good about going back to school (as long as you can afford them). It seems silly, but all of these can become distractions if they’re not taken care of.

Life

• Spend at least 30 minutes outside every single day.

• Do your laundry. Please don’t go back to school with a bag full of dirty clothes.

• Take any dirty performance clothes to the dry cleaners. No one wants to perform next to the guy with the musty tux or the gal with the dirty dress.

• Make sure you have whatever clothes you need to get through the winter months.

• Catch up on Facebook. Respond to every single person who contacted you during the semester that you were to busy to write back. When you’re done with that, write at least five old friends you haven’t heard from recently

• Catch up on news.

• Read a book.

Money

• Set a budget for the coming semester. Figure out how much money you will have, and  then make a list of all the things you’ll have to pay for (don’t forget about one-time expenses like conferences, audition fees, etc).

• If you’ve never set a budget, make it a new year’s resolution to take control of your spending. Take a look at a website like Go College. They have great resources on personal finance for students.

• Find a seasonal job, or look for odd jobs – It can be hard to find an employer who wants to hire you for a few weeks, so try to make some money putting your skills to good use. See if any school districts need substitutes, shovel some driveways, offer your services as an interior painter, or see if you can make some money doing instrument tune-ups! If you had a summer job or high-school job that you liked, don’t be afraid to ask if they’ll give you some hours. Many employers are happy to have a little extra help this time of year, but it’s not worth it for them to train new employees.

• Cut coupons for groceries and other supplies. I know it sounds like something your grandma does, but there are times when I’ve used $15-20 worth of coupons on a 50 dollar purchase. Unless you’re rolling in cash, get the Sunday paper and clip away!

• If you perform with any groups on campus, find some paid gigs for the spring semester, and start promoting them now.

• Go through all of your old textbooks, and sell the ones you don’t need on a website like Half.com. Once you get a username set up, you can list a book in about five minutes. I used to do this, and they usually ended up selling for almost the same price I paid. A couple of books even left me with a profit. If you sold your books back to the campus bookstore, remember this tip for the end of the spring semester.

Organize your digital life:

• Clean your email box. Delete everything you don’t need anymore, and put the rest into folders by category. Head back to school with nothing in your inbox.

• Set up an email folder for each class, so you can KEEP your inbox empty.

• Clean your address book. Remove all the people you’ll never talk to again, like lousy professors, or partners from group projects.

• Clean out your iTunes library. If you had a few too many listening assignments or “music sharing” parties, trash all the stuff you’re never going to listen to again–because you’re NOT going to listen to it again!

• Clean and organize your hard drive. Delete unimportant assignments and notes, and file the rest away for safe keeping. Clear old icons from your desktop, and clear out your downloads folder.

• Clear old junk off your cell phone, iPod, PDA, or other mobile device.

Organize your real life

• Consolidate, condense, or discard old class notes and homework assignments. Be aggressive: you’re never going to look at that music theory worksheet again, so chuck it! (please recycle if it’s an option in your area).

• Clean out your backpack, purse, wallet, instrument case, and music binders.

• Enter your class/rehearsal schedule into your calendar (paper or computer).

• For every day of the week, outline a schedule that you can follow so you know how you’re spending your time. It should include class times, meal times, practice times, study/homework times, fun time, and flexible time. You might not always be able to stick to it, but if you try to strategize now, you’ll feel more in control of your time later.

Get your instrument in tip top shape

• Perform a full tuneup – Don’t wait until problems arrive and things break to pay attention to instrument maintenance. Address any repairs now in case you have to leave your instrument at a shop for a few days.  Check it for loose parts, sticky keys and valves, dents, worn out pads, damaged strings, etc. Fix, tighten, or replace anything that’s not quite right. Now is a good time to change strings as well, since you’ll have a couple weeks to break them in.

• Clean, polish, and protect – Do a thorough internal cleaning of your instrument (if possible) and clean/polish all the visible parts as well. In a couple of hours, you can often bring a tired instrument back to almost new condition. It usually feels better to play on nice-looking equipment, so clean it while you can.

• Clean and repair your case – open all the compartments, clean out any garbage or old papers that have accumulated, vacuum the inside, wash/clean the outside, and if it’s starting to smell a little funky, put a small box of baking soda inside for a few days. If you have broken hinges, latches or wheels, loose padding or linings, or any other problems with the case, fix them or take them in for repair.

• Make sure your accessories are in working order – Now is a great time to fix all the other equipment problems that annoy you, distract you, and cut into practice time. Check/change your metronome batteries, tighten loose parts on your instrument stand, replace old music binders and worn-out folders, etc.

• Make and break-in reeds – Give yourself an ample supply so you’re not scrambling during the semester.

• Take inventory and order any other supplies- Make sure you have reeds, drumsticks and mallets, pencils, a pitch pipe or tuner, and anything else you need.

Practice

• Review the comments from your final lessons, jury, or recital. If you haven’t set goals with your private lesson instructor for the coming semester, do so now.

• Get out your calendar and break up those semester-long goals into weekly and monthly milestones. Don’t worry about daily goals until the week of, because it can get a little tedious.

• Find the goals that will take the most time to accomplish, and start working on them over break.

• Spend at least half of your practice time on break having FUN with your instrument. Play some music that’s different from what you worked on last semester or what you’re going to work on in the spring. Teach yourself to improvise or play in a style you don’t know very well.

Academic Prep

• Email all your professors and ask for the class syllabus. Tell them you want it so you can look for cheaper books online.

• When you get it, make a list of books, and order them on the Amazon.com Textbook Store, half.com, or another discount site. You’ll save a ton of money! Consider having them shipped to your school address if you don’t have space to bring them back with you or if you’re ordering close the date you’re returning to campus.

• Look over the course requirements. If anything looks especially challenging, spend a little time researching the topic on Google, so that you have some extra resources for the semester, and so that you’re familiar with the material before hand. There’s no reason you should wait until the first day of class to engage your brain with a new subject. If you feel more confident with the class material going in, It will free up a lot of time during the semester, because you won’t have to study as hard to understand it. DO NOT start working on homework assignments and papers listed on the syllabus. It’s super-nerdy and it’s a waste of time for more reasons than I want to talk about here. Plus, you need a break!

• If you’re in a Music Ed program, schedule some visits to schools to observe teachers. Many states require a minimum number of observation hours, and winter break is a great time to knock some of them off. Make it a goal to complete them all during various breaks, so that you never have to fit them in during the semester.

Other

• If you have a car, catch up on any maintenance. Wash it, have the oil changed, put air in the tires, and bring it in for repair if you need to.

• If you rent an apartment and you are staying in it over break, this is a great time to clean it and put that plastic stuff on the windows.

And if you STILL have time left over, tell me what you’re doing in the comments.

First (and I know this is a little boring, but please get it done now!), unpack your belongings and get settled. Seriously, this break is going to come and go before you know it, and you’ll feel much more rested if you unpack your suitcase and make yourself at home for the next few weeks. It shouldn’t take too long, but I really believe it makes a difference in how your break goes!

Next, finish (or start) any holiday shopping you need to get done.

Finally, take a little time to make something. Resist the temptation to sit on the couch and watch TV. If you start now, inertia will set in, and you’ll end up glued to the couch for the entire break. Get started on the right foot by finding a project to do this weekend. Need some ideas? How about this:

• Make some holiday decorations or bake some cookies.
• Act like a kid and build a snow fort.
• Help a family member with a home improvement project.
• Write a song
• Build a tone enhancing guitar amp stand.
• Redesign your desk space. Use this article for some inspiration.
• Screen print some custom artwork for your dorm room.

If those all seem lame to you, find something better to do, and post your ideas in the comments. Have a great weekend, and enjoy the start of a well-deserved break!

However, a link to “Come Sail Away” by the Tufts University Beelzebubs popped up. Styx performed by an a cappella group? I’m in! I didn’t like the fact that they had to trim the arrangement for the show, but I had a good time watching the clip. Like all of the videos I watched, the Bubs have some pitch problems, but I suspect that it has to do more with the monitoring situation than it does their skill (And I’m pointing this out so I don’t get any hate mail about not choosing a perfect performance). Here they are having a ton of fun on national TV.

And since TV is a bad way to REALLY know what someone can do, I also found a video from a non-televised ‘Bubs performance… It’s much better.

If you like what you see, you can vote for them on December 21st, using the instructions in the above video. You can also find them at www.bubs.com

Friday Fun is a weekly feature at singplaysurvive.com that hilights fun and distracting performances by college students and independent artists. If you’d like to suggest a group or a video, please email me at contact@bryanwegman.com.

11. Spend time alone.

If you’re really trying to make the most out of your music school career, you’re going to be around other people almost non-stop. It’s fun to have friends, to play in ensembles, to study in groups, and hang out with your room mate late into the night. But you also need time for yourself. I’m not just talking about the alone time you get when you’re practicing or studying. I’m talking about what one friend called “naked time”–the kind of time you spend alone just for you (you can keep your clothes on if you like). Take a nice long walk now and then, catch an afternoon nap, or put on your favorite CD (NOT a listening assignment for class) and read a magazine. Just find something to give yourself a nice quiet break.

If you’re wondering why this is is important to do NOW, it’s because your schedule NOW is probably the most flexible you’ll ever have again. Most work days don’t have an hour or two in between tasks the way many students have an hour or two in between classes. Yes, those are good times to practice, study, etc., but they’re also good times to relax and de-stress a little. If you are just too busy to make this happen during the week, give yourself a little extra time to do it on the weekend.

The other reason to do it NOW is because this is a time in your life to focus on you and figure out who you are. If you’re always around other people, you’ll never get a chance to form your own identity. You do NOT want to leave college feeling like you have no idea who you are, so take a little time and figure it out!

12. Celebrate every holiday you know of.
I get it, you’re a hard-working, talented, music student–not some dumb frat-boy or -girl. Well get over yourself and have some fun now and then. It’s college! If you’re holiday calendar says Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you’re not celebrating enough. You need a calendar that gives you a holiday for almost every day of the year. That way, you can celebrate whenever you get a little free time.

13. Take up a non-music hobby.
As much as you love music, you need balance in your life. Find something to do that has nothing to do with music, and do it at least twice a week. I know that you think spending every second of your life immersed in music will give you an edge over your less driven friends, but it won’t. You’re going to get burnt out, you’re going to lose your perspective, and eventually, you’re going to lose your passion and sound like a mechanical music student. Trust me on this one. I’ve seen it happen with friends, and it’s happened to me too!

If you want to play with passion, and if you want to really develop your own sound, you MUST have non-musical experiences to draw from. You need to see  and participate in the outside world, and you need to be inspired by it! Don’t worry, if you’re a musical person, you’ll be able to tie these experiences back to your instrument without even trying. Do you know how much I’ve learned about rhythm from playing racquetball, or how much I’ve learned about textures and layering from developing my own cooking recipes?

Regardless of what hobby you take up, you’re going to learn an important lesson in creativity, innovation, passion, and dedication.

Please quote me on this (but remove everything in brackets before you do): The BEST way you can possibly master your own discipline [MUSIC], is to study the pants off of another one [anything BESIDES music].

14. Befriend a professor.
Ok, if you read that headline and “teacher’s pet” came to mind, you’ve got the wrong idea. I can’t stand students who suck up, and I’m going to hunt you down if that’s what you go and do after reading this (or if you claim that I’m advocating sucking up). I’m ALSO not telling anyone to get involved in a scandal, so don’t mix your “naked time” from number 11 with your attempts to befriend a professor.

What I AM suggesting is that you find a professor who you like and respect, and spend some time building rapport with that person. Stop in to talk during their office hours or hang after class for a minute or two for a quick chat. Smart people (like professors) like intelligent conversation, so bring something unique to the table. DO NOT talk about how great the class is or how annoying it is that some other students don’t get the material yet, etc. (that’s sucking up, and professors can see right through that kind of BS).

Why is all this so important? Because:

• You need to practice networking
• It will help you feel more like equals with all of your professors, which is a great way of reducing anxiety over your homework, tests, exams and private lessons.
• If they like you enough, they might help get you out of a jam.
  You’ll learn more from these conversations than from any class reading or lecture.
• You’re going to need quality references when it’s time for a job search
• You’re going to need a mentor during the first few years of your career
• Later in your career you might have a professional project you’d like to collaborate on.

15. Use the fitness center.
If you don’t do it now, you’ll get fat and ugly and… just kidding. It’s good for your health to stay in shape and develop good fitness habits now. It’s also going to cost $30-80 a month to join a gym when you’re not a student. Since a piece of your tuition goes towards the fitness center whether you use it or not, don’t let your money go to waste! Learn to use the equipment, find a routine, and stick to a schedule.

Extra tip: If your school offers free fitness evaluations or any kind of personal training, use it. Even if it costs a few buck, it’ll be cheaper than a private gym. Take a couple of sessions and ask them to help you design a routine that you can do without equipment. Then, when you leave college, you might not need a gym at all!

I came across a cool post today called Finals are fun!, which was all about the good ways campus life changes during finals week. She points out how students attire, eating habits, sleep schedules, and even Facebook activity changes, and makes a good point that it’s actually quite liberating to spend a whole week in pajamas, eating potato chips and drinking energy drinks.

Fun? Definitely! Counterproductive? My first thought was yes. I didn’t see how eating and sleeping poorly could possibly help anyone ace a final. But, I thought a bit more and came to realize two things:

1. All of that eating poorly, bumming around in PJs, and spending too much time on Facebook can be a great de-stresser.
2. TO AN EXTENT, it’s probably helpful to waste some time and keep your stress level low. Let’s face it. If you haven’t learned at least some of what you need to know for finals BEFORE finals week, you’re probably not going to learn it all anyway. You’ll be better off keeping yourself relaxed and studying a little bit (ie, not cramming), than you will walking into a final all stressed out.

So yes, it’s probably FINE to let yourself go a little more than usual during finals. Even if it’s not REALLY ok, it’s so acceptable at most colleges that you probably should just enjoy it anyway! Happy testing everyone, and don’t forget to shower before your parents come to pick you up.

Andy Lunn of vultrix.com posted a great article about how he turned a Guitar Hero drum set into a real one using his Mac, GarageBand, and an application called OSCulator. This looks like it would be perfect for anyone who lives in a small apartment or dorm room, but wants to rock out on the drums from time to time. I know it’s not QUITE like the real deal, but if you already have all the supplies, it’s a really cheap way to get a little practice drum set. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play the drums, now is your chance!

Since winter break is coming, and you’ll have a few weeks with nothing at all to do (ha!), try making one of these. Who knows, you might come back to school in the spring wanting to change your principal instrument! You can find the complete writeup at vultrix.com.

Dolls On Parade from Tyler Jensen on Vimeo.

I had the bright idea of taking my girlfriend to that for one of our first dates. I promise that it was as wild (or wilder) in person than what the video can even begin to show (and lucky for me, we’re now engaged).

Now, if you feel a need to cleanse yourself of that, or just  to just watch some students play their beeehinds off, you can have a look at this:

Enjoy the weekend. Don’t study too hard!

Got some of your own to add? Please let me know in the comments.

If this is your first time here, you can also read Part I of this series.

6. Have a lazy “marathon” weekend

This is a great thing to do on a long weekend or over a holiday. Grab some friends, stock up on your favorite food and beverages, and take an entire day (or two) to do something like: watch an entire season/series of a favorite TV show, watch a movie trilogy, listen to the complete Beatles discography, have a Monopoly tournament, beat Guitar Hero on expert, etc.

There are a couple of rules for this one: save it for a weekend with bad weather, give yourself a day after to be productive and recover before starting another week of classes, and balance your Karma by spending another entire day volunteering with all of your friends.

7. Learn to function without caffeine
I’ll bet that colleges (and especially music schools) create more caffeine addicts each year than 10,000 Red Bull salesmen do in a lifetime. Between a demanding schedule, chronic sleep deprivation, and easy, campuswide access to fresh-brewed coffee and ice-cold Mountain Dew, it’s no surprise. If you’re on the road to addiction, take a few days off from caffeine here and there. Curb the habit before it owns you for life.

8. Spend time in the library (for fun)

Obviously this isn’t too hard for most music students. In fact, you probably wish you could spend LESS time there. But right now, you have access to a HUGE collection of books, vinyl, CDs, and DVDs all tailored to your interests as a musician. In four short years (or less), that stash won’t be so accessible, your Naxos login won’t work, and you’ll start to wish that all the time you spent in the library wasn’t just for assignments.

9. Practice. A lot.
This definitely falls into the, “think life’s busy now?” category, but even if you DO have time to keep practicing after college, finding a good practice space might be a little tricky. Not too many landlords are cool with you playing in their apartments, renting a practice room is pricy, and I DOUBT you’ll be buying your own house right out of college. As much as practicing can suck right now, it will be worse later if you wish you had done more of it and can’t.

10. Geek it up (musically)
Want to discuss Neapolitan 6th chords over lunch? Do it while you still have friends who know that you’re not talking about ice cream. It seems nerdy, but you’ll never have as many listening ears as you do right now. Talk about geeky music stuff as much as you can, in case you end up with non-musician co-workers who only talk about last night’s TV shows or what kind of fertilizer they use on their lawn.

1. Break a leg. I’m sure you’ll do great!
2. Don’t let the formalities scare you. If you know your stuff, you’ll be fine.
3. Remember: the professors who are hearing you are your friends. They want you to do well, and they’ve heard you before. They’ll understand if your Jury doesn’t go perfectly, especially if you’re a freshman.
4. Upperclassmen… don’t push your luck ;)

Have a great week. Eat right, get plenty of sleep, don’t stress too much, and have fun from the moment you step into the room. Your passion and enthusiasm can soften even the grumpiest professors!