Chapter 52

So, if you wanted to change my major officially on your transcript, how would you go about doing that? Well, back in 2015, you’d visit both Faculty Departments and would put in a request to change your major. Since I was already a science student, I figured I would start this process by seeing my department’s counselor first. This turned out to be a huge waste of time. 

In truth, I think the counselor was simply unaware that the music department was offering students the chance to do “Joint Honors” programs. The idea was pretty simple. For a music major in university, there was a requirement of a certain amount of music courses you have to pass to call yourself a music major. As long as you meet those, you can graduate with “Honors Music” next to your degree. If you met those requirements while you pursued and completed another program, you will be given “(First Program), Honors Music, Joint Honors” on your degree. This could be applied to any degree.

It was a simple condition. Almost like minoring in something for the Sciences, as long as you have enough credits in a field, you could say you did a minor in that field. It didn’t mean you got 2 degrees, just one degree with a few more words on it. That’s all. But this simple fact proved to be too complex for the ignorant Science Faculty Counsellor who took one look at my step by step graduation plan and metaphorically threw it into an open fire. Getting no help from him, I decided to ask the music department.

They gave me a very different experience where they took one look at my schedule and approved my request right away. Well, sort of. You see, when we sat down and looked at everything, it turns out I was shy two courses for the music major if I wanted to graduate by 2016, the original graduation year for me. While I had the space for electives, the main problem was the timing. There were certain science courses and music courses that were offered only in the fall term and unfortunately, they took place at the same time. This meant I had to basically wait a whole year to take one course in the fall of the next year or give up on the music major entirely. 

Luckily, as it turns out, I didn’t have to do either of those options because right when this issue came up, the Music Department counselor resolved it immediately with a simple phone call. Remember how I said the music department was only 1 room and didn’t even have a building to themselves? Well, that made it possible for them to operate in a very centralized way. Just like in highschool. The music department could bend the rules around a bit when it came to helping its students out with scheduling. 

The music counselor called a few professors while we were working out the details of my plans and after a short talk, she got back to me. She found a professor who could meet me one on one for the next two summer terms to offer me the two courses I was missing. I was stunned. 

The cost was the same as with any other course and I got an entire professor to myself to bother about learning music theory. There would be flexible scheduling since we just had to coordinate with each other’s schedules and even more surprisingly, I could learn the material at my own pace. Are you kidding? I jumped on this opportunity immediately. 

The counselor brushed this off like she does this every day and I just kind of stood there as she put the request in after our little chat. I was still stunned. Wow. The science department didn’t even give me a second glance and here was the music department, moving mountains just for my sake. I don’t think I’ve ever been more grateful to a faculty before. 

A few weeks later, the request went through. I was now a music and science double major and to enjoy the privileges that came with it. Aside from priority over music lockers where we stored out instruments, I also got priority for course selection. 

For example, I was given priority to courses such as “Soundtracks in Film”, “Popular Culture and Music” as well as “Introduction to Jazz”. These courses were always highly contested ones due to their reputation of not only being easy, but also being addictively fascinating. Therefore, usually within the first week of enrollment, these courses would fill up. Fortunately for me, as a music major, I got to pre-enroll and skip all of that drama. 

When I actually got into these courses, I was pleasantly surprised. They lived up to the hype and I got a taste of different genres and types of music I never thought about at all. As it turns out, outside of classical music there was an entire field of types of music with histories and legacies that are still relevant today. Furthermore, they were also relevant to some of the other hobbies I had.

In the soundtracks and film course, I learned about how movies came to have music and how synthesizers have changed the game. I also got a glimpse into how orchestration played a role in classic films like Star Trek and Star Wars. It was a great reminder on how classical music is still relevant today despite popular music’s ubiquitous nature in our media driven society. In other words, it made my background in classical music feel relevant whenever I thought about the music of today. 

As for Jazz and Popular Music, I learned about their history and origins. Both of which surprisingly lead to an association with Hip Hop. Then, in a very surprising stream of historical events, we even talked about how it gave rise to breakdancing. I was quite giddy to learn about all of these things. 

Unlike the classical music courses I was taking, for which I had a strong background already, these courses were new to me. And yet, I didn’t struggle with them. That’s because it was actually fun to study for them. I mean, how cool is it when your final exam is detailing the lives of Elvis and the Beatles? This wasn’t studying, it was entertainment. I was having a blast and passing by with flying colors. 

These courses, along with some other musical ones, made my third year one of the best ones I’ve ever had in university. My GPA has improved significantly and I was giddy every time I thought about going to class. It seems like nothing could go wrong right? 

Right?

Well…

Sometime in the middle of third year, I looked at my transcript and felt a bit funny. Sure my GPA was high but the amount of music courses that were on it were also kind of high. My science courses were spread out in such a way that every term, I was taking 3 music courses to 2 science ones. Then a familiar thought came to me.

What if I’m a fraud?