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Help me decide... Physics or Music 1? (year 10 student) (1 Viewer)

Sycochild

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I'm having trouble deciding between doing music 1 or physics. The problem is, I have only recently gained an interest in music - only been playing guitar for about 8 months and know *some* piano, and worked on a lot of AMEB theory books etc., but I'm worried that that might not be on par for music 1... since the majority of people who are doing music seem to have been doing it since primary school.

Then there's physics, which I have decent abililty in, if i can say so myself. Recently I talked with a relative who has done physics - it sounds promising, although not as "fun" as music 1.

Suggestions from people who do physics and/or music 1 would be appreciated.
 

acmilan

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What i say will be biased towards physics since i did well in it and have absolutely no musical talents at all. If you like learning theoretical science, choose physics. Most of the work is just remembering facts, little maths (mainly subbing numbers into formulas) and simple experiments that you dont even really have to do to know about the results of it. In the end it comes down to what you believe you will do best in. Im guessing music has a major work? If so then remember you will have to spend extra time for that. Also what you are thinking to do in uni. If you are looking for science subjects then physics is a pre-requesite for some subjects and may need you to do a bridging course if you dont do it in the hsc. Physics CAN be made fun if you have a good teacher (thats right physics = fun!)
 

AsyLum

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Music 1 haha, trust me mate, you have an advatange over 50% of people if you learnt from AMEB.

Music 1 = People who have little to no musical theory behind them but enjoy the performance side.
Music 2 = Musical Theory.

A word of warning Music 1 isnt a "flash" subject unless you get high high marks but its fun and i wouldnt trade that for physics or otherwise.
 

Slidey

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Physics sounds a better choice by your description. And it is a safer, more stable subject.
 

Estel

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Do Music 1 out of your first 10 units if you're getting really high in your other subs.
If not, then do Music 1 in your first 10 units.

You find it more fun, you have an interest... what's the problem?
I regret having picked phys and chem ahead of music... ended up ditching both. So choose wisely. :)
 

KFunk

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I did both physics and music (2, not 1) for preliminary. I enjoyed both subjects as they are two of my big interests in day to day life.

I wouldn't attempt music 2 with your musical experience and I don't know music 1 well enough to pass a good judgement. However, I can be quite safe in saying that you would likely be at a disadvantage for performance, unless you are an extremely talented musician, given your experience.

If it's going to be your 11&12th unit (which is then droppable) or if you just want to have a good time then go for music 1 for sure (not many people enjoy physics like I do so I won't assume that you'll have a good time doing it :p).

If you're looking for good marks or a more secure subject then physics is the go. In any case physics is cool as HSC subjects go and there's not much to it. It's very 'clean' and the concepts interconnect nicely.

The ultimate situation is if you can do both, but that's going by my interests. Good luck choosing.
 

alien

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physics scales up something massive. but it depends if you like it or not. music is alot of work, you need to be able to do compositions and stuff and that takes a bit of creativity. it all depends on what you want!
good luck!
 

Hermzie

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I had a similar problem, where I had to choose between Music 1 and Legal studies. I had only been playing an instrument for a little less than a year so going with Legal studies was the safer option, but I chose Music 1 anyway because I would drop it in year 12 to make room for Ext. 2 English.

If you don't plan on dropping one of those subjects in year 12, then go with Physics. If you can afford to drop a subject in year 12, then have fun with music because it's really really hard to do well in Music in your HSC.
 

jhrudd

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interesting points

i have some really really close friends, several of whom do both physics and music. I am an absolute lover of music, but i hated studying it. i also hate sciences but my mates seem to have loads of fun studying it. they love telling me.."it's not rocket science coz we've done that!'' but i feel that if u have a passion for music and are willing to go with it then there should be no problems. the worse thing u can do is go with a subject that u hate with a passion even though ur good at it. eventually u'll lose interest and not put the required effort in. If worse comes to worse, pick both and see how they go for the first couple of weeks, and see how u like them. u can always switch around and drop the subject if u hate it. hope i've helped in some way!!
 

Sycochild

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Thanks for all the advice guys. I was planning on doing what Hermzie said, dropping music 1 in year 12 - but I realised that if I was going to drop music 1 in year 12, that would mean I wouldn't have the ability to drop one of my other 3 electives (legal, eco and software design) if one of them goes bad (likely considering they are all difficult subjects)

I've decided to go for physics. I might live to regret it in year 11, but oh well.


Sometimes I just wished I had started learning an instrument at a young age...
 

KFunk

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It's never too late to start. I've just semi-started learning another two!
 

MedNez

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If you have some musical talent - then do Music. But something to consider if you're thinking about Physics is the quality of the teachers - see this thread.

Really depends on your interest / talent in either I suppose.
 

bridgett

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physics would gain a higher UAI, and if you choose music u would have to consider yourself to be creative and good with words to write music evaluations... id go with physics, u can rely on the theory based aspects instead of music where u hav to either learn the history, perform or evaluate
 

hello99999

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I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice since I haven't done either of the courses but oh well...
I did music as an elective in yrs 9&10 but have also been playing an instrument outside school for.. i dunno, 10 yrs or so...
The thing with school music is, is that there is a syllabus and you have to study the things that they tell you to, even if you have the freedom to compose and whatever, it's still kind of 'regimented' if you know what i mean-if you really like music, you're probably better off just learning outside school where you can do your own thing and use it as something to relax rather than something you're forced to study. It's not even like music 1 leads anywhere- I think if you wanted to do music at uni level you'd have to have much better qualifications/achievements than music 1

also, you say you're ok with physics and it scales a hell of a lot better than music 1. I know people say you should choose the subjects that you enjoy, but trust me, when it comes to the hsc, you just want to make it as easy as possible to get the highest uai that you can- and i think most people find it easier and less stressful studying the more logical subjects e.g. science, maths, rather than 'forcing creativity' in englishy/arty/music subjects.
 

afta???

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i hate the sciences but still i suggest you take physics....
music is too much time and unless u do music 2 it will scale you down horribly
leave your interest of music after u hav secured a good uni course
 

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