![\"10153923_10203422860081646_5384072696746560181_n\"](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2022\/08\/10153923_10203422860081646_5384072696746560181_n.jpg\")
<\/a>Vincent Izzo \u201916 doesn’t just hear music, he sees it.<\/p>\n“I experience music in colors and shapes. I see it happening\u201d he said. Izzo, who is a double major in accounting and music, possesses a rare ability known as synesthesia, and what he sees depends on the music genre. “Electronic music evokes wires and jagged colors while classical music comes through as warmer colors with more complex layering,” he says.<\/p>\n
He recalls listening to Gloria Estefan\u2019s \u2018Turn the Beat Around\u2019 as a kid. “Everyone else just listened and thought it was a cool song.\u00a0I saw all the colors and shapes, and that song still has a special meaning to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, he didn\u2019t realize that most people didn’t share his gift, and it wasn’t until he came to Furman that he realized the value of his unique talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was talking with my Furman roommate, and he seemed really surprised that I literally saw music \u00a0\u201cI looked at him and said, \u2018You don\u2019t?\u2019\u201d\u00a0That\u2019s when he started doing some research and found out that there is a name for it\u2014synesthesia, the fusing of senses that usually operate separately. And it has been a valuable element of Izzo’s development as a musician. But sound and color aren’t the only fusions he has achieved.<\/p>\n
His mother was once a professional dancer and his father aspired to play Major League baseball, but they pushed their interests to the background in order to secure more stable careers. But neither parent totally abandoned their passion.<\/p>\n
When it was time for college, Izzo followed suit, deciding to major in both music and accounting\u2014one to fulfill his passion and the other to secure a career.\u00a0\u201cMy parents weren\u2019t comfortable with me just majoring in music . . . partially because I have an uncle who is a ‘starving musician,'” he says.<\/p>\n
Having a degree in accounting as well as music is a strategic move when it comes to the marketplace. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that more than 452,000 new positions for accountants and auditors will be created by 2020. It is a career that holds up even if the economy turns sour.<\/p>\n
And when it comes to\u00a0the\u00a0liberal arts, Forbes\u00a0magazine recently reported that\u00a0music, drama, philosophy, and other majors, are in demand at software companies in U.S. technology hubs such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston, and Austin. The tech war for talent has moved to non-technical jobs, particularly sales and marketing.<\/p>\n
“The Business and Accounting Department has many non-business and non-economics students, and the accounting program has liberal arts majors, particularly in the arts, political science and pre-medical, who want to learn something about accounting they can use in their fields,” said\u00a0Dr. Marion McHugh, associate professor of business and accounting.<\/p>\n
That combination of technical and liberal arts classes is becoming a must for an educated workforce, said Paula Krebs, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.\u00a0Liberal arts students need to take some science and technical classes while STEM majors should consider taking philosophy, history, English or arts classes, she said. Many of the technology-related jobs don\u2019t require huge amounts of technical expertise, but they do require the employee understand and not fear the technology.<\/p>\n
Izzo, a New York native, moved to Fort Mill when he was four years old and has been a Sandlapper since. However, attending Furman University wasn\u2019t something he planned, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was looking for schools, I was way late,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the oldest kid. I didn\u2019t know what to do and neither did my parents. I barely hit the late deadlines.\u201d<\/p>\n
A friend of his, also a percussionist, planned to attend Furman and suggested he apply because of the strong music program. Izzo was also looking for a rigorous accounting program because he planned to double major.\u00a0 He applied but expected to attend the University of South Carolina because of the cost differential, he said.<\/p>\n
When visiting schools, \u201cI really liked Furman. Everything worked. I went to USC and it was the opposite.\u201d With financial support from the Music Department and academic scholarships,\u00a0he is now a proud Paladin.<\/p>\n
Izzo plays marimba in Furman’s Marching Band, The Paladin Regiment. This year, he’s enjoying a blast from the past since Estefan’s “Turn the Beat Around” is part of the band’s 2015 repertoire.<\/p>\n
His plans for the\u00a0future\u00a0are big. Once he graduates from Furman in May, he will pursue a graduate degree in accounting, probably at Wake Forest University or the University of South Carolina, with the goal to become CPA in the tax field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I land that job, I can go to graduate school in music at night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Music is a tough career field. \u201cThe jobs are out there, but it\u2019s inconsistent,\u201d he said. \u201cFor a musician to really survive, they have to be 100 percent. If you\u2019re 99 percent, you\u2019re behind someone else. Music is a lot of luck. If you don\u2019t win the lottery, something to fall back on is comforting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learn more about the\u00a0Furman Music Department<\/a>\u00a0and majors in\u00a0Business and Accounting<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vincent Izzo \u201916 doesn’t just hear music, he sees it. “I experience music in colors and shapes. I see it happening\u201d he said. Izzo, who is a double major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":15499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,20,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-business-and-accounting","category-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}