gfhandel

Hi,

I am an undergraduate transfer student from community college and now I narrowed my choices to UC Berkeley or CalArts. I am a composition major and I am mostly interested in avan garde, experimental, and ethnic music. I am interested in incorporating sound and music into visual arts and investigating and redifining art and looking at art from different perspectives.

I would like to hear other people's opinions about these two schools and if I could get an advice I would appreciate it. I also intend to live in East Asia like Japan or Korea so if I had attended Berkeley it would most likely reward me well when I live abroad (since Asians are extremely academic oriented and Berkeley is well known worldwide)

mamenyu

UC Berkeley has a general music major for undergraduates, that includes courses in ethnomusicology, music history, musicianship (harmony and aural skills), composition. There is also a program at UC Berkeley in electronic music.
UCLA offers both academic and performance music programs; they are reconfiguring the department, after a big donation from Herb Alpert, and will have a "global" focus. Until these changes, there have been separate departments for ethnomusicology and performance (in the College of Arts and Architecture) and for music history and music theory.
Both would be good choices for composition, if you like the particular faculty; if you are interested in performance, UCLA might be a better choice.

gfhandel

i forgot to mention that i got accepted to UC Berkeley and CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) but NOT UCLA.

mamenyu

Sorry -- I got confused, with UCLArts -- I really know nothing about Calarts. UC Berkeley is hard to beat for music, except for performance.

aLfR3dd

calarts is very cool.....if you like to write experimental music go there!!!!

guitardad

Calarts has excellent experimental composition. So does Cornish, up in Seattle.

musicamusica

Cal-arts! They also have a great Gamalan collection and teacher (if you are into
that kind of thing)

mamenyu

I looked at the Calarts website -- never having heard of it, though I live in California...they, like UCLA, have also just been given a huge donation by Herb Alpert (of the former Tijuana Brass). So that is a promising factor.
If you are interested in a performance-oriented program and want to live in Valencia, it might be a good choice. But as far as any kind of academic education in music, and for location, there is no comparison between Calarts and UC Berkeley, which has one of the top academic music departments (with composition faculty, ethnomusicology faculty, and music history faculty) in the US. You would also be able to take courses in innumerable subjects at the university. It is not merely a question of prestige, though it might well be a consideration and, again, UC Berkeley is world-reknowned -- but also of the breadth of education you could get there.

musicamusica

Another plus at cal arts is their Redcat program at the Music centre in LA.
Redcat has made LA an avant garde and experimental music hotspot. I dont
know what kind of participation is available for undergrads---but its worth looking into.
But, granted, no one WANTS to live in Valencia!

SpiritManager

CalArts is a great place for the right person. And there are even interesting places to live out in the mountains near Valencia. (I knew many many people at CalArts in the 70's who lived in Val Verde.) I am surprised, Mamenyu. that you never heard of it - many of the most exciting contemporary composers and professors have come through there over the years as either students or teachers. And musicamusica is right about the Redcat program. I think it's a hard choice - mostly it comes down to whether the OP wants an academic experience or a conservatory. Cal's composition department is currently in flux after the death of Jorge Liederman and they have very very few composition professors. (Right now one person is teaching all the undergrad comp classes.) He also happens to be teaching my S and he's great - but, still, that's kind of a limited program.

mamenyu

I'm not a musician or composer, and don't live near Valencia, so my not knowing about Calarts is not a reflection on Calarts...I do know a lot about Cal and its music department, though; it is quite big deal to get into Cal as a transfer student, and it would be giving up an enormous opportunity -- for anything other than performance. There is no doubt that they will replace Liderman (quite a tragedy) -- through the years, Cal has had some fine composers and it is an important part of their program (unlike performance).

fiddlefrog

And even for serious performers, Cal isn't the worse place to be. The orchestra has long had superb conductors, although it is staffed with students of mixed abilities, and enough accomplished players are there at any given time that one would not lack stimulation, although obviously any conservatory or BM-granting school will be stronger in that respect.

Cal's Ph.D program in composition is very strong.

mamenyu

Yes, excellent conductors and ambitious repertoire for orchestra and chorus; good (adjunct) coaches for chamber music; lots of performance opportunities, including playing new compositions by faculty and students; noon concert series; great concert series through Cal Performances; possibility of a Hertz fellowship (pays for study in Europe, etc.) in performance for top performers following graduation; Bay Area location and great classical music scene.