shennie

I don't know about Swarthmore's piano faculty. However, they have a program where students audition for lessons. If accepted, they get either 1/3 or 2/3 of the cost of lessons with a private teacher of the student's choosing. Students need to find their own teachers and get there themselves, but they can pick anyone they want. (However, with Swat being as expensive as it is, the additional cost of lessons seems a bit much IMHO)

Gettysburger

I tried out for a lot of schools, but I really recommend studying music in a liberal arts setting. You get to meet more diverse people, study more fields than simply music 20 hours a day and come out as a more well-rounded person. I'm currently a double major at Gettysburg College: I'm a music major in the Sunderman Conservatory of Music and a political science major within the actual college.

I highly recommend Gettysburg College for any aspiring music majors: the conservatory is very small and because of that we get amazing opportunities: I'm only a freshman, but I"m going to a chamber music festivcal in Madrid this summer with my professor! All the vocal students are spending a month in Prague, Budapest and Vienna as supers in an opera company. Before you pick a college, think about what opportunities you can get!

tubamomNY

My son recently received some mailings (in the post PSAT glut) from Gettysburg. You're a vocal student - how about band opportunities there?
My son Tubaboy thinks he may want to double major (theory/composition) and pol sci or journalism, but beyond that, has no idea where he wants to go.

lamtmom08

My daughter is interested in non-classical vocal performance. She is interested in contemporary or jazz. Any program suggestions?

violadad

for those new to the forum. This thread has been on "featured discussions" but doesn't appear unless you click the "more" link.

Perhaps one of the moderators can pin this thread to the top. It has alot of useful info.

neumes

I second that. This past week I copied this thread to print out for second and third readings. We get something new every time we look at it, as the application process evolves, now that senior year is actually here....

violadad

Just a bump to try and keep this on the first page.

kakakakatie

Does anyone have any opinions on this muxic program?

chdemaio

Hi
I was wondering if I could get some opinions on music schools-
Do you think it's a smarter desicion for a student to go to a school with a strong music program and other areas of study to offer, or just primarily a music school or conservatory. Does anyone have any experience or has visited some New England schools with music, like Berklee, Boston Conservatory, NEConservatory, etc.

BassDad

That is a very personal choice that very much depends on your strengths, interests and objectives. The three schools you mention are about as alike as chalk, cheese and chintz. Tell us a bit more about yourself and perhaps we will be able to help.

Hartt Admissions

lamtmom08 posted: non-classical vocal performance

My daughter is interested in non-classical vocal performance. She is interested in contemporary or jazz. Any program suggestions?

Dear Lamtmom08:

The Hartt School of the University of Hartford's Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz offers a Jazz Studies major in voice. Students study with Shawnn Montiero Shawnn Monteiro - Jazz Vocalist and are coached by Hartt’s other notable jazz faculty in combo and ensemble rehearsals. Website: THE HARTT SCHOOL: MUSIC-DANCE-THEATRE

Please contact me if you have any questions about Hartt's Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies-jazz voice program at 860.768.4148.

guitarist's mom

Hi, first post. Thanks so much to all you great posters, what a great site for info as we begin the college search process. I am also happy to see that I am not the only parent who is involved in at least trying to narrow down the options. It would be pretty overwhelming if it were just my son trying to do it alone.

I've read many, many of the threads here and have definitely been able to help my son at least begin to narrow down the search (those Peabody articles were especially helpful as a starting place regarding the types of degrees).

A little background (bear with me): My son is unfortunate to have been born into a completely non-musical family, but very fortunate in that he has found his passion in life and knows he wants to pursue music as a career of some sort. He is a junior at a public high school. He is (apparently, according to all of his instructors, I wouldn't know!) very talented at guitar. He plays all styles, probably favors rock, but plays in his school's jazz band and percussion group, in a band he has formed, with several ensembles formed by his music school, and jams with an older blues group several times a month. But also he just really loves music and studying all the variations that come with that (music theory, composition, musicianship, etc).

He attended a Berklee one-week guitar session 2 summers ago and the 5-week performance program last summer, which was amazing and gave him some real insight into the study of music as a career.

He is a very good student, will likely finish top 7-8% of his class with all honors and at least 4 AP classes, SATs too soon to tell, but he will do very well on the English portion and okay on the math.

So as we begin the college search, he feels like he is in the position of trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, at 17! He definitely DOES want to pursue a BM degree, but is concerned that that alone will not be enough to support himself in a job he loves (ie., aside from playing in bars and clubs for the rest of his life -- assuming he will not be "discovered" anytime soon because surely there are many amazingly talented guitarists out there). He thinks long term that he might like to open a music store offering lessons and equipment on a smaller scale than the large chain guitar store. He is not particularly interested in teaching for his whole life but is more inclined to pursue the small business aspect of the industry. At least this is what he is saying at 17.... (I am trying to tell him that things can change......)

Given all this, he is contemplating a dual major in business and music. Frankly, I do not think he has a head for business (his very strong subjects are English and French) so I do not think he would be happy taking business classes. But this is where his thinking is right now (today....). The first of many times we will disagree, I am sure! At the end of the day, however, he will choose a school much more for the music program than anything else.

So as he prepares to take his SATs and we are thinking about where to send scores, it has all of a sudden hit us that he needs to start narrowing down his options. Which is how I found this site!

Clearly Berklee is probably the best option for him. However, he is struggling with spending his college years in a city environment, especially one that is relatively close to home (he wants to explore a little). He is a country mouse by nature and loves the outdoors and the mountains - the only easy part of this search is that he probably wants to be somewhere cold. He has this idea in his head about a "campus" environment for 4 years. But he understands that to accomplish what you want, you need to be at the right place for your interests and strength of the music program, and that might (probably) mean the city if the program is right for him .... especially given the opportunites to play his music that a city environment will afford. But maybe another city? Or is he crazy to bypass Berklee?

So we are trying to look around and figure out what is right for him. I am concerned about the relatively low Berklee graduation rate (on the other hand, what good is the diploma if he isn't going to be able to do anything with it.... ??) I'm going crazy.

It's very difficult because so many of the colleges mentioned on this forum seem to be geared towards the classical musicians -- I see the word "conservatory" and I don't think of guitarists, even classical guitarists. But some of the schools mentioned (Oberlin, for eg.) seem to have such great music departments and he would love the challenge of the intensity of programs like this, or Eastman. Maybe he could also do a dual degree in places like this. But will he also have opportunities to play his music? (He has some piano experience, but not a lot, and although he is working on voice, he is most definitely not a natural.... but he is more than willing to put himself out there and give it a go).

Is he better off at a liberal arts school majoring in music? I'm thinking the really strong schools like Middlebury or Dartmouth, or the tier below like Ithaca. The concern is that the strength of the music departments will not be equivalent to the really intense music education he would get elsewhere. But some of the schools we've stumbled across on our search (Univ. of Colorado at Denver is a good example, not one discussion about that school on this board, that I could find) while seemingly strong in guitar performance and probably music education, don't seem to have a whole lot more going on (the mom in me STILL wants him to have somewhat of a well-rounded education...."he's so smart, he could do anything... "etc. -- do I need to let that go)?

There have been lots of great schools mentioned in this thread as well as in others about colleges connected to conservatories, colleges with great music teachers, but what about my guitarist (slash potential businessman?) Is a place like Oberlin right for him? Sorry this was so long-winded, I'll be shorter next time. I'd love to hear your thoughts. thanks!

BassDad

Do not write Berklee off solely because of the low graduation rate. A lot of that is because students get job offers and go to work in the industry before graduating. The running joke is that they give diplomas only to those who have failed at finding work.

Oberlin could be right for him, particularly if he wants to pursue a jazz emphasis. They have an excellent jazz department with a new building for it planned to open by September 2009. They also have a major known as TIMARA -Technology in Music and Related Arts if he is into the electronic aspect of things. There is no instruction that i know of in the rock/pop/blues genres, but there are a lot of student bands that come and go that would give him opportunity to play in just about any style he wants. They do not have a business curriculum, but they do have an Entrepreneurship sequence that may be of interest. See Creativity & Leadership: Entrepreneurship at Oberlin for details.

guitarist's mom

hi BassDad, I was hoping to hear from you. Thanks for the advice (and all your other contributions here).

Yes, we had talked about focusing on the jazz route to try to "fit" better into some of these music schools, but it's really not is favorite style, although he does play it well. Not so much into the technology stuff, though he is interested in learning more about recording.

We don't want him trying to fit a square peg into a round hole just to find somewhere other than Berklee to apply to! But some compromise is necessary if he is going to find the right place that has at least most of the qualities he is looking for. He's doing the whole pro and con thing already, trying to identify what are THE most important qualities in schools.

Just want to give him some options in addition to Berklee! Will check out the Oberlin site as you suggested. Will he audition just like any other musician at places like Oberlin, or Case Western, or Peabody, or Eastman? Would the conservatory-type places even consider a guitarist for their programs?

violadad

guitarist's mom, Welcome. My son having gone the classical route, I cannot offer program specific advice, but will offer some general suggestions.

I do know that Eastman has a strong classical guitar program, but without knowing your son's performance background, the question becomes can he be competitive at an audition based admissions school not focusing on his genre preference? There is the potential for double majoring at U/Rochester, but I recall there being potential logistics issues. I'm sure details are available in previous threads.

As far as Oberlin, BassDad is the resident expert, and I'll leave comments in his hands.

Your son seems like the Berklee type of person, but I can understand the concerns regarding graduation rates. Additional, I don't know the quality or level of general business courses (if any) available there.

If you haven't already read this post, there is a similar discussion here Late Bloomer, Contemporary Music - Advice?, and the OP cites a few schools, including Belmont which might bear investigation. Additional, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and Contemporary Music Program are probably worth a look.

Another option might be to look at schools with dual major programs, combining both performance and music business degrees if s is interested in the music (as opposed to general) business courses. I know for example Hartt has such a program, but the guitar program again has a classical focus.

Good luck.

Edit: I'm not familiar with U Colorado Denver, but U Colorado Boulder has a pretty strong overall music program... I don't know if you've looked there.

cross posted w/BassDad; added U Colorado line.