cjkeeno

Hello, I'm a new member to this forum and have seen how useful it can be. Hopefully you can help.
I'm an aspiring pianist and I really want to know good colleges around California.

At the moment I'm looking at:

Pepperdine
USC
Azusa
Biola

If you could also include what the difficulty of getting into the certain schools.
I would REALLY appreciate it!

operaticmimosa

Take a look at UCLA and the Conservatory at Chapman University. You could also try the San Francisco Conservatory

violadad

cj, welcome. I'd suggest you read So You Want To Be Music Major - One Family's Experience if you haven't already done so.

It's tricky to assess "difficulty", as factors of your level of training and experiences, academic stats, and what you envision as a school environment may well skew a list one way or another. If you could flesh out more detail it would be use to aid posters in guiding you. As you mention university, the assumption is you don't want a pure conservatory.

Some past California & West Coast threads:
Schools in California
Music Schools in California
Good music schools in California?
California...music school question?
West Coast Safety Schools-need info please
West Coast Schools with Strong Music Programs
West Coast?

mamenyu

San Francisco Conservatory has a strong piano faculty. In terms of UC's also look at UCSB, which offers a BMus and BA in music, and UCI which have some good piano faculty; Colburn in LA shares John Perry with USC. Colburn is tuition free; USC has good scholarship aid. I've never heard of Pepperdine or Azusa as being strong places for music performance. Of these, Colburn is probably the most competitive (only one music professor on the faculty). For the UC's your grades and SATs are an important factor for admission.

cjkeeno

Thank you all VERY MUCH for you're response. They have got me thinking A LOT!

Violadad: Thank you for those resources! I have not yet started on any of them, but I'm sure they will be VERY helpful in my decision.

Some details about some of my skills in piano include playing for 8+ years, participating in yearly festivals (contests that have judges that give you a certain rating based on how well you played a certain piece), as well as taking the yearly theory test. Also, I have a job as a pianist at a very small church and casually play for my small bible study group (playing hymns and such)

Academically I have about a 4.0 WEIGHTED gpa because of pre-ap classes.

What I see in a preferable college environment is a friendly and helpful staff (whether they be music teachers or not.) A student body that is most definitely not close-minded or materialistic, as I've come to see in many college reviews in California (like UCLA, Pepperdine, etc.)

Hopefully this helps you Violadad as well as any others! And hopefully it doesn't make helping me any much harder.

sopranomom92

Have you checked Occidental?

SopranoMom

I can't speak to your technical chops, as I am neither a pianist nor did I give birth to one, but in terms of the atmosphere I urge you to consider UCSB. (disclosure: I am a grad, BA in a non-musical area, but with a lot of music credits). You mention doing some accompanying at church. If you want to look into that more, they have a program that focuses on accompanists (or did when I was there) and those kids have no problems finding work-study hours.

When I was there they did not restrict access to music department resources to music majors. This includes private study with full faculty. Some music majors might consider this a minus, but it does keep the program competitive. They cut no slack for non-majors in terms of performance/jury grades and requirements. Assuming this is unchanged from a number of years ago, the music department is actually larger than the number of degrees granted would suggest, with correspondingly more work available to a pianist willing to accompany, and an unpredictably competitive atmosphere to keep things interesting.

cjkeeno

Thank you sopranomom (both!!)
But referring to second sopranomom, how competitive do you think the students/classes were? While I do like a little competition, I do not like too much, if you know what I mean.

SopranoMom

Oh, compared to a Mannes, MSM, Julliard, etc, it is a cakewalk I am sure. I don't know what may or may not be the right level of competitiveness for you. I do know that, between the school and Marilyn Horne's Music Academy of the West just down the road, there are a lot of singers, not to mention the community college and the local very active theater scene. Singers need accompanists, which means $$$ in your pocket.

Martin Katz visited once or twice while I was there. I don't know much else, as I was not in any part of the piano studies group. So... it's on you to gauge the competitiveness All I can say is that the people in the program played well (to my ears), accompanied sensitively, and seemed to be happy in their program. The campus atmosphere can't be beat - I still miss it.

mamenyu

UCSB offers both BA and BMus options for music and has a strong, though small, piano faculty; there are also graduate programs in music at UCSB. A student who would opt to go there might well be attracted by the first-rate educational opportunities across the disciplines there, the location, and the price, so there are California students who might select it over Mannes, USC, or even Juilliard for those reasons. The BMus requires an audition (or CD). I doubt if it is a "cakewalk" - and the academic requirements at UCSB are fairly high as well, so that aspect certainly is not a "cakewalk."

raddad

CJkeeno, On your initial question, my son is a new freshman in Thornton School at USC and is very happy. Loves the music and his one generals class. Thornton requires an audition and is pretty tough to get in I'm told. Also, academics need to be good. Thought it would be another good data point about someone who is experiencing a California music school today.

SopranoMom

Don't forget ethnomusicology at UCSB - another strong area at UCSB. They also have a fine recorded music library with many recordings not available elsewhere.

I didn't mean to suggest that getting into or graduating from UCSB's music program was a cakewalk. UCSB has fine, under-noticed programs that I praise. I meant to suggest that compared to those other programs I mentioned it is probably much less competitive to get into, an aspect the OP was concerned about.

You're right about the academics - you have to meet the minimum UC requirements to qualify for admission. Having said that, the music department does (or at least did) have discretion to consider musical aptitude, meaning that a 3.5 student could well be admitted over a 3.8, say, on the basis of talent.

UCSB has had a rep as a "party school." The overall atmosphere is much closer to surfer-relaxed than it is to MBA-driven. But there's a WHOLE lot to the school than U Can Study Buzzed just does not describe. When I was there the school enjoyed the 6th-highest first-time pass rate for the CPA exam - not bad for a school without an accountancy degree. I once waited in line for coffee with Dr. Stephen Hawking & his crew - The Institude for Theoretical Physics and its two Nobel Prize winners (so far) is surely no cakewalk! The campus is full of fascinating, smart people in a lot of fields, including music.

It's been years - I urge the OP to get current information. The atmosphere - and the price - are still wonderful

cjkeeno

Awesome, I really do appreciate all your guys' help and advice! While, I am still looking and researching, I do realize there is still room for change in career and life so not in a HUGE hurry.
It would also be helpful to what skill I should be in my piano playing. At the moment I am at around early to mid-advanced.

lion0709

If you are not looking for a real high powered music program you might check out the Claremont Colleges. My daughter has been dabbling in guitar/piano/songwriting having concentrated in percussion throughout her school years. She is a freshman at Scripps College and is taking music theory, group voice, and group piano this fall. The faculty seems very attentive and encouraging so far. They have great facilities for the limited number of music students.