So at one point for myself, I was miserable at the private school I was teaching at and tried applying for all Types of jobs, music related and Not. Even went to a Temp agency. I could not even get an interview at anything besides a music teacher job and I have a masters. So in my experience it’s not that easy to translate a BM into other degrees. Real estate maybe yes, I didn’t try that route. I ended up just doing more private teaching so that’s what I’m doing now. I don’t think I will ever be able to retire though, but maybe I would be bored as a retiree. I agree in a way though I want him to have more opportunity than I did, included the best school possible, and do feel like with my past experiences and my husbands, we can steer him into how to make a career work. I believe he can get certified to teach even in an online program or soemthing like this.
Your son is very fortunate to have the benefit of your experience and advice.
His teacher is amazing we are lucky. She was my teacher and my husbands in grad school. I am More like you I want him to go the best school Possible and worry about the rest later. His teacher is more Worried about how he would make a living , given the realities of being a musician and the fact he likely would never get an orchestra job. She kept telling him to major in anything else possible, but eventually realized he won’t change his mind and she also understands the academic issues and that other areas would be hard for him. I just hope he can get in somewhere good and organize himself to do well once he’s there!
@3mandl sending you a private message (upper right, green envelope).
Those last nine words are doing a lot of heavy lifting! BM programs are demanding and time-consuming - handling additional non-music academics alongside a heavy practice and rehearsal schedule requires time management that’s akin to being an intercollegiate athlete (which is why athletes often have access to additional academic supports).
He has done well in high school because you have been judicious about rigor. You haven’t thrown him into the deep end of AP-track academics at his high school, and that has worked out well. But most of the kids in those AP-track classes still won’t get into colleges like Johns Hopkins or Vanderbilt - maybe not even BU or URochester. Adding an academic emphasis (even if it isn’t a full double-major, which as others have noted is very challenging to do with a BM and likely can’t be done in 4 years) is going to mean diving into academics that are more like the open ocean than the “deep end” of high school. There are many “good colleges” that still aren’t expecting kids to hit the ground running with college-level skills on day one. And if you can find a college with a wrap-around support program (Denver’s is one example but others may exist at schools with conservatory-level music), even better. IMHO, better to set up him for success, and maybe find out that he doesn’t actually need all of the scaffolding that’s available, than to end up scrambling for supports in an academic milieu that requires a huge leap in rigor. Reputation is important, sure, but he also needs not to be spread too thin, and not to be an outlier in terms of preparation and rigor-tolerance.
Again, JMHO, but if he could crack the most competitive schools on this list, the most likely outcome will be that the additional academic focus you’re hoping for won’t happen, and he’ll end up sticking with the conservatory degree only - which is fine if that’s the goal, but then he might as well consider the free-standing conservatories as well.
Yes actually I’m really rethinking our plan now after the advice on this thread. I did a double major in ed and performance but I’m a much different person him. So that being said - the free standing conservatory you reccomend are mannes, Manhattan, ccm? Any others? Are there other schools like Denver that have those types of supports? I know he could get accomodations anywhere but that only goes so far.
I am a little confused about the end goal here. If he is going to be a professional performing musician then stand alone conservatories are great. If he is not of that level or desire, perhaps changing course to a university where he will get a great deal of support so that he finds a career that works for him where he can also be involved in music.
My S21 did a bfa acting at one of the top 3 conservatories in the country and he is working in arts administration. Most of his friends who also went there are baristas, servers, etc while they try to find work. A few have found work in the arts but most are still looking.
There’s also New England Conservatory, and also The Boston Conservatory, which merged with Berklee in 2016 but carries forward its classical focus. Both are part of the ProArts Consortium, which opens up cross-registration opportunities.
There’s San Francisco Conservatory too, but it doesn’t sound like you’re looking for west coast.
Hartt School of Music at U of Hartford is a well-regarded conservatory within a not-overly-competitive university. I don’t see a full-blown wrap-around program, but there are academic coaching services available.
The Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase could be another to consider. It could be quite affordable, especially if you’re in a Tuition Match state. In addition to regular disability services, they do have an add-on wraparound program: Cornerstone Connect • Office of Disability Resources • Purchase College
You could look at Shenandoah Conservatory in VA. I’ve heard wonderful things about the university as a supportive academic environment, and they have academic coaching programs: https://www.su.edu/learning-support/the-office-of-learning-resources-and-services/academic-counseling/ Also in VA, there’s VCUArts, but I’m not certain whether their classical emphasis is strong enough for what he wants. VCU has both traditional disability services, and a TRIO Program that serves both students with disabilities and FGLI students.
All that said, I’m not specifically familiar with which conservatory programs would be the best fit for him musically - just tossing out possibilities. And really, there are lots of great public-university options with strong music. For example, when I was a high school musician, I attended summer programs at WVU, and a number of my friends from these programs got music degrees from WVU and became professional musicians and music professors. WVU would likely give him merit, and their BM program is very good… and they have good academic support options: Academic Enhancement | MindFit | West Virginia University
The trick, IMO, is to find someplace at the right level musically, with the right musical opportunities, that will also be supportive and accessible for him academically so that he can feel free to explore academic interests without feeling that he’s coming from behind in the academic peer group. There are a lot of options, and he’s a strong candidate musically, with a great academic track record when given the right context, so I would think he should be able to find a good fit - there are just a lot of moving parts to consider.
Maybe this thread can help you as you consider a degree in music. How do musicians make money? - #80 by compmom
I think his goal is to be a performer. Which was also my husbands and my own goal. We both freelanced for about 5 years before having kids and realizing we needed to teach to make a steady living and I completely gave up performing, while my husband still freelances some. So while his goal may be to be a performer, we both know the reality of that lifestyle and want him to have options to make a steady living especially if he wants to have a family one day. A lot of our peers continues as freelancers but didn’t have families. We went to temple and I think of alL of the people we went to school with, only 1 violinist got a full time orchestra job. And we went to school with a lot of good players.
Wishing him lots of luck! If UNCSA stays on your list would be happy to discuss, that is where S21 went and he had a great experience (different departments of course!)
Uncsa looks really nice. I actually went there for a summer program for dance a looong time ago and had a great experience. It’s definitely on the list!
A simple summation of all the information you have received is that he has to be accepted to the university, not just the music dept, and he has to be able to succeed in course load. I would immediately eliminate Vanderbilt, Boston, and any peer schools.
When you say he is good, but not tippy top, would you mind sharing his current repertoire that he is working on with his private teacher? (That is more informative than youth orchestra.)
One school that I am aware of that is off of the typical radar and I know some students who have opted to go there bc they wanted to work with one of the faculty members is Columbus State in GA. Their avg SAT scores are quite low. (do you know how to understand academic admissions by looking at schools’ common data sets? Look at section C https://www.columbusstate.edu/institutional-research/_docs/common-data-set/cds-2024-2025.pdf Their 50%th score is only a 930.) I make that suggestion bc the young man I am familiar who is attending there is a solidly good violinist but not a great student. He is thriving there. If your student is not at a high enough level for a strictly conservatory program, a school where he matches the academic classes will be beneficial.
Sure, he is working on Saint saens concerto, Paganini 16, bach unaccompanied c major - this is the planned rep for the audition. He is part of the yco at temple prep center for gifted musicians- so in that program the kids in front have won international competitions and are headed straight to julliard. There was a kid got into Curtis last year. So he is not that but he is in the orchestra with those kids, and it’s a small group- there are 12 violins total. His playing is very musical but he often misses the details and doesn’t always have the patience to make it perfect. So I’m not sure how that fares at conservatory auditions .
Did you look at Sunderman at Gettysburg?
have you looked at McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer university? McDuffie Center for Strings
My son was invited there (for a visit) because one of the professors he took trial lessons with also taught there. From what I remember, this place is tuition free and all string students must complete another program of study like accountant. It’s not a big program and probably not very well-known. My son visited there for 3 days and liked the people there. He didn’t actually apply (not an overall fit) but is in close contact with several students there.
Hopefully @TooManyViolinists will jump in and share her opinion. Her ds is at Curtis. Competition for violinists is quite fierce. My much less informed guess is that most violinists applying to stand alone conservatories audition with tier 2 concertos while Saint Saens 3 is a tier 1. (That is just from lots of perusing of groupings like Dorothy Delays concerto sequence and reading about admissions. Hopefully TMV will jump in and clarify, especially if I am wrong!! (I very well might be.) She is a wealth of knowledge.)
What is a tier 2 concerto vs tier 1? You mean like he should be playing Sibelius or Tchaikovsky? Thats not gonna happen by next year for him.
I put it on the list already. I don’t think he will get in but I do plan to send the pre screening there.
I haven’t heard of that one but I will look into it thank you!