Best percussion colleges

marlin929 · August 7, 2010, 3:03pm

I am a junior in high school. I am a high level percussionist with a high GPA. I’m looking for a college/university with a strong percussion program. My main focus with be classical but would like to have a school with other genre exposure as well (Jazz, Pop, Afro-Cuban). I have found many music programs but not sure about the percussion departments.

violadad · August 7, 2010, 3:10pm

The bulk of previous percussion titled threads:

marimbamom · August 7, 2010, 3:31pm

Hi Marlin 929
My son is a percussionist and although he is now going more in a composition direction we extensively researched schools for percussion. 
Some schools with excellent percussion programs/faculty are:

University Of Miami - Frost School of Music
University Of Michigan
Indiana University- great faculty and also good for world percussion
University of North Texas
Bard Conservatory - Has percussion starting 2011
Eastman - Micheal Buritt
Ithaca College- Gordon Stout
Oberlin- Micheal Rosen
Juliard

Some of these schools are mostly classical, but Indiana and Frost School have very diverse music programs.

Maybe Berklee as well?

I would suggest you visit the schools you are most interested with in order to check out the percussion studios, practice rooms and if possible have a sample lesson with a percussion faculty prof.

Good Luck with your search.

SJTH · August 7, 2010, 5:05pm

St; Olaf and Lawrence also have very good classical percussion programs.

sagiter · August 7, 2010, 5:11pm

We know a kid who was accepted to Curtiss, Julliard and pretty much everywhere he applied and ultimately chose U Mich, not sure why but he seems to love it there.

N8Ma · August 7, 2010, 6:13pm

Marimbamom is right. We are adding percussion to our list of undergraduate majors at Bard. The faculty will be So Percussion, Garry Kvistad, and Jan Williams.

Normally I don’t self-recommend the Bard Conservatory, but this will be a new program and perhaps in greater need of introduction to gifted young musicians. Given your high GPA you should consider Bard as it also provides a liberal arts education in conjunction with conservatory training. In addition, as those accepted to Bard will have several excellent offers of admission, including to schools mentioned by marimbamom above, those taken in to this first percussion cohort will have extremely competitive offers of financial aid.

In addition to the conservatory, the college’s music program has three full-time jazz faculty, including jazz drummer Thurman Barker. Those earning a BM in percussion performance via the conservatory (as opposed to a BA in music, which may include percussion performance, through the music program) will naturally be steeped in the orchestral/“classical” new-music tradition, but there will be ample opportunities to access faculty and ensembles in jazz, world music (we have a Balinese gamelan, Chinese music ensemble, several new-music ensembles), etc.

Please PM me for more information, and I will provide it as it gets to me.

rjkofnovi · August 8, 2010, 11:59am

“We know a kid who was accepted to Curtiss, Julliard and pretty much everywhere he applied and ultimately chose U Mich, not sure why but he seems to love it there”

Perhaps he also wanted a world class overall education? It does happen! ;-)

raddad · August 8, 2010, 2:03pm

USC Thornton school is worth looking at. They have overall an excellent classical program, Peter Erskine on the jazz and popular music faculty and the opportunity for academic merit for high end academic students. They also have generous need based aid.

sagiter · August 8, 2010, 4:49pm

According to my son he wanted the girls !!

RachPlaysDrums · August 8, 2010, 7:08pm

Well first of all I gotta plug my program I’ll be at College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati next year for percussion. I was looking for the same thing you are- I want to focus mostly on classical, but I want a really well rounded percussion education. Out of all the school I looked at, I think I found it most at Cincinnati, Michigan, and Indiana. All fantastic programs, but I totally fell in love with CCM after seeing Percussion Group CIncinnati at PASIC last year. All 3 members of Percussion Group Cincinnati teach at CCM. Check out their website for more info on them and on the CCM studio. Oh and University of Cincinnati gives great merit scholarships. You’d probably be a candidate for that.

Anyway, marmbamom’s list is great. I’d definitely reinforce Indiana, Oberlin, and Eastman. I hesitate with Michigan because they just lost Michael Udow as head of the percussion dept, so that could mean big changes for the program. However, it looks like Joe Gramley is probably stepping up to that position. If so, he’s a great teacher to work with and a fantastic percussionist.

I would also add Northwestern (She-e Wu is amazing!) and Boston Conservatory (Nancy Zeltsman and Josh Grimes) to the list. And if your GPA is like REALLY good, Yale has an incredible percussion program as well.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have more questions. I’ve done endless research :)

margun · August 21, 2010, 10:31pm

You mention Yale. But isn’t the percussion program at Yale for grad students only? Can undergraduates participate in the percussion program at Yale?

violadad · August 21, 2010, 10:44pm

There is no undergrad music performance program at Yale. The music concentration is a liberal arts based non audition BA curriculum. Most undergrads take lessons privately or with graduate students from Yale School of Music (which is a masters level and beyond audition based program). There are exceptions, but solely at the discretion of Yale SOM faculty

Hope that clarifies it a bit.

margun · August 21, 2010, 10:51pm

So what you are saying is that your percussion skills won’t help you get in to Yale. The admission is based on academics alone, similar to all other students. Sounds like if you have your heart set on improving in performance you are better off going somewhere else for undergraduate and then maybe looking at Yale for graduate school. Do I have it right? My son is very interested in Yale but also wants to continue in percussion performance and study at a top notch program

violadad · August 21, 2010, 11:11pm

There are a number of prior threads discussing Yale (and the other noted Ivy music programs). Note the dates, a few are “old” but there is recent experience as well.

stringkeymom, memake, others have undergrad music students at Yale, and there are posters at Harvard and Princeton as well. Use the master lists <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html</a>, to see “who’s where” and you can search for additional info by username or send a private message to a specific poster.

I’d suggest first reading the collective experiences and opinions, and post additional questions and concerns. Understanding the background and what is and is not possible within the music program is the key.

And yes, it is an academic admit.

And one more <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/933781-princeton-university-music-performance-flute.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/933781-princeton-university-music-performance-flute.html</a>

violadad · August 22, 2010, 7:25pm

And another <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/904754-harvard-nec-after-attending-harvard.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/904754-harvard-nec-after-attending-harvard.html</a> with quite a bit on Y & P.

margun · November 16, 2010, 7:54am

What does anyone know about the percussion program at Slippery Rock? My son is interested in double degree programs and I wondered if it is a school we should consider.

SpiritManager · November 16, 2010, 11:14am

Double degree and percussion - most definitely check out Bard’s new program! It sounds so exciting I’ve seen chatter of students wondering about transferring into it. N8Ma has posted about it on this forum before. It starts next fall.

Here’s from the website:

So Percussion to Direct New Conservatory Percussion Program
The Bard College Conservatory of Music announces the appointment of So Percussion to its faculty. The members of So Percussion Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting will serve as codirectors of the Conservatorys new percussion program, which will admit its first students in Fall 2011.

So Percussions artistry was recently hailed by the New York Times for inspiring in audiences a quiet amazement that could verge on disbelief. Since coming together at the Yale School of Music in 1999, So Percussion has been performing to audience and critical acclaim throughout the United States and abroad. They were also singled out for praise in another New York Times article that declared drums are the new violins. Sos repertoire includes new works written for them by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Steve Reich and David Lang, plus Paul Lansky, Dan Trueman, Steve Mackey, Fred Frith, Martin Bresnick, and many others. So Percussion will be working closely with the John Cage Trust in residence at Bard College.

In addition to So Percussion, several internationally renowned percussionists will join Bards percussion program faculty. Garry Kvistad, a member of both Nexus Percussion and Steve Reich and Musicians; Jan Williams, emeritus professor of percussion at SUNY Buffalo; and Tzong-Ching Ju, artistic director of Ju Percussion Group of Taiwan, will serve as program advisers. Greg Zuber, principal percussion of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and artist-faculty of the Verbier Music Festival; Jonathan Haas, principal percussion of the American Symphony Orchestra and artist-faculty at the Aspen Music Festival; and Daniel Druckman, chair of the Juilliard percussion program and associate principal percussionist of the New York Philharmonic, will also teach in the new program.

Were delighted to launch our percussion program with this great combination: a cutting-edge ensemble joined by some of the most eminent and influential figures in the percussion world, said Robert Martin, director of The Bard Conservatory of Music.

Bards percussion program will emphasize a combination of basic instruction with individualized exploration of the many facets of percussion playing, including orchestral training, world music, contemporary chamber music, and jazz. Students will have the opportunity to work with roster members through individual lessons, chamber music coaching, and joint faculty-student performances. Students will also perform with the Conservatory Orchestra, and in chamber concerts of the Conservatory. The goal of the program is to prepare each student for specialized postgraduate percussion study based on solid grounding in the basics and familiarity and experience with the wide range of possible specializations.

For information on the admission process for this new program, consult the admission website and the Director of Conservatory Admission, Nathan Madsen, at (845) 758-7604.

violadad · November 16, 2010, 5:07pm

A couple of mentions of Slippery Rock within these. Other than that, there’s not a peep in other past threads. Most state schools do a good job for music education, and some do have exceptional specific applied performance faculty. I’d investigate the instructors, and make sure peer quality of other musicians is at a high level.

<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/630008-what-music-schools-would-you-recommend.html?highlight=Slippery+rock[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/630008-what-music-schools-would-you-recommend.html?highlight=Slippery+rock</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/484025-univ-cons-classical-voice-depts-most-generous-scholarship-money.html?highlight=Slippery+rock[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/484025-univ-cons-classical-voice-depts-most-generous-scholarship-money.html?highlight=Slippery+rock</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/67227-music-education-need-suggestions.html?highlight=Slippery+rock[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/67227-music-education-need-suggestions.html?highlight=Slippery+rock</a>

percussionparent · November 17, 2010, 8:23pm

I have read some of the threads, and I can tell that alot of you have already thoroughly researched colleges with percussion programs. Is there a program that will fit my daughter’s other criteria as well: excellent academics in math and science, and competitive swimming and track teams? She has a 4.0 GPA, and is a triple sport athlete.

kmccrindle · November 18, 2010, 9:47am

Depending on your cost tolerance and public/private preference, and of course, the type of percussion pursuit, you may want to take a peek at University of Michigan. The school of music is conservatory-like, but you can dual degree or take minors; the school is strong in STEM and has numerous athletic programs. The percussion studio is well regarded as I understand it.

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