There is confusion, because there are programs called conservatories (like Peabody) that was stand alone and became part of JHU, Oberlin Conservatory is within Oberlin College (or is it university? I always forget). A lot of people use conservatory to mean stand alone from any external university (like NEC, Juilliard, Curtis (which is an INstitute lol, Colburn, etc. The line isn’t that clear cut, but for example, the stand alone conservatories generally don’t care about GPA, SAT’s, etc etc, whereas in a school of music inside a university (called conservatory or not), they may give weight to those as requirements to study at the SOM, yet some do what stand alones do and it pretty much is the audition.
Lot of people think a conservatory (wherever it is located,in/outside a university) is akin to a high level trade school focusing on music, whereas the SOM inside a university is going to have more academic/broad learning, that there is more academic rigor at let’s say Northwestern because of the entrance requirements and the core load you take even at the SOM .
In general IME if people say conservatory they mean one of the stand alones like NEC, Juilliard, Curtis and Peabody (in part because Peabody was once stand alone), the free standing ones (or once were).
@old_music_prnt I see it a little differently, I mean, Oberlin, Lawrence, Bard, Ithaca and others have “conservatories.” They are not freestanding, obviously. It seems the larger universities have “Schools of Music” or even “Schools of Performing Arts.”
To simplify, I use the term “BM program”! I am not sure the curriculum is much different at any of these schools. Maybe someone can chime in on that. This is an important point for the OP who is considering differences in “seriousness.”
At a university school of music or college conservatory, there is access to a larger choice of courses for gen eds, no doubt, but I have always thought the program is still mostly music and mostly the same classes as a free-standing conservatory. Correct me if I am wrong. It is worth looking at general education requirements and comparing the different schools. (Also math/science may be absent or light at a free standing, I believe…) Again, welcome info that is different from this for OP.
The other difference is that at a school like Oberlin, conservatory students live with and eat with and recreate with students outside of music.
@compmom You are dead spot on, I was talking more perceptions rather than reality. BM programs are pretty much the same from what I know and from talking to people who have gone to the various programs, besides individual lessons there is the theory track, the ear training, music history courses, etc. I think people assume that in a music school in a college there will be a lot more academic non music courses, that will take time away from practicing/rehearsing their instrument, that the stand alone is more focused. Honestly from what I know I suspect that isn’t true, that a bm program at Northwestern might have more core courses required than let’s say a Juilliard, but it isn’t going to be that much different to really matter, or at least that is how I see it. A kid doing a dual degree is another story, but a BM by itself? It won’t vary all that much from what I know.
@old_music_prnt yes, and this idea of the “conservatory” (often meaning free-standing) as somehow being substantially different comes up a lot.
For each and every school on a list, I think it is really helpful to get into the details of curriculum including gen eds/distribution requirements. Some kids will want as few as possible and some may want more. That goes along with double major and double degree possibilities as well.
For composers, private lessons the first year (not available everywhere, not sure Berklee has that but check), access to musicians to perform pieces, a composers forum, and funding for summer programs are also things to look at. Well-endowed colleges and universities may offer all of these as well, or at least fund them.
@compmom
You hit the nail on the head, you have to do research. For music performance a BM track is going to be very similar, but like with any program at any college there are more things than that. For example, composers having access to lab orchestras or ensembles to perform their music; mentorship that can come from alumni of the school or contacts a teacher has, etc. It all comes down to what the student needs and their desires. In classical, if they were looking at doing chamber music, then they need to find out if the school has a music department with good faculty and emphasizes chamber (on that, I can tell you what people think would be good and is can be two different things. My s’s conservatory had several world class chamber musicians on faculty, yet the UG chamber program was meh, culturally there was little effort at it and UG groups had little to no access to the ppl I am talking about).
For undergrad composers, another issue is whether grad students are around. The focus on undergrads at undergrad only colleges like Oberlin, Lawrence, Bard (and others) means more resources, the best teachers and ample performance opportunities for undergrads. That said, in programs where there are grad students, they can be mentors and even collaborators. Pros and cons.
This 100%! This was a major decision factor for where my son was applying- he wanted opportunities to perform in UG
and for the faculty to be focusing on singers who are in his age range in terms of development. It has turned out to be the right decision for him.
I do see the benefit of mentorship of grad students as well, of course, and he has had that experience in both summer programs he has done so far, but that was not what he was seeking for his UG years.