How does admission work for prospective music major?

Mdndad
Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:43:16 +0000

For those who have asked and/or sent me a PM, yes I (the OP) am still here. Thanks to those who have offered valuable insights. Big ideas I have learned are -

1. my son needs to decide if he wants BM (or BFA) or BA, and if he’s not sure then he should be looking for schools with both.

2. being a saxophone player, he needs to research the jazz playing options (and also academic course offerings in jazz) in addition to the overall music program at schools; some great music schools are not so great for jazz

3. need to check individual school websites and email faculty for details on auditions, admission process and (dare I bring it up) pre-screenings

A few other questions that have come up -

1) He is thinking that being in or near a big city would be good because of the extra opportunities to hear and play outside of school (especially jazz). Anyone have experiences at schools that at more out of the way that would confirm or refute this?
2) He is an excellent student (straight A’s, all honors and AP classes, …), probably a stronger student than musician who will probably want a minor or double major in a completely unrelated field. Anyone have recommendations for schools that are highly selective academically and have strong music programs (that don’t ignore jazz)?
3) From what I have gathered by looking at course requirements, it seems the biggest difference between a music education major and a general music major (BA) is that the education major has lots of learning to dabble in many instruments and some conducting, while the general major has more musicology and history - does this accurately reflect people’s experiences?