Majoring in music and...

compmom
Fri, 15 Apr 2016 12:04:25 +0000

You might want to read this essay and think about which student you most resemble. http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html This essay has been helpful to many students thinking about how to continue with music. And things can change in the next year, too.

You will have the choice of doing an academic BA or BS, doing music on the side with private lessons and performance on campus in extracurriculars, or off campus.

Or doing a major/minor, with music as a minor and a BA or BS in something else.

Or a double major, depending on the intensity of your other major and scheduling issues.

Or a double degree, with either a BA/BM or, at a couple of schools, a BA/MM. Oberlin, Lawrence and Bard are liberal arts schools with this option right on campus, among others. There are universities with music schools/conservatories that also offer this. NEC has programs with both Tufts (BM) and Harvard (MM).

Some BA programs have a performance component, some don’t, and some have auditions, some don’t.

A BA or BS in music has about 1/4-1/3 classes in music, including theory, music history, composition, ethnomusicology, technology and often some credit for lessons or performance.

If you go to a school with a music school or conservatory on campus, you might have fewer opportunities than students in the actual BM program: that varies and is something to look into. Not always.

A BM has about 2/3-3/4 classes in music with liberal arts gen eds.

It seems like you might want to either study something else and continue music privately or “on the side” (many talented students at, say, Ivies, do this and “on the side” by no means indicated that music is not a priority, and many go on in music or they go on to other fields but play in regional orchestras etc.)…OR do a double degree.

People will suggest particular schools with a little more information. Just trying to give you the lay of the land so to speak.