missing academics with BM

Skie
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:15:03 +0000

PianoParent,
We had a visit with Melvin Chen at Bard several years ago and he couldn’t have been nicer. This was in '06 when DS was a junior and when the Bard Conservatory was pretty new, but he seemed to really enjoy talking about Bard’s unique double degree program and showing us around. I highly recommend contacting him to arrange a meeting.

DS is a senior at Wesleyan where he has done a double major in philosophy and music. He chose Wes for its academic rigor and hoped the music would work out. He has not been disappointed. Right now he is in the middle of auditioning for MM programs in piano performance and has just gotten “likely” emails from two top schools. So it looks as if he will be going to grad school next year (we’re not counting our chickens yet but feeling quite relieved and optimistic).

He was determined to study something besides music in college but managed to do a lot of playing/practicing, with very intensive work over the summers and during breaks.

All of the graduate programs that he looked into required at least a B.A. degree with a music major. It’s hard to imagine a student getting into one without the basic undergraduate music courses in music history and music theory under his/her belt.

In addition to Wesleyan, I would add Brandeis University to BassDad’s list of small schools with strong academics and good music programs.