Schools with good music performance programs?

compmom
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 11:43:43 +0000

I wonder what your teacher meant by “medicine” as a major. Was she in a premed program? (A lot of schools don’t have a premed major; you can major in anything and go to med school. In fact, music majors do very very well as a group, with med school admissions.) It sounds like she did a lot of sciences. It must have been tough combining sciences with music. Did she take 5 years?

Regarding a double major, you really need to look at each school, maybe talk with them, add up courses required for each major, distribution requirements, and see how they all fit in each year and in four to five years.

Again, you do not need to go to a conservatory to accomplish your goals. If you do want a conservatory, then I would find one on a campus that offers a double degree (BA/BM or BA/MM), and plan on 5 years. The double major will most likely take that long anyway.

UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music offers a BA in music performance. USC Thornton offers either a BA or BM. You might also look at CS Long Beach.

The real question here might be, why do you want another major/degree? Do you feel a need to back up a music degree with something else (is your teacher telling you this, or your parents?) or do you have a strong interest in the other academic areas you mentioned? If it is ffor backup purposes, I kind of hope you can come to the conclusion that “just” studying music is more than enough!

Good luck!