<p>For Music History, Berkeley is tops. It also has ethno, and offers gamelan, but does not have a separate department - the music major is a combination of history, ethno, and performance, and requirements in harmony and aural skills. There is a good chorus and orchestra. Lessons are subsidized, but only slightly - you could arrange for lessons privately in the area and not pay much more. There are lots of choral groups on campus as well. The performance teachers are not, for the most part, on the faculty.</p>
<p>UCLA’s music department is split between the college of letters and sciences (music history) and the school of arts and architecture (performance and ethno) - but with the infusion of a large donation by Herb Alpert, they have merged the music departments (sort of) - historically, they were pretty divided. The performance program is stronger at UCLA, but unless you’ve auditioned and been accepted, you may find the opportunities limited. At least in the past, unless you auditioned and were accepted in the School of Arts and Architecture, you were not admitted to UCLA (i.e., you could not apply to the college of letters and sciences as a back-up or alternative - it was one or the other). </p>
<p>UCLA and Cal are quite different (I attended both, in the day) - UCLA is a commuter campus; Berkeley is not and has more of a community feel - students mostly live around the campus. Berkeley is also on the semester system; UCLA is on the quarter system - this makes for a different kind of pace - at UCLA, every time you turn around, there’s a midterm or final…but it also means you can take more classes or if you don’t like one, it’s over sooner.
The town of Berkeley has seedy parts (Telegraph Ave. and downtown Shattuck), but it is a wonderful place to live, with great food, and easy access to SF without a car. The weather is cooler than L.A. - you can almost never go out at night without a sweater, even in summer, and it rains a lot more, but it is also more temperate and the air is cleaner. It is not a beachy place, unlike L.A., though there are lovely beaches in the area (with cold water). It is also far more casual than L.A. - in terms of dress, cars, etc. - it does not have the glitz or glamor.<br>
You might grow to like Berkeley. But if you love L.A., you might be happier at UCLA.</p>