Wisdom of changing intended major from performance to composition?

stringkeymom
Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:10:06 +0000

marimbamom–You’ve received many great suggestions here and I second all of them. My son’s experience was similar to yours in that his main focus was performance (violin, second instrument, piano), and composing was something he did to “de-stress”–he only became serious about composing in his sophomore year, similar to what compmom is describing. He did not start studying composition formally until senior year. He ended up applying to conservatories in both composition and violin.

I’d like to add to what others have said, that, in my son’s case, although he became very engrossed in composition senior year of high school, performance re-emerged with all its former passion during his freshman year of college. Your son may find renewed focus for his percussion as well, so that finding a school like Peabody, Bard, Michigan, Northwestern, etc. where he can have it all will probably make him happiest in the long run.