@wis75, thank you for the feedback. I totally agree with you. This is my second child, I learned the lessons of not pushing when they do want to be pushed a long while ago. So as parents, we go by what the S wants. Maintaining the balance in pushing to the point of not making it a punishment is a tricky one. But I would say we are doing a fine job with the younger one.
@Jadehaven, thank you for sharing that. S is likely to be performance major. His private teacher also says that all that matters is how good they sound when sending in the audition.
After contacting like 20 schools, we figured that AP music theory is a tough one to protctor, and after reading all the input on this thread we decided not to register.
@thumper1 I misunderstood the purpose of the question. I did not understand that the OP was focused on whether or not taking AP music theory would benefit admissions. My kid is a composer and took many theory classes outside of school, during high school years, simply because my kid wanted to learn more. Conservatory prep theory, solfege and dictation classes are extremely rigorous, as are classes during the undergrad years.
It is good for the OP to know that usually kids take intro to theory no matter what their preparation. Different schools even have different systems for solfege. It is generally wise to take the entire sequence of theory at a given school, so the AP class would not help with acceleration or cost-saving in many cases.
That said, for any young person who is interested in theory or wants to compose, there are many good options for learning, besides the AP course, which is not really the best way to go anyway.
My comment was against pushing for the sake of looking good on paper. There are times a smart kid needs pushing. With that said, it is better for a gifted kid to have had a good childhood and not just be prepped for some future. And, if like our kid, you can push all you want but they can be ummovable. And realize years later that they should have done more…
OP- eventually your child will need to determine what to do with his life. It can be hard when one does well in multiple fields. It is a lot easier to be successful in the top 10% (or even 25%) of most academic fields than being in the top 1% in music areas.
@tugogi your question has been answered and resolved, but I noticed you wrote your son was going to minor or double major in music, but then later said he was going to be a performance major. Does that mean he has decided on a double degree?
@Compmom, yes, I believe so. for now, yes. Likely to be performance. But then anything can change in the next 2 years. Older one went to LAC with CS as major, changed mind after Sophmore year and changed the major to applied math…
I think you now know that if your kid majors in music performance that he will have to take the required music theory courses his college program requires even with his CC course…and even if he takes the AP exam and gets a 5.
Move on.
If he plans to major in music performance, he should be concentrating his efforts on preparing for his audition. At this point, that is way more important than anything related to music theory.
A couple of things to make sure you check.
- Some colleges make it easy to do a minor in something other than music performance...or a double major. Some don’t. Check your kid’s list to make sure they will be accommodating.
- One of my kids was a music performance major and he got a very nice performance scholarship based on his audition. BUT if he has switched majors, he would have lost that award.
- For double majors, sometimes it depends on the major added to music performance. For example, at my kid’s school a Sciences major would have been a scheduling challenge because science labs were typically scheduled at the same time as required ensemble rehearsals. So...check that too.
- I’m going to say...music performance is a challenging major. Plus there are a lot of 1 and 2 credit required courses that meet many more hours than that a week (ensembles, applied lessons, chamber ensembles, etc). Plus the student must allow practice time for himself, and also time with any chamber groups he is in. This can be very time consuming.