<p>Wondering if any of you visited Lawrence University in Wisconsin? Any thoughts? (did your child consider it?) They seem to have a large composition faculty at their conservatory, and it doesn’t seem so impossible for my son to get into like UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, etc. Thanks. Also, I’m looking at St Olaf, but it doesn’t seem to have any advantage for composition or violin compared to Lawrence.</p>
<p>Don’t know about Lawrence’s composition program, but we are friendly with both a pianist and a violinist - both very strong musicians - who are studying at Lawrence and have many positive things to say about it.</p>
<p>Thanks, stradmom, especially glad to hear of a happy violinist at Lawrence. My son is definitely applying there, and we will look out for more info about their composition program.</p>
<p>From the composition faculty bios, it appears a large number of those listed in the Composition/Theory department at Lawrence are involved more with theory than composition. It would be worthwhile to determine the “Composition” faculty so that appropriate contacts can be made.</p>
<p>Some of this thread is kind of apples and oranges if your son wants to go to a college. Many colleges have great music departments but the major is not in composition or in an instrument, but is a general music major, an academic major involving theory, composition, music history, musicology, ethnomusicology and technology etc.</p>
<p>For a college, your son probably won’t audition for either violin or composition, though there are exceptions. However, a supplement and letters of recommendation can be submitted, in addition to the common application, and admissions or music faculty will listen to a brief segment.</p>
<p>Schools that have colleges and conservatories on one campus often offer the better music opportunities to conservatory students, though there are some that have a “lower wall” than others.</p>
<p>Anyway, if he is going to apply to colleges, he won’t have to choose between violin and composition, at most of them, either when applying or when attending. </p>
<p>I think he should check out the colleges as a whole, including distribution requirements, other majors, class size, location, size, urban versus rural, and vibe. Many of them will have excellent music departments. No worries!</p>
<p>Hi Compdad,
Thanks for bringing up a good point. Lawrence’s website shows to co-chairs for music composition, and they are both “associate professors.” I’m concerned what the comp faculty titles mean, because when I click on all of them, none say “Professor”; the highest are the two “associate prof”, then there are “assistants” “instructors”, “lecturers” and “visiting something associate”. What do all these titles mean, and is it a bad sign that they don’t have “Professor” of composition/music theory? On a positive note, I clicked on “listen” on their comp. blog for two teachers audio samples (I think it takes you to their personal websites) and found their music wonderful.</p>
<p>I know a composer who went to Lawrence and had a fine experience. Here is his bio page - which has links to the composers he studied with at Lawrence Conservatory. [Bio</a> | Lawton Hall](<a href=“Lawton Hall”>http://www.lawtonhall.com/?page_id=466)</p>
<p>Your initial post question made me think of Hartt. They require a performance audition for all composition majors and it might be the perfect school to add to your list. i don’t consider them a safety as far as their conservatory quality, they are very selective. I don’t have as much experience on here as other posters and I didn’t read all of the answers, but definately look into Hartt, maybe SUNY Purchase also.</p>
<p>For academic positions, “assistant professor” typically means someone with a terminal degree (DMA, PhD etc) at the beginning of their academic career. This person probably does not have tenure.</p>
<p>“Associate” professors are midcareer folks who have tenure (98% of the time) and several years of experience. “Full” or simply “Professors” are senior scholars. Promotion to both associate and full professorship typically involves careful review by a faculty committee; criteria differ from school to school but may involve quality of teaching, research/performance in the field, service to college/community/profession, and years of service.</p>
<p>“Instructors” and “Lecturers” most likely are people with “only” a Master’s degree. In a traditional academic field, this might be a cause for concern, but in music, a performer/applied prof/studio prof might have such a title (e.g. Itzhak Perlman might be listed as an “instructor”). A “visiting” anything might be worth looking into, if only to find out how long the person will likely be on staff.</p>
<p>Thank you, stradmom for explaining the titles - that was great. Thanks also, Lake4, for suggesting Hartt school. My son needs to find these schools where your composition interview lets you perform on your instrument. Everyone gives great advice, and I’m glad Spiritmanager pointed out for us a young composer from Lawrence.</p>
<p>So from a private exchange, I would correct my previous posts. Parentviolinist first told me that her son wants to go to “college” and study liberal arts as well as music. However, it has been clarified that he wants to study mostly music, but not at a freestanding conservatory. Some of the schools on his list offer a BA, some a BM, but all include performance, and auditions, as well as a substantial music curriculum. If he considers a school that has both conservatory/music school and a liberal arts college, it seems that he will be applying to attend the conservatory for a BM.</p>
<p>Stradmom provided a very nice breakdown of the title system in schools. One catagory not mentioned, but also not present at every school is that of “Composer in Residence.” The length of residency can vary from one to several years. It allows a composer, usually a composer of great stature, to teach and compose at one institution while maintaining prior engagements. For instance, David Lang in currently the Composer in Residence at Oberlin. He is also on the faculty of the Yale School of Music.</p>