<p>My daughter studies with one of the best oboe teachers in New York State. This woman has a huge waiting list of people that wish to take lessons from her. She played Professionally for years and even at some of the schools we contacted they raved about her, and knew her by reputation. These schools included Potsdam, Ithaca, and Syracuse. My daughter has excelled under her and she really knows how to pinpoint if my daughter is having difficulty with a passage and how to fix it. </p>
<p>This woman lives 15 miles from our home. About 7 miles from there is a very good LAC that offers a BA degree in music. There are a lot of theory classes required, Aural skills, etc.</p>
<p>DD really likes this school, which shocked me. She has a few years to decide but would getting an BA degree in music while still studying with this teacher be worthwhile if one wishes to become a professional oboist? There is also an oboe instructor at the college but I don't know much about her. She would have opportunities to play in wind ensemble, orchestra and a concert band. I don't know the quality of these groups, yet. Also other
smaller ensembles.</p>
<p>The college offers excellent scholarships to those with " special talents", including music, and only offering the BA there may be less competition, although my daughter loves the competition. </p>
<p>Assuming the performing groups were up to par, and music curriculum in general good (it looks good on paper) would anyone consider this? And if she decides later to teach, are there any grad programs in NYS that offer Masters degrees where you can get initial teacher certification in music? I know you can in other subjects as I did it in SS but i've never seen it offered concerning music. I'd mention the school but I don't really want to "out" the teacher and be speaking about her online!</p>
<p>Also, if daughter ended up with just the BA degree, I still think a LA education is worthwhile, so that wouldn't be the end of the world. And dd doesn't want to stay close to home to live
at home, she would live on campus with the whole college experience, and we could attend her concerts in a nice new theater/ music building. Win-win. Maybe?</p>
<p>When my D first starting looking, her NYC flute teacher really tried to encourage her to go to school for ANYTHING other than music performance, and just take lessons “on the side”. She said that and undergrad in music really wasn’t necessary, and to just do performance at the grad school level.</p>
<p>Well, of course, my D didn’t believe her and is curently at Rice in the Shepherd School where there is a first year undergrad in her studio from Princeton (she was a math major). The girl did exactly what your daughter is thinking about doing.</p>
<p>I would think that as long as your D can continue with lessons, fit in a few masterclasses each year (to get other teacher’s opinions, experience) and find a high level orchestra/chamber group to play with, she would be fine.</p>
<p>The one area that would concern me in this scenario would be performance opportunities with groups that have similarly talented and, hopefully, even more advanced players than she is. If that can be worked out, I think you have a viable option.</p>
<p>I know that there are programs out there that are designed for those with a BA or BM in music who want to get a Master’s degree in music ed. Oberlin Conservatory has such a program that claims to prepare grads to meet the licensing requirements in any state. It runs one academic year plus the summers before and after. There may well be similar programs in your state, but I do not happen to know any off the top of my head. Note that these programs assume coverage of certain distribution requirements with the undergrad degree. It is a good idea to do the research early so that all of those requirements can be met in the course of obtaining the BA.</p>
<p>University of Rochester also allows for a BA in music in the College, and undergraduate students can take lessons with graduate students from Eastman Conservatory. Students at the College can also play with some of the Eastman ensembles/orchestras if they pass the auditions. Otherwise, there are some excellent ensembles at the College itself.</p>
<p>Many kids double major at Rochester, with Music as one of the majors. They can also take classes at the Warner School of Education.</p>
<p>I know several students who have gone from the College to graduate programs in music education.</p>
<p>College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY has a certificate program for those with a BA to become certified in music ed as well as the Masters. So she will have many options.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about music teaching certification in NY, but in my state you can be certified to teach any subject that you have a degree in by taking the Praxis II in that subject area and getting a Masters of Art in Teaching degree which is usually a year plus a summer program. You can probably google the requirements and you will probably find a number of options and alternatives for certification.</p>
<p>I think that the plan you have suggested is fine. there’s a zillion roads that will lead you to the same destination. but you she has a few years before college, don’t emotionally lock yourself into any long term plans. No tellings what will change or come up before then.</p>
<p>You also need to realize that there are a zillion best teachers in the world. Every college has one and every decent size town has one. Look up the qualifications of any music teacher at any college and you will be very impressed. Most all of them have “played professionally in 39 countries on 14 continents on 12 different planets” and most all of them graduated from some impressive sounding college and publish a long list of people that you have never heard of that they studied under.</p>