<p>ohiobassmom - we have two friends, one who sounds much like your son. He’s a great musician but is definitely his own man and classical was too stifling for him. He began as a double major at a school with a good music program but ended up dropping music as a formal field of study. And another girl was on the fence between conservatories and LACs right up until the deadline, but was very happy with her LAC decision in the end, and she continued to participate in music as a nonmajor throughout college.</p>
<p>My own D discovered that the LAC double major thing wasn’t for her after all during the audition season, and declined several nice opportunities in favor of a more music intensive experience. So far, she’s happy with her decision. </p>
<p>Ohiobassmom: The audition process is interesting and stressful. We chose to have son audition at colleges with music schools just so that he would have options. Even going to orientation, he felt he had made a huge mistake but then was happy after the weekend. Going back this semester, he wasn’t sure if he had made the best decision but now that he is back he’s happy. Older son changed his major twice at college and I changed mine too so the college experience is about trying new things and seeing what fits. I’m sure he’ll do very well.</p>
<p>We just finished our auditions at Berklee on Saturday and Hartt on Sunday. What an exhausting weekend.</p>
<p>Ohiobassmom:-after my son did the 5 week at berklee last summer, he decided that he was not interested in a straight up performance degree, due to the uncertainty of future employment. Now he is focusing on programs in music industry/business with a performance component</p>
<p>There are lots of different ways to study music or participate in music in college.</p>
<p>He’s still interested in Capital’s music technology program, which can be a BA or BM, depending on the audition and the student’s preference as to lots of music classes or more liberal arts classes. I think what he likes most there, though, is the presence of a ton of ensembles and student formed groups, of every musical type. We both got a nice feel from the students too. He’s been accepted to their honors program which gives smaller classes, a dorm with AC, early registration for classes and some nice programs/dinners/lectures, and access to the Honors House.</p>
<p>Capital also has a Music Industry major. All music majors are part of the conservatory and except for the BAs, all “con” students are studying music pretty seriously. Ensembles are open to all students and so are lessons, though at a different cost for non-BMs.</p>
<p>Duquesne has a similar Music Tech program but only as a BM.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. My son did not go to college for music but once he got there he realized that he did not want to give music up. The only auditions were for jazz band and music lessons. The music lesson audition was just to get an idea what level of music instruction would serve his needs, more advanced musicians get longer lessons. The school provides free lessons to all students on financial aid whether or not you are in any other formal music program. In my son’s case the end result will be a music minor, did not require that many more classes. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Ohiobassmom, Interesting… I will admit that I’m not surprised that a gifted, self-taught musician who eschewed lessons would not be thrilled by most conservatories. I think they really are the establishment, for better or worse. For a self-directed student, I would think that a school with lots of musical opportunities (ensembles open to all students and musical groups created by students) would be a good option. I know one such student, for example, who is thriving at Tulane. </p>
<p>One nice thing about auditions is that, unlike most other majors, prospective music majors end up interacting with their future professors, see their future classrooms and end up visiting most of the schools to which they apply. It gives them a much better feel for what it will be like to attend the school. My son recently auditioned at CCM and really liked it, actually.</p>
<p>2colllege, wouldn’t Tulane be awesome…I wanted to go there myself in HS, my mom wouldn’t let me apply. I can’t remember why.</p>
<p>I loved CCM too. The facilities, the people, the kids, all of it. I loved the school-within-a-school feel. Even the food was my favorite of all the colleges we toured :)</p>
<p>But there’s not a program he’s interested in at UC, beyond that. And US is B-I-G.</p>
<p>ohiobassmom - I think an LAC would be perfect - then he would not be exposed to the ‘music school’ pressures - in an LAC , he could take the music courses that he feels confident with and most of the people in his classes will not be music majors so he will feel comfortable. Just make sure the LAC has a music department with several options for jazz combos - he may not make the ‘big band’ right away. S1 (junior at an LAC with a strong music program) has played in the big band (not bass) for 3 years and just did his first combo last fall and loved it. So the music department needs to be large enough to support the creation of several combos and he will have some choices. And then of course he can always join a campus rock band!</p>
<p>I think it is great that he is starting to really know what he wants (or doesn’t want) in a college.</p>
<p>A new development - he was accepted to his first choice program, the conservatory at Capital U. Jazz/Music Tech (he auditioned and can do either one but it’s Music Tech he’s more interested in - both are BM, but there is a BA option for tech). Capital is a smaller university,maybe 2K undergrads but there’s a law school and a nursing school. About 15% of undergrads are in the “con”, which offers classical performance, music education as well as jazz and tech.</p>
<p>So depending on FA and stuff, that’s now an option. And I think it made him really happy.</p>
<p>Capital also has TONS of smaller combos and groups, from jazz to rock to classical to who knows what, and the bass dept head told him when he visited that they could really use another bass player. So I think opportunities to play there will be easy to find. It’s also in an older, inner ring suburb of a city with a good music scene.</p>
<p>He got a “no” from Duquesne the same day, but that’s the one he didn’t really care for. So while it would have been nice to have another “yes”, it doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>Great news ohiobassmom! I think the next step would be to have him actually look at the courses sequence he would take for his intended major and see if he ‘likes’ the classes. It is good they need a bass player - he will have lots of opportunities.</p>
<p>Ohiobmom- there was a student that was on this board a lot last year (I think) that ended up at Capital- 18Karat. You may be able to pm him if you or S have any questions- he had some good posts as well if I recall. I think he was guitar. Congrats!!</p>
<p>We’ve been in touch via PM, he contacted me awhile back. He gave us some GREAT info. Thank you for thinking of us!!</p>
<p>chemusic, he sat in on a jazz class (and enjoyed, plus likes the bass guy there) but has not sat in on any Music Tech classes. When he goes for an overnight, he’ll definitely do that. I showed him the Tech textbooks in the bookstore, too, but i think going will help him get a feel.</p>
<p>PS: He did a music scholarship audition at Wooster this weekend. It’s a great school but not one where he’d major in music, most likely. Still he was invited to audition and he did.</p>
<p>I saw the audition schedule, it was funny…piano, cello, violin, voice, each x 20, and one lonely bass guitar on the list. Wooster doesn’t have a jazz major so I don’t think they are very used to auditioning (electric) bass players. They basically told him to play whatever he wanted.</p>
<p>FWIW, NO accompaniment this time - first one. </p>
<p>He played The Chicken (Jaco Pastorius) and something contemporary…totally skipped the jazz staples he’d been using (Autumn Leaves and Satin Doll).</p>
<p>Just do a search of Jazz Studies on collegeboard, or collegedata or here, among many others, to see what schools have these programs. Many do. You need to hone in on location, size of school, use your primary instrument as a way to refine who is where, what schools are strong in which instrument. Do you want one of the big names or a smaller school, in state out OOS, school within a university or stand alone LAC, location, BM or BA, big program or small? Answer some of those questions and you will come up with a good list!</p>
<p>Hi Mdndad
I can only comment on LACs (usually a BA music program) where we have heard the jazz groups rehearsal/practice: Bucknell (very energetic - surprised us totally), Susquehanna (traditional & mix), Williams (combos were good), Amherst (smaller but has fluegelhorns for all the trumpets), Vassar (great big band and excellent combos (all types of jazz there), Hamilton (more progressive/original modern jazz emphasis but also excellent), Rollins (good a few years ago- have not heard recently), Brandeis (more casual but solid). Never got to hear Skidmore or Franklin & Marshall’s jazz but other music there is strong. There are actually quite a few options but you need to check the websites and go to the rehearsals if you can. We had a lot of fun with our visits - this was for both S1 and S2. There were several schools that we liked but the jazz groups (at the time) were just too small so we eliminated them from the list.<br>
You can PM me anytime with more questions.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the info. Another question - being in California, we can’t really visit all of the east coast schools to sit in on rehearsals and hear performances. Any thoughts on how to find a good fit without being able to visit?</p>