Best Academic Schools for Violin Performance

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I was looking at Northwestern, and while it has some very impressive faculty, I haven't heard much consensus on their string program. How competitive is it for the violin? I'll be attending NHSMI this summer and I also wanted to know how the string program was there.</p>

<p>What are good schools for violin performance that have equally rigorous academics like Northwestern and its music program? One thing though, I'm definitely not looking to shoot for the NEC/Harvard or Columbia/Julliard double degree programs.</p>

2

<p>you could do NEC/Tufts, if you don't want to do Harvard/NEC</p>

3

<p>Word of advice regarding NHSMI. Faculty there during the summer is not necessarily the academic faculty. I can state this as a fact for clarinets during the summer of 2004. You have to do your homework to check or you may be disappointed...</p>

4

<p>Rice- I truly believe is the best combination of academics and music performance. NEC/Tufts is extremely difficult to get into and difficult logistically. We looked into that several years ago. Oberlin is another option for you.</p>

5

<p>Well, I looked up the violin faculty at NHSMI before applying, and a few, but not all of them are Northwestern faculty, and one for sure is a member of CSO. The rest are certainly not subpar either, with teachers from Interlochen and Meadowmount as well. Nonetheless, a strong faculty may not necessarily constitute a strong string program; I have no idea how competitive NHSMI is regarding strings in admission or the program itself. If anyone has any information it'd be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Rice is a good idea I think, my music teacher was talking about the Shepherd School; any other ideas are welcome.</p>

6

<p>You might want to look at Eastman/Rochester or Cleveland Institute/Case Western.</p>

7

<p>Bard and Carnegie Mellon both have very well-known violin teachers and seriously hard-core academics. If you are not opposed to all double degree programs, Peabody/JHU may be of interest, although that program takes only a few students per year. I also second the suggestions of Rice and Oberlin.</p>

8

<p>I'm also curious about the competitiveness of NHSMI strings. If anyone knows, please enlighten us!</p>

9

<p>Note that the double-degree at Bard is mandatory, so you can't enroll there unless you're ok with the d-d. It's also incredibly tough to get in to the Conservatory.</p>