Best Ivy for "music"?

<p>I know this is a Harvard thread, and I'm starting here because Harvard is my daughter's first choice. She wants to possibly major in philosophy...but also possibly music. Talk about a difficult decision. So I'd like her to think about a school with the best program in both...so she can major/minor...double major...two "concentrations" (if possible). I am sure some Ivies are more "artistic" than others. Who has personal experience to advise us on this as I want her to get a good "fit". SAT as a Jr 740, 740, 730. BUT...also needs to feed the performing arts in her. Show choir, voice, drama/acting, very little dance, plays piano a bit (4 years), french horn (7th year), some trumpet (mellophone in marching band). A/P Music theory as a sophomore. Some composing. So I'm looking for a good drama and voice program probably. It can be extra curricular if neccessary, but prefer a minor/double major...just want a GREAT program. I'm sure most of the schools could fulfill well her philosophy/psych track. I also assume that whichever school lends itself more to the arts might help her admisssion chances. She really wants a big city like NYC but visited Columbia and it just didn't "feel right". Loved NYU, but it's SO expensive. SUGGESTIONS on "artisitic" Ivies???</p>

<p>It seems like Brown is the most 'artsy' of the ivies, but that may just be my impression. :)</p>

<p>at most ivies, the arts are an extracurricular activity, and i'm not aware of any ivy which has a music performance major. usually music majors compose and study music theory. there are top performers at all schools, the people who are touring the country as a famous violinist or whatever while doing college. </p>

<p>music major doesn't giver her anything. she's better off majoring in an academic field and doing arts on the side. on the side may mean 40 hours a week, by the way. lots of college students spend enough time on extracurrics to be a full time job.</p>

<p>Yale has a particularly thriving music and drama scene. It has a conservatory (the Yale School of Music) that is ranked just below Juilliard and on a par with Eastman and Curtis; it's Drama School is the best in the nation; along with RISD, the fine arts school is considered tops as well. The number of a capella, choral, and instrumental groups is incredible, even compared with other culturally rich undergraduate programs (such as Harvard and Princeton). The undergraduate body is a little light on the engineering side, but thick with singers, actors, musicians, writers and poets.</p>

<p>Yale's Music School is excellent, but strictly post-grad. Yale has an amazing number of a cappella groups, but all the ivys have some. The only performance degree that I am aware of was at Princeton and I believe it was called a certificate (not a full major or minor). Princeton may be a good choice because it is an easy train ride to NYC.</p>

<p>Harvard's music curriculum is all theory and composition, though it's excellent in those areas. The EC scene is amazing - all student run except for the choral programs, which have a faculty director. But the student talent there is world-class.</p>

<p>Yale's music program is supposedly a very good one, from what I've heard. I know of the principle trombonist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Jay Friedman) who went to Yale.</p>

<p>Harvard's composition classes are supposedly pretty good. I can't imagine you can go wrong with music at the Ivy's, but music is not these schools' fort</p>

<p>Bear in mind that if you're looking at Harvard as a first choice, you're not looking at conservatories such as Eastman. Those are two very different types of education. In fact, a Bachelor of Music degree at a regular university is a very different type of education than a broad-based education. In a very general sense, your choice is to get a college education or to get pre-professional music training (conservatory or B.M.) with a few college courses on the side.</p>

<p>Berstein went to Harvard. :)</p>

<p>Yale is the best for music</p>

<p>^ I agree with DocT. If you want to go to an Ivy and still pursue music, then Yale would probably be the best choice.</p>

<p>Yale, Yale, Yale.</p>

<p>^
not so cut and dried... </p>

<p>for example, the top HS jazz guitarist in US chose Columbia and just got in ED.</p>

<p>Grammy Band - Twice
Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation Band - as a Junior</p>

<p>Our daughter loves music at Harvard. She is a composer and loves theory, music history- a perfect fit for her. She felt that Yale's School of Music was not as much of a benefit for undergrads. She ultimately chose based on courses offered. (She also applied to 4 conservatories, but we could not afford them, even with scholarships)</p>

<p>Tufts has a double degree program with New England Conservatory, in which the student could major in philosophy or psychology at Tufts, then do voice at NEC. It takes 5 years to get the BA/BM degrees, I believe. Bard and Oberlin also have programs like this, with double majors, and the advantage of doing everything on one campus.</p>

<p>Schools like Barnard, Bennington and Sarah Lawrence are also very good with music, but students can explore lots of other fields, and do majors and minors in the way you describe. Also Macalaster, Carleton...I am on the east coast and don't know a lot about the West Coast.</p>

<p>In terms of sheer volume and percentage participation, yes Yale has always been the most music-centric of the Ivy League. One can't even seriously argue that. Harvard, however, has an excellent music department, and a long history of attracting (and accommodating) young world-class musicians who want a liberal arts education as well. The most famous of them being people like Leonard Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma, not to mention Rivers Cuomo or Bonnie Raitt, but there are others as well. (I saw the BSO this summer with a young violin soloist whose name I can't remember, but who is clearly a rising international star, and who had graduated from Harvard in 2006.)</p>

<p>Columbia has a joint program with Juilliard that has been discussed in other threads, and of course NYC is probably the best place in the world for any type of musician, but most of the good stuff doesn't have anything to do with Columbia itself. Philadelphia (Penn) is also a great music city, and Curtis is about a mile from Penn. And all of the elite universities are full of enthusiastic and capable amateur musicians -- it's something they all value.</p>

<p><a href="I%20saw%20the%20BSO%20this%20summer%20with%20a%20young%20violin%20soloist%20whose%20name%20I%20can't%20remember,%20but%20who%20is%20clearly%20a%20rising%20international%20star,%20and%20who%20had%20graduated%20from%20Harvard%20in%202006.">quote</a>

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<p>I think this may be Stefan Jackiw who majored in Psychology and took a degree from NEC as well as from Harvard. This is a program that has been in place for a few years. We heard him play Beethoven's piano concerto a few years ago and it was just wonderful.</p>

<p>S's high school chum is still involved in the Harvard Early Music Ensemble; another high school chum directed the Dunster House Opera Society (they put on Mozart operas these last few years). Another of S's chums sings in the Collegium Musicum, the Harvard-Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Glee Club. Others we have known over the years sang in the a capella groups Krokodiloes and the Veritones (Hanna on CC is an alumna of the Veritones),the Noteables (they do Broadway tunes), Din and Tonic. There are many more such groups, both choral and instrumental.</p>

<p>If a student is interested in music without necessarily majoring in music, Yale or Harvard would provide plenty of opportunities.</p>

<p>I had forgotten to mention the joint degree program with NEC and Harvard. Basically it is a five year program (mostly first three at Harvard and last two at NEC) after which you receive a BA from Harvard and a Masters from NEC. This is an extremely competitive program and they take about 8 students per year (about .5% of admitted Harvard applicants). NEC has the same program with Tufts, but after five years you get a BA from Tufts and a BMus from NEC. Columbia and Julliard are supposed to have a similar program, but I could not find anyone at Columbia Admissions who knew anything about it. Penn does NOT have a similar program with Curtis.</p>

<p>I have several friends this year at Harvard who are doing a combined program with the New England Conservatory of Music. They go there to practice at times and will go there full time for their senior year. They will then get a master's degree in music from NECM and a degree in whatever they like from Harvard. I think both are pre-med at the moment.</p>

<p>Stefan Jackiw (Harvard '07) performed with the Boston Symphony last August at Tanglewood (and has performed with the BSO previously). He is very definitely a rising star. Here's a bio:</p>

<p>Stefan</a> Jackiw</p>

<p>Ryu Goto, a current Harvard student (class of 2010) is another young star violinist. Here's a bio on him:</p>

<p>Ryu</a> Goto |:. Opus 3 Artists</p>

<p>Yale's music program probably has more of a name than Harvard's, but Harvard always seems to attract more top musicians.</p>

<p>And for a totally different perspective, Noah van Niel, Harvard '08, the singing quarterback:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/sports/ncaafootball/22harvard.html?fta=y%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/sports/ncaafootball/22harvard.html?fta=y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>