My daughter (currently a HS juniors’) main passion is singing. pop, jazz, blues… she did an intensive at Berklee last summer and enjoyed it. She’s quite gifted vocally but not so gifted in academics. She struggles through and does fine with mostly B average. My question is there a school in NYC where she could conceivably get in to study voice, possibly some acting and fine arts with a so so academic history (she doesn’t test well so i’m not counting on her ACT or SAT scores to put her over the top as well). Truthfully we’re looking for a school where she can focus on her artistic interests and not have to be bogged down with academics such as math and science. I think CalArts and Berklee are possibilities but I’d love to know other peoples ideas and recommendations!
Have you looked at New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music?
What you may be looking for is going to be a stand alone music school, rather than a music school in a conservatory. conservatories don’t really use academics in admissions (unless the student is a total academic screw up), the music schools inside universities require you to get admitted to the university, and while they tend to be a bit lenient with the academic side compared to straight academic admits, her GPA and test scores could be a problem. Conservatories also have less so called general ed classes/liberal arts classes than you would take in a university.
One point of warning, though, conservatory classes are not all going to be singing. Music schools have theory and ear training tracks, and despite what non music people think, these are not ‘crap courses’ , they are not easy and are pretty academically intensive (my son is TA’ing in an ear training class, and also does theory tutoring, and said a lot of the kids were shocked how intensive it was and were struggling with it). If your D struggles with academic courses, that may be a concern. Has she been exposed to the theory side? When she did the Berklee program, did she do anything around theory, or was it strictly singing?
@mumkee although not in nyc you might want to check out the Hartt school of music at the university of hartford. My d had similar stats/situation. She has found the “other” classes challenging but exciting, because unlike her algebra class, it supports and improves her true passion–her singing. Another possibility might be Long Island university and the Aaron Copland school of music and there is also the conservatory of music at Brooklyn college. Not sure about the academic requirements or the quality of the Jazz programs but definitely worth looking into.
@mumkee my son attends Berklee and the summer programs are quite different and really nothing like the regular curriculum so I would not judge good or bad from her summer experience. If I based Berklee on his summer camp experience, he would probably not be attending
@mumkee I see the rest of my post didn’t make it. As someone mentioned here, music schools are not a breeze and most of their days are spent on ear training, theory, harmony classes, music technology, English, etc. in addition to practicing for lessons, ensembles and outside bands. Berklee is challenging and the workload can be overwhelming at times. All music programs are different so look at each one individually. Most of the days in the beginning will not be spent performing. Good luck to your daughter.
@rockinmomab:
Well said (and I realized my own post was a bit garbled, I had a music school inside a conservatory, should be music school in a university …). I don’t know how many people I have hear dismiss the academics in conservatories and music programs in general, that they aren’t rigorous, etc and often people will say if you go to a music school inside a university, you have to take general ed classes, and those provide academic rigor, etc. It is true that at most conservatories, the liberal arts classes are pretty limited, and aren 't always so high level. However, to be honest, most kids taking general ed classes tend to take the easiest ones they can, unless universities suddenly are different, when I went to school most of the general ed classes were taught by grad students, and weren’t exactly rigorous, I learned more about economics at my first job talking to a guard who was a professional student then I learned in two semesters of economics at school, and many of the general ed requirement classes, even the math and science ones, were pretty lame (I was a science major originally, so the majors track courses covered those requirements).
The music theory and ear training classes are not easy, and the advanced classes in these areas are as challenging as anything I can remember taking, outside some theory of computation classes, and things like music history and the like are easily as challenging as a typical general ed class (to tell you how kids thought about them in my day, used to call them “crap courses”…not fair, some of them were really good, but most were okay).
Check out Cap 21 @mumkee - they offer a BFA in Musical Theater in conjunction with Malloy College on Long Island. Their program is for “triple threats” singing, dancing, and acting but its in the city and conservatory based.
No I haven’t but I will now thank you! Btw I’m sorry I posted this and the. Disappeared for months