How strong is Carleton’s music department?
(bump)
Does anyone have any info on this?
I’m a Carleton parent, but here’s my summary of Carleton & music from another thread on LACs vs. conservatory schools:
“I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with the music at Carleton. During the accepted student visit weekend, we heard a sampler concert, not the full orchestra, so I can’t speak to that. As a lifelong singer, I found the quality of the vocal ensemble to be poor–not much vocal blend, little or no vowel uniformity. My son, after playing string bass for 7 years switched to organ lessons and does appreciate his organ teacher (adjunct faculty, a church musician from the Twin Cities ). However, Carleton has not maintained the massive organ in the Skinner Chapel so that now several ranks are unusable. The Performance Hall roof has issues and there are discussions about building demolition and not replacing or moving & rebuilding the pipe organ currently there. So, my overall impression is that Carleton views music as a healthy avocation, but doesn’t push or support its students to excellence in that area.”
So part of what was just said ^^^^^^ doesn’t seem to be true…
In the recent Carletonian issue, an article describe the in depth renovations to the Skinner chapel including the organ. Carleton has gone to great lengths to have a functional organ.
This is in the Carletonian issue from Oct. 9th 2015 in the article “Chapel reopens with new look”.
https://apps.carleton.edu/carletonian/
Again I’m baffled that a login is necessary to read the Carletonian. The Carletonian could only shape a more positive and realistic view of Carleton to people outside the Carleton community.
As for music overall, other colleges excel in music to a greater extent than Carleton, including St. Olaf. I remember knowing many students who had a good experience with Carleton’s music program though
Thanks for the update; I don’t have a login for the Carletonian, and yes my info is as of last June. Another Carleton alum who had taken lessons on the organ in Skinner was also rather disappointed in the current state of the instrument.
It’s true that there is a mix of casual hobbyists and more dedicated and/or gifted artists participating in music at Carleton (or theatre, or dance, or other artistic pursuits), but one of the high points, in my opinion at least, is that the school allows opportunity for both kinds of people. For singers and instrumentalists, the most intensive refining of skills happens in private, one-on-one instruction, and not all students take private instruction, so you can’t necessarily judge the quality of the program by how the overall choir or orchestra sounds. I am a Class of 2001 graduate, and my class includes someone who is now a professional opera singer. A former roommate is a composer who is getting her PhD at Berkeley and has founded a new music collective. Several others, like me, have gone into the administrative side of the arts and become leaders in the field. While I was at Carleton, my private voice instructor also taught at St. Olaf, and the leader of one of the vocal ensembles I was involved with was a former King’s Singer.
The fact that a broad range of students have access to high quality music instruction is a great asset to the school. I like to contrast this with my mom’s experience as an Oberlin undergrad. While she is a proficient amateur pianist who went on to accompany a number of professional shows, she wasn’t able to take piano lessons from an Oberlin faculty member because she wasn’t a conservatory student. If the rigor and singular focus of a conservatory program is what someone is looking for, Carleton is probably not the right choice, but it would be selling the school short to suggest that there isn’t ample opportunity for serious artists to excel.
My impression from visiting is the music is the forte of St. Olaf, not Carleton
@tytonidae I mean yeah that’s kind of obvious. I’m wondering more how Carleton compares to its peer schools in terms of music.
We’ve been looking very hard at LACs with strong music programs, and I can’t say I’d count Carleton among them (and this is coming from a guy who just declared Carleton is favorite LAC in a different thread!). Talking to kids there when we visited, the orchestra is at best so-so (one kid remarked that his youth orchestra was better, for instance), and it’s really got a hobbyist-level kind of vibe about it. That’s not a knock against Carleton, really – there are a great many LACs that meet that same basic description. Carleton is an outstanding school in a great many respects, but if having a better-than-average music program is a key criterion for you, you may be better off looking elsewhere. If you just want to keep playing for fun, and value the other aspects of the LAC experience more highly, then their offerings may meet your needs.
@rayrick thanks for the info! Are there any similar schools you would recommend where the music department might be stronger?
I think it’s pretty well covered in your other thread about best LAC music departments. If you’re looking for absolute top-tier academics/selectivity and strong music, Vassar and Wesleyan (already on your list) are solid and you should probably add Williams. Anecdotally (i.e, from folks on CC) I’ve heard some good things about Macalester and Davidson as well. I see you’ve got Brandeis and Tufts on your list, too. Not true LACs, but I’ve heard good things about their programs (though does Tufts involve getting yourself to one of their nearby conservatories? Not sure about that).
A notch down in selectivity, but probably a notch up in music, you’ve got schools like St. Olaf, Lawrence, Gettysburg, and U of Puget Sound. All of those have large, accredited departments that allow non-majors to participate. Skidmore (already on your list) also looks quite strong.
One more notch down in selectivity and you’ve got schools like Rollins, Luther, Concordia, and all the others I listed in your other thread.
Anyway, I’m mainly rehashing stuff you already know. If there are other hidden gems out there that got absolutely no mention on your other thread, then they’ve eluded me as well. Actually, maybe I should throw out one more: Trinity University in Texas. Their music doesn’t look outstanding, but based on the fact they offer a B.M. degree and had a decent number of music majors (you can see number of majors by discipline at http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator), it’s at least above average. It doesn’t show up in the LAC lists because they classify themselves as a “regional university”, but it’s every bit as much an LAC as Wesleyan or UPS – 2300 undergrads and a handful of grad students. It doesn’t have a very high national profile, but it seems like a terrific school.
Oh, one more thing about that collegenavigator site: I find it an interesting indicator of how “artsy” a school is in general. If you enter in a school and click on Programs/Majors and scroll to the bottom, you can compare total number of majors in visual and performing arts to the number of majors in all disciplines.
My take: under 3% = probably a real jock school; 3-6% = not particularly artsy; 6-10% = pretty artsy; Over 10% = seriously artsy. By that metric, Carleton weighs in as pretty artsy, bordering on seriously artsy, with film majors really carrying the day. That’s all just based on feel and playing around, so take it for what it’s worth.