<p>I am a sophmore in highschool, and I am certain I want to be a performance major. I would like to start searching for colleges now because it takes me a very long time to make decisions. </p>
<p>Some playing background information.....
I am in the Michigan Youth Band (sponsored by University of Michigan), I was 4th chair in Livingston County Honors band as a freshman, and 1st chair this year as a sophmore, I was 8th chair in MSBOA All-State band and plan on being 3rd chair in the orchestra next year, and I am auditioning for Civic Youth Ensembles next month. I started playing bassoon this year, and plan to do a solo in S&E on it as well as on clarinet. I also play flute, trumpet, horn, mellophone (marching season), the saxes, piccolo, and oboe.</p>
<p>In my solo repertoire...
-Mozart Clarinet Concerto
-Concertino (Weber)
-Grand Duo Concertant (Weber)
-Hindemith Sonata
-Concerto No.2 (Weber---- in progress,started working on it for Civic Audition)</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone had and recommendations for great programs. Also, are there any programs that allow you to minor on a second instrument? If it is possible, I was wondering if anyone could recommend some solo pieces, I would love to expand my repertoire.</p>
<p>Math is also a huge part of my life. I am taking Pre-Calc at Case-Western's Pre College program this summer, and AP Calc next year (as a Junior.) I'm afraid of going to a conservatory because I wouldn't be able to continue my math training.</p>
<p>Please help me out! I don't know where to start!!</p>
<p>Conservatory (eg Juillard) or college? My D#2, a jr, is in similar situation (she's on clarinet too) except she doesn't want a performance major but a BA or BS degree along with advanced music training on clarinet and sax (alto, soprano). We're looking at Hopkins/Peabody, Brandeis, Rochester/Eastman, Barnard (they and Columbia have a joint program with Juillard, btw). Heard that some of the LAC near Philly have jopint programs with Curtis Institute too.
You might also look at Oberlin, Ithaca, Bard, Bucknell (we ruled these out for personal reasons).</p>
<p>if you are open to a large U in a different part of the U.S. with a great School of Music,check out Robert Spring's Clarinet studio at Arizona State U.Very well known teacher ,his students love him,great teaching rep.Lots of performance opportunities,great facilities.You could combine this with a great math minor (hard for a performance major to do a second major) and there are Honors College possibilities.</p>
<p>You might want to check out your home state U, FTMG. My son wants to pursue a performance major (or two :)) and possibly a math minor, and we couldn't believe how accommodating they were at UMich in discussing options (very much <em>not</em> the case everywhere). We also heard their top orchestra, which was absolutely terrific. I have no idea about clarinet teachers at UMich, however.</p>
<p>NJ Mom, music at Brandeis is several shoulders below music at the other schools on your list. Bucknell is never on the list of people who are serious about music (the other three you nixed are, however).</p>
<p>I am involved with the University of Michigan Youth Band, and it is AMAZING! I love U of M, but I'm afraid I might not be able to get in with my grades. I know my test scores are gonna rock, but by GPA last year was a 3.3, and this year it is around a 3.7 or 3.8.</p>
<p>freakthmusicgeek:
What do you hope to do with a degree in music? Just asking because it is hard to make a living from it. If you enjoy math, you might consider being a math major with a minor in music, or have a double major.</p>
<p>I know it is hard to make a living from being a musician. These is no way that I will minor in music. I do enjoy math, but I don't know what I'd do with a math degree. I would make a horrible teacher, and music is the love of my life. </p>
<p>Honestly, I haven't decided yet what I want to do with music, I was hoping that I could decide that in college. I don't know the options well enough yet.</p>
<p>About UMich and GPAs: UMich doesn't use freshman year GPAs to calculate the GPA they use for your application. If you can keep your GPA up & continue to improve it, you may be just fine. UMich also does not weight grades in their GPA calculation (like Honors & APs) but they absolutely do consider the rigor of your course load. The School of Music is a bit more lenient than LSA on GPA, as they recognize the tremendous amount of time required in practice and ensemble participation in order to achieve the skill level necessary to succeed in auditions and in college music itself. You can do double degree at U-M, but it does require a separate appication to LSA, so you have to do the best you possibly can in academics without sacrificing your music. It could mean doing less on your secondary instruments, however, in order to do your best in an audition on clarinet and have the grades for LSA.</p>
<p>Fortunately, you also have some time before you have to decide which combination of music and academics you want to shoot for. If you are quite keen on being a performance major, that is definitely the ball to keep up in the air while you sort through the rest. Your work on your music now and for the next 18 months will determine your success level in auditions for admission.</p>
<p>Have a look at Oberlin (my daughter is a double major in bass and math there). She takes secondary lessons on jazz bass, but you can get lessons in any second instrument if you are good enough. Keep up the GPA and get good test scores and you will be in the running for admission to the college. The audition will be the most important thing for Conservatory admission. Also, if you only get into the Conservatory, it is not hard to transfer into the double degree program in your second year.</p>
<p>Also check out the combined program at Case Western and Cleveland Institute of Music. I think you could do Math at Case while doing Music at CIM and complete both degrees in five years.</p>
<p>Be careful about music minors. Not a lot of schools offer a music minor with a performance emphasis. Most of the schools that do have a music minor approach it as a liberal art with the emphasis on theory and history rather than performance.</p>
<p>The top hs clarinet player at S's hs class of 06 was also first chair in the Ohio all-star band. He was top 5 in a class of 220. He narrowed his choices to Baldwin Wallace College (where his brother is a clarinet major) Eastman and Cincinnati; he chose the later. His parents say he is really enjoying the first year experience. I think Cincy coughed up the most money too.</p>
<p>freakthmusicgeek:
I'd look for the school that has the teacher I'd want to study with. If you want to be a performance major, then that would be one of the most important considerations. Your playing is what will get you work later on, so working on becoming the best player is instrumental(no pun intended)to your success. You might consider school in cities with major orchestras,
because they'd have some players as faculty.</p>
<p>Peabody/JHU DD an option too. D is a clarinet major there, but also got alto sax lessons too and not from a graduate student, but from the sax department head. Next year she'll also dabble in tenor and bari sax lessons, as well as flute from one of the flute profs.</p>
<p>Regarding Case Western/CIM double degree, be very careful and investigate this option fully. It is there on paper (or website), but when we inquired further, we were told by CW admissions that very very few students who begin this program complete both degrees. </p>
<p>At CIM, students take their non-music, liberal arts courses at Case Western and we were told that students may take anything they want. That means all of your extra non-music classes (about one per semester) can be in one subject if you want.</p>
<p>Be aware though that UB is a theory based school, at the moment anyway. So you'll have the best theory training and as many opportunities to perform as you could ever hope to handle, but the ensembles aren't exactly magical.</p>
<p>Just at note on CIM (and probably other conservatories). Some years there may be room for a clarinet student, and other years not. There was a space or two when my son was looking, but a year or two later the studios were full and there was no space no matter how good an applicant was. It would be good to know this before you get your heart set on a place.</p>
<p>It's been a while since I've checked this thread. Not much more has been posted. </p>
<p>A few things have changed since then. I have ruled out Michigan. I have decided that I want a conservatory. I am still trying to decide if I want to double major in music performance and mechanical engineering, or if I just want to do music. This doesn't help me narrow down my schools all that much from what I was thinking before. I am thinking about making a list of schools that I could double major at, and a list of schools that are just conservatory. </p>
<p>I am starting my Junior year in a little less than 2 weeks, and since I am going to start studying for SAT and ACT, I thought I would restart the college search.</p>
<p>This year I am going to be doing</p>
<p>Michigan Youth Band +
Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra at U of M
Civic Youth Orchestra with the Detroit Symphony
+ Civic Chamber ensembles
MSBOA All-State (8th chair last year)
Livingston County Honors Band
Solo and Ensemble on bassoon and clarinet
and I am auditioning for the National Honor Band of America soon</p>
<p>My solo repertoire is</p>
<p>Weber----
Concerto no.1
Concerto no.2
Concertino
Grand Duo Concertant
Mozart----
Concerto
Hindemith----
Sonata
Debussy----
Premiere Rhapsodie (in progress)</p>
<p>So what I need are some suggestions of schools that are just conservatories, and schools like Oberlin that are colleges and conservatories.
Thank you all so much, you are very helpful!!</p>
<p>The engineering program at Oberlin is rather unusual. After three years at Oberlin, you then attend either Case Western, Caltech or WUSTL for two years and wind up with a BA from Oberlin and some form of Bachelor's in Engineering from the other school. Since you would only be at Oberlin for three years, a double degree with Music at Oberlin would not work out. If you are set on engineering as a second major, I think you will have to list Oberlin among the conservatory-only programs.</p>
<p>You may wish to look at possibilities with Case Western and CIM but, as mentioned above, the number of students who complete both degrees there is small.</p>