<p>Would anyone have any thoughts or insights into the music programs at either Clark or Hampshire in Massachusetts? My child is not looking for a conservatory program but rather possibly a college to combine music with film or screenwriting. Thanks.</p>
<p>A quick search in the forum reveals a few mentions of each, but are more in passing, or part of a list of potential suggestions.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, one if not both comprise the list of the Colleges that Change Lives (CTCL schools), and many seem drawn to these for eclectic (for want of a better term, no offense intended), dual, or cross discipline study.</p>
<p>The key would be the specific faculty, and mentoring/working relationship between the student/instructors in the required field(s). Another consideration at least from an orchestral and vocal standpoint would be the depth and breath of peer level quality, which can vary widely in smaller programs. </p>
<p>Again, nothing concrete, but food for thought.</p>
<p>I do not know much about clark, but I was accepted at Hampshire and almost went there. I had a cousin who graduated from Hampshire quite recently (her studies were in visual arts–photography specifically) who had a lot of trouble graduating (her adviser was not clear about the requirements) and has had trouble finding employment (though she was basically an art major, so that is not all hampshire’s fault). My issue, after looking very closely at it was that, if one wants to persue music performance as a profession, Hampshire does not provide the sequence of theory, keyboarding and performance classes in a structered environment (ie. theory I is followed by theory II is followed by, in my case Jazz theory etc.) neccesary to obtain the appropriate level of musicianship. Hampshire also does not provide the networking opportunities that you would get at even a mid level university (as there are no ‘music majors’). If you are not interested in professional performance (or as my private teacher said, if you have already obtained a professional level of playing on your instrument and need creative freedom more then you need training) hampshire is a great place, but I would be very wary about going there with the expectation of having a career in music.
As for doing something interdiscilionary, Hampshire would be a good place to study both music and film, but I would again point at the networking issues (you won’t be gigging or filming in Amherst and you are going to know people outside of the world of Hampshire) as a reason to not go there. If you want to study both and go to graduate school for one, and think you can get to the level you need to get to to do that at Hampshire however, I would say go for it (or if you don’t know what you want to do, but do want to spend some time studying music and film in a liberal arts environment while you figure it out–hampshire would be a fantastic place).</p>
<p>I think of all the colleges in the Hampshire Consortium that Smith is most known for its music program. A frequent CC poster Mini had a daughter major in music composition there. You might PM her. Your kid could take film at Hampshire, which is a very strong program, and music at Smith.</p>
<p>Clark has a pretty strong Screen Studies program for a school its size, and the Program Director for Music’s expertises are composition and computer music. I could ask my daughter, a sophomore history major at Clark, if she knows someone with similar interests.</p>
<p>Thank you (all) for your insights. Forgive me, but I’m still relatively new to CC – what is PM and how does one do it? Then, how would I find "MinI’ that you mentioned?</p>
<p>TrumpetDad – thanks so much. I would love to learn whatever your daughter might be able to share about Clark. Also, apologies for two responses in a row – not sure how to respond to more than one person in one response. I’ll get the hang of it…</p>
<p>Pianomom - PM means private message. As to how to find Mini - not sure of the most elegant method but you can always do an advanced search by name of poster. And then do another search in one of the threads that will come up. Then if you click on the blue name of the poster on the left you will get a menu of options for contacting them. There may be a simpler way… I did notice she said Smith does not have a performance major.</p>
<p>If you are interested in a school like Hampshire - I would suggest looking at Bard - they have a very strong music major and is a small liberal arts college similiar to Hampshire. Good luck.</p>