College suggestions for student interested in physics and music performance?

<p>Williams has great music opportunities as well as excellent Physics and Math.</p>

<p>Slightly different, my sophomore DS is looking to study music (he plays trumpet and cello) and acoustical engineering (determining layout of space for sound, environmental sound issues, noise pollution, that sort of thing, plus he could go into instrument design, design performance space, sound proofing, etc too.) and has his eyes set on University of Hartford and Hart School of Music in CT. The campus is in a great location, near the city but on the outskirt in a beautiful suburban area. It’s a 145 credit program, 45 credits in music and the rest engineering. They definitely have physics majors too. You have to audition. Their website is very, very informative about the program, audition requirements, etc.</p>

<p>Eckerd College has some interesting discussion about double majors on their Music major site.</p>

<p>It might be helpful to read this essay on the different ways to study music, the difference between dual major and dual degree etc. The original poster may be very aware of these but it is nevertheless a nice overview with examples of specific students and the best path for each.
<a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html”>http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This kind of question comes up in the music forum here on CC quite a bit and that forum might also be helpful.</p>

<p>Some BA programs will have auditions, many won’t (meaning you would send in a supplement with CD or DCD, resume, separate letters of recommendation etc.). Some BA programs will have a performance element (Harvard recently enhanced this in their program), some won’t and will leave performance to extracurriculars.</p>

<p>It is important to note that attending a college that also has a conservatory can have cons as well as a few pros. Mainly, the best teachers and opportunities often go to the conservatory students.</p>

<p>Options include double degree (BA/BM, BS/BM. BA/MM). Oberlin, Lawrence, Bard, Tufts, Harvard, Rice, Indiana, Eastman, Peabody, Michigan are all good possibilities for double degree, but check out the transportation logistics for one thing. It can be a trek at some places. Double degrees take 5 years.</p>

<p>Or double major. you would have to check out the total credits for graduation, the total credits for each major, and distribution requirement credits. Add them up and see if it fits in 4 years and is a sane schedule. Every school is different. Generally a major is 1/4 to 1/3 of total coursework. (Harvard’s music major is actually 1/2). If there is no performance in the curriculum and performance is strictly extracurricular, then you have to also consider time spent performing in ensembles or orchestra, practice and rehearsal time, and private lessons, which might have to be arranged by your son or might be available through the department (some schools even fund lessons).</p>

<p>There is also the option of majoring in physics and minoring in music or vice versa.</p>

<p>For double major students, or major/minor students, virtually any school with a good physics department and good music department will work, if the classes fit in the schedule. Really focus in on websites. Is the school strong on ethnomusicology, but not, say, on jazz? Each school will have strengths and weaknesses and websites can really help figure out a fit. Reading bios of professors helps too. Are there lab/research assistantships available? (Tufts seems to be good with this, according to a student we know who loves music but is majoring in physics there, and their music department is great. The presence of the double degree program does not affect opportunities at Tufts for performers.)</p>

<p>Some students major in, say, physics, and do music entirely privately, at least lessons and practice, and then perform in extracurriculars or off campus. Private study can also work for music majors who are in a program that is strictly academic. Many go on to top conservatories if they keep their playing up.</p>

<p>There is a lot of intersection of music and physics these days. Acoustics is one area, as one poster wrote about, but the study of sound in general is a big part of composition and electroacoustic composition relies on technology and research on sound, quite a bit. Who knows what he might get into with these two subjects.</p>

<p>Finally, if you do go on the music forum, don’t say you want your son to get a “regular degree.” To many music families, a BM is a regular degree :)</p>

<p>p.s. Williams, Tufts, Amherst, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Trinity are “little Ivies.” Some include Swarthmore. Vassar might be worth looking at too.</p>

<p>Northwestern is another excellent university that encourages this kind of double major and has good programs in both fields. Our tour guide last fall was a double major in physics and saxophone. </p>

<p>Take a look at Haverford College–it’s got a good music program. Not sure about physics, but it’s a strong school academically. </p>

<p>Ellie Mom, I looked at the Northwestern site and find it unlikely that your tour guide was a double major in physics and saxophone. The BA in Music in their BIenen School of Music in not a performance degree but involves academic study of “composition, musicology, music cognition, or music theory,” so no sax. The double major offered is within the music school (instrument and composition for instance). <a href=“http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/degrees-and-certificates/index.html”>http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/degrees-and-certificates/index.html&lt;/a&gt; It is more likely that the tour guide was doing a dual degree, which takes 5 years. It really helps to understand the difference between the different paths.</p>

<p>The College of Arts and Sciences does not have a music major (I just checked) so the tour guide is doing music in the Beinen School of Music and physics in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. These are both intensive majors and it is hard to imagine combining them in a double major in 4 years versus double degree in 5 years. I would be curious what you think. Some kids might be able to pull it off in terms of brain power and time management, but even then, it might be hard to fit all the courses needed into 4 years, or into one degree.</p>

<p>Compmom, that’s how our guide presented herself—a double major in physics and performance (saxophone). It may be that she was actually doing a dual degree, but I think a double major is possible in four years based just on this little blurb. <a href=“http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/degrees-and-certificates/majors-and-double-majors.html”>http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/degrees-and-certificates/majors-and-double-majors.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>While DD loves her flute and was interested in the marching band at NU, a performance degree is definitely far out of her skill set! </p>

<p>I guess this is the relevant part: “Second majors in schools other than WCAS must be approved by the associate/assistant dean of that school. Bienen School of Music students may also choose to leave the Bienen School of Music for another school at Northwestern and may still complete their music major as a second major, although in these cases no degree from the Bienen School of Music will be awarded.” But leaving the Bienen School would make a performance major in sax impossible.</p>

<p>At any rate, the important thing is, I guess, to know there are both dual majors and dual degrees and the former may be hard with two intensive majors, but perhaps not impossible!</p>