I know many schools with good music programs only allow you to participate if you’re insanely good. I’m not; I’m just a prospective CS major looking to play music for fun on the side.
What I’m looking for: Accessibility to classes, ensembles, and lessons for minors/non-majors, lots of nice practice rooms, opportunities in a variety of ensembles (especially rock/contemporary), subsidized lessons, recording studio(s), large number of students participating, Steinway grands are cool
Ithaca College comes to mind.
University of Michigan Ann Arbor! Amazing facilities available to non music majors. Lots of involvement at all levels.
Tufts might be a good fit.
They have a very inclusive music program where over 3000 of the 5000 undergrads participate…
Each year over 3,000 students take music classes, private lessons, and perform in music ensembles. We have a very broad and inclusive program with courses for non-majors, majors, and graduate students in classical, jazz, rock, blues, hip-hop, and world music with special strengths in the music of Africa and the Middle East. We describe our mission as training “musical omnivores” who are open to every sort of musical experience. Many of our majors are double majors, with their second major in such fields as Biology, English, International Relations, Classics, Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, etc. There is also a minor in music.
http://as.tufts.edu/music/documents/faqandinfo.pdf
and great performance facilities open to the entire Tufts (and surrounding) community…
The Best ‘Small Hall’ In Boston
From the classrooms, practice rooms and rehearsal spaces to–most significantly–the 300-seat recital hall, the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center was designed with exquisite attention to acoustical detail. The new 55,000-square-foot facility will allow Tufts students and faculty, along with the wider community, to learn, teach, create, perform and enjoy music in a way that has previously not been possible on campus.
http://as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter/about/overview.htm
and what some say is the best Steinway grand in New England…
Because of those distinctions, Joseph Auner, McDonald, Schmalfeldt and Provost Jamshed Bharucha earlier this winter traveled to the Steinway factory in Queens, N.Y., to choose the concert grand, the nine-foot piano that graces the stage of the music center’s Distler Performance Hall. The group chose from among five pianos, playing a variety of works on each to assess the feel and tone of each instrument.
Schmalfeldt chose to play Bach, Schubert, Mozart and Chopin. “You want to have the most beautiful piano sound with notes that are clear and beautiful, not muffled,” she said. “When you play, you can feel the most control. All were beautiful, but this [concert grand] was particularly good. The people at Steinway said this was the best piano in New England.”
In addition to the concert grand, the group also chose pianos at Steinway’s Boston showroom, selecting the eight they wanted in a room of a dozen. The Granoff Music Center also houses eight new Yamaha uprights.
http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/archive/2007/february/corner/index.shtml
and an interdisciplinary minor in Music Engineering (sponsored by Steinway) with a course in writing music applications…
COMP 150-04 Musical Applications for the iPad
http://engineering.tufts.edu/me/undergraduate/musicengineering.htm
and alums that have written music applications that have received significant VC funding
Fast-forward seven years and Jacobs, 21, is on the cusp of cool again. His latest creation, called Cymbal, fills a strategic gap in the digital music business, which has yet to create a truly social experience for music lovers. The app, developed with fellow Tufts University students Amadou Crookes and Mario Gomez-Hall and launched just before their graduation in May, describes itself as “music discovery powered by friends, not algorithms.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/denalitietjen/2015/07/29/cymbal/#43e209bc6c5c
merc81
October 16, 2017, 6:30pm
5
Non-majors will make up the overwhelming majority of the participants in music (including in many music classes) at a range of colleges, so that aspect of your question should be easy to resolve.
In terms of importance to you, do you make a significant distinction between access to grands and baby grands, @pleasgod ?
After the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Vassar is purported to have the largest collection of Steinway pianos outside of the Steinway factory. There is a Steinway in the common area/parlor of every dorm. My D (CS major) often played the Steinway in her dorm.
Music Studio, and 21 practice rooms, nearly all furnished with grand pianos. Vassar maintains a large collection of instruments, including over 65 Steinway grand pianos,
https://music.vassar.edu/facilities/
@CrewDad I’d rather not people hear me practice / bother people so I’m more looking at places with pianos in practice rooms
@Mastadon thank you for suggesting tufts! that’s exactly what i’m looking for. their academics scare me lol but i might apply anyways
@merc81 baby grands and grands are both great. I’m honestly okay with using upright, in tune pianos in a private practice room most of the time
merc81
October 16, 2017, 10:45pm
11
Liberal arts colleges may offer a nice ratio of music facilities to students. You can look for sites such as this for all of your colleges of interest: http://academics.hamilton.edu/music/facilities-overview .
CrewDad
October 17, 2017, 12:25am
12
@pleasgod
Many students feel the same, which is why I linked https://music.vassar.edu/facilities/
Music Studio, and 21 practice rooms , nearly all furnished with grand pianos. Vassar maintains a large collection of instruments, including over 65 Steinway grand pianos,
Additionally:
The Department of Music offers both majors and non-majors opportunities to explore performance, composition, history, and theory in depth.
https://music.vassar.edu/about/