<p>Hey does anyone know any good East Coast area schools that offer minors in music or jazz?
Thanks</p>
<p>There is well over a hundred schools that offer minors in music. If you are specifically interested in jazz, that is much harder to get a minor without first being a music major. What is it you want to do w/ this minor? It would be helpful to know your intended major, as you should first sort on that, and then narrow those down to schools that also have a minor in what you are interested.</p>
<p>Well here is my situation. I truly love jazz and am very passionate about it. But, I have decided against trying for a major in jazz or music because I have other interests and I don’t want to be locked into music like that. Also, I figure that a major in jazz won’t necessarily land me gigs, while majoring in something business related probably will land me jobs(supposedly…). So the way I see it with a minor in jazz, I can continue my pursuit of jazz , with all of the program’s benefits and connections, while majoring in something that could put me in an economic situation that might be considered more favorable than that of a jazz musician’s. Unfortunately at this time I am unsure of what I will be majoring in. Basically, I’m looking for a good Liberal Arts school, that offers a minor in jazz.</p>
<p>Are you a senior in HS? What is your instrument? If you play drums, sax, etc. then you look at certain schools, and if your are interested in jazz voice, then you have a much smaller selection. If you want to study jazz studies, then that is different. </p>
<p>I personally don’t agree with your logic … one of the values of going to a music-related (and music intense) school is to meet up with other like-minded and similarly talented musicians so you can collaborate and push each other to a much higher level. In addition, you start to build a network of musicians, arrangers, producers, and technicians that can be useful for your music-related future. If you are going to try to minor in jazz then you won’t be meeting this level of musicians necessarily, and you won’t benefit in the connections because no full-time musician will take you as seriously. I’m assuming you are a vocalists or play an instrument, and that you don’t just want to study the history of jazz.</p>
<p>I am a senior in HS. I play Guitar. Thanks for your advise, I really find it helpful. How hard do you think it would be to double major in jazz and something else?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Since your instrument is guitar, you already have a narrower list. Jazz guitar is not offered at every school that has jazz studies. (Saxophone, for example, has more choices.) What schools or locations are you considering and then we can decide. It sounds like you don’t want to be at an all-music school like Berklee or New England Conservatory, so are you looking at liberal arts colleges that offer jazz studies? Or are you looking at state flagships that also have jazz? You can double major in many things if you’re willing to work hard, or are willing to go extra semesters. If you have tons of AP credit, you can perhaps mitigate the extra semesters.</p>
<p>Well I am thinking about both of those types of schools. I have looked at NYU, SUNY Purchase, UVM, Bard College, and I will probably visit more including West Connecticut, and maybe Temple. Fortunately I will have a good amount of AP credits coming out of this senior year, so a double major might be a possibility.</p>
<p>So it sounds like you are east coast based on these schools. Your range of schools in terms of reach / good fit / safety is quite wide, so you probably need to figure out what time of schools is a good fit for you, and add more of those to your list. If you like NYU, and it’s a good fit for your GPA and SAT, then also consider Boston U and U of Rochester. Location-wise, you’re also pretty wide, as you have big city (NYU) and quaint town (UVM). What I would suggest is you first find your business school, and from that same location/city, look up schools that offer jazz near there. This way you take care of your major first, and if you want to major or minor in jazz, you work on figuring that out next. For a larger list of jazz schools, you can go to Downbeat Magazine’s website, then find their “Where to study jazz, Student Music Guide 2011,” which is a pdf file you can download and browse through. You’ll find quite a few options near NYU and Boston U. If you fall in love with a school that has business and no jazz, then look for a school w/ jazz nearby, so you can tap into private lessons based out of that college either through professors or advanced students.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all your help. What I’m now thinking is that I am going to go for the full on Jazz major. My SAT and grades are slightly under NYU, yet I think I will still apply there. I am looking mostly at east coast schools now. As of now my top choices are NYU, Purchase, and The New School. Are there any other schools that you could suggest that have the jazz major, and that are also east coast and located close or in a city?</p>