Colleges with music programs that do not require auditions?

College Majors Music Major
1

I am now 17 and a high school junior. I started playing piano about 1.5 yrs ago. Now, I am pretty good but nowhere near proficient or exceptional. I know that an audition is literally impossible for me to do. I really love music, I just never got the chance to learn when I was younger (my family could not afford it). In my research, almost all selective colleges with music programs expect you to audition and want you to already be a genius when it comes to music. I am more interested in music production on the computer, I have somewhat half-mastered using pro tools with my piano and MIDI keyboard. Are there any colleges that allow beginners or people who are not prodigies and more interested in music that relies heavily on computers and other electronics and the production of music? Most of the music I really like is synthpop or other electronic music and would like to focus more heavily on electronic music production. Your research on my behalf would help me so much. I have tried to look it up but it is so hard to sift through Google because when you type in the words college - music - no audtion, you only get colleges WITH auditions. Your help would be so incredibly valuable to my life. Thanks in advance!!!

tl;dr: I am not a music genius but rather a beginner but I would still liked to get an education in music.

2

Most college BA programs for music majors do not require an audtion. You apply to the college and then declare a music major in sophomore year. A general music major (as opposed to a BM, or sometimes BA, in performance) will mean studying music history, theory/aural skills (with some piano skills involved), composition, ethnomusicology, and some music technology. Most college programs are classical in their orientation, but there are exceptions.

If you want to do “electronic music production,” some programs do require auditions or portfolio. The focus of “electronic music” varies: some programs are very much geared to composers, some are more geared to computer science or engineering, for instance.

If you google “music production programs” in a certain state, lists will come up. I have done this for California and it worked well. Check each school to see what admissions requirements and procedures are.

Others on here know more about this area than I do. Ordinarily I would mention Hartt at U. of Hartford, U. of Michigan, UMass Lowell, NYU, Berklee, Belmont,Cal Arts and USC Thornton. But many of those have auditions or portfolio requirements.

Check out Columbia College in Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/academics/index.html No audition or portfolio required (though you can choose to submit one). They accept people as “provisional candidates” in some areas. Columbia has courses for sound engineering, digital production, contemporary and urban music, and other areas of music and/or media arts.

There are many programs in the country though, including some state colleges. If you want to let us know the state(s) you are most interested in, we could look into it for you.

And honestly, going to most colleges for music would entail some coursework in music technology, though sometimes in the context of composition. You could even major in something else and still take classes in the area you are interested in, if you meet prerequisites.

You might want to look into a summer program. There is another thread in the forum right now for someone with similar interests, entitled “Oberlin Sonic Arts.” And another thread by someone trying to decide between two Tennessee music production programs…

3

Have a look at Northeastern University. They have a program similar to what you are looking for that does not require an audition. Also look at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell

4

Also look at Middle Tennessee State and UNC-Asheville. My son’s best friend is at UNC-A in music production and loves it, he is only moderately experienced and talented as a musician but wanted to get into the production side of the business. He got a fantastic internship last summer in San Francisco with the company that started the Patreon website and is interviewing now for a long term job with a local production company. UNC-A is a hidden gem in this field.