Columbia's Music Performance Program for a violinist

<p>The trip from Harvard to NEC is right down Mass. Ave. Logistics are not that hard, honestly.</p>

<p>Just want to add that a good BA in music has plenty of theory, aural skills, history, composition, ethnomusicology, and music technology. I would check how many classes there are for the major as a percentage of classes required (at Harvard a music major can take 50% of classes in music, a higher percentage than most,for instance). I would also check out Brown: since there are no distribution requirements, a student can more easily combine interests. Amherst as well. </p>

<p>Last from me- I know the thread is ending!</p>

<p>The logistics with NEC Harvard isn’t getting there, it is with class schedules and such, from people who have been in the program it isn’t easy coordinating, that in a sense it is up to the student to coordinate the programs, to fit classes in and so forth. </p>

<p>That’s often the problem when you try to coordinate conservatory scheduling and university scheduling, the latter being more regular. My daughter wanted to take advantage of the Juilliard/Columbia exchange, which is great in theory, but she found it very difficult to schedule classes because of the irregular conservatory schedule. </p>

<p>And that’s the advantage of schools like Oberlin, Bard and Lawrence which are set up to coordinate schedules. Even then there are bound to be conflicts. Maybe your favorite literature professor only teaches on Tuesday nights - right when you have orchestra rehearsal… But at least the time blocks are the same and the logistics of getting from one class to another are simpler.</p>

<p>I can’t speak for Harvard/NEC, or for the scheduling challenges that might confront a full-time Juilliard student, like gh’s daughter, who wants to take a class at Columbia. But the Columbia students my son knows who are participating in the Columbia-Juilliard exchange have not encountered any insurmountable scheduling problems from their end The Juilliard side of the equation for the Columbia students consists of one lesson and two ensemble rehearsals a week. These are on a set schedule, which allows the students to schedule their Columbia classes around their Juilliard schedule. They also need plenty of practice time, but that can be done whenever and wherever. There’s a Columbia advisor assigned to the Columbia-Juilliard exchange kids to help them navigate it, and they get priority in registering for their Columbia classes. It’s true that they can’t take Columbia classes that conflict with the time slots when they’re at Juilliard, but that’s not really any different from the inability of any student to take two different classes that are both scheduled in the same time slot. There’s also a bit of commuting time to get to and from Juilliard, of course, but it’s really not bad - seven stops on a single subway line, and the subway stops literally right outside Columbia’s gates and right in front of Juilliard.</p>

<p>I agree with jazzpianodad that college/university schedules are much more regular than conservatory schedules, making it easier to go in the other direction, i.e., taking lessons and maybe chamber at a conservatory while enrolled in a university. It’s definitely more doable, schedule-wise. I know students who take lessons in Manhattan, coming in weekly from places like Princeton, New Jersey. It means freeing up a big chunk of time, but with careful planning it’s doable. </p>

<p>If your student is set on getting a BA or BS degree from an academic university, then this could be the solution. On the flip side, as mentioned earlier, if she or he is not already an elite player and cares to go on in classical music professionally, she or he may find herself or himself at a disadvantage compared to fully-immersed conservatory students if she or he plans to go on to graduate school for music performance (I am not talking about jazz; only classical.)</p>

<p>I agree with GH, that the kids who go to academic schools, study privately and then go on to grad school for music are generally the kids who are already at a tip top level, we hear of the Yo Yo Ma’s, Gil Shaham and his sister (none of whom majored in performance in college), but they were already top level musicians, IME a lot of the kids who do the Juilliard/Columbia program are already at that top level as well, so that route may not work for students not at that tippy top.</p>