Commercial Music Minor with Acting Program

College Majors Music Major
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<p>I'm a senior trying to find a college with two specific things I want.</p>

<p>Firstly, a stong B.A. Acting program in theatre. The important things here are room for a minor, and possibly it would help to have no BFA, as I want the B.A. students not to be neglected. A BFA would work if there was room for a minor.</p>

<p>I'm also looking for a school with a stong Composition/Commercial Music/Songwriting Minor. The emphasis here is that I do't want classically based training. I'm looking for classes in things like songwriting, studio production, arrangement, marketing, and business.</p>

<p>I'm pretty stong academically (2240, 3.92 gpa) , and want to go somewhere academically selective. Also, I want to be in or near a major city like NY, LA, Boston, Chicago ect.</p>

<p>I'm having trouble fitting these two needs together. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Combining two specific performance based tracks is very difficult. I’d try concentrating your theater search within [Theater/Drama</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/]Theater/Drama”>Theater/Drama Majors - College Confidential Forums) where you’ll get the acting/theater expertise. The folks here [Musical</a> Theater Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/]Musical”>Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums) may also have a better handle on cross discipline programs, as musical theater is truly a combined discipline.</p>

<p>Contemporary/commercial music is a whole other can of worms. There are really only a small number of programs. USC/Thorton, UDenver/Lamont, Belmont, Berklee, The New School’s Jazz and Contemporary program. These are all competitive audition based programs, and my gut feeling is that few if any open courses to non-majors or offer a minor in the discipline.</p>

<p>Look at some of the Colleges That Change Lives. (Google CTCL for the list). Many have solid to very good music and theater departments that are non-audition BA approaches and can be a bit more flexible in designing a program.</p>

<p>Added: This <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/749881-best-liberal-arts-college-music-program-composition.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/749881-best-liberal-arts-college-music-program-composition.html&lt;/a&gt;, while not exactly what you requested, is similar and may be worth the read.</p>

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<p>Flipside, you might want to look into NYU’s Tisch school. I don’t know about neglect for those not pursuing a BFA, but I do know that a new-ish program called the Clive Davis Recording program has all the contemporary music courses you’ve mentioned. I believe it is possible at Tisch to do an ‘inter-arts’ style degree.</p>

<p>Another option you might wish to investigate is University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance. While the music degrees are indeed both classical and contemporary, they have a fairly new InterArts Degree (eg. 2- 3 yrs old). Not sure of the specs, but combining classes from the acting BFA and the performing arts technology BFA (which includes recording, music business, composition et al) might qualify for an InterArts BFA. Look into it an pm me if you have any questions. My son checked out NYU’s Clive Davis and ultimately chose UMich’s PAT.
Best wishes,</p>

<p>PS Looked it up – a lot of art and design courses but indeed, PAT courses included. Here’s the link: <a href=“http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/theatre/programs/reqs_bfa_interarts.htm[/url]”>http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/theatre/programs/reqs_bfa_interarts.htm&lt;/a&gt;
K</p>