Composition Program Suggestions

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi. I feel very lucky to have found this site. I am musically illiterate, but have a son (hs junior) who has a strong interest/talent in music composition. I'm a little torn by the idea that we may have failed him as parents by not keying into the ins and outs of music education before now, but we'll work with where we are. </p>

<p>Profile is a bright/creative kid, loves compsition and a natural musician (percussion lessons past several years, self-taught acoustic/electric guitar, bass, piano/keyboards, can sight read). However, he has had no classical training and obviously not proficient at the level of kids who will seek performance degrees. Academically, most competitive (stretch) to competitve range. Open to BA Mus or B.M. paths; conservatories definitely not a match for him at this point. </p>

<p>It seems some schools require composition majors to meet performance auditions on a par with performance majors (Indiana, Mich, Boston U, Texas, Ga, Wisc, Wash (Seattle), Oregon?), while others have no performance audition requirement (USC, NYU, Nwstrn, UBC?). I could easily be wrong on all of this, so feel free to correct.</p>

<p>Also, it seems some schools are exclusively focused on classical training. He has interests in this area, but definitely would want to explore contemporary/new music as well.</p>

<p>So, I guess it boils down to looking for programs which (1) have no or relaxed perforamcne auditions for composition majors and (2) are not strictly classical canon based.</p>

<p>I'm trying to learn a lot quickly, knowing we are way late to this party, and welcome any quidance, even if it is feedback that many doors may be closed if the kid hasn't been pursuing it from age 5. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>welcome, cluelessdad! and don't feel bad, be glad you're here now, you will find great advice and support here. </p>

<p>My D's a violinist (also junior) so I don't have any practical advice about composition. Can't remember who but there are some composition students and several other posters here who are sure to help. </p>

<p>It would help if you could post additional information, for example:
Is your son totally self-taught, or has he had any professional training (not necessarily classical) at all? How about theory? Does his HS offer the AP theory course or has he had exposure to it via another route?
Is he involved in any youth music groups? Band, Orchestra? Done any summer programs?</p>

<p>Good luck, and welcome to the wild ride we've all signed on for!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the welcome -- I've been very impressed with the helpful spirit of this site.</p>

<p>He has had weekly percussion training from a quality instructor for the past 3-4 years; however these to date have not been "driven" lessons pushing for music school entrance. He does participate in his high school orchestra so my no classical grounding statement should be amended a bit, and he also does marching band (his lips seem to have survived :)). He will take AP Music Theory as a senior, wanted to this year, but no schedule room. Takes honors/AP course load.</p>

<p>He is completely self-taught on guitar/keyboards. Finds his way around a fretboard with ease, but again not with any formal training. Good enough that we got him a quality acoustic guitar as a gift a couple of years ago, sort of an eye-opener there as we are not inclined toward expensive gifts.</p>

<p>Guess we've missed the boat, but he has done no summer programs; I'd never heard of Interlochen and the like until recently; we've just been clueless. Perhaps someone could point us to a summer program for composition? </p>

<p>He feels a bit intimidated auditioning on the performance front because he won't be a state level performer and figures that's what it takes at the college level. </p>

<p>Basically, ever since he discovered Finale in his high school music lab, its been hard to get him spend time on anything else -- except that his sole Xmas gift wish is Sibelius 4, which is apparently easier to edit. He has very clearly discovered a passion to pursue.</p>

4

<p>It's great that your son has discovered a passion for music and composition! He should rest easy--a lot of budding composers arrive at college without any formal training in composition. From what you say about his background, a LAC with a strong music department could be a good fit. There will be no required audition (though he could sent compositions as an artistic supplement to is app); he'll get great theory training (theory is taken seriously and not seen as a necessary evil for performers as it is at many conservatories); he'll have a faculty mentor who probably has less than a handful of composition students; and his composition teacher(s) will almost surely be doing cutting-edge work. </p>

<p>Colby College, for example offers courses in computer and electronic music, film composing, and music and the visual image, along with "pen-and-paper" (actually more likely Finale or Sibelius) composition. Skidmore, ConnCollege, and Bates have distinguished composers on the faculty. I'll bet others can chime in with info on schools that are closer to you geographically.</p>

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<p>Interlochen is very strong for composition, I think the program is composed of about 8-12 kids, with very good teachers. <a href="http://www.interlochen.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.interlochen.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Thanks for the insights; these responses are very valuable to me. </p>

<p>I particularly like the LAC suggestion; as an English major, I like the idea of a broad liberal arts degree. Left to his own devices, my son would go all-in music, so it will be interesting to see where this ends up.</p>

<p>On Interlochen, could it be a fit for a "raw" talented kid or would he be a fish out of water among kids with stong classical training?</p>

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<p>I'm a composition major at New England Conservatory, so I went through this process a few years ago. I come from a slightly different background though, as I was lucky enough to recieve classical theory training from a fairly early age.
Anyway, avoiding conservatorys is a good idea from the sounds of it. Conservatorys are trade schools and are only meant for a certain type of student who is very commited to their particular field of interest. The best school recommendation I can think of is Columbia. I know several undergraduate composers there who seem to be having a very good time. The school has lots of musical offerings and an extremely busy new music scene. It is also located in New York, which has offerings for every possible musical taste.
Let me know if you have any other questions.</p>

8

<p>Boston University's Tanglewood Institute has a Young Composers program in the summer you might take a look at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/tanglewood/composition.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/tanglewood/composition.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>My son (horn player at Juilliard) loves composition, and is taking some non-major comp. courses at school. He attended Brevard Music Camp one summer, and was able to study composition there with a teacher from Indiana University, and made leaps of progress. I strongly recommend you look at both places; Brevard for summer and Indiana U. for college.</p>

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<p>Interlochen would definitely be a fit for a "raw, talented kid". When D was there (junior/senior years of hs) the thing I was most impressed with was the percussion ensemble. It was amazing. Some of the kids came to Interlochen with raw talent. D's Interlochen roommate and best friend is a senior composition major at IU. She DID enter, however, with a strong classical voice background.</p>

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<p>University of Cincinnat, Conservatory of Music was ranked 0th in the US for music oomposition and 5th for conducting. You might want to seriously consider this school.</p>

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<p>0th ? is that good or bad?</p>

13

<p>Great suggestions, and I'm feeling better that we haven't doomed him to a no-options future.</p>

<p>I'm not a rankings driven, but would be interested in seeing what composition programs are listed; didn't know they existed for music programs. Is this a USNews category?</p>

14

<p>Flute, sorry for the typo. It should have said that University of Cincinnati was ranked 9th in composition. Damn, I wish we can edit our posts after 20 minutes of posting.</p>

15

<p>Very interested in the LAC approach. Any further suggestions of LAC's with strong music composition programs?</p>

16

<p>This from a composer friend, but still mostly East Coast:</p>

<p>"I'd suggest Brown if they're interested in electronic music at all (both Butch Rovan and Todd Winkler are fantastic) Tufts has John McDonald; I've had students who studied with him and liked him a lot. If the person is a woman, then Wellesley is great (Martin Brody.) Belmont University in Nashville is one of the top schools for commercial music if that's an interest. I think Charles Dodge is still at Dartmouth..."</p>

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<p>John McDonald is godly. </p>

<p>Tufts' new state-of-the-art music building is slated to be completed before the beginning of the spring semseter. It looks absolutely fabulous.</p>

18

<p>Brandeis and Duke have first-rate composition teachers.</p>

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<p>Clueless, if your son has the time and inclination, have him check out The Walden School as a possible summer program. <a href="http://www.waldenschool.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.waldenschool.org/&lt;/a> DS attended Walden for two (three? - sorry, having a senior moment) summers during high school, and his experiences there solidified for him the fact that he did, truly, want to study composition in college. The kids who attend come from all walks of life and levels of musical experience, and your son would have the opportunity to get a little more formalized training in composition as well as other musical experience. We thought it was a great place for a budding composer, and DS said that his summers at Walden were the best he ever had. LOL, he's gone back now for the past two years to participate in the Teacher Training Institute, still as a student. We keep saying that one day he'll teach there, and he doesn't deny that he'd love to be on staff. Someday, maybe.</p>

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<p>Thanks. Coincidentally, it turns out I have a colleague whose S is a junior comp major at Oberlin. Walden was specifically mentioned as a great experience.</p>

<p>We will definitely explore Walden, as well as Interlochen, Tanglewood and Brevard; would love to hear if there are other summer composition programs we should also be aware of.</p>