<p>Hi,
i'm Italian, 23 years old. I'm strongly thinking of leaving Italy to study Composition in the U.S. starting from fall 2008. I'm very open musically and i like especially classical music from the 900 ..Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Copland (also some minimalism like adams, glass ecc)..but i can't deny that i also love Beethoven, Mozart, Bach (who doesn't?!).
I have had 2 years of private Lessons in Composition (i know how to write a 2 part invention) ....and i have a good background in Music Theory. My only lack is sight-reading on Piano since i don't practice too much.
My goal is to have a strong background in composition and would love to become a Film Composer, so i would like to be in an "open-minded" school (not so "trasgressive" as CalArts and not so Conservative like Curtis, Oberlin or others). I heard good things about NEC!
Btw I'm currenty looking at these Schools:</p>
<p>New England Conservatory<br>
Boston Conservatory
Suny Fredonia
New York University
Itaca<br>
Mannes </p>
<p>Other top Schools like Julliard, Manhattan, Eastman i think are too difficult to get in...
Which one do you suggest for my case and why?!</p>
<p>Please help me (especially WindCloudUltra, Bassdad and others :).. ) since i have to send all the Applications!!!!
Francesco</p>
<p>Hi violadad thanks for the reply...yes i've already read the Composition thread...i was just trying some suggestion more specific for my case..i never heard about Hartt; will check that also! i just had private lessons so i'm looking for an undergraduate Degree (Bm). Thanks</p>
<p>p.s. "NEC (and Mannes) for that matter can be as as tough an admit as Juilliard, Manhattan, or Eastman"...well just looking on the websites the admission to NEC requires "only" 3 compositions and no live-audition, while Manhattan Julliard and Eastman have a very though live - audition also on an instruments...</p>
<p>alfr3dd- I stand corrected, I was assuming (from an instrumental experience perspective) that NEC and Mannes would require and instrumental audition component. I did not specifically check the websites.</p>
<p>I have only a passing familiarity with composition programs and cannot add much to the information you have gotten from the other thread. In terms of financial aid to international students, Oberlin is much more generous than most. I realize the composition department has something of a reputation there, but you may wish to have a look in case you can find someone you would be willing to study with, just because the aid may be there.</p>
<p>If you have the academic credentials, Princeton and MIT both have very good composition departments. They are often overlooked by people considering a composition major because they are extremely hard to get into and because neither is thought of as a hardcore music performance school.</p>
<p>My S may not be as serious as other composers, but he went a different route. He wanted a BA, but he also wanted to spend his undergraduate time playing and composing music. He chose Williams because David Kechley was interested in his compositions (modern) and S liked Kechley's work. (You can listen to composers on faculty.) He has a student symphony, chamber groups and a semi-professional orchestra to preview works.</p>
<p>His best friend, a multi-award winning composer who spend his entire childhood at Juilliard and could easily have attended, chose Princeton for composition (for cello he plans on traveling in NYC for current teacher.) </p>
<p>S wants to write movie music so wants to take film courses and courses in narrative structure among others.</p>
<p>Perhaps this approach is not rigorous enough for you; I'm not sure. Bear in mind that most Conservatory composition programs will also want you to audition on your primary instrument. At least that was our experience.</p>
<p>Purchase is about 1/2-1 hour from New York City by car or bus/train depending on time of day, and many faculty also teach or have taught at the major NYC music schools, and are active or former performing musicians with NY based orchestras and ensembles.</p>
<p>Fredonia is in western NY state on the shores of Lake Erie. Closest major metropolitan area is Buffalo NY, known for the nasty winters and large annual snowfalls due to lake effect weather patterns. </p>
<p>There are noted music faculty at a number of the SUNY schools. Perhaps others can provide more specific detail about the composition programs or faculty.</p>
<p>Why are you only looking at SUNY Fredonia and Purchase? SUNY Buffalo has a fantastic composition department with David Felder currently heading the program. We're known mostly for 20th-21st century music (specifically Morty Feldman) but we have plenty of classical composers as well, and at the moment we have quite a bit of funding available. Every summer we have the June in Buffalo music festival, which provides an opportunity for new composers to be on the same program as well-known ensembles and major composers.</p>
<p>Just as a matter of interest as well, Paulo Cavellone goes to UB, he's a wonderful pianist and composer from Italy, fairly well known there, and he's won several awards in Italy and the US. </p>
<p>Also, SUNY Univ. at Buffalo isn't in the lake effect snow region so winters are hardly as awful as they're made to sound. As someone from the warm southern states moving to Buffalo wasn't nearly as bad a shock as I thought it would be!</p>
<p>Hi,
just to update my situation....i'm sending the admissions next week to these Schools:</p>
<p>Ithaca
NEC
Boston Conservatory
Hartt
Peabody
New York University (Steinhardt)</p>
<p>if anyone has any other school that might interest me i would be very happy to add it to this list since more schools are always better (i know most of them will reject me!)
again, i'm searching for a "open-minded" school and not so avantgarde/conservative ....i basically just write tonal music (for now) and would like to compose for movies. Thanks !</p>
<p>Are you deliberately not considering the West Coast - as too far away? If not, take a look at USC. They have a fabulous film school, and once you complete a BM in composition at the music school you are guaranteed admittance to their graduate program in film composition. USC is completely tied in to the entertainment business. I would recommend UCLA, as well, for an aspiring film composer, but for an International student it would be very expensive. As a safety school you might look into Chapman in Orange County. It, too, has an incredible, and incredibly funded, film school.</p>