My son is a high school Junior, jazz guitarist. He has a high GPA and ACT score and is looking for schools with really good Jazz music programs. He doesn’t want a conservatory, since he also wants to minor in math or econ. We are in California and he knows about USC and UCLA but he wants to “go away” for college. Northwestern has come up, Cornell, Amherst, Oberlin – any other hidden gems that people could suggest would be greatly appreciated!
What is his desired career path?
He has no idea! Just knows that he loves music and wants to major in it. Also interested in Econ and math.
He might be interested in the joint programs Harvard and Tufts has. Harvard as two options: A joint program with Berklee School of Music and a joint program with New England Conservatory. Both are top jazz programs. He will graduate with a Master’s of Music in addition to a BA. University of Massachusetts is an excellent school with an amazing Jazz program. NYU also has a great Jazz program. University of Rochester is very strong academically and they have a special scholarship for non conservatory (Eastman) students who are majoring in the sciences. Columbia has a lot of students who are excellent Jazz musicians and it also has joint programs with MSM and with Juilliard.
It also depends what kind of music degree he wants, there can be a BA in music in which case he could major in music/jazz with a minor in whatever. You can also double degree, with a BM in Jazz performance and get a BA in something else. Some schools only offer a BM in performance (for example, I suspect but don’t know for certain that at USC or UCLA they may not offer a BA in music for performance, they may only have a BM). When they do offer a BA in performance, it generally has less of the theory and other classes a BM has,it is less ‘intensive’ (which may suit your son).
Elite schools like Columbia and the other ivies have strong music programs, but they don’t offer a performance degree at all, the BA they offer would be in theory, ethnomusicology, music history, etc), but they also strongly support music in the schools, so they have performance opportunities and with the Ivies I know of, they pay for lessons. Both Berklee and NEC have strong Jazz programs, so the joint program might be an option, but with those joint programs they are a very tough admit, that includes Juilliard/NEC (I think the Tufts one, if I remember what people have written on here, is a dual bachelors IE you get a BA from there, and a BM from the conservatory, others will comment).
In other words, there are a lot of options, and it will come down to your son and what he wants to do. If a program only has a BM, then he would need to do a dual degree from what I know if he wanted to do a non music related subject for a degree (my son is getting a BM from a conservatory and also is coming out with a minor in theory, but that is because they are both music related).
Thank you – this gives us a lot to think about. He loves the idea of Berklee/Harvard but it is such a tough program to get into…
Make sure that the presence of a conservatory (Oberlin) or music school (UCLA) on campus doesn’t have more cons than pros. Sometimes, in that case, the best teachers and performance opportunities go to the BM students in performance programs. (Ditto Eastman). Each school is a little different so you may have to probe deeply.
He can major in music and minor in or study other subjects. He can major in another area and continue music through classes, lesssons and performing. He can do a double degree. He can do a double major.
Tufts is a good suggestion- nice music department and strong in the other areas he is interested in,
I goofed…I had Julliard/NEC in my post, That would be a funny double degree program in that they both are conservatories lol…what I meant was both programs are tough to get into, the various wrinkles of dual degree. Columbia and Juilliard also have something called the exchange program, which is not a dual degree (kids in the exchange program apply to get into the dual program), where they study at Columbia but takes lessons and have some sort of performance opportunity at Juilliard. Kids in that program can apply for the joint program later, if they want the BA/MM joint program.
Just some perspective. My son graduated from a very competitive high school with a top Jazz program. His peers were all very skilled musicians who wanted to continue in music but only my son and another boy ended up attending conservatory. Although my son and the other boy both had the academic credentials to do a dual degree program both decided they wanted to focus on music and felt that being in a dual degree program would only be a distraction. The parents (meaning me and the other mom) comforted ourselves by saying that they would have the option at the conservatory of taking liberal arts classes at many of the excellent colleges in the area. My son never did. His friend on the other hand got interested in education and the theory around music education. He ended up co-authoring journal articles with a professor at Harvard who was teaching a liberal arts class at NEC. That boy is now at Harvard pursuing graduate work.
One of my favorite musician/composers my son has worked at as an undergraduate at NEC, graduated and was a working musician. But he also spent a lot of time writing while at NEC and two years after graduating took the LSAT and applied to law school and got in.
My son’s other peers (and good friends) went off to Columbia, University of Rochester, Pamplona, Harvard/MIT (student transferred to MIT). Most of the other boys were interested in being either pre-med or doing something with technology. They all started off playing music on the side, but most abandoned music as a serious pursuit given the demands and time requirements of their major. Summer’s were spent doing internships at places like Google and that did not lend itself to spending the time practicing and performing. They have all graduated and now the only one who is still a performance musician is my son.
On the other hand there was a young man who was a few years older than my son who was in our High School’s Jazz program who went off to Northeastern and studied Neuroscience. He found himself not wanting to leave the music behind and after graduating applied and was accepted to NEC’s Master’s of performance program. He is now a musician.
The point is: Nothing is set in stone and your son will find his path regardless of where he goes. Try not to “frame him” and let him apply to schools where he feels socially and emotionally safe and comfortable. The school doesn’t have to be the “best” in everything. It just has to be good and have the mentors your son needs so he can pursue what he is interested in.
Thanks all! I agree with the nothing is set in stone approach. Right now I think he needs to just research all the possibilities and go from there. I want him to always have music in his life, I hope he will.
Since he wants to double major, Hamilton, Amherst and Vassar are all good choices since they have few distribution requirements. We have heard the jazz groups at all three and they were excellent. Amherst was very friendly, Hamilton played a more progressive type of jazz and Vassar was a mix of everything! Both S1 and S2 had great experiences at Vassar in the jazz combos and in the big band. Another suggestion is Bucknell. A few years ago, we visited Bucknell and listened in on their jazz band rehearsal and were ‘blown away’ literally by their energy. So you might want to also check them out also. We also heard the Harvard group and they were just amazing. Lots of choices, be sure to check out the music department websites and visit during a rehearsal/concert if you can.
Hamilton would be exceptionally strong for economics, graduates math majors at ten times the national average and houses a Grammy nominated jazz professor in their music department (Woods, Music Educator Award):