<p>I am asking this on behalf of a friend. How often / possible is it for someone who has an undergrad degree in a non-music related field (eg.biology), to try to get into a top grad school for jazz performance or any other music program at grad school level for that matter.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>How hard would it be for someone with a degree in music to get into a top graduate program in biology? Probably about the same odds.</p>
<p>Maybe not. My son has two academic majors, but still studies music privately with performing and writing professonals, as well as playing in an ensemble. I don't know about a "top" grad school, but I don't think talent and preparation are necessarily tied to an undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>After all, the OP's friend must have been involved in jazz all along, or else why would he consider it at this point?</p>
<p>What matters-- in performance fields-- is the audition. If, thanks to pre- or post-college training in performance or to extremely high level extracurricular musical studies during college, you play as well as someone else who has a BM in your instrument, it will not matter what you majored in.
Not an easy thing to pull off, but definitely possible.</p>
<p>I don't know about grad programs in jazz. But to get into a grad program in classical music performance, you need to have taken the core courses of an undergraduate music major. </p>
<p>The undergraduate requirements vary from school to school. Some have a 3-year music theory sequence, for example, while another school might have only one semester of theory required. Most have some kind of music history requirement as well. Usually a grad program wants its students to have met the equivalent of ITS undergraduate degree requirements.</p>
<p>I have known some very talented people who got their undergrad in one area and their master's in music. The audition is the thing. There are likely to be some theory and musicology requirements at well but my guess is that if you audition well enough they may be willing to do a conditional admit requiring you to complete undergrad classes within a certain period of time.</p>
<p>The "top" schools have plenty of applicants for graduate level training. Almost all of them will have completed UG music performance. There may be some exceptions for a poor background in theory, ear, keyboard, and history but it would take some serious talent and training to also compete for admission with the BM applicants.</p>