great music performance studies/major in liberal arts or research college? dual degree?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi College Confidential folks:

My son is a junior. Has good grades (3.8 right now), and should do very well on SAT based on PSAT (98th percentile), good tutor, and based on overall being very good at standardized tests. He excels at math and science, especially Chem and Physics but says these are not his passions–he says music is. He is indeed an outstanding musician (emphasis on jazz piano) and is in several jazz bands, including two NYC bands he had to audition into for lead pianist role and got those spots. He is in a music program in high school with two periods of music per day.

As a family, we may not all agree (including my spouse and I). Very important to my husband that the school be as high level academically as our son can achieve. I certainly get the value of that having gone that path myself, but there is a lot to juggle here. Trying to learn as much as possible. I am listing the options I know of below but I don’t know enough and that’s why I am posting this. We will be sure to apply to reach, match and safety schools, so if the schools listed below seem to be all “reach,” don’t worry about that. These are the ones I am aware of. Right now, I am more trying to understand the paths, options. My son strongly prefers urban settings to other settings, but lets say that’s just one factor.

Here are the paths that seem to exist.

  1. Conservatory for B.M. such as Berkeley, Oberlin, New England School of Music, Peabody, etc. One could debate this but let’s just say that as a family, this won’t be a path he will be able to pursue, whether right or wrong.
  1. Dual Degree program at Oberlin, U of Rochester, Johns Hopkins, Temple ?, Carnegie Mellon, etc. This is a 5 year program where you graduate with a B.M. and a B.A. The schools say this is a rigorous program meant for one who plans to be a professional musician. I don't know they say this since you end up with both degrees but I assume it is the level of commitment required for the B.M. This could be a good option if my son really wants to pursue it, though my husband thinks the career options for a professional musician are very poor, and because our son has very high functioning Aspergers, perhaps teaching music on the side won't be a good way to support himself. I am more open minded on this all around, but I am concerned that he won't understand what is really involved here in this Dual Degree program, and that this will be a lot on his plate and won't let him have an enjoyable college experience with enough time to pursue other interests, basketball (another passion), clubs, and that when push comes to shove, he will emphasize the music over the academics if time is short, etc. I'd love to hear from anyone whose son/daughter is doing this with their experience.
  2. Attending a liberal arts college or research university that has very good music performance major and a big enough music program for that to be true year over year. Here, I really haven't identified many options. It seems that at many schools, majoring in music means studying history of music, and other academic aspects of music, which are not what my son wants. He is interested in performance, maybe composition and jazz studies. I am aware of Lawrence which sounds great. No idea if my son will be willing to go to Wisconsin for school though. As of right now, he seems to want to stay close to home in NYC (meaning max 5 hours). In fact, he has thrown out the idea of staying in NYC because he knows the level of music here is high. In any case, I don't want to close any doors at this stage, so we are open to places no matter where, but would prefer something closer to NYC.

So far, we have visited U of Rochester and Wesleyan. Though Wesleyan is listed in Fiske book as being “strong” in music, we realized in talking to the music department folks that this would be way beneath what our son is looking for (e.g., the jazz ensemble is a class that you take once per week and anyone can audition in). So that isn’t the type of place that we need. U of Rochester which might be good, though we didn’t actually hear any music performances. I know they have a lot of music going on there, and of course, they have Eastman. I asked them and they said he could study in courses/lessons at Eastman if he auditions in (let’s assume he will) but as to the spots in the ensembles, preference is given to the conservatory students. Still, this and Lawrence are the best options I have come up with so far.

Others have mentioned a) Yale (I realize incredibly hard to get into), but do they even have a good music performance major?, b) Lafayette?, c) Bard (do they have math and science strength)?, d) SUNY Purchase (math and science offerings look limited?), Northeastern, Northwestern?

All of the traditional New England schools I know of (Hamilton, Union, etc.) don’t seem to have the sorts of robust, large, music programs we had in mind.

So with all that, if you have any suggestions or input for us, I would love to hear it.
thank you!!

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How about Oberlin (mid west-strong science-dual degree with conservatory) Bard (Great conservatory but academics less rigorous NY dual degree)?

We are in same boat actually. LACs with strong programs but not conservatories I have researched are Vassar, St Olaf (known for math-great music program) and Williams. Brandeis is supposed to be pretty good too. They seem to have some really strong chamber groups. My D goes to the equivalent a music magnet HS and others look at BU, Tulane (jazz), Vanderbilt, USC (Thorton and good merit too) Northwestern.

We looked pretty hard at St Olaf. Its in Northfield MN which was a turn off for my D. Though music is a very serious part of the school The facilities were fantastic. The environment was very supportive. Their math program is supposed to be excellent. Its not East Coast but worth a look. I could see an aspie doing well there (I have one too just not college age).

Oh and Wesleyan has been suggested but we haven’t looked at it. I think the focus might be modern music-mine is classical so it got nixed. We probably should have explored it further.

We are still touring schools so I can update in a few weeks. Lawrence is her safety though.

3

Check out University of Miami Frost School of Music. They seem to have excellence with jazz, are a conservatory within a traditional university, and are in a nice suburban area of a major metro city. I was quite impressed when we visited and have a child who had applied for next year. They offer lots of options for a BM and also offer a BA degree. Their “cognates” structure seems to make it easier for kids to double major in music and an unrelated field than at some places.

Also look into Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Strong sciences. They have a joint program with Cleveland Institute of Music so your son could major in a science at CWRU—and still take lessons in his instrument and theory courses at Cleveland Institute of Music.

4

This should be asked on the Music Major forum where you’ll get many knowledgeable answers. For one thing, many of the programs listed above are more for classical performance than for jazz. For instance, Bard Conservatory does not offer jazz - that is a pursuit at Bard College itself and not for a double degree, although a double major is possible. I also think you may have gotten the wrong impression at Wesleyan somehow - it has a wonderful music department, and great jazz musicians have come out of it - like Tyshawn Sorey who just won the MacArthur prize.

The very first thread that should be read in these circumstances is the Double Degree Dilemma written by the former admissions’ director at Peabody and published on CC with his permission: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1948726-double-degree-dilemma-essay-written-by-david-lane-p1.html

If he wants strong academics and jazz, and to stay in NYC, he should look at Columbia which is the standard choice for such students. He can always supplement the courses by gigging in the city, or taking classes at Juilliard or Manhattan. A jazz pianist I know did the Harvard/NEC BA/MM so he could work with a professor he liked at NEC. Tufts/NEC’s BA/BM is another option. As a jazz pianist he’ll want to pick a program that fits his aesthetic. Eastman, NEC, New School, Juilliard, Manhattan - they’re all quite different! He needs to speak with people he respects in the music community about which programs would be the best fit for him.

There is much about this subject already on the Music Major forum - for all of your different questions.

5

@browniemom, Williams has a vibrant music culture as well as superb math, sciences and computer science. Double majoring is common, even encouraged, and every year there are several kids pursuing music/math, music/science combinations.

Williamstown may not be your son’s ideal environment, but the Berkshires have a sophisticated arts and music offerings, including Tanglewood. Williams is about 2 hours from Boston and more or less 4 hours from New York.

The music department is smallish but definitely robust, supported by a strongly musical student body. The website says “nearly 500 students participate in music at Williams each year.”

Williams music department offers a wide range of performance opportunities and several jazz oriented ensembles. They have at least 3 practicing jazz musicians on the faculty, beautiful facilities (with beautiful pianos) and an engaged student body.

Your son might reach out to Kris Allen (Artist in Residence in Jazz Activities/lecturer in Music, Director of the Jazz Ensemble) for more information
https://music.williams.edu/category/ensembles/

My son had two close musician friends at Williams, one classical piano, one jazz saxophone. They majored in other disciplines but performed regularly, and although they chose other career paths, music is still an important part of who they are.