<p>BassDad, you are correct in that he has only about 12 - 18 months to get up to speed with his new teacher. It was me who arbitrarily chose the 2 yr. time frame when I made that post. But thanks for the reminder because believe me, I need it. </p>
<p>-Allmusic-, I don't get it either. I knew my son was no slouch but I also know he's never worked very hard for his grades, always doing just the minimum. So in some ways his dad and I were pleasantly surprised (even shocked) when we learned earlier that he had an unweighted 3.8 gpa. Then the "lower half of the class" really threw us. But it is what it is.</p>
<p>Wonderful information received from everybody! Thank you. Now I feel much more confident about us visiting some of the schools with music programs later this summer!! Before I started this thread I was in a panic.</p>
<p>when D was in the auditioning/music school admissions world,some of her best sources of info were the other kids a year or two ahead of her in the youth orchestras and summer programs she attended...and their parents of course! Her private teacher,while lovely supportive and a great teacher,was on the "ditzy" side and not of much use. Rudysmom...is your S involved in music on a competitive level where he's meeting other kids like him? Is he attending a program this summer?</p>
<p>No strings music camp this summer. He's in marching band and made drum major so that's a camp he has to attend, along with many weeks of marching t/o the summer.</p>
<p>Then there are 2 consumerism summer school classes that he needs to take before graduation so we decided to get them both done this summer to open up next summer's schedule. So to answer your question, he is NOT involved with any other kids such as himself this summer, just marching band and none of them are that serious in their music. </p>
<p>I realize that he probably should have chosen his primary instrument (cello) long ago and concentrated on that alone, but I have to say, he's definitely a kid who likes to try it all and I didn't at the time see the harm in it. But I hope it hasn't short changed him in the long run. He's very outgoing and tries out (or is encouraged by band directors, etc.) for all of these things on his own and usually makes it.</p>
<p>The only competition he has been involved in is all-state which he is prepping for now & the next 4 months.</p>
<p>If you child is looking for music performance programs, do NOT just use your GC for advice (unless, of course, that person is a former professional musician:) ). Your student should also be talking to his private teacher, youth orchestra conductor, and any professional musicians you know. It could be that there will be some overlap on the list...and then again there might not be. I didn't read this whole thread so I apologize if this is OT.</p>
<p>He should be looking at some of the top auditioned programs for next summer then. Auditions for those start as early as December of this year and you may need to reserve an audition time slot a month or two in advance. There are some good threads here on CC about summer programs.</p>
<p>It sounds like his teacher starting this fall is at Northwestern or one of the other great music programs in the Chicago area. Not only is his teacher likely to be a great resource, he may be the teacher your son wants to stay with for college.</p>
<p>I found the parents in our S's Youth Orchestra to be immensely helpful. This is where I first learned about taking trial lessons during his junior year and about the need to apply separately to some of the conservatories if he wanted to pursue both classical performance and jazz studies. There seemed to be an enormous well of information that was passed from parent to parent and young musician to young musician. I am enormously grateful for all of that sharing of knowledge and experience. </p>
<p>We also did extensive research on our own that focused very specifically on our S's instrument and desire to double major in classical performance and jazz studies. We sought advice from a wide range of sources that included his private teachers (who are members of major orhestras and jazz ensembles) and a distant relative who is on a the music faculty at a prestigious university school of music. </p>
<p>The high school music faculty were also helpful and supportive of the music performance route our S had chosen as were the outstanding music, academic and GC faculty recommendations. His academics and SATs were decent, but not spectacular(1310/1950), unweighted GPA of 3.78, many honors classes at rigorous public high school with strong national rep., but no calculus (honors pre-calc finished in 11th grade) and no 4th year of foreign language so that he had extra time to practice/prepare for his auditions as both a classical and a jazz musician (double the repertoire). </p>
<p>He applied/auditioned to five programs (requiring separate applications/auditions for performance and jazz studies at each) and was accepted into the classical and jazz studios at four of the five including: Manhattan, Peabody, Oberlin and Michigan State University College of Music. </p>
<p>The hours of research and talking to everyone and their great aunt paid off. We found so many people who were willing to share what they new and provide much needed guidance and support. The school's GC was not a key resource, but we hadn't expected her to be one, so we were not surprised. In the end, we needed as much guidance with the decision on where to attend as where to apply.</p>
<p>Violadad: Yeah, Arnold Steinhardt was featured in MUSIC OF THE HEART.
The Emerson String Quartet is in residence at SUNY Stony Brook and my son was lucky enough to take master classes with them.</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide if my junior d's test scores are high enough that I can just let her forget about taking them again and spending the time practicing: SAT--verbal 750, math 690, writing 710; ACT--30; GPA 3.96. She wants to apply as a piano performance major to Rice, Oberlin, Eastman, New England, Indiana, Univ. of Oregon, Peabody, BU. I know that the strict stand alone schools don't put as much emphasis on academics. But the freshman profiles the other schools list are for all the depts, not just the music dept. Does anyone know if these scores tend to be lower or highter than the whole school's overall average?</p>
<p>My daughter was admitted as a performance major to Oberlin, NEC and Peabody with lower SAT scores and (if you are talking unweighted) lower GPA as well. She was not accepted at Rice and BU, but I believe that was mostly based on the relative strength of her audition (the double bass departments at both of those schools are among the top few in the country) and had very little to do with her test scores or GPA, which would have been at least adequate at either.</p>
<p>You can find a chart at <a href="http://oberlin.edu/instres/irhome/www/sche25/%5B/url%5D">http://oberlin.edu/instres/irhome/www/sche25/</a> that shows the average SAT scores for conservatory students and college students at Oberlin by year for the last 30 years. In most years, the SAT's of the conservatory students were a good 20-50 points lower in each category. I do not have this stats breakdown for anywhere else, but I think that the only school you mention where your daughter's test scores would not be substantially above average for performance majors is Rice. Be aware that Rice also requires SAT II subject tests even for performance majors.</p>
<p>Sounds like she's a strong student which all schools will appreciate. We've done some research about this subject. The conservatories (Oberlin, Eastman, NEC, Peabody) really don't care much - the audition is king. Her scores are plenty high for BU and Indiana (I don't know much about Oregon). If you are considering Northwestern, they are pretty strict about grades/scores needing to be about commensurate with their usual entrance standards. Rice is a hybrid. They require you to be academically pretty strong, but a good audition can take you over the bar even if your numbers are not quite as good as the rest of their entering class. I think she would be fine at Rice if they like her playing, but do take a look at their averages before taking my advice! Good luck.</p>
<p>SheriG,
You should be fine at all those schools. My D is halfway through Rice studying music performance. Her SATs were slightly lower than your D's, ranging from mid 600s - low 700s. Her GPA was lower too. I recall the only unusual academic requirement was an extra SAT II. By the way, of the academic schools you indicated, she was accepted at NU & Oberlin (although she only applied to their music schools.) She didn't apply to the other academic schools you list and scores mean nothing at the conservatories. Their primary academic requirement is being able to speak English, although that is no reflection on the intellect of their student body, just their entrance requirement.</p>
<p>Hi:
I was wondering if it's possible to major in music at Bard College, but not attend the conservatory. It looks like Bard has the conservatory and then they also have a B.A. in music at the college. It's a little confusing. Maybe someone here can explain it?</p>
<p>I also posted this on the Bard College thread.</p>
<p>Yes, it's completely possible. My S was accepted into the college but not the Conservatory. The director of the conservatory wrote him to say that the music major was excellent and that he could take lessons, join the ensembles and and participate in conservatory events without formal acceptance, but if he chose not too the music department shared faculty and resources with the conservatory. </p>
<p>It's a wonderful opportunity for a kid not quite up to a rigorous conservatory. DS chose Williams instead and is doing very well there, but I still have a soft spot for Bard. They were quite responsive to S and accepted him EA.</p>
<p>When we started looking for music schools for our son, we listed the Conservatories because mostly the grades and scores don't have a weight (though NEC has a GPA minimum). Then, I checked stats for every college that had a standout jazz program, and found where he fell solidly inside. For the ones where he was low (Miami, for example) I talked to him seriously about how much he would want to go there--turned out he didn't care for the huge size or the "rah-rah" reputation, so we dropped it. But, I do think that if it were a dream school, I would have encouraged him to just do it and get a killer audition together, because it does seem that that can be the deciding factor regardless of grades.</p>
<p>By the way, I think that jazz studies at Bard is only in the liberal arts curriculum, not even part of the Conservatory Fender Mom.</p>