<p>I'm a senior in high school Ive been playing classical violin for 8 years now and I've been a member of the empire state youth orchestra for 4 years. I'm looking for a school that has a really strong music program, and is a good place for music majors and I was checking out suny new Paltz as an option. Is that a good school for music majors?</p>
<p>It’s not one of the top three SUNY schools for music. Is there a particular reason why you’re looking there? What do you hope to do with a music major/career?</p>
<p>Oh, it’s just close to home, but no big deal.</p>
<p>What are the top three schools?
Which would you consider the best?</p>
<p>SUNY Potsdam, Fredonia, Purchase are generally considered the best state schools in NY for music. If New Paltz is close to home, you should check out Bard College and maybe College of St Rose (both private).</p>
<p>Western Connecticut State in Danbury is also well known for music, especially music ed.</p>
<p>stradmom got it just right regarding the SUNY shools. Keep in mind that SUNY Potsdam has the Crane School of Music, which is a conservatory within the university. Another place that you might want to look at would be Hartt in Connecticut, which has a very good string program and usually has some good scholarship money available if you’re what they’re looking for- another plus there is that they have an early December audition date, which is non-binding for EA, so you can get one audition under your belt before the rest of the season gets going.</p>
<p>My advice to you is stay as far away from SUNY New Paltz as possible. The music section and practice rooms are atrocious.</p>
<p>SUNY Fredonia, while a commendable program, lacks good facilities. This isn’t a reflection on the faculty, but the music building was not built to house instruments and the pianos that are used on a regular basis in classrooms and rehearsal rooms are constantly in horrendous condition. The pianos are consistantly near unplayable, and regardless of whether you are a keyboardist you will find you need to use the instruments in classes and with an accompanist.</p>
<p>The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam is my alma mater and going there was hands down the best decision I could have made. The building is climate controlled, pianos are new and serviced regularly. Furthermore, Crane is one of the few schools that have an on-site instrument technician which comes at no additional cost to the student. For instance, if your instrument should need repairing you can submit it on campus and it is done in an extremely timely manner. Glenn Griegl is an absolute professional and a gift for any student in such a situation.</p>
<p>Hope this serves you well!</p>
<p>Additionally, for strings I understand SUNY Stony Brook has a fantastic program, although I cannot speak on my own experience with the school, but I think a visit would be worth your time.</p>
<p>It was always my impression (as an outsider) that Stony Brook is the biggest name music program of the SUNY’s for performance, and that the upstate schools (especially Potsdam and Fredonia) are the go-to places for music ed.</p>
<p>SUNY Purchase is the NY State Music Conservatory. I looked on the Stony Brook music website since it isn’t a school that comes to mind for performance. They offer a BA degree. Under faculty, I see a long list of professors under “Graduate Performance” and a short list under “Undergraduate Performance”. There does not appear to be a prescreen requirement.</p>
<p>It is true that because Purchase is in the mold of an LAC, it only offers select masters degrees in a few instruments and composition; whereas the large research university Stony Brook has full fledged degree programs in all subfields of music from the undergrad through the masters and DMA or PhD levels.</p>
<p>I also agree that for music ed, the upstate schools are the places to be.</p>
<p>I don’t know why Stony Brook’s website separates its faculty under UG performance and G performance. I know for a fact that some of the names under G performance also teach undergrads.</p>
<p>I’ve visited both Purchase and Stony Brook many years ago, and both have a music school feel to them. Neither campuses exactly wow you, but both have active music major communities, and both are fairly well regarded in the tri-state area, even if not at the seem esteem as, say, the Upper West Side conservatories.</p>
<p>Back to the OP: I don’t know much about music at New Paltz, but Fredonia, Potsdam, SBU, and Purchase do have decent reputations for music in the SUNY system.</p>
<p>I had thought of Stony Brook being strong in string performance if for no other reason than the fact that the Emerson String Quartet is in residence. But none of the four are listed in the undergraduate string faculty. Goes to show, you learn something everyday.</p>
<p>Stonybrook per their website offers a BA in music. So if you like the studio teacher and want a broader liberal arts education consider it. New Paltz is offering a Bachelor of Science in Music. So you would still be taking advantage of more general education electives than a Bachelor of Music degree. Stony Brook is very strong for graduate Strings… Nick Walker, Bass Prof at Ithaca college received his doctorate there.</p>
<p>As others have already posted, Purchase for performance, and Fredonia or Potsdam for education if you are interested in SUNY schools for music.</p>
<p>Just a note, son did check out Fredonia 2 years ago and they had some beautiful new rehearsal spaces and they told son they will be adding more classrooms so music majors would have the option of taking all general ed courses in the music school for more of a “conservatory atmosphere”. (For full disclosure, son is at Potsdam as a music ed/perfomance major.) Potsdam is building a brand new fine arts building and connecting it to the existing music school so it too will have more facilities within the next few years.</p>
<p>Since you are in ESYO, talk to some of your violinist friends who graduated last year and see where they would recommend you apply.</p>
<p>My son is a jazz guitarist with honor level all other classes in high school…he’s not sure what he wants to be someday but says he might want to be an eye surgeon. he is very good at jazz guitar and loves music and music theory. He studies privately with a jazz guitar teacher now for 6 years. He would like to go to a college that provides him with all the classes that enable him to get into medical school but likes the idea of being a music major. Is this possible? the medical school sites say they dont care what your major is as long as you get good grades in school, the mcats, and take all the premed prerequisites…his dad can pay for a SUNY education. Which is the best school for him? Any thoughts? He is right beside me and laughing about how I got on this site :)</p>
<p>momofbassist: we meet again, I cant speak for the string section but my D is graduating with a double major in music performance / music business from Potsdam and has been excepted into MM in performance in some pretty top end Universities for this coming year. I really believe the performance venues are at Potsdam but it is what you make of them. Yes Potsdam is best known for ed but I think their performance program is also very strong</p>
<p>Swetebuterfly, some schools do have a music major designed for students who want their grad studies in another field. It’s best to check out schools that offer jazz guitar and speak to professors about his career plans.</p>