<p>Hey there, I am a junior in high school and have recently decided that a music major is my best option. I have been playing the piano for 11 years, the saxophone for 6 and singing ever since I remember. I have good grades and am in IB, so I don't necessarily have to go to a conservatory. I was interested in a degree in performance, but I don't want to have to choose one musical outlet over the other. I compose my own songs for piano and vocals, but I am also interested in going into classical saxophone. What are my options to be able to keep up with it all?</p>
<p>Sometimes a smaller school can make that happen for you, while larger schools don’t permit crossovers. I seem to recall that Susquehanna University’s music department allows students to study two instruments simultaneously, for instance.</p>
<p>A BA rather than a BM program may also give you flexibility. Another (more complicated) approach would be to apply to different programs on the different instruments and put off the choice until April of senior year.</p>
<p>To be honest, there is just no market for classical saxophone…unless you were wanting to teach applied sax at the college level. I love playing my saxophone but am very glad I majored in music ed, as there are really just no gigs for classical saxophonists. Something to think about…</p>
<p>Timothy McAllister plays classical saxophone and teaches at Arizona State U. John Adams is composing a concerto for him which is about to be performed in Brazil, Singapore, Sydney and Baltimore. Sounds like a gig to me!</p>
<p>The saxophone is used more and more in new music. A growing body of work.</p>
<p>I am a little concerned by this statement, which may have been inadvertent:" I have good grades and am in IB, so I don’t necessarily have to go to a conservatory" Just want to make sure that you know that people don’t go to conservatory because their grades aren’t good and they can’t get in anywhere else!! Conservatory students are among the brightest and most disciplined students. Many practice hours each day. The question is, do you want to go to college or conservatory? And is your playing of any instrument at a high enough level to apply, in a very competitive pool of dedicated musicans?</p>
<p>I seem to have been posting this a lot lately, and hope it is helpful to you: [Peabody</a> Institute - Conservatory Admissions: The Double Degree Dilemma](<a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/doubledegree]Peabody”>http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/doubledegree) A performance degree is most often a BM degree, which you can work for at a conservatory or music school (including those affiliated with universities or colleges, where you can sometimes do a double degree).</p>
<p>Some BA degrees allow for performance study, but many don’t, and are instead academic degrees with classes in theory, music history, composition, ethnomusicology, technology in music and so on. There are extracurricular musical organizations, as well as, often, an opportunity to take private lessons.</p>
<p>Another option is to enroll in a school and do music outside of school entirely, on your own.</p>
<p>If you can clarify what you are interested in a little more over the next year or so, people on this forum can help you with choices too. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think it is wonderful that you love music and are involved in music in many ways. Since you are a junior, you have time to think about all this.</p>
<p>I also frequently recommend a book entitled “Creative Colleges,” available online, and there are also Peterson’s guides for performing arts, to help you look at potential schools. There will be many, many schools for you to think about that have good music programs.</p>
<p>SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music will let you study more than one instrument or voice. You need to be accepted into both studios. Son has several friends who are doing this with differing levels of success since you would need to pass levels and juries for both to stay in the studios and it is difficult to devote enough time to play both at a high level. Baldwin Wallace in Ohio allows secondary instruments and the Hartt School in Hartford, CT did have some joint study options available but I’m not certain if it included all instruments or depended on the primary studio teacher.</p>
<p>Classical sax will slowly become more mainstream. It already has a huge repertoire. My daughter plans on studying both sax and oboe. Sax has so much more music written for it than oboe.</p>
<p>Tim McAlister is now at Northwestern.</p>
<p>Eastman allows one to major in one instrument, and to take lessons on other instruments with the main professor of that instrument. At least, that is what we were told there. Peabody allows a double performance major–to study two instruments. The other major conservatories do not allow study on more than one instrument. I imagine that a number of state university would allow studies on more than one instrument. After all, all performance majors are REQUIRED to take piano.</p>
<p>Woodwinds - you’re right! I hadn’t realized he’d moved to Northwestern this fall. They’re lucky to have him. And he’s co-director of their Institute for New Music. Kudos to Northwestern.</p>
<p>I was not saying she should not major in classical saxophone - I was just being realistic and pointing out that it is VERY difficult to make a living playing classical sax. If you’re into jazz, you have many more options, but with classical sax, it’s either teach or have another job while you wait for that solo that MIGHT come around every once in a blue moon. The only other option is to become a member of a sax quartet, but those jobs are even fewer. Can one make a living doing that? Sure - one of my dearest friend’s dream job was to be a member of the Rascher Quartet - and he got the gig! But that is SO rare.</p>
<p>And as several people have pointed out, teaching at the college level is a good gig - but kids going into college need to know that teaching is the most likely option for a classical sax performance major, with performing on the side. I did not know that when I originally thought about being a classical sax performance major. Unless someone tells you that, you don’t just jump to that conclusion when you are in 11th grade. Also, I don’t know of anyone who makes a living on classical sax by ONLY performing - unless they are part of a quartet. Does anyone know of a sax soloist, in which that is all that he/she does? I could be wrong…wouldn’t be the first time. :)</p>
<p>Actually saxlady I agree with you. Although it is very difficult for any musician to get a good orchestra job, saxophonists cannot even do that. That’s why my daughter wants a double degree, or at least will study one instrument and continue studies on the other woodwinds. I do think that some saxophonists do earn a living soloing when they are young–Amy Dickson comes to mind–but most soloists don’t want to do that forever, and move on to teaching later. I think the OP is smart to want to study sax, singing and piano. As many people write on this forum, musicians cobble together a career from several jobs or multiple gigs.</p>
<p>A lot of people are going to disagree with me, but music education majors have the most well rounded music program. They learn multiple instruments, plus at many schools if not most, they take the exact same core curriculum of music theory, aural skills, music history, and performance ensembles.</p>
<p>My son’s first career choice is performance, but he decided that a music ed degree fit his interest better than a performance curriculum as like you, he plays multiple instruments. He like piano best, but since he was a late comer to piano (started playing halfway through his high school jr. year), and since piano is crazy competitive with people who started playing when they were 5 years old, he decided to audition on trumpet. </p>
<p>This semester in his music ed program he is taking private trumpet classes and is playing trumpet in at least one ensemble (two if his audition for the top wind ensemble went well), but he is also taking a piano class and a clarinet class. Last semester he took a voice class - he loved the class but got his first (and hopefully only) “C” in college because he really can’t sing.</p>
<p>Some colleges offer a “performance certificate” program in which non-performance majors are treated like performance majors, they have to practice just as much, and get the same instructors as performance majors, have to meet all the same performance requirments (recitals, juries, etc) as performance majors - yet they can major in anything they want to. At my son’s college less than half of the accepted students are allowed into the performance certificate program, but it’s a great option for someone interested in performance, but who doesn’t want to major in performance. The performance certificate is indicated on the final transcript although it is not on the diploma, but the diploma will read “XXX degree with a distinction is music performance”.</p>