intro and question - music compositon/piano

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I'm the mom of 2 seniors. One is VERY interested and VERY GOOD at composition. He's not an academic. Has a 3.0 average, and 1880 on the SATs.. We live in MA, and we don't have a lot of money to fly him around everywhere.. </p>

<p>So far his top choices are BU, UNH, and Hartt School of music. He particularly loves BU, but we don't have a lot of $$$...</p>

<p>Can anyone recommend schools with really good music/composition/piano departments, that offer good financial aid.. He also is quiet... not a party guy...</p>

<p>Thanks...</p>

<p>Chalkboard 2010</p>

2

<p>Well as has been mentioned on another thread somewhere, Rice is one of the best places to go if you are looking for need-based financial aid. They have a GREAT composition program because of the small size of the school of music, which allows for more opportunities for composers to have their works played. If your son has what it takes to get into the Shepherd School for composition, then the school will likely bend the requirements for his academics (although he should probably raise his SAT just to be safe).</p>

<p>A school that might be an easier admit but also has a great program as well as great financial aid would be UNC Greensboro. Definitely worth a look.</p>

<p>U Maryland is also known as one of the best for financial aid and they have a very good music school as well (although I don’t have any knowledge about their composition program).</p>

3

<p>Here are some other schools to consider.</p>

<p>Keene State has a BA in Music with concentration in composition.</p>

<p>SUNY Potsdam/Crane has a BA in Musical Arts with concentration in composition.</p>

4

<p>Don’t BU, UNH and Hartt have good financial aid?</p>

<p>SUNY Purchase (Purchase College) outside NYC is good for music (conservatory) and affordable.</p>

<p>Another route might be Sarah Lawrence or Bennington: that kind of school is alternative but affords a lot of freedom to compose as part of studies</p>

5

<p>Well, I honestly don’t know about the financial aide at BU, UNH, or Hartt School. I need to check further into these. </p>

<p>My son looked at Keene State. He did not like it. Didn’t really say why… but that’s off the list. His teacher recommended some SUNY schools, but I am not sure we want to go that route.</p>

<p>Rice, Shepherd school is too far away. We don’t have the money to fly him to Texas. I feel that I am restricting him by putting geographical limitations (car ride or cheap plane ticket). His teacher likes Vanderbilt, but then we’d have to get him to Tennessee and back. </p>

<p>I was on the Peabody website and they looked good. I was hoping to have all the places where he was going to apply to done by the summer. I am wondering if 3 definite schools are enough… or if we should shop around some more… He says he really loves BU and wants to go there… I just don’t know if academically he will get in… and I don’t know if we will get enough financial aid from them to make it feasible… </p>

<p>He’s not a cut-throat competitive type guy. He likes collaborating with people…</p>

6

<p>Clark is a good school with a good music department (Worcester MA), and offers a BA.</p>

<p>BU has a conservatory, and musical talent would help with admissions there and many places. Peabody and Hartt are conservatories, of course. UNH offers a BM, as does UMass (check out UMass Lowell’s music programs, which are excellent, and Amherst as well). Bennington and Sarah Lawrence offer a BA but with a lot of freedom to spend time on music classes.</p>

<p>Is your son applying for a BM or a BA at any of these schools?</p>

<p>If he is applying to conservatory or the music school in a university, is he working on a portfolio of compositions? He will need 3-4 compositions on CD, some of which should be played by good musicians as opposed to Finale. Sometimes musicians need to be hired: many will volunteer or play for low fees for a high school student. The deadline is usually December 1, though it may vary.</p>

<p>If he is applying for a BA program, then he could submit an arts supplement with a CD of one composition, perhaps cued to the best few minutes, along with music teacher letters of recommendation, programs, and so on.</p>

<p>If he plays the piano or other instrument really well, then a CD of that can also be included. BU and the state universities also require an audition on an instrument, for composers. I don’t remember about Hartt but I think Hartt may just require the portfolio.</p>

<p>UMass Lowell and Northeastern have other music programs such as music technology or business (I forget the actual terminology).</p>

<p>Don’t forget that with adequate academics, music ability can be a “hook” that helps with admissions for a BA. When applying for a BM, musical ability is more important than academics, generally speaking (though at some places you have to be admitted for both, this is not even true at some conservatories). Some conservatories really don’t care about academics at all. The audition or portfolio is the main thing.</p>

<p>You may want to stick with schools of either type that offer need based aid, unless you feel your son could earn a lot of merit aid. Conservatories such as NEC don’t offer much aid of either kind to most applicants.</p>

7

<p>Clark is a good school with a good music department (Worcester MA), and offers a BA.</p>

<p>He visited Clark this summer. No one was available to interview with him at that time. It was not bad, but we did not think it was a good fit for him. My son at this point is probably more B.M. than BA material. </p>

<p>BU has a conservatory, and musical talent would help with admissions there and many places. Peabody and Hartt are conservatories, of course. </p>

<p>Both BU and Hartt were good fits musically. We are thinking about visiting Peabody. </p>

<p>UNH offers a BM, as does UMass (check out UMass Lowell’s music programs, which are excellent, and Amherst as well). </p>

<p>We liked UNH. We’ve seen Amherst, didn’t really like it. We need to visit UMass Lowell. I don’t think they have a composition program.</p>

<p>Bennington and Sarah Lawrence offer a BA but with a lot of freedom to spend time on music classes.</p>

<p>We have not looked at these. </p>

<p>Is your son applying for a BM or a BA at any of these schools?
BM… I think. He’s strong musically…</p>

<p>If he is applying to conservatory or the music school in a university, is he working on a portfolio of compositions? </p>

<p>Yes, he has some for solo piano, a violin sonata… He’s composed in other genres, which are played and not scored. </p>

<p>He will need 3-4 compositions on CD, some of which should be played by good musicians as opposed to Finale. </p>

<p>Yes, he has this (live performance)</p>

<p>Sometimes musicians need to be hired: many will volunteer or play for low fees for a high school student. The deadline is usually December 1, though it may vary. </p>

<p>If he is applying for a BA program, then he could submit an arts supplement with a CD of one composition, perhaps cued to the best few minutes, along with music teacher letters of recommendation, programs, and so on.</p>

<p>If he plays the piano or other instrument really well, then a CD of that can also be included. </p>

<p>Yes, he does play the piano really well and he is auditioning. </p>

<p>BU and the state universities also require an audition on an instrument, for composers. I don’t remember about Hartt but I think Hartt may just require the portfolio.</p>

<p>There’s an audition at Hartt as well. </p>

<p>UMass Lowell and Northeastern have other music programs such as music technology or business (I forget the actual terminology).</p>

<p>Don’t forget that with adequate academics, music ability can be a “hook” that helps with admissions for a BA. When applying for a BM, musical ability is more important than academics, generally speaking (though at some places you have to be admitted for both, this is not even true at some conservatories). Some conservatories really don’t care about academics at all. The audition or portfolio is the main thing.</p>

<p>You may want to stick with schools of either type that offer need based aid, unless you feel your son could earn a lot of merit aid. </p>

<p>Maybe for music… </p>

<p>Conservatories such as NEC don’t offer much aid of either kind to most applicants. </p>

<p>Yeah, we don’t have the money for NEC at this point.</p>

8

<p>Many here have mentioned the BA with concentrations in composition. My school (Illinois Wesleyan University) offers the BM program in composition in our School of Music, so you might check into it. The 3.0 is going to hurt him to get in here, but could try. I know quite a few people in the composition program and it’s actually a pretty strong program for undergrad composition since not every school offers the BM in that. Also, I’m a piano major.</p>

9

<p>Here’s the BM Composition info: [Illinois</a> Wesleyan: Bachelor of Music](<a href=“Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Performance | Illinois Wesleyan”>Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Performance | Illinois Wesleyan) </p>

<p>As far as financial aid, I don’t know…there are some pretty good scholarships here but competitive to get, and I’m not sure as far as need-based aid.</p>

10

<p>iluvpiano, by coincidence, I just heard a fantastic concert last night in Philadelphia that included faculty from Illinois Wesleyan (a vocalist and a pianist.) I spoke briefly to the pianist, a professor there, after the concert and he gave me an impression that the school is a wonderful choice for double-majors.</p>

11

<p>Oh I bet I know who you saw there…I’m sure you’re talking about the piano professor I have for lessons. I’m sending you a PM with the name. He told me he was going to Philadelphia for the weekend to play a few recitals.</p>

12

<p>Well, it sounds like he is in pretty good shape for conservatory/BM program applications! BU, UNH, Hartt and Peabody sound like great choices (the first 3 would have good financial aid, I would think, and I don’t know about Peabody but since it is part of Johns Hopkins, there is a good chance there too.) To me, your first list looks great, but others have added some good suggestions.</p>

<p>Our daughter is a composer and did not decide until almost May 1 whether to do a conservatory or college. For her, honestly, money was an issue at NEC and some of the other freestanding conservatories. Oberlin had pretty good aid/scholarships. Her instrument is classical guitar which, amazingly, was not a possible instrument for audition at BU, UMass, UNH, Bard or Curtis (Hartt has a great guitar program), so she applied to conservatories where an instrumental audition was not required of composition applicants.</p>

<p>In her travels to various schools, she heard over and over that composers should go to college and get a broad education, that people compose into old age and there is plenty of time, etc. To be honest, she got pretty annoyed at these lectures, and appreciated the composition chair at NEC, who was the fairest and most balanced when she talked to him about her decisions.</p>

13

<p>I honestly think it’s an error to think that you’ll necessarily save money by keeping him close. First of all, many of the best bang for buck schools will be outside of your geographic prescription. If you’re saving thousands per year in tuition (or avoiding thousands in loans) for a great education, the flights are worth it. Second, it’s worth actually looking at plane tickets to and from each place that comes up. My family is in Tennessee. I went to BU, and my sister to a college in Jackson, Mississippi. My transportation costs were significantly lower than hers. Gas is expensive, and small airports even more so, much of the time.</p>

14

<p>My daughter is a freshman music ed/oboe major at UNH (and I am assuming you mean U of New Hampshire - not New Haven.) She loves it! Their music program is very strong.</p>

<p>My son is a senior in HS. He is a composer/pianist. He currently takes composition lessons from a professor at UNH. The schools he is thinking of applying to is UNH, Berklee, Hartt, Temple/Boyer and Ithaca.</p>

<p>Both of my kids have participated in UNH’s SYMS (Summer Youth Music School) for several years. I am very pleased and impressed with the music department.</p>

<p>UNH’s composition program is a BA not a BM. According to the professor my son takes lessons from, they do have scholoarship money for composition majors - but I did not ask him for more specific info. UNH is not known for having deep pockets. My daughter did get a scholarship for the oboe - but that is a speciality instrument.</p>

<p>UMass Lowell does have a good music department, but not composition program. </p>

<p>I suggest visiting UNH. That is the best way to get a feel for the program. </p>

<p>Feel free to private message me if you have any specific questions.</p>