Ithaca vs Crane Music Education and Vocal Performance

College Majors Music Major
1

I have visited and taken lessons at both schools, and I liked both teachers about equally. Ithaca creates better performers while crane has a better reputation for producing wonderful music educators. Ithaca has a much cuter and more vibrant town, and is a better school in general than SUNY Potsdam (which is important to me, as I’ve worked very hard in school throughout high school). Crane is so so much cheaper, which is a huge factor. Ithaca is closer to home, which is important to me as well.

Can’t decide between the two schools. I’m struggling because I can see myself at both.

Also, I want to go to grad school as well, which is why money is such a big factor.

2

“so much cheaper” answers your question, especially since you like both teachers equally. Think of everything you can do with those extra funds. And as far as coming out of school as a “better performer”? In undergrad that’s up to you and your teacher. Just my .02

3

Both schools have excellent reputations for music education. You will do well at either school. I think you captured the “vibe” of Ithaca. If you can afford it, it is a great school. However, Crane and Fredonia still graduate most of the music teachers in the state of NY. Son graduated from Crane and landed a full time teaching position at a large suburban school. His interview panel was split between Crane and Ithaca grads. Crane does have many performance venues and many of their students do go on to name graduate schools and do win competitions especially for vocal performance. Academically, most of the Crane students were in the top 10% of their high school graduating class and many were in the honors program at Crane. (Unlike the rest of the college.) They, also, have a Presidential scholars program for the academically motivated students.
One thing son loved doing at Crane was driving north to Ottawa to watch professors play with the Canadian National Symphony and other groups. Ice skating on the river/canal is a cool winter activity in Ottawa. Ottawa has awesome museums as well. In addition, you can drive to Montreal in about 90 minutes. One of son’s classes took a field trip there to go to one of the museums. Even though Crane is in very Northern NY, it has many cultural events on campus and in Canada,

4

With grad school in the future and many things being equal, I would strongly advise to go to the less expensive school. Your future self will thank you in 4 short years.

5

Wow Momofbassist, that was one of the nicest descriptions of Potsdam and the North County I have seen. You make it seem way nicer than it is in actuality. Not knocking Crane as I am a graduate myself. The “cultural” experiences you are describing on the other hand. Ottawa is 1.5 hours away. Getting across the border is a more difficult task in these times. You better have a passport or enhanced license. You’d also better follow traffic laws as our brothers to the north can be strict, especially on Americans. As stated, I am a graduate of Crane and also a Northern NY born and raised person. I grew up 28 miles from Potsdam. It is a great place but not for everyone. Learn to love the cold and learn the rules to ice hockey.

6

Son and friends run over the border once or twice a month. His studio teacher and several other profs live in Ottawa and drive down each week to teach so it isn’t that bad. Their students usually receive comp tickets from the profs for performances and load up a couple of cars to run to Ottawa. I do love the north country even though I’m originally from Ohio. They have some nice state parks for camping nearby, too. I guess I enjoy the drive through the Adirondacks!

7

I’m currently a VP/Music Ed double major at Ithaca, though I am probably going to just be performance as of next semester. You may have made up your mind by this point but I thought I might as well give my 2 cents. The program at Ithaca is pretty great. If you’re truly set on being a music Ed AND performance major, they have a whole program set out over the course of 4.5 years. I was also stuck between crane and Ithaca but went with Ithaca because their double degree program is well regarded and actually a really popular major in the music school, if not the most popular. I decided however to drop music Ed, because if you do stay on that path there is NO wiggle room to do much else besides music. Expect to be in Whalen from 8am-9 or 10 at night. That led to me being depressed and hating it, and even now that I am probably just going to be performance, I’m still on the fence about finishing my degree here. The voice faculty are all magnificent. All have had strong careers and are very supportive, nurturing, etc. it’s not a cut throat environment at all (also a reason I actually might be transferring. There really is a lack of competitiveness due to their overaccepting in the past few years) the town is nice. Hard to get out without a car but there is a public bus system. Not much going on on campus either… It’s a small campus and you can walk from one side to the other in 5 minutes. I’m certainly happy I picked Ithaca over crane, however. I really didn’t get a good vibe from any of the teachers I took lessons with there (not to say there aren’t any good ones, I only took 2 lessons), and their was definitely a lack of emphasis on performance with their Ed program.
Good luck with everything!

8

I have two daughters (both violinists), one who graduated from Crane last May (2015) in Music Ed., the other currently a junior Music Ed. major at Ithaca. My husband and I are Crane music ed. alumni and music teachers. My Ithaca daughter started off in the 4.5 year Performance/Ed. program, but found it was just too much and dropped the performance portion 2/3 of the way through her sophomore year. It was extremely difficult as both majors required an inordinate amount of work, and she found that sometimes the performance instructors (i.e. her studio teacher, who is absolutely wonderful, not knocking her at all) didn’t have tons of sympathy for the work required for the ed. portion, and vice versa. I understand that around 75 to 80% of students who start out in the 4.5 double major program drop out of it at some point and just stick with one or the other. It can be done, but it seems that Ithaca does not make it easy.

I can’t speak to the vocal teachers, but in comparing Potsdam with Ithaca, the performance level at Ithaca is higher. I’m speaking directly about the violin studio teachers and students. Having heard both orchestras many times, Ithaca’s plays at a higher level and their conductor is MUCH better. Theory and music history classes are about the same in both schools (both subjects requiring a lot of work at both schools), though Ithaca requires five semesters of theory and Crane four. Ithaca also has what they call the Integrated Core Curriculum, which requires more gen. ed. and liberal arts classes than Potsdam (and most can’t be satisfied by having taken AP or IB classes), which I did not like at all.

In comparing the two music education-wise, they are pretty close, but I’d have to give the edge to Crane. Ithaca has more courses on secondary instruments (like one class each for woodwind, brass, etc.), but Potsdam has more string courses specifically for string majors, also a bit more training on piano and classroom music. One big disadvantage that Ithaca has is that their senior student teaching is only HALF of a semester, rather than a whole semester as Crane does (and most schools for that matter). Ithaca does do a bit more in the junior year in practicum work than Potsdam (they call it “junior student teaching”), but I am not happy that my daughter will only be doing a half of a semester in student teaching next fall, especially considering they have to do that ridiculous EdTPA portion of their certification requirement, which I really hope goes away soon.

As far as the towns, no comparison. Ithaca is gorgeous, with many nice restaurants and lots of stores. But Potsdam has its own North Country charm too. The weather bites it in both towns, so kind of even-Steven there. I would go for whatever costs less, and that would most assuredly be Crane, especially in looking ahead to graduate school. My daughter LOVES Ithaca and it was a perfect fit for her, but the school is not 2 to 3 times better than Crane (which is what it will cost you depending on what financial aid you end up with). Most of my Potsdam daughter’s friends were vocal majors and they were all great performers who seemed very happy there. So, long story short, Ithaca wins at the performance end (at least for violin and orchestra level), and Potsdam wins at the music ed. end. Hope this helps and best of luck to you!!