Hi! I’m currently a freshman at a liberal arts college, and earlier in the year I realized that I want to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree, rather than a Bachelor of Arts in music. I had the idea of transferring to a conservatory, or a school of music, but since I love the vibe of smaller liberal arts schools, the ones that really stood out to me were Ithaca College and Lawrence University, both of which offer specialized music programs within liberal arts environments (they also didn’t require prescreenings, which I would have been unable to do).
Yesterday I found out that I was accepted to both, which is awesome! But now I’m having trouble choosing between the two. My instrument of study is voice, which I’ve been studying for about 3 years now. I’ll probably end up majoring in music education, and want to eventually go to graduate school for music.
With that in mind, does anybody here have any input on which school has a better music program, or might offer the best college experience overall? I’m leaning towards Lawrence, simply because they offer the BM/BA package in 4.5 years, in addition to more flexibility in terms of what you can study upon initial entry into the conservatory. But Ithaca looks great too, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.
Lemme know what you guys think!
My son is at IC and strongly considered Lawrence. Have you listened to recordings online of the performing group at both of these schools? I expect you can find some online. I think that might help you make a decision. I know IC has some of their concerts online. Have you had a lesson at either of these schools? If I were you I would try and visit again and maybe sit in on some rehearsals. Do you care what part of the country you are in? IC is a really good music ed school. A lot of the students there do performance with ed in 41/2.
Actually, Lawrence has a lot more recordings online than Ithaca does (at least for the choirs, which I would be focusing on), although I’m sure Ithaca’s choirs are fantastic!
I plan on visiting both of these schools throughout the month, where I’ll probably get a much better perspective on what kind of schools these are.
How does your son like Ithaca? Does he seem to be learning a lot from his major, and does he like the social atmosphere there?
Ithaca is very strong for vocal/choral majors in both music education (terrific musical theater program as well.) Janet Galvan is highly regarded as a choral educator and conductor with high standards, especially for children’s choirs. I hired 3 Ithaca music ed majors for a prominent youth choral/vocal training program and they were all excellent, inspiring conductors/singers. Best of luck in making your final decision!
GoldenPitch, Son has been very happy at IC. This is his 3rd year. He is a string player and a composer. He is a serious student and has found like minded friends. From what I have seen the music students seem to hang out together because they are so often at the music school. We also liked Lawrence a lot. He based his decision on having had private lessons with teachers and on visiting orchestra rehearsals as well as location. Best wishes.
Golden Pitch, IC has been webstreaming a lot of their ensemble concerts for past couple of years and if you go under their music school site and look under live I think you will find some archived concerts of several of their vocal groups. For what it is worth we saw the opera recently and it was wonderful.
My daughter is a very happy Lawrentian, pursuing dual degree. As you have noted, they have an extensive library of past performances and they live stream/webcast their concerts. Great idea to visit and take a lesson. They are very accommodating in terms of setting that up if you contact them. Not sure of your home state but Appleton has an airport close to campus. We live in New York but have had more snow than Wisconsin the past two winters. Get out there quickly because it has been in the 50’s there lately haha. Let me know if you have any questions.
Where do you want to teach? It pays to take your degree in a state where you hope to teach, if at all possible, so do consider where you want to settle. Also, Appleton is quite a bit different from Ithaca; whereas Lawrence is the big cheese in the former, Ithaca is the “little sister” in town to Cornell, so the city itself has more going on. Will both schools accept all of your credits?