Greetings wise parents–We’re really struggling with finding a fit for our senior. Looking for a strong liberal arts education (looking at a lot of the CTCL schools) and probably will initially go for a BA in Music (jazz focus). And, ideally he wants to be in/near a big city.
He’s a strong applicant academically/all-around and a serious jazz musician. He’s produced a couple of his own albums. His checklist is a smaller school (nothing huge), diverse/liberal culture, creative/passionate/kind students, not a strong Greek culture, no pressure cooker schools—we took off Northwestern this week—and it has to have a solid jazz program/faculty.
Lawrence and St. Olaf seem really strong (but he hasn’t visited). Also looking at Whitman, Macelester and Loyola Chicago. He’s a city kid and is coming from an IB/Montessori background. Ideas? Much thanks!
How about Denison, about 20-30 minutes from Columbus, Ohio? Collaborative community, diverse (for a LAC that isn’t Amherst – around 20% first gen and the same percentage low income, about 15% international, more economically diverse than many LACs). New performing arts center opened this year, and the Music department has strong connections to performing arts in Columbus.
My kid looked at Lawrence and others as he considered continuing with music as well as art and athletics. Was very impressed with music at Lawrence, of course, the Con is great, and there was a lot of support for students interested in combining music and something else. Oberlin has publicized that it is expanding its music offerings for College students, and shrinking incoming Con class, so it may be worth a look as well.
See if Bard fits the bill. I know of kids who have “commuted” into NYC for paid gigs. It is definitely not in a big city, and near doesn’t quite describe the relationship to NYC, but it’s doable.
You probably should research what might be offered in jazz piano instruction at highly regarded LACs such as Wesleyan, Hamilton and Skidmore. Though not in urban settings, they’d compare in environment to schools already on your son’s tentative list.
How about Eugene Lang at The New School? This BA/BFA program sounds like it might tick a lot of your son’s boxes. And it doesn’t get more “in a big city” than NYC! https://www.newschool.edu/lang/babfa/
Depending on how strong those strong academics are and whether you feel this school counts as a “pressure cooker,” Harvard-Berklee might be an option. https://www.berklee.edu/harvard-berklee
Also seconding the Skidmore suggestion made by @merc81 . Skidmore has that Summer Jazz Institute, so it is clearly a college that has some interest in fostering jazz. https://www.skidmore.edu/summerjazz/
Best wishes to your student! (I have a Montessori kid too, btw! Preschool-8th grade, then off to a progressive high school.)
@Jazz Piano 2020, There aren’t that many small liberal arts colleges in urban locations. Your son might look at some city based medium sized privates, like Chicago, Vanderbilt, Emory, Rice.
Among small LACs, I would agree that Wesleyan should be a serious contender. It’s not in a city but has good access to and influence from both New York and Boston.
If your son would consider a rural environment, he might look at Williams which has an excellent music program with a solid jazz program/ faculty, plus excellent environmental and global studies departments. Williams doesn’t offer minors but double majoring is common.
For a small LAC, Williams has a deep bench of practicing jazz musicians on its faculty (piano as well as other instruments) plus many performance opportunities.
Circling back to say, I took the OP’s reference to CTCL schools to mean that they were not looking at top 10 LACs or maybe not even top 20 LACs, but rather looking for schools which offered the collaborative environment sought, plus jazz opportunities in or close to a city. There are certainly top 20 schools which offer strong jazz in a collaborative environment, but I didn’t interpret those as the the type of schools OP was focusing on.
I am not so sure about pros / cons of the new direction at Oberlin. Would Oberlin attract top-level jazz musicians with the new direction? Oberlin has been losing money in Conservatory because getting top-level / high-level musicians is very competitive for most conservatories (all musicians seek merit / talent scholarships). That’s why they are shifting to Oberlin College side by allowing College students to take classes / play in ensembles at Conservatory. Would Oberlin maintain high-level of Conservatory ensembles to complete with other conservatories? Maybe, I am under wrong impression. I am very interested in other feedback.
If not Dual-Degree, Columbia (Juilliard exchange) comes up in my mind first. Many serious jazz musicians chose to attend Columbia. It’s a block(s) away from Manhattan School of Music. They play together very often.
Peabody / Johns Hopkins offers 5-year Dual-Degree about 5-10 students a year. Reading 2019 Journey thread in CC, it seems really hard to get accepted to Dual-Degree. However, if I am correct, Peabody musicians (4-year BM) can register to take class(es) at Johns Hopkins from Sophomore year as an option. A small jazz program (around 40 students: BM/MM total). Peabody commitment this time for Jazz seems very serious.
You’ll be very hard-pressed to do better than Temple University. The location seems like a disaster, but everyone loves it and the music programs are world-class. The Jazz Director is PHENOMENAL.