It occurs to me that one (by no means perfect) metric by which one can gauge the extent of music offerings at a liberal arts college is whether or not they offer a Bachelor of Music. Is there any comprehensive list out there that indicates which LAC’s offer a B.M? Here’s the ones I know of:
St. Olaf
U. of Puget Sound
U. of the Pacific
College of Wooster
Concordia
Bard (conservatory)
Lawrence (conservatory)
Oberlin (conservatory)
Gettysburg (conservatory)
I’m sure there are others, perhaps many others. Anyone know if this info is archived somewhere?
Ithaca
Susquehanna
Hartford (Hartt)
St Rose
Found a couple more:
Willamette University
Wheaton (IL)
Are you interested in a conservatory? Are you asking which LAC’s have a conservatory/music school on campus?
Well, that remains to be determined. A conservatory is not out of the question–my son is still figuring out what he wants. But I’m actually most interested in LACs that offer a rich range of musical opportunities that do not require a conservatory-level commitment. That means that if they do have a conservatory, I’m particularly interested in those (like Lawrence, and unlike Bard and Oberlin–not sure about Gettysburg/Sunderman) that allow non-majors (or at least non-performance majors) to study with the best teachers and participate in the top ensembles if they’ve got the chops to audition their way in.
One more I’ve uncovered since my last post: U. of Redlands.
I was just going to post a couple of schools but they are already on your list! How about Clark U?
I keep seeing Clark mentioned, but when I go to their website…I’m just not feelin’ it. For instance, there’s this: “The Clark Sinfonia was founded in the spring of 2003 and is a string ensemble with the occasional addition of wind, brass, and timpani.” So, they’ve got a wind ensemble and a primarily string-only orchestra. This isn’t great news for a French horn player that enjoys orchestra more than wind ensemble. Also, what’s up with listing all their adjunct faculty and not saying what instruments they teach? It’s actually quite tough to figure out who the horn instructor is (Deborah Cole, maybe?)
Anyway, I’m grateful for the suggestion–there’s probably something I’m missing about Clark’s program, because it does come up a lot. And it’s probably time for me to stop obsessing about some hidden gem that we’ve somehow heretofore overlooked. I think I’ve pretty much got it covered at this point.
Two schools I’m somewhat familiar with that might fit your criteria that aren’t mentioned as often on here. Stetson University in Deland Fl and Baylor University in TX.
For a horn player who wants performance, and a BM, but not conservatory, it seems that you have done a pretty good job of uncovering possibilities. (I agree about Clark for a French horn player who likes orchestral work. Your original post wasn’t specific. (Some schools have excellent music departments and general music major or theory /composition concentrations versus instrumental opportunities.)
Stetson looks interesting, and is one I didn’t know about. Thanks.
Are you open to a school in Texas? Trinity University in San Antonio has both CS and a BM. I know from a personal visit there that they are very interested in horn players.
I didn’t know that Trinity offered a BM! They’re actually already on our list, for reasons primarily other than music. I had a niece go there and have a good experience, and they do seem to have quite a good CS department. Their horn prof looks good, too (principal with San Antonio Symphony), and they offer a music scholarship. We’ll be visiting next fall.
That’s good intel about their desire for horn players, as well. Not sure whether a liberal kid from the northeast is going to find it a cultural bridge too far, but we’ll find out 
@rayrick, Trinity in Focus is a really good program if you want to go for an open house type event. My understanding is that Trinity in Focus dates are the dates they want to hear auditions as well. There is a thread on CC that was very active last year called “Southern LACs”. @ColdinMinny posted some good reviews of Trinity and other LACs and ColdinMinny’s S will be attending Trinity U in the fall as a CS major, I believe. Not a musician - but the family toured and reviewed a lot of LACs with a CS major in mind.
Thanks for the heads up! That’s actually perfect, since my niece (the same one who went to Trinity) is getting married the weekend before the one next September, and we were already planning on visiting that day! Pure coincidence, I had no idea it was a special visit day
Now, the question is will my son be ready to actually do a serious, scholarship-money-on-the-line music audition by then? Yikes!
One more entry: looks like music is a very big deal at Rollins College in Florida, though it doesn’t appear they actually offer a B.M… They seem to have sort of a pseudo-conservatory vibe going, where you need to be accepted into the music major by audition. Quite a lot like St. Olaf, actually. 31 music majors graduated last year, which is a ton for a school of only 2600.
Others that get mentioned for having strong music programs maybe worth a look:
Depauw
Davidson
Furman (maybe not LAC?)
SMU (medium sized private)
All of the above have strong Greek presence, which you mentioned your S is not looking for.
Gems likely to get overlooked:
Southwestern U (has a Conservatory) We eliminated based on feel - cafeteria felt cramped and Science building under construction. And large instate attendance stats.
Hendrix in Arkansas - Music may be more like what you feel about Clark as far as Orchestra. Pluses - lots of merit $ opportunities, diverse student body. Zero Greek system. I read they actually have an anti rush week where they poke fun at Greek systems.
Yeah, with the possible exception of Davidson (which, sadly, has no CS department), those are look pretty far from the type of campus culture he would find appealing, I’m afraid. Appreciate the suggestions, though!
While it is true that Davidson offers some CS courses, they have no CS major, which is why I had them mentally marked off as having no department, which isn’t strictly true. Also, according to my new favorite widget at http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/, they had a whopping 2 music majors graduate last year, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their music scene. Too bad, because I have great respect for the school overall.
The number of majors doesn’t always say much about the quality of a music department. Harvard doesn’t have many majors, for instance, but the dept. is excellent and so are the extracurriculars. I know a student there currently who was a prodigy as a kid and she does all kinds of things musically there, both in classes and outside. Of course, computer science anywhere involves many math courses and the fact that math and CS are in the same dept. may not mean much either. My son was a CS major at an Ivy and had a lot of math and science classes. I’ll look at the site (and ask him) how many courses were actually CS. I don’t have a particular connection to Davidson and others may know more, just suggesting maybe look deeper if it appeals for other reasons.