There are definitely differences among schools, but I’m not up on the current situation. When my D auditioned at Peabody, for example, the (dean?) said straightforwardly to the parents meeting that this school wasn’t a good fit for someone who wanted to play lots of different instruments, that it was a single-focus kind of place. My hunch is that this is probably true for many of the big name music schools, but that the right fit of teacher and program could offer a good balance
I ma confused now because it seemed as if she wanted to focus on violin, with other music on the side at the level of a video game type fun distraction. But now it seems she does not want to look at schools that want a single-instrument focus. Most conservatories will want students to focus on one instrument. College and university BA programs would be, I think, more flexible.
Boston Conservatory merged with Berklee and that combination offers quite a diverse program.
NEC might be the great place for her. My son’s at Berklee and plays in a band with Berklee and NEC students, goes there for sessions, etc. so there’s a lot of mingling outside of classes. He has a dream of being a drummer (he’s a saxophone player) and has been getting lessons here and there. Between the two schools (and I suspect, BoCo as well), there’s a constant stream of projects always in need of musicians, singers, etc. He told me he did some kind of gospel video last week, and a pop video the previous week. So, even if it’s not possible to pursue other instruments in school, there are a lot of opportunities to get involved in various types of music/instruments in Boston.
I’m surprised there aren’t more replies along the lines of @musicprnt … college may seem a long way off for a high school freshman (I have one), but in reality, preparing for pre screens starts in two years. My daughter plays oboe, and from what I’ve seen from her musical peers, it seems there are dozens of 9th graders in just about every state that touches an ocean (and a few that don’t) that have already been living and breathing classical violin for several years and will be practicing 3-6 hours a day between now and when your daughter will vie with them for a slot if she decides she wants to study classical violin performance. Whether she can (or wishes to) maintain that level of intensity on violin along with a casual interest in a half dozen other instruments seems like a stretch.
How experienced is her current teacher in preparing students for high-level colleges and conservatories? If he/she is evaluating your daughter’s preparedness based on his/her own experience from more than 10 years ago, bear in mind that technical requirements for classical musicians have been on a sharp rise. If her current teacher has little recent experience placing students as violin performance majors and that’s the path your daughter wants to take, it may be time to consult a teacher who has recent relevant experience.
Your daughter’s interests seem to align very well with music education, where having knowledge of a range of instruments is a big plus.
I’ve held my tongue on this one, but noviceatoller is right. Classical violin is extremely competitive and top conservatory programs generally don’t allow for competing interests, even academic interests (there is a lot of discussion about academic interests on this board.) Competing musical interests are even more difficult. I do know of a few high level musicians who were able to get degrees on more than one instrument (in one case, piano and cello at Curtis), but that is a highly unusual exception. I’m not saying that this is the way it should be; it’s just the way it is.
I also agree with noviceatoller that music education is one discipline in which knowledge of many instruments is a big asset.
Also, an accomplished and sensitive collaborative pianist who also plays an instrument at a high level can be an invaluable asset (and very much in demand), but it sounds like that might not be what your daughter is looking for.
A violinist who also plays viola is another exception, but it is very rare to be able to study both instruments simultaneously at the same level (to double major.) More likely she could take secondary viola lessons some semesters. My daughter has an undergrad degree in violin performance and wanted to study viola as well, but was not able to do that as an undergrad. Her dean recommended that she get an MM in viola performance, which is what she did. (It was a bit of a scramble to prepare a viola master’s audition while also preparing a violin graduation jury and recital, but she managed.) Now, just out of school, she is performing on and teaching both instruments.
The original poster has said that the daughter doesn’t want a single focus school, but also has said that the daughter now wants to focus on violin, but maintain activities with other instruments informally. I think comments need to be tailored to the daughter’s situation. It is not clear that she wants to go to a high level conservatory to focus on violin. We all know what that takes.
I will persist in writing that a life in music is possible, or at least a life with music, with many paths other than a competitive conservatory with single focus on one instrument. However, if the daughter wants a conservatory to study violin, it would seem she might already be behind and needs to work hard and with a narrower focus on violin only.
The title and content of the post seems to suggest the daughter wants to maintain her multi-faceted path, with “multiple musical interests.” Perhaps the parent could clarify. There ARE ways to continue this way.
Chiming in here. Breadth is possible, but unusual at the highest levels of performance. It all depends where your D sees herself and how much she wants to sacrifice to achieve it. This is parallel to the MT vs classical voice choice often discussed by voice majors here. Your daughter is young and still developing ideas about her future. A lot can change in 2 years. I’d say along with researching schools and nurturing her dream of breadth, help her learn about real career options and what is required ( generally speaking) to achieve success as a soloist, orchestra member, teacher, studio musician, … Read biographies, attend concerts, find mentors ( education majors, performance majors). Have her attend summer programs and do a few competitions ( just for a taste of the ejuducating process). She may want to continue to dabble in several instruments outside violin, or decide to be the performer of her dreams, she needs to commit. The summer programs were enormously helpful to my daughter in this regard. Best wishes!
I think I may not have been real clear with my post and comments, but, hey, I knew what I meant, right?
My daughter only wants to study violin. The other instruments are side interests and she’s not looking to reach the level on those that she is on violin. She does want to be somewhere that she can play another instrument for fun without feeling like she is doing something wrong, where it’s not frowned upon or discouraged. We fully understand the time commitment involved and her teacher stresses this regularly. The majority of her time is spent on violin and she is doing many of the things @songbirdmama mentioned. We’re not sure what type of school would be best for her at this point, but hoping that will become more clear in the next year or so. Pretty sure she wouldn’t be comfortable at a large university, but other than that, we’re looking at everything.
I expected many of the responses I’ve received and I appreciate the suggestions and encouragement. I posted hoping to get a few mentions of schools we hadn’t thought of, and the comments about NEC have been great. We weren’t looking at NEC, can’t remember why, but are definitely looking closer now, so thanks to everyone that mentioned it. If anyone has info on other similar programs, I would love to hear it.
Other schools where I know students who pursued more than one instrument (not necessarily more than one style) include McGill and Oberlin.
Sorry if there was a misunderstanding! You might want to focus more on particular faculty members than departments. Much of a student’s experience is dictated by the rules of the studio, which can vary within an institution. Would your daughter self-study or would she want faculty level instruction in the other instruments? She may have to pay for private lessons in the secondary instrument.
I think people took the secondary instrument thing to being studying multiple instruments and so forth. My answer to that would depend if that 'fooling around" would interfere with the primary instrument. There are some kids who dual major, taking multiple instruments seriously (I have seen piano and cello for example) but that is basically almost a unicorn.
The problem with the ‘fooling around’ on other instruments might be the time, when you are at a conservatory or a high level music program time is a big, big factor, and IMO it is a lot more tight then a typical college program. I have heard people say things like “what do music students do? They practice their instrument an hour a day, have an hour lesson once a week, maybe orchestra, how can that be intense” and sniffing at how academic students have so much to do in a day, and it shows how little most people know about the experience. I think that kind of musical curiosity is a great thing to have, but time constraints might stop that from being so easy. My S minored in music theory, which is a passion of his, and even that could be very time consuming.
In terms of NEC, I think you have to be careful with statements about encouraging collaboration and whatnot, NEC has multiple programs, and what may be true in something like the improvisational program or Jazz may not be true in studying classical music there. I can speak of the violin program there, and I suspect it will be much like any high level program, where they will want mostly the single minded focus. That doesn’t means someone couldn’t play with other instruments on their own, do things on their own, just saying it won’t be encouraged as part of the program. It does come down to teacher as well, of course, some might be more welcoming if they found out a student for example, loved to play jazz on the side, others might have kittens (and this is across all schools).
In terms of the OP, it is all going to play out as it will, I would recommend your D focus on the violin and then see if there is time for other things. This conflict happens with a lot of things, kids serious about music find they have to give up other things, like sports, and many music kids pull back from the academic side because it can be very difficult to maintain the high level of music and the academics (some kids do that, and it amazes me that they can). In a sense, it will be a good test for her, if she focuses on the violin at this point, because it may tell her whether or not she really wants that kind of single minded focus or not, which is going to be pretty much required once you go to conservatory.
One of the things that is important at this point is knowing where your D is in terms of her playing and how good her teacher is at prepping kids for entrance into competitive music programs, as another poster said things are constantly changing, and one thing that is often suggested on here is to get an evaluation from a teacher at a high level program on her strengths and weaknesses. If you D is strong already, she may have less work to do that someone who is less well prepared and could spend time on other music, if she has a lot of work to do in the next roughly 2.5 years (as other point out, you do prescreens fall of senior year, they are due by Dec1st at most schools), then it might be different.
If she changes her mind over the next X years, there still will be options, maybe she would like a collaborative program or something out of the classical path, maybe she would enjoy playing and learning violin while doing another degree at college (a lot of top level schools have excellent music programs for non majors), so it isn’t like she would ‘waste’ the effort of preparing for it.
Like others, I am not saying this necessarily is the greatest thing in the world, I have the same problem a lot of people do, I think the focus of music education is often very one dimensional, I think the emphasis seems to me to muss the point of what music is, but it basically is what it is. One of the things I’ll tell you is try not to fret about decisions, try not to assume if you don’t make the ‘right’ choice it will end up badly, etc, it comes with the territory, but what I have found is in the end the kids will find their way, find their path, and that whatever they ultimately end up doing, training for music however long they do it, ends up having a positive effect, even if it takes years for them to acknowledge it:)
Conservatory is not the only option either.
@musicprnt – Spot on with the time thing. D chose to attend a music school in the context of a University because she wanted a “normal college experience”. Between all the required choirs, lessons, practices performances, she barely has time for laundry, let alone collegiate things like football tailgates, dances, hanging out,…! As I mentioned in a PM to another on this forum, she would have had more time as a chem major (even with all the lab time)! NB: That was my major, and I thought I was busy!
I completely understand the time commitment, and my daughter says she does, but I don’t think anyone really does until they actually go through it themselves. I had a few music major friends in college and have met others since, so I know about their experiences. I was an art major myself, and a lot of time was spent outside of class on projects, much like the hours of practice music majors put in. I don’t personally know anyone who has been a music major recently though, so just trying to get a more clear picture of the current environment. The few teachers we have met are a very limited sample, and with a couple of them discouraging playing other instruments at all, I didn’t know if that was common, or like everything else, depends on the school or studio. We’ll keep going forward as we are, getting ready for auditions coming up in a couple years. I’m sure when the time comes, she’ll end up exactly where she supposed to be. Thank you for all of your comments!
Options that are all worthwhile:
BM in one instrument (audition)…and some schools allow for more multi-faceted studies than others
BA in music (no audition usually)
double degree BA/BM (or BA/MM) with the BA in something else
double major BA in music and something else, or major/minor
sometimes double major or major/minor BM with one instrument and theory for instance
BA or BS in something else and music lessons, practice, performance “on the side” sometimes for credit
Also music ed, composition, theory, ethnomusicology, music business, music industry, music technology, etc. etc.
ps just met someone who went here http://catalog.montclair.edu/programs/#M (multi-faceted offerings at this school)
I wonder if Lawrence would be worth a look/see for you.
I have not looked at Lawrence, but will check it out. Thanks!
@musicfamily:
I agree that likely your daughter won’t really understand the time committment until she actually gets immersed in it. My son went through a top notch pre college program, and that was pretty intense, but it didn’t totally give him an idea of what it would be like in a BM program, how much time would be involved, it is one of those things you gotta be there to see it:). I have spoken to kids who have done Bard (which is a dual degree program) and even though it is 5 years, it still is very intense because of the dual needs.
I honestly suspect in most BM programs they would discourage working with other instruments, I obviously can’t speak for all or even a large subset, there are just too many BM programs, but I have seen a cross section at varying levels and from what I have seen, I suspect it will be common to tell the kid to focus on their instrument and not do other ones.
As far as music majors go in general, you also have to be careful with that term, I know someone who when performance students and their parents were talking about the time load, and they were pooh poohing it…meanwhile the person in question got a BA degree from let’s be kind and say a lower tier program, and those two things make a big difference, BA has less requirements then a BM in music from what I know, and to do it at a less competitive program likely would make it slower paced, too, than a typical BM program.
As @compmom pointed out, there are a lot of roads in music, and which one to take also depends on how someone sees themself down the road (which can change), and in the end decisions like a BM at a conservatory, a BM at a music school in a university, a BA degree, a dual major or dual degree,the kind of music (it will be different for an orchestral instrument versus a solo one, it will be different if the student is in Jazz or classical, it will be different if someone envisions themself down the road doing their own kind of thing, if they envision trying the typical classical path with a goal of being a solo performer or an ensemble player, alone or combined with other things. The idea that all paths can lead to the same result, which I have heard mentioned (not in this thread, on here and elsewhere in other discussions) I would question, especially when it comes to violin, if a kid is heading into the ‘classical world’ as it exists, that likely is not true, and while someone who is classically trained can often move to other things, the reverse is not going to be true for almost everyone, which again comes down to your goals. It will be different if your goal is to become a teacher at local music school than if you see yourself teaching at the college level (or even being a high level private teacher), it all depends.
@musicfamily
One option maybe… My DS attends Bard Conservatory where he is in his 3rd year of the 5 year double-degree program. While the Conservatory side (BM) of his education is demanding, he has had many opportunities to be involved with the Music Department of Bard College (non-conservatory). His involvement has ranged from formal (operas and such) to informal (new music groups with friends ). When he was a freshman, he was matched with a roommate (non-conservatory) who played electric guitar! I think Bard could be a great option for a student with musical interests in addition to their primary instrument. It can be tricky to find time for some of the extra things that are not required, but I really don’t think it would be frowned upon as long as your daughter was doing all of the right things to be successful on her primary instrument!