<p>does anyone know of a good music/music composition program at a school that's not an audition required conservatory...</p>
<p>i don't have much experience in music, but i know that i want to pursue writing and composing, but foreign languages as well and i know that i couldn't get into a music conservatory...</p>
<p>anyone?
-MATTMAN-</p>
<p>this has been brushed a couple of times, so you might want to search around. it's hard to recommend anything without knowing your academic level - do you have any idea what schools might be matches for you in terms of admissions?</p>
<p>im looking at beloit, ithaca, the college of wooster, university of vermont, skidmore, bard and bennington...
i have like a 3.3 average with about a 1850 on my SAT's</p>
<p>Look at their websites.
Bard, which has a conservatory, has some good composers on the faculty; find out if they are available to non-conservatory students.<br>
Academic music departments, which typically include some composers, often do not have audition requirements.</p>
<p>Plymouth State University in NH is well within your acaemic range -- an audition is required, but it is not a conservatory. Students who have gone there have gone on to MM programs in music composition I believe.</p>
<p>Yes, all of Bard's facilities are available to those not accepted to the conservatory. DS was accepted to the college but not the conservatory. The director of the conservatory wrote a personal letter advising him that he could take classes, lessons and even participate in ensembles at the conservatory as well as the wonderful facilities of the music department itself.</p>
<p>Joan Towers is a major American composer and on the faculty at Bard.</p>
<p>He decided to go elsewhere, but many LAC's don't have an audition process. You just have to check the website. (For example, Bucknell and Gettysburg an audition and conservatory setting are required; at Dickinson they are not.)</p>
<p>Find the LAC's that are matches for your stats and then look at the music department websites. You should find the answers to all your questions.</p>
<p>Mattman, I would not recommend going to UVM for music. I live in Vermont and I didn't consider any of the schools there for music because the fact is we don't have any good music schools. UVM is certainly the best out of any of the schools in Vermont but I still would not go there if you want to pursue music. I'm not as familiar with the composition program but if it's anything like the vocal and instrumental programs, you will not get a good education in my opinion. Check it out, but, there are many better schools out there I'm sure...also many more that are cheaper if you're from out of state. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Hello Mattman,
Here's a list, but you need to check the individual departments to see about composition. Some of these schools are more highly selective than others. You say you don't have much experience in music, so I'm not sure exactly what you want...do you play an instrument? are you hoping to learn composition or have you already been writing music? </p>
<h2>Good luck with your search!</h2>
<p>Allegheny
Bard
Brandeis
College of William and Mary
Cornell
Davidson
De Pauw
Dennison
Duke
Emory (Atlanta)
Furman
Gettysburg
Harvard
Haverford
Lawrence
Lehigh
Miami (Ohio)
MIT
Miami (Ohio)
NYU (College of Arts and Sciences)
Pomona (Claremont Colleges)
Princeton
Rollins (Florida)
St Olaf
Skidmore
Smith
Stanford
Swarthmore
UCLA
UC Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Maryland
University of Mary Washington
University of Puget Sound
University of Rochester
Vanderbilt
Vassar
Wellesley
Williams
Yale</p>
<p>Regarding above list - the ones I have knowledge of - </p>
<p>Allegheny requires a major and a minor (or second major) in different schools. Music and foreign languages are in the same school (Humanities). That is part of why my D turned them down, as she wanted to study both.</p>
<p>Miami Ohio requires an audition for admission to their BA program. They do have some classes open to non-majors, but I'm not sure how many.</p>
<p>The 1850 SAT is going to eliminate schools like Yale, Williams, Swarthmore, MIT, Davidson, Cornell, Harvard, Emory, and probably a bunch more. </p>
<p>Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe Smith will reject him on account of gender!</p>
<p>Mattman - one thing you might consider is starting out at school as a foreign language major, and take classes in music and/or composition on the side. Sometimes schools won't let you declare two majors up front anyway. Then if the school requires an audition, you will have some compositions ready to go, and can transfer into the program after a year or two.</p>
<p>Edit - re-read your post. You don't actually say you are looking at a double major, only that you want to study both. Many schools allow non-majors to take classes. Is that all you're looking for? If so, I'd concentrate on finding a school that offers all the foreign languages you are interested in.</p>
<p>Thanks Binx for all the added info, and of course Smith is out! I had the list handy and thought it might be generally helpful.
Again, Mattman, you don't say how much experience you have with composition, so it's unclear what kind of program will work for you.</p>
<p>Yes, nycm, I think your list is helpful as a place to start, and perhaps for others reading this board with different stats.</p>
<p>I've browsed a bit, and see that many composition majors are admitted via performance on their primary instrument. Pursuing composition without a strong instrumental background (often piano, but not always) is going to be much harder to do.</p>
<p>I would also suggest to Matt that he go through the college finder questionaire on the college board website. By narrowing down a few things, he might get a reasonable list to start with. I ran through it with music composition and "Spanish" (I had to pick a language, and he didn't say which he wanted), co-ed, on campus housing, and 600 + 600 SATs (math and verbal) and got a list of 271 schools. If he can narrow that list by geographics, cost, or whatever, it will give him a working list to start looking through.</p>
<p>Even if he doesn't want to major in composition, by putting it down on the questionaire, he is sure to get schools that at least offer courses in it. Then he can visit the more likely schools and see if they allow non-majors or non-auditioners to participate.</p>
<p>For example, Arizona State University was one that came up. They have an extensive list of foreign languages offered. Their composition program is by audition only, but
[quote]
We offer an abundance of classes for non-majors.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I second Bard. Not only Joan Tower but also Kyle Gann is on faculty (though not at the conservatory--i.e. they have a music department which is separate from the Con.). Bard is otherwise very distinguished and it would be a great school to go to. If you get into school there, you can probably take lessons and participate in the composer concerts without specifically majoring in music. I gather you don't play anything, but want to be a composer anyway. That's not unheard of (I am such a creature, for all intents and purposes), but most schools don't like it. They will at least ask you to sing in a chorus, which should be relatively easy if you have a good ear. You might be surprised by the number of schools (big name schools even) that don't require an audition on an instrument (and the composition faculty won't really care much. In fact they might not even ask). CCM for instance doesn't require an audition, but you will have to sing in Chorus. Try Peabody. Also, if you are interested in screenwriting or playwriting, you might want to consider NCSA because their Drama/Film departments are supposed to be top notch, and they have a separate department for film composing. Just a thought.</p>
<p>thank you all</p>
<p>yeah a double major with spanish and music</p>
<p>little experience....i play the guitar and piano...a little</p>
<p>bard is definitely my number one because it will allow me to take classes with music and comp while doubling in theater and for lang</p>
<p>Any list should include James Madison University in Virginia. They have a top-notch music and composition program.</p>
<p>hey, take a look at the university of chicago. they're not so concerned with gpa and SATs as other schools; they'll judge your application based on your essays and your intellectual intentions instead of just based on scores. </p>
<p>we have a great composition dept at the u of c, and great departments in pretty much any academic area you might be interested in.</p>
<p>Cosmos - how time consuming is the Core? Would a composition student have enough free time to compose, or would there be so many general ed requirements along with a heavy workload that finding the empty space for creative work could be difficult?</p>
<p>Also, in what way do you think of the composition department as strong? What exactly do you see as its strengths?</p>
<p>In many ways Chicago seems like a good fit for my S but he hasn't been impressed online with the composition dept.</p>
<p>Hi,
The Core is pretty time consuming, but it depends on what combination you take your classes in. For instance, it's not a great idea to take the biology and physics requirements at the same time, or the humanities and social sciences requirements concurrently. </p>
<p>Composition students would, I'm sure, have enough time to compose. The thing to remember though is that this isn't a conservatory, so that can't be the only thing you do until you're finished with the Core and with your other requirements for your major. </p>
<p>I'm not a composition student, so I can't make specific comments about strengths of the composition department. I can say though that the Music Dept as a whole has regularly been ranked 1st or 2nd in the country, and we have some fantastic faculty members and composers on the staff. </p>
<p>I would recommend that your son e-mail a member of the music department and ask some specific questions about the composition department. I'm sure they'd be able to answer in a more in-depth fashion that I would.</p>
<p>oh ill look into it, that sounds great!</p>