<p>I want to major in conducting, vocal
Performance, flute performance, or musical theater. I was searching for a college in the area of San Diego but I'm coming up with only visual arts colleges. Any help?</p>
<p>Those are 4 very diverse majors and you need to step back and access your strengths to decide I’d you’re really competitive in one of them. Flute and VP are among the most difficult programs to gain admission to and to get into a good school, you have to be outstanding, especially if you’re a girl. Ditto for conducting-horribly difficult to break into that if you’re female- but this is usually a graduate school degree, which means that you’re back to square 1 with picking a major. MT is a popular, and crowded field and getting into a good auditioned program takes a lot of preparation. You need to choose one. Which one can your see yourself excelling in and what experience have you had in each area? And why are you limiting yourself to San Diego? You’re not going to find what you want there ( although it’s one of my favorite places!).</p>
<p>Vocal Performance, maybe UCSD. Have you checked USC in LA? There is also SDSU… Good luck.</p>
<p>Check out Point Loma Nazarene. There is a great vocal coach there. Not sure about flute performance. Also, we know some excellent singers at SDSU. UCSD is known for graduate composition, not really recommended for undergraduate music. That said, if you want a BA and an academic music degree with some performance opportunities, then check it out. They have some great facilities, and you do get lessons and ensembles. There is no audition, you are accepted based upon your academics, EC’s etc., a very selective school. But, none of the San Diego schools can come close to competing with the vast majority of schools/conservatories discussed in this forum. Why San Diego? If you are from SD, then that makes sense, but to go away to school for music in SD, it’s hard to see the value there. Based solely upon your post, it seems as though you have not specialized, therefore, a solid university with a music major could be a good choice for you: UCSD or SDSU, both very selective. Mezzo’s Mama is right, the competition for admission for an auditioned program in voice or flute performance is fierce. There are plenty of decent to good composition programs that don’t require an audition or portfolio, do a search on this board.<br>
If you are planning to audition somewhere for flute or voice, you’ll need to send in a pre-screen recording. It’s hard to imagine that you’d be ready in either one right now if you haven’t yet decided. Most people are recording their pre-screens right now.</p>
<p>Your options will greatly expand if you wander away from to just San Diego, even as close as Los Angeles or Orange County.</p>
<p>It seems that you are interested in a wide range of stuff, and you haven’t committed to any particular thing, though you do want to do something music related. At most well-regarded university music programs (as well as all conservatories), you’d be required to have some sort of specialization to get in. However, there are some options if you want to incorporate some sort of equal focus on all your musical interests.</p>
<p>In San Diego, you can look at the University of San Diego (USD), which is a liberal arts undergrad college with music offerings, so you should be able to get your fix there. However, I am not sure if they offer anything in conducting, and I’m not sure if the school is big enough to be putting on musical theater productions regularly.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, UCSD is an obvious place to look at, but like sopranomom said, it’s really a program that caters to graduate students than undergrads. I believe that undergrads do not have to audition to declare the music major, so your peers may not have as high a performing ability than some other music schools with more active UG departments. The bright side is, the faculty at UCSD are almost all internationally renowned, and you’ll get to work with some of them in some classes as an undergrad. But know that UCSD’s music program is known to have an aesthetic more towards the progressive, experimental, Euro-centric side; and if your interests are in things like musical theater, you may not find that there.</p>