Music Composition program

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi, I am a junior in high school. I have just begun my college search and I have decided that music composition is a major that I am very interested in. I have been composing since the fifth grade and it is one of my favorite activities. I have not had any formal composition training but have taken a music theory course at my school and am taking the AP Music Theory next year. The theory teacher at my school is excellent (he was taught by Elliot Del Borgo).</p>

<p>Some more about me: I have a 3.6-3.7 GPA and am currently ranked 11 in my class of 429; I have taken the SATs once and got a 2000. As for extracurricular activities, I am the cello section leader of my school's chamber orchestra and am in our string quartet; I am Class Treasurer; I am Co-President of our FBLA Chapter; I did the school musical this year. Just some info on me.</p>

<p>I want to go to a school that has a good music composition program, not just a music major. I want to stay in the North (New England, NY, PA, and around the DC area), and if possible, I want to go to school in the city. I am very interested in the graduate Musical Theater Writing program at Tisch at NYC, so this may influence my decision. I am researching more about it.</p>

<p>What schools would you recommend I research? I don't even know where to start! Thank you.</p>

2

<p>Have you begun to assemble a portfolio that you will need to submit with your applications? How do characterize the compositions you have done so far? Who are some of the composers that have influenced you so far? Sorry for all the questions, but your answers will help provide the solid answers you need as you begin the process.</p>

3

<p>My first and foremost recommendation is that you start taking private lessons, or get in a regular composition class at once. As in next week! It is always possible to find a composer to study with. If you reach out to the local university or college music department, they can refer you to someone, or if there is a conservatory or school of music near you. Barring that, lessons can be taken via skype from anywhere in the world.</p>

4

<p>By private lessons, I assume you mean private composing lessons? I take private cello lessons currently. I intend to take a composition course at Jorgensen at UConn next year.</p>

<p>I mainly compose for string orchestra and string quartets but sometimes do other stuff. In the fifth grade, my first piece was played by the high school string quartet in their concert. Since then, it’s been mostly a hobby or a way to just create music for myself.</p>

5

<p>As I said, I am interested in the graduate Musical Theatre Writing program at NYU. I am willing to try anything musically, however.</p>

6

<p>I’m in total agreement with SpiritManager. Yes, she does mean private composition lessons. The chief purpose for this and the reason for the need for speed is so that you can begin putting together a composition portfolio for your applications. At this stage, I think the private lessons would be preferable to a class although the class will help with the lessons. You have a great attitude towards why you want to compose. Would still like to know some of your composer influences. </p>

7

<p>Are you anywhere near Yale? There are composition grad students at Yale who will give private lessons. Or Hartt in Hartford will be able to refer you to composers or grad students for lessons. If there is a composition program at UConn then they should be able to steer you to a teacher. Or you could go into NYC. Mannes has a pre-college composition program, I believe. Manhattan might, as well. And I’m sure there are many other choices. The city is teeming with composers!</p>

<p>There’s no point in thinking about a graduate program at this point. You need to learn the fundamentals. And, yes, you need to have at least three pieces scored and two of those recorded by live musicians by November of this year. That’s not a lot of time to build up your portfolio. How are you writing music? By hand? Using notation software like Sibelius or Finale? Or are you using computer tools to score and play your music?</p>

8

<p>Yes, Yale has some very talented graduate student composers, especially starting in the fall. :slight_smile: </p>

9

<p>I’m relatively close to Yale, but Hartford is closer.
The graduate program is just something that I saw that I found interesting; in four years, I may not be. Who knows?
I write music by Finale typically but sometimes they start by hand.
As for my influences, those have changed over the years. When I write, I don’t feel that I’m channeling a specific composer; sometimes, if there’s something I like from a particular piece, I incorporate something similar or something inspired by it into mine.</p>

10

<p>Having good live recordings of your compositions is important. Listening to pieces by faculty members at various schools can be helpful in deciding where to apply and who you want to study with.</p>

<p>If you’re near Hartt, Robert Carl is excellent. His feedback is very articulate and he’s a wonderful teacher/person! He would be a good person to seek out or try and take a few lessons with.</p>

11

<p>Asides from those composition lessons, and getting your music performed as much as possible (get your friends together, write music for them, put on a concert, play on the street, play for your friends - just get your music played!) you should be listening to as much music as possible, and attending lots of concerts of music written by living composers. If you’re going to be writing music, you’re going to be writing music of the 21st century, so it’s your job to get to know what that world of music is - and it’s a huge all encompassing world. I recommend you start listening to streaming radio stations like WQXR’s Q2 and the American Composers Forum’s Counterstream Radio. And start reading books about 20th century music - like The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross, and books by Kyle Gann. Hallelujah Junction by John Adams. You’ve got a lot to do between now and next November. But you’ve also got enough time.</p>

12

<p>Compdad, SpiritManager, and musician34 are right on the nose. You have a handful of important jobs to get done by November. Good news is that they can be done concurrently. </p>

<p>1) You need to decide what kind of school to pursue. BA vs BM (by the way, BA is not at all a bad choice for Composition and might be a good option considering #2 and #3), school’s focus, school’s location, cost, etc. There are big differences and this forum can help you learn more about the options but the fit will depend largely on your interests and needs from a school. </p>

<p>2) You need to work on a portfolio that usually includes around 3 scores and 2 recordings (preferably live, acoustic but MIDI is often allowable if necessary). Usually it would show a bit of variety of style and instruments (although my son’s portfolio was limited to very small ensemble pieces (2 and 3 instruments) and his style is fairly narrow and that did not impact any of his applications). </p>

<p>3) Private lessons will help tremendously with #2, especially if you go in with that as the goal. If you are close to Hartt or UConn, you should be able to find a private teacher. Even a grad student would be helpful.</p>

<p>4) Deciding #1 might require a lot of listening to and reading about 20th and 21st century music. This is a very helpful step although it might not be mandatory. I think at the undergraduate level it is understood that teenagers are not always exposed to living composers. But it might give you a pretty good leg up to have some of this background. </p>

13

<p>The graduate program at NYU is very elite and not a program that one would likely get into immediately following undergrad. Usually for programs such as that you need to working in the field or attempting to do so for a few years before applying, for the most part.</p>

14

<p>To tie into no. 4 of musictechdad’s list, many composers have some idea of their own voices before they even apply to college, but many don’t. There may be a correlation between those students who have listened to a great variety of music for years and the earlier development of a compositional voice. Don’t know for sure. But it is important that you have passion for composition and that your work demonstrates that passion even if it does not yet express a certain compositional view. As to music theory, it is good that you will taking AP theory even though most music schools and virtually all conservatories will ignore the score. In terms of admissions, some schools care more about theory than others. Some stipulate that the theory exam you will be given is part of the application process but most don’t.</p>

<p>It is important to emphasis another point that musictechdad made as to schools. Many composers of note received a BA in music or another subject and then went on to grad school in composition. Many colleges and universities have outstanding composers on their faculties. At some point, you need to define the type of school in which you are most interested and that will help determine a list of schools. Conservatories in general do not care that much about grades. Your grades are fine for conservatories. I’ll throw one school out that may be of interest. That is University of the Arts in Philly. There is a strong interplay between the composition department and music theatre.</p>

15

<p>Hi there! The first thing I like to recommend is that you read this essay on the Peabody site about the different ways to study music. It can really be clarifying: <a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html”>http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Between your cello and your composing, and some of your leadership, it is clear that you love music and work hard at it. I think your main decision may be between a BM and a BA. A BM, often at a conservatory or at a music school within a university, involves 2/3-3/4 of your classes in music. Do you have other interests academically, or would you be happy really focusing on music?</p>

<p>A BA will usually offer the reverse, 1/4-1/3 (sometimes 1/2) classes in music with many other classes, often distribution requirements to cover social science, physical science, math, English composition, history, culture etc. This is not necessarily a bad way to go for composers, as someone else said. A general music major involves music theory, history, composition, ethnomusicology, and technology; some have composition lessons or seminars, all have composition in classes.</p>

<p>You really have to look at each school’s website carefully. Some BA programs have a lot of performance emphasis, and auditions, and some have none at all (at least for admission, there may be auditions for on campus ensembles and orchestra once admitted and there.)</p>

<p>Some schools offer periodic opportunities to have pieces played and at others you may need to make your own.</p>

<p>Do you like to work independently? You can start with composition lessons but I can tell you that for some young composers, seeing the teacher (really not a teacher, who can teach composition? more of a facilitator really) every 6 weeks is fine. It is true though that a teacher can help with application and other opportunities.</p>

<p>Don’t worry too much about developing expertise on living composers. Oberlin explicitly asks about this but most other schools don’t care that much. Many undergrad composers are not that sophisticated in terms of “new music” (contemporary concert music) at first but learn while in school. That said, having some idea of the ruling aesthetic at a school helps. Even better look for diversity in style. If you attend a concert of student composers and every piece is different, I think that is a good sign!</p>

<p>Your comment about musical theater threw me. But then again, Leonard Bernstein did classical and MT…and others. Still, in this intense world of ours now, it is good to think about whether you want to do classical, MT, jazz or what. There is much mixing of genres these days though.</p>

<p>So, yes, lots to do but don’t panic. The burdens of applying should not destroy you love of composing or music! You have plenty of time to put together a portfolio, if you want a conservatory. The hardest thing is finding musicians. You can also play a solo:)</p>

<p>But please understand too that if you apply to a college or university for a BA, you most likely won’t need a portfolio but can instead send an arts supplement with a sample of your work, recommendations, music resume, concert programs, newspaper articles and the like.</p>

<p>My own daughter applied to both conservatories and colleges. She decided on April 30th of senior year! Feel free to cover any and all options but be careful with too many auditions or applications. In our family, only 4-6.</p>

<p>Come back here with more specifics and there will be help here. Feel free to PM as well when you can.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

16

<p>Thank you compmom, that essay was very helpful! At this point I think a BA would suit me better, mostly because I do a lot of music but also a LOT of non-musical extracurricular activities (FBLA is a big part of my life). But there’s still some time to decide!</p>

17

<p>Also, as for recordings of my pieces, would I be able to use members of the local symphony orchestra? And what do colleges look for in these, as far as style and that goes?</p>

18

<p>You can use any players that can competently play your piece. A local symphony would work if you can get them to do it. The recorded pieces can have many purposes. You would usually use recordings of the same printed scores that you are submitting in your portfolio. For the screeners, listening to the recording of a score can help them see your notational ability, can help inform the written piece, can show that what your wrote was able to be translated and performed by the players. You can also submit recorded pieces that do not have a matching notated score. This is especially true of electronic pieces where a written score might not be needed because the piece is not performed by instrumentalists or perhaps elements of the piece (interactivity, algorithmically generated, synthesized sounds, etc) make notation impossible. </p>

<p>As far as style, that can vary quite a bit. They would be looking for something in the classical realm but that is a very big category. It could be closer to classical and neoclassical music (baroque, romantic, symphonic) or more modern 20th/21st century classical (dissonant, atonal, avant grade, experimental, minimalist, serialism, and many more). At this point, you should write the music you are comfortable writing. I think most music schools and conservatories will be open to a variety of styles within the very broad classical banner. If you primarily write pop music or jazz, you should look for school that supports those styles. There are school options in you want to write contemporary pop/jazz but many music schools and conservatories will not be looking for pop/jazz compositions. </p>

19

<p>Jos,a few things. One, you can apply to all kinds of programs (BA and BM) and then decide in last April of senior year. </p>

<p>Two, try to get the best musicians you can. (My daughter hired local symphony players, paid a few hundred, and they did not play her piece well at all, unfortunately. If your piece is, say, a string quartet, try to get a string quartet, perhaps.)</p>

<p>Three, you should write the music that you are driven to write. Don’t write for anyone else. The one thing that is often asked for is different instrumentation in your 3-4 pieces. </p>

<p>At the undergrad level, schools are looking for potential, but even then the most important thing is to have begun having your own individual “voice.” Potential and individuality are more important than technical skill, I would say, at this point.</p>

<p>BA programs include composition and many people in the field even recommend that a composer do a BA. Studying other subjects can really inform your composing. If you do a BA, you have to figure out how much structure you want for compositional study. Do you want composition seminars, private lessons each week, and starting freshman year, for instance? If there are rigorous distribution requirements, will you have time and energy to write? Are there opportunities to get pieces played? That said, some continue composing without much structure at all.</p>

<p>p.s. I know a couple of undergrad composers, classical composers, who wrote the music for the college musical and got into composing for musical theater. So keep that in mind and articulate that interest. Also, at smaller schools like Sarah Lawrence and Bennington, for instance, you can easily study both music and the other subjects you might want, and even combine them.</p>