<p>My son has been accepted at Tulane, NYU, Tufts, and waitlisted at Berkeley. We recently visited tulane for the first time this week and got a good feeling about the campus and the city. Music opportunities abound in the city, but we are trying to get a real read on the Music Department. I met with the head of the dept. who seemed very open, but I didn't come away with what the department could offer. My son is a serious musician who might major in music, languages, maybe linguistics, and he loves physics.</p>
<p>Tulane is very strong in languages and linguistics, and as a physics major or minor he would get a lot of attention since I suspect there are not a ton of those every year. And Tulane has some really good profs in physics, which is actually a bit surprising since it is not a big Ph.D. producer in that field.</p>
<p>You are right that there are tons of opportunities in New Orleans for serious musicians, but I think the program at Tulane is pretty good too. Also, there is a lot going on at Loyola and Tulane students can take courses there if they are not offered at Tulane, plus there may be other performing opportunities there.</p>
<p>I know you met with the head of the department, but he might want to talk to a guy named Jesse McBride (<a href=“mailto:jmcbrid@tulane.edu”>jmcbrid@tulane.edu</a>) who is a local musician that teaches at Tulane sometimes. My kids had him as a teacher at a summer “brain camp” in Virginia, and raved about him. When we saw his name a couple years later saying he was joining the staff at Tulane, it was a pleasantly surprising coincidence. Anyway, he might be able to give him more “street level” insights into the quality of the music program at Tulane. It has been historically excellent, it was a top program when I was there some years ago. But I cannot really say exactly where it stands now, other than it is still a somewhat popular major. BTW, Jesse is a jazz musician. If your S is classical, Jesse might still know a lot or know who does.</p>
<p>BTW, do you mean Cal-Berkeley or the Berkeley School of Music? Also, hoping idad pops on with some info. Unless I have his S mixed up with someone else, I seem to recall he is also a talented musician. In fact, now I am sure because I remember him saying he performed at Lincoln Center. I know his S is a philosophy major, but hopefully he will have good knowledge of the music offerings both at Tulane and in general that are relevant to your S.</p>
<p>S2 will have enough courses for a music minor very soon. He loves the folks in the music department and receives private lessons from the faculty. He is taking a music theory course and a listening course this semester. He said both are really good, but that the theory course prof is amazing. He plays around town and has been invited to sit in with nationally known musicians. One correction though, I once heard him say when he was introduced as a musician, “I’m not a musician, I’m a drummer.” :)</p>
<p>??? Percussion is not an integral element of music? Or is he just being deeply philosophical?</p>
<p>From what I understand, drummers believe they live in their own world. When the daughter of a family friend was auditioning for a middle school band S2 used to play in she mentioned she knew S2. The band director stopped and looked at her and said, “Uh oh, you know he’s a drummer.”</p>