My D is a HS Senior planning to major in music education, auditioning on piano (not majoring in piano performance). She’s applying early decision to Northwestern and her plan B is to apply early decision round 2 to Boston University. Does anyone have experience/knowledge on the expectations of the piano performance audition panel for music education majors? How much easier is it to be accepted? She has a 4.0, 1440 SAT, a full load of APs and all 5’s on AP tests so far. So it really comes down to the audition and she’s nervous about being held to the same level as performance majors. Thank you!!
It’s not as hard but she still needs to prep to the best of her ability. Her interview plus ensemble and teaching experience will be extremely important.
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At Northwestern at least, she’s expected to prepare the same prescreen and audition materials as a performance major. Is she already playing repertoire at this level? Is she able to perform all of the audition requirements that are listed? It’s hard to say whether the standards will be the same or different. That’s a question for the music education departments at each school. Maybe you can ask whether all pianists are admitted as one cohort or if education majors are evaluated and admitted separately from performance majors. You might also ask if performance majors and education majors are assigned teachers differently.
At my son’s university, top ensembles are full of music education majors and admissions are very competitive for music Ed.
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Music Performance Majors and Music Ed Majors take mostly the same courses for two years, almost everywhere (theory, aural, piano, choral/vocal/ensemble). You can look and verify that is true at D’s choices. The audition, therefore, expects the same high level from all musicians…but often they group them by intended major on audition day! It appears that Northwestern has a pre-screening process before the audition, so she will hopefully get some feedback from that.
As a music mom, I can tell you that being a top student helps. Many students want to study music, but don’t have the academics to get into the top universities. Knowing that she is going to be all-around-successful does help!
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I know of several people who were accepted at highly competitive music programs but were not top players. I can only assume they that they were accepted based on their perceived teaching abilities as evidenced by their interview, passion for music, and LORs. I really wouldn’t stress about it, she can only do what she can do. And if she doesn’t get in to NU, I promise you she will find a suitable program somewhere. Employment for music ed majors at most colleges and universities is excellent so I wouldn’t get stuck on one school. Location and cost are more important variables IMO.
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