<p>I'm a junior in high school right now, and I play both the bassoon and the (alto/tenor) saxophone. I'm completely in love with music, but I don't think I'm nearly talented enough to become successful in the world of performance. Recently, however, I've been looking into music education as a profession, discussed it with my band director in length, and I am starting to feel pretty adamant about majoring in it.</p>
<p>This board has much more to do with performance than education, so I'm not too sure about colleges that are good for music education. If anyone could help me decide on a list of colleges that do it well, that'd be great.</p>
<p>Also, double majoring in both performance and education: good or bad idea? I'm sure that despite my passion for doing both of them, I would end up getting swamped with work, but it could only help. Has anyone done this before? If so, would you recommend it?</p>
<p>Plenty of info here on music ed. Be happy to point you out potential options, past threads.</p>
<p>Any idea of schools? Size, location, teacher preference? Need a good deal of financial aid? Typically music ed is least costly within your own public uni or college system, and the program is designed to fulfill the requirements mandated for intital certification in your state. My son was a dual perf/ed major who opted out of ed at the very final hour to pursue performance. There are reasons for and against a dual pursuit. At the BM level, there are overlapping degree requirements for both disciplines, but each is typically a time and credit intensive degree in its own right. It may be a five year rather than four year process. Therefore, it may well be more expensive. A bit more background of your training, experience, summer immersion program, years of study and your academics is helpful in suggesting potential programs.</p>
<p>Some music education, music ed threads. Representative, largely general but some with school or instrument specific info. There’s about 50 or so titled music ed or music education threads; school specific info can also be found in some of the institution specific threads. </p>
<p>Thanks for the quick and helpful response, violadad! Yeah sorry about that–I ran a few searches on music education, but the amount of threads on each page was so limited (compared to what I’m used to) that I assumed that those few threads were everything and didn’t even realize there were other pages. I’m checking them out now (as well as the many links you directed me to–thanks again).</p>
<p>Apparently I have not thought this through well enough. I really have no preference on size yet, and I’m really not sure about location. I mean, ideally I’m looking for a college around where I plan to teach, but I’m not sure about that yet, and I would be willing to forgo that for a better education. As far as teacher preferences go… well, obviously I’d have to have relatively good chemistry with my teacher. I don’t really know what more to describe about it. Financially I don’t think I’d be in that much trouble, but if I were to go in my own area it’d have to be Rutgers Mason Gross; which isn’t a bad school at all, but if I had any better options I’d like to consider them. I have been thinking a lot about Ithaca, actually. Its music education program, from what I hear, is pretty exceptional, and it’s relatively convenient in terms of location.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to say that I don’t really know too much about what to say regarding my own background. I’ve been playing the bassoon for a little bit less than two years now in the J.P. Stevens Wind Ensemble (which ranked first in the state last year–not to brag, haha), but I’ve been working very hard to improve quickly. I’m planning on making at least the All-State band in New Jersey this year, and my ultimate goal is first overall. I marched the tenor saxophone for two years, and switched to the alto saxophone this year. I am a section leader of the altos this year, and I’m hoping to be a drum major next year. As a side note, I also enjoy playing a lot of jazz on sax, if that means anything. Hopefully I can make either the Tanglewood or Interlochen summer programs on bassoon next summer–my friends who went to either have told me that they were very life-altering experiences. Academically I think I hold up. My GPA is nothing to really brag about, but I don’t think I’ll shoot for a school high enough where that will matter too much. My goal for the SATs is around a 2250 (I know, I’m saying these things and I have yet to do them–this is in the best-case scenario) and in terms of extracurriculars I’ve obviously got enough on my plate (I’m an editor of the school yearbook club as well).</p>
<p>I actually have checked out that first thread by BassDad and found it an excellent read. I’m checking out the other links now. Thanks a lot!</p>