Oberlin also allows non-Con students to audtion and take music lessons for 1/2 college credit. That’s what my D did, She was not good enough for any of the Con ensembles, but there are plenty of kids in the College who are good musicians and I never heard anyone complain they didn’t have enough opportunities to play or sing.
@Massmomm - That is what we were told on our visit last summer. Also, lessons are open to the community of Oberlin. A student tour guide shared that when he was getting his hair cut, he discovered the he and his barber had the same piano instructor.
I would still say…contact the music department chairperson, and the applied instrument teachers at each college. My DD had playing in the orchestra, and continuing private lessons…as a non-major…as one of her top criteria for college selection. She got terrific information when she contacted these people at each school. Because she wanted to play on the orchestra, she also contacted the orchestra directors.
We were able to visit all,schools before she applied. She had a private lesson at each school,when we visited, plus a conversation in person with the music department chairperson. This really gave her a good sense of what she would be able to do at each college.
Take a look at Eckerd College music program available to majors and non-majors. Good merit aid, great science programs as well.
Along with St. Olaf, look at Concordia in Fargo/Moorhead. Huge numbers of non music majors take lessons and perform in ensembles. Two jazz bands as well as multiple piano faculty. One of the recent grads I know was organ performance major, but made his money by leading a jazz trio on piano. With the three colleges, there are a lot of music faculty who play jazz just for fun along with the teaching and symphony gigs.
To me, the list of schools he plans on applying to is already excellent.
Is he still planning on finishing that list? Do those 8 schools remaining, have deadlines in january?
I would wait and see where he gets in, then look more deeply into the music programs as people have suggested. Websites can tell a lot, initially, but visiting and talking with the music department will fill out the picture.
Some kids major in music or science or whatever and do jazz as an extracurricular or in outside gigs off campus: we know kids at Tufts and Tulane who have done this. There are lots of ways to go. Many schools will fit the bill and some of the ones he is applying to should work out well.
I can only comment on this: "Can you please comment on opportunities to participate in music for non-music majors? "
D. graduated wih Zoology major / Music Composition minor. She would love to be performance minor, but she could not afford this very time consuming minor. She was not as heavily into her piano as you S., but she had private lessons in 1 - 12 grades and Music theory was very easy for her. As a bonus, she developed a decent voice at college, while singling rrequired duets with Music majors (she commneted, that they had great voice, well, D. did not sing even in choir, not any voice coaching before college at all). Overall it was a great experience away from the very challenging science classes of her major, very rewarding. I do not know anything about LACs / jazz offerings though.
I am interested in this, as well. My son is in 11th grade. He is a very accomplished classical pianist, and so far he’s had no interest in jazz piano. But he also plays the trumpet, and he loves playing in the jazz band. He also plays in the symphonic band and in another jazz-oriented band outside of school. He’s had a few “gigs” on trumpet. He’s much stronger on piano, and he spends a lot more time practicing piano than trumpet. He’s had some great opportunities recently (piano) and he’s gotten a lot of recognition.
He is very sure that he doesn’t want to be a music major, and he probably doesn’t want to be a music minor, either. It seems strange to me, but he hates music theory. And he has no interest in composing.
My sense is that he will end up in the sciences.
I started a thread on this some months ago and got some great suggestions, including Lawrence. I’d been thinking of U Rochester as a school that is strong in sciences and in music, but I learned that not only are the Eastman music groups closed to outside student, but the U Rochester music groups are open to Eastman students and they fill most of the positions.
Last spring, I looked at the HS admissions data for 4 schools. He has a 99% chance of admission to U Rochester (where quite a few kids from his HS end up), an excellent chance at Oberlin, no chance at Tufts, and U Chicago might end up on the list as a reach or high match.
I was looking at the music opportunities at Chicago, Vassar, and Swarthmore (which may not be a possibility) and it’s very confusing. Lessons on campus, lessons off campus, some subsidized, some not, various campus music groups. One problem I see is that most of the groups require an audition, and this doesn’t happen until the fall of freshman year - long after decisions are made. I was also surprised to see that these schools don’t have symphonic bands, only jazz bands and orchestras.
I’m feeling very confused and anxious.
My son is a junior at Tulane. He is also a jazz pianist. When he applied to Tulane he was not considering a music major (although he decided in his sophomore year to work towards a BFA in jazz studies). Because of this, he didn’t even audition before arriving for his freshman year. He has enjoyed most of his classes, and fulfilled all of his “core” non-music requirements by the end of sophomore year. Kids can take lessons and also be in ensembles according to their level/ability, regardless of major. The music program at Tulane is pretty small, but jazz (as you might imagine) is a big focus. He has gotten a ton of individual attention, and lots of playing opportunities–not only on campus, but playing gigs in various off-campus venues as well. He also jams with kids from Loyola, which is right next to Tulane and has a larger music program. He also mentors a NOLA public school student through Tulane’s “Trombone Shorty Academy” which provides free lessons for talented kids–a great community service opportunity. Practice rooms are plentiful, and many have Steinway grands, according to him. Tulane is also generous with merit aid. And NOLA is a lot of fun for parents to visit!
Last year, my D was offered a $1000 additional scholarship if joining the orchestra at Purdue even she was accepted into engineering.
My daughter received $750 a year in performance scholarships, plus free instrument private lessons at Santa Clara as long as she played in their orchestra. Oboe player.