<p>This one has probably been overdone; but briefly, would appreciate any bullet point type summary observations/opinions/anecdotes/links to...etc about Universities and/or LAC's [ not conservatories for now ] with highly regarded music performance major programs/depts--specifically related to piano. Thank you!</p>
<p>If you would consider Oberlin as part LAC, part conservatory:
I attended a concert there last week that featured one of their concerto competition winners on piano. She was very impressive. I have heard that they may be eliminating a position or two from the piano faculty as part of their plan to slightly shrink the conservatory side of the school. Their plan is to compensate by having more visiting professors. Trivia - Oberlin owns the largest collection of Steinways in one location - nearly 200 of them, mostly grands.</p>
<p>BassDad, my son's piano teacher has a colleague at Oberlin and she asked him about the reduction in piano faculty. We were assured that the only positions lost would be due to attrition from retirement, and no one was planning to retire this year (at least that's what he said!).</p>
<p>University of Maryland, College Park has really impressive faculty for piano as a state school (two of their former teachers went on to become really popular teachers at Eastman). They also have fabulous facilities (their new concert halls are wonderful - people on this board can testify that)</p>
<p>Not sure what academic level your child is looking for, but on the Ivy league and its close associates, Yale from what I understand do not offer performance as undergraduate major, but you do get a chance to study with the profs. in the Yale School of Music. Some ivies like Harvard and Princeton only offer degrees in music theory, etc. (e.g. not performance)</p>
<p>Most universities that are know for performance have schools of music, essentially conservatories. </p>
<p>LACs fall into a couple of categories. There's the Oberlin-style model, with a good liberal arts school and a conservatory. (Bard, Lawrence et al. are in this category.)</p>
<p>There's the LAC, or more often small- moderate size LAC-like university, that has some sort of exchange relationship with a conservatory or school of music (Yale-Yale School of Music; Rochester-Eastman; Hartford-Harrt; Case-Cleveland Institute). </p>
<p>The hardest to research is the LAC with strong music program. Good LACs will very often have strong theory and history instruction, since those courses tend to be taught by full-time, tenure-track faculty. The performance instruction is often farmed out to adjunct faculty who can range from full-time and the equal of any conservatory teacher-performer to the local piano teacher who teaches part-time. In the Northeast, I've heard good things about the piano opportunites at Bates, Colby, Wellesley, and Skidmore (but my contacts are several years old in some cases). As you narrow the list, setting up a short meeting-lesson with the teacher is a good idea, since so much rides on your son/daughter's relationship with the piano instructor.</p>
<p>I think it depends so much on your level of play. A very accomplished musician from my son's high school is now at Wellesley and, while pleased with most aspects of the school, feels the music there has been only lateral step for her, not the growth that most musicians want. I don't know a thing about Bates or Colby, but there is a fine jazz guitarist we know at Skidmore, who also finds the level of play disappointing.</p>
<p>You might want to narrow down your 'wish-list', i.e. do you prefer a large, state university, or a private one? Just how important are academics vs. the music program? What part of the country would you be focusing on, or do you really not care at all...the program is the most important thing. Financially, are you being realistic about what you can afford? Also, as discussed before here, have you a realistic idea of just how advanced/gifted your student is? Piano is one of the more competitive instruments because it is so popular. That could work for your student or against him/her. There are some lesser known programs with fantastic teachers. The financial aid at these types of school might be much higher, as they want to attract really good students. It might be easier to suggest some programs if you narrow down your search a bit. Allmusic makes a good point in that most of the distinguished programs are at conservatories, whereas many academically top-notch LAC's have mediocre music departments, at best. An example of a very good university with an exceptional music department would be University of Southern California. That's just an example of a west coast school you might consider. And of course Oberlin, which is often mentioned here. University of Michigan has always had a great reputation for music, especially piano. Then there's Park University in Kansas City which is turning out many competition winners. One thing you might do, and it's fun and interesting, is to google piano competitions and read the bios of the contestants. See where some of these pianists are studying. They are not all at Julliard or Curtis. That's where I discovered Park Univ. Then you can go to the school's website and find out alot more about the faculty, costs, etc. Good luck.</p>
<p>I agree with Allmusic's observations. My D's Youth Orchestra spends a lot of time preparing kids who are not going to major in music but want a rich extracurricular musical life at college for a possible disappointment. In fact, to make the point dramatically (we know teenagers have a hard time wrapping their brains around ideas they don't want to believe LOL) their conductor and coaches will tell them "your participation in this orchestra may be the best musical/orchestral experience you can expect to have if you're not going to major in performance." (this is a top-notch youth orchestra, but even so, the kids find that idea startling and sobering).</p>
<p>One top LAC with a very strong music program including great performance opportunities is Williams.</p>
<p>(Also Hartt School of Music is part of the University of Hartford, not just affiliated.)</p>
<p>Thanks all for this very helpful feedback. BassDad--the 200 Steinways at Oberlin would be worth the visit alone IMHO. Oberlin has just become familiar to us on paper and on web site, and would preliminarily seem to be an ideal setting. To violinmom and allmusic's points, good question--we are trying to assess where the talent level truly is. Academically, D has a pretty challenging courseload with 4 AP's and is in the top 5% of HS class of 350. Waiting for initial SAT's in the Spring to better gauge what schools are relevant to apply to. Early on, schools like HYP would seem to be far reach's; while schools like UMich, Northwestern, and even Duke and Cornell are intriguing and look attractive. Just learning about Peabody and JHU...but the conservatory may be a bit of a stretch? This is our present dilemma. D's fairly new piano teacher is Eastern European trained with solid credentials, and seems to believe there is a high ceiling. We also understand that this is very competitive terrain. We might guess that she is very talented--and possible even borderline gifted--if that is even a relevant description? Time and grade will hopefully reveal more to all of us. Lastly, we are also curious about any other piano related commentary for Cornell and/or Ithaca College--and about The Summer Piano Institute at Ithaca.</p>
<p>My S has a friend majoring in collaborative piano at Indiana. She was the pianist for the youth symphony he was in. She focused on collaborative programs, but I know she also looked hard at Eastman. (Don't know if ultimately she turned them down or they turned her down.) She did attend a summer program at Eastman which she loved.</p>
<p>Our piano teacher has her academic degree from Cornell and her piano degree from Ithaca. She went for the piano degree while staying home with her two kids while they were living in Ithaca. I know she felt like the music performance stuff was better at Ithaca than Cornell. Don't know anything about their summer program though.</p>
<p>A little bit info on piano performance at Peabody & JHU double degree: from rumors I heard (don't quote me on this), the pianists who apply to the DD program have to receive an average audition rating of at least 9 out of the highest possible 10 points to get into the program. - The standard is quite strict... (The actual question is something like "Compare to the other applicants, this applicant's playing is __ on the scale of 1 to 10", so it basically means that you not only have to be good enough to get into Peabody but also be the top of your class)</p>
<p>Does IU have collaborative piano as an undergraduate major? I thought collaborative piano is only for graduate level for all schools. If it does, that will fit D perfectly. About summer camp for pianists, D attended IU Piano Academy for two summers and loved it. The faculty is great. Read Gainsford, a regular teacher there, used to teach at Ithaca College, but is now at FSU. There were many masterclasses and D received two hours of private lessons each week. It was also fun except the buddy system. Its final piano duet concert got me every time. You should check out the website.</p>
<p>I looked at the IU website, and they only list piano performance degrees for both undergrad and grad without specifying solo or collaborative. However, I know my D's friend is specifically interested in collaborative. I did find this as a requirement for the undergrad piano degree:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Major Ensemble
Required every fall semester, spring semester, and second summer session in which student is registered for any course, music or non-music. Students admitted to the upper division of the School of Music must register for X002 Piano Accompanying (2 cr.). All others must register for X040 University Instrumental Ensembles (2 cr.), X060 Early Music Ensembles (2 cr.), or X070 University Choral Ensembles (2 cr.).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So I suspect her desire for ensemble work is appreciated and facilitated.</p>
<p>University of Michigan has a reputation for first-rate collaborative piano, in addition to an all-around great music music.</p>
<p>University of Michigan has a reputation for first-rate collaborative piano, in addition to an all-around great music program.</p>
<p>UMich's collaborative piano program is also only for Masters or Doctoral level students.</p>
<p>Could someone kindly define or clarify what is meant by a collaborative program--as in the case of piano? Thanks.</p>
<p>If you mean "accompanying" then CCM at Univ. of Cinti. has MM in Accompanying. The choices are vocal or instrumental track.</p>
<p>And I would highly recommend summer camp programs as supplemental music experiences. Kids get to immerse themselves in rehearsals & performances, and the atmosphere is not competitive as often music school majors are. They learn they CAN do all kinds of music--and it's fun! Because realistically, after college, many kids will not make a living performing, and they should at least know how to have fun with music.</p>