Hi everyone! I am super interested in music and singing, and as such place the existence of a vibrant music scene pretty high in terms of my college search. I don’t mean that in terms of “is the music department good”, as I likely won’t pursue classical music/music as a major, but in terms of student bands/student musicians who perform in and out of the college (or even break into the industry), extracurriculars like a cappella and open mics, the attitude towards music, events, etc. I’m also a pretty motivated student and am looking at some fairly selective schools, but for some colleges it was hard to research this characteristic on Google - if you have a perspective on the music scene at any one of the colleges below, I’d appreciate it if you could give me your insight!
UChicago
Duke
Columbia
UPenn
Georgetown
Swarthmore
Brown
Emory
I’ve known quite a few musicians to come out of Brown. It has (or had) a pretty lively band scene on campus, with lots of singer-songwriter, coffeehouse, indie types. None of the other schools on your list jumps out at me as having an especially vibrant music scene on campus, with the possible exception of Columbia. You might want to check out Wesleyan and Oberlin, both of which are known for music (and not just as an academic pursuit). If you’re willing to look at state schools, check out UT-Austin. The City of Austin has one of the BEST music scenes in the country and the University of Texas is right in the thick of it. It’s an excellent school otherwise, as well. Vanderbilt is in Nashville, which is awesome for music (and not just country). I don’t think Vandy itself is particularly musical, but it’s a great location for music.
^^^Good list. What about a Boston school, maybe Tufts? You’d have the Berklee College of Music crowd nearby.
Those are great schools on your list. Just make sure you also have some schools where you can be confident of admission, that you can afford, and where you would be happy to attend. The hyper-competitive schools like those on your list are reaches for almost every single applicant. They receive more applicants from highly-qualified applicants than they can accommodate. A top, top student could be accepted to any of them or none of them. It’s just a matter of supply and demand, and is nothing personal.
Nashville’s music scene is huge and not all of it is country music. DC has a developing club scene, especially in the revamped U Street corridor.
You might just google concerts in a city where there is a school that interest you. See what the clubs are and who they have booked. Try that for DC, and you will come up with the 9:30 Club and many more. You can see who is on their calendar.
As an aside, I saw the Nirvana exhibit at the EMP Museum in Seattle. There were some old flyers for the band’s early shows. One was for a show in a ballroom at the UW-Seattle campus center. Tough to beat that.
Our D just graduated from Emory and had a friend who sang a cappella. Emory has a no. of a cappella groups and there’s an annual freshman house Songfest as a bonding event in September. The performing arts scene is robust on campus and there is much more support from the student body (and the college) for music than sports (Div. III school.) Atlanta attracts many international artists coming thru (Emory’s Schwartz Center is a major venue) and a fair amount of studio work. An Emory choir was chosen to sing with the Rolling Stones recently; the Indigo Girls are Emory alumni.
In addition to world-recognized experts in music cognition and dancing cockatoos, Tufts has an extremely pervasive and inclusive music culture.
About 3000 of the 5000 undergrads participate in music related courses/programs each year.Academic programs range from a Music Engineering Minor (in which anyone can enroll) to Gospel Choir - which is the largest/most popular class on campus (enrollment = 220). A subset of the choir was invited to the White House to perform.
You do not have to be in Tufts’ joint conservatory program to take courses at the New England Conservatory.
Berklee College of Music has cross enrollment with Tufts’ School of the Museum of Fine Arts, but I do not know if that is open to Tufts’ School of Arts and Sciences. One of the voice faculty at Berklee is a member of the faculty of Tufts’ Community Music Program.
Their are several a cappella groups. The best known (the Beelzebubs) helped invent the modern genre and makes a cappella fun for everyone. They performed on the popular TV show Glee and were also invited to the White House.
The performance facility was voted the best small performance hall in Boston and offers several community outreach/service programs.
awesome, thank you so much for the detailed responses! and don’t worry, this isn’t my college list by any means (just my hard-to-research list) - I have plenty of safety schools and am already planning on applying to tufts/wesleyan/vandy!
Out of curiosity, what safety and match schools with a vibrant or dynamic music scene have you found ?
Those that immediately come to mind would include UPuget Sound and St Olaf, plus colleges in Portland, Seattle, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans???
@MYOS1634 my safety schools may not have much of a music scene (it’s an in-state school) but in terms of more on the low match/match/high match side i have schools like nyu, emory, tufts, etc. i figured that schools in cities would tend to present good opportunities for music even if the student body isn’t typically artsy
In no way are Tufts and Emory in the match category for anyone… just saying.
Many Boston schools have a great presence of music on campus; I can only comment on Tufts specifically, though. Somerville itself has a very high concentration of young artists (many identify as musical artists), and with Cambridge/Boston next door, the musical opportunities really seem infinite. As others have already mentioned, Tufts itself has a large population of students who are musically involved on campus–not to mention that Tufts also has a great program for music and an amazing performance hall
Thanks!
Although NYU, Emory, and Tufts are classified as Reach for everyone… I did mean safety and matches as it can be helpful for other music-enclined high achievers!
