<p>I need some help looking at colleges with music schools. I do not have a music background and my daughter is unsure of where to look for the following criteria:</p>
<li> good music education program</li>
<li> good flute teacher</li>
<li> good football team/band experience</li>
<li> good area to live in, nice campus</li>
<li> university experience with wide variety of other programs</li>
<li> not a conservatory</li>
<li> good undergraduate German program (I don’t expect you to know this)</li>
<li> fairly selective with admissions (academic qualifications)</li>
<li> size of maybe 12000-20000 undergraduate students (not the biggest univ we can find)</li>
</ol>
<p>We know about the top music schools and conservatories, but DD is not good enough (musically) to get into those because the flute is too competitive. We know about easy places to get into but she has a 4.0 GPA and very good test scores so we would like her to be at a university with students who have pretty good academic qualifications. She really enjoys playing in the band at football games, so the university needs to have a decent team and band experience. That said, we don’t want the very top marching band experience (too much commitment) nor do we want schools that are extremely difficult to get into. I suppose if we considered something like Northwestern to be a 5/5 rank, we’re looking for a 4 or a high 3. Any advice will be very much appreciated!</p>
<p>You may want to take a look at James Madison University in Virginia. My D is there for vocal performance. I have no idea how competitive flute is, but the overall acceptance rate for the music school is about 20%. Football is good there - lots of school spirit. The marching band is great - a couple of D’s friends are in it and they love it. They went to the Macy’s parade in '08. School is at the small end of your range. The campus is really nice and the kids are very happy there. Academics are good - getting more and more competitive every year. I also can’t comment on the German program there.</p>
<p>Many of the state u’s come to mind when combining good music ed programs, football, and marching bands. Selective academics can also be achieved by looking into specific honors levels programs. Arizona State, Upenn, Penn State, U/Nebraska Lincoln, maybe Indiana U; Michigan & Ohio State would be far too large. These are off the top of my head, I’m not that familiar with the band aspect, but these are the names that I recall from general conversation that you might want to look into.</p>
<p>My D is a double degree student, majoring in violin performance and German at Miami University of Ohio. It meets all your requirements, except that I know nothing about the flute teacher in particular.</p>
<p>One caveat - the music ed program is four years PLUS a semester of student teaching. (I don’t know how it works, though. Perhaps a student with a bunch of APs could do it faster.)</p>
<p>**Rebecca Tryon Andres ** is Principal Flutist of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the DPO Woodwind Quintet. She is also principal flutist and contractor for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, plays with the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, and is a regular extra on flute and piccolo with the Cincinnati Symphony, Pops, and May Festival orchestras…</p>
<p>binx, if the music ed program is anything like son’s was at Hartt, state certification requirements mandated specific coursework in certain academic subject areas (English, US History, math) even though he had AP scores of 5 in these areas. He DID get academic credit for the which he could apply to general degree total credit requirements. In a dual performance/ed path, it didn’t free up any time in his schedule.</p>
<p>State certification guidelines are specific, so knowing what an undergrad program is geared towards is key. Some will pretty much “guarantee” initial certification/licensure requirements of the state of the school upon successful program completion. Other programs can leave out specific aspects.</p>
<p>The key to getting out “on-time” in a music ed path is to keep to the recommended course sequencing outline.</p>
<p>George Mason has a good music education program - it’s teacher, Judith Lapple, is amazing and she studied at Eastman with James Galway for undergrad, though her program is hard to get into (I am going to go next year). I don’t think there’s a marching band, though, but I know there’s a pep band that’s year round that’s a lot of fun. </p>
<p>It’s not a conservatory, but she expects the same from her music ed majors as performance. I forgot the size (I should know since I’m going there next year). I love the campus, everything about it, and am excited to go.</p>
<p>I have heard that JMU has a conservatory-like program for music, though.</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing about University of Miami (ohio) when I read the post…Although we have not visited yet (going over daughter’s spring break) we have heard very nice things about the campus, academics, music program…DD has already been accepted off of a DVD she sent in for their BM vocal program…Heading up there in a couple of weeks to visit and have lessons to see if it’s a good fit. Good to hear others that are happy there.</p>
<p>How about Notre Dame or Oklahoma State? Notre Dame’s music major is tougher to get into, but an academic major with music courses might be the way to go. I’m not sure what you are looking for, because you mention music education and German along with music- could you clarify for us, please?
Syracuse would be a good one to consider if the cold of upstate NY isn’t a problem (but the snows of the plains region can be pretty amazing too!).</p>
<p>Where do you live or where does she want to live afterwards? Really, for music education you should look where you want to teach. That is where they are good at placing their students and the credentials are good. If not there, then makes sure there is reciprocity. The good state u’s and music departments work well. If you are going into music, you do not want large debt coming out. So where the cost is lower is good. That said, DD has friends who have gone to Indiana U of PA, James Madison, VA Tech and West VA for the same things. .</p>
<p>My D. is currently at Pace u English major in NYC. She already has 70 credits . She loves, breathes, writes and sings contemporary music, wants to perform, but was always against going to a music school because of the narrow offerings . Well now, loans and all she hates what she is doing beside the writing part and she is very depressed with her future… I am at a loss and ready to tell her get to a job at Walmart … Any ideas , advices. any school!? …I cant help her anymore!!! Thank you</p>
<p>Joselle, does she want to “produce” contemporary music and stay in NYC? Take a peek at the Clive Davis recording program at NYU…it’s not part of the school of music (Steinhardt) it’s part of the Tisch school. There is a portfolio and clip requirement and I believe they admit about 30 of 300 applicants per year. One of the streams available is for musicians who want to perform but also produce themselves/or others. I believe the program is BFA, not BM (the BM being so specific for accreditation may be why she avoided traditional music schools in the first place…)
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
K</p>
<p>Imamiger – This may be redundant or moot, but how closely did you evaluate the University of Michigan? Yes, it’s large (but the north campus at SOM feels smaller) and yes, the marching band is a MAJOR time-eater and yes, it is perhaps incredibly selective in the performance streams…but maybe the mus. ed. people could listen to a pre-screen for you and give you an indication if she’s a candidate for ed?
There is also the Max Kade residence on north campus that is explicitly for those studying German…
The environment may very well meet your criteria more than you think. The town is awesome as well. Just a thought.
Cheers,
K</p>
<p>K, I just checked the Tisch school online. It looks great. However they only transfer 32 credits. I don’t think she would want to loose a year of school. Do you know of any school similar to that one anywhere in the country!! Thanks again, J.</p>
<p>joselle, loosing some credits may be an issue at any transfer school as many require a minimum of 60 credits be “in residence” to confer a degree.</p>
<p>Perhaps a “tighter” definition of new music might be helpful. Popular/contemporary versus 20th century classically based contemporary genre? Is she more interested in the composition aspects, performance (I’m assuming she’s a vocalist?), or the production/marketing/promotion aspects?</p>
<p>Programs that MAY fit in a broad sense are The New School’s (NYC) Jazz & Contemporary program, Belmont (TN), U/Denver (Lamont) Contemporary program, College of Sante Fe, USC/Thorton’s brand new popular music program, Berklee in Boston, possibly Oberlin’s Timara. These are shoot from the hip suggestions, offered in the absence of some in depth background.</p>
<p>My experience is in classical strings, so I’m not your best source of info, but at least it may get you started.</p>
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