<p>I’m contributing to this thread for two main reasons – 1) to say thank you to the cc music major contributors for the great advice provided over the last year and 2) to offer some observations of my own about that same year for prospective music majors and their nervous parents.</p>
<p>My D is now a freshman viola performance major. I won’t say where just now because it’s not important although it is easy to find in the various threads.</p>
<p>We dropped her off last week and said our tearful goodbyes. This Monday was her first day of classes - music theory at 8AM, ouch! We pray that parents’ weekend will arrive quickly.</p>
<p>As a family, we searched long and hard for the RIGHT music school with the RIGHT viola professor. It had to be the right school/professor for HER and no one else. Yes, we were paying the bills, but because the prof/student relationship seemed so personal, especially for a music performance major, the fit had to be perfect. Fortunately, we knew a symphony violist/university professor who helped us with an initial list, and we took it from there.</p>
<p>I was a novice when the process started, and I still consider myself a novice. Only now, I know enough to be dangerous by giving advice and opinions. I expect and hope that the many experienced contributors to the music major threads will correct my errors.</p>
<p>My advice and observations (in no particular order) – </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Start off with a plan - wandering around aimlessly from university after university is very expensive and not overly productive.</p></li>
<li><p>Read the posts on the cc music threads.</p></li>
<li><p>When reading the threads, look for firsthand knowledge about specific schools and teachers. Hearsay isn’t always helpful or accurate.</p></li>
<li><p>Buy Peterson’s College Guide for Performing Arts Majors.</p></li>
<li><p>Read BassDad’s “One Family’s Experience”. You can find it in these threads. You will find it has strange similarities with your upcoming journey.</p></li>
<li><p>Ignore, I repeat, ignore the old USNWR rankings of music schools. They are outdated and irrelevant and have nothing to do with whether or not a school is right for your child. BTW – my D attends a school that is highly ranked on that same list. Still, the list is irrelevant. </p></li>
<li><p>Make an initial list of what is important to your child – not to you, but your child – about the music school he/she attends and the teacher he/she studies with.</p></li>
<li><p>There are good arguments for conservatories and good arguments for non-conservatory music schools. If your child wants all music and only music all of the time, perhaps a conservatory is the solution. My impression is that a very intense music performance education is also available in a large university setting, but the student also gets the complete university experience as well. Again, that may or may not be important to your child. This was the choice my D went with.</p></li>
<li><p>Understand that just because your child is the best violinist, violist, cellist or whatever in the school, district or regional orchestra, it doesn’t mean music school admission is a slam dunk. At the top schools, the competition is extremely tough. On audition day, it will be very, very clear that your child is just one top dog in a group of many, many top dogs. I remember sitting in the practice room at one audition (a big mistake) while my D warmed up. I could hear the violists in the neighboring practice rooms. My D was good, but so were they. I remember thinking - this is a crap shoot!</p></li>
<li><p>If your child doesn’t currently have a private teacher or someone to help prepare audition pieces, get some help now. Preparing for audition day is not a casual process. Work with someone who knows what they are doing.</p></li>
<li><p>My D is a violist. At most of the schools, audition day required that she play two contrasting pieces of her choice and sometimes a specific required piece. She was also asked occasionally to play scales/arpeggios right at the beginning of the audition. He/she should know most major and minor (N, H, M) scales. The audition material almost always indicated she should be prepared to sight read. She was never asked to do so. At some schools, there was time for some back-and-forth with the professors. At other schools, there was none. I believe the longest audition was 20 minutes.</p></li>
<li><p>So there you have it – your child has twenty minutes to show very experienced musicians/teachers what they have to offer. YOUR CHILD SHOULD BE PREPARED AND WELL-REHEARSED. The advice I’ve seen on the various threads about having one November audition for early decision is good advice. Even if the school is not your child’s first school, the early audition helps build confidence.</p></li>
<li><p>VISIT THE SCHOOLS AND HAVE “LESSONS” WITH THE APPROPRIATE PROFESSOR. In my view, this was the most important thing we did for my D. First, my D was much more comfortable on audition day when the viola professor knew her and had heard her play before. Whether it was true or not, she felt like she had an advocate in the room. Secondly, however, within a few minutes during that initial lesson with the professor, your child can normally tell if the prof is a yes, a maybe or a no way in terms of someone he/she wants to work with for four years.</p></li>
<li><p>The tour of both the campus and the music college/building is extremely important. Again, your child can quickly tell you if this is the place where he/she wants to spend four years practicing and performing.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve read lots of contributors talk about double majors/double degrees. Make no mistake about it - music performance is not an easy major. My D takes 17 required credits this semester. Eighteen is the max the school will permit. That workload does not include the expectation that music performance majors will practice four hours each day. Even if your child is Einstein and Madori all wrapped into one, evaluate the requirements of a double major carefully before jumping in. BTW – several schools required that if she accepted a BM scholarship, she also agreed to waive the right to pursue a double major. They know how difficult music performance is along with another major.</p></li>
<li><p>BA in Music and BM in Music Performance is not the same degree at all. This may be obvious to some contributors, but it’s not always obvious to the novice. An LAC with a BA in Music may not be what your child is looking for if he/she is after a performance degree, but some LACs may have just the right prof and program, so you never know.</p></li>
<li><p>In a high profile or large music school, the ratio of undergrad/grad is important as is the number of students in each studio and for each instrument. In many schools we visited, the university orchestra was an audition only group. In other words, there is no guarantee your music major, even your music major on scholarship, will be seated in the orchestra.</p></li>
<li><p>The undergrad/grad ratio is also important in understanding whether or not your freshman music major with be studying weekly with the famous professor or spending more time working etudes with the DMA candidates.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t make any assumptions about music scholarships. You are often competing for acceptance/placement in a studio based on the others auditioning for the same instrument, but you may be competing with all music majors for scholarship money. At some schools, we were told that right up front. If the school has just graduated all of its oboes and bassoons and has a surplus of violins, guess which freshman will be offered the scholarships? Find the right school, the right professor, audition well and keep your fingers crossed about the money, but don’t assume it will be offered.</p></li>
<li><p>At many of the non-conservatory schools, the music admissions department DID have some sort of input to university admissions. I know this is not the case at all schools, but the music school/college/department website will normally say so one way or the other.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There is much more that I can’t think of just now, but I expect others will correct and add to this. Please been gentile. I am still an novice, but a seasoned novice if there’s such a thing.</p>
<p>Finally and with all due respect to the many contributors on the music major threads, there really are great music school in the west and on the west coast – both large university based music colleges and high profile music conservatories. Many of the prestigious schools in the east should certainly be on anyone’s list, but don’t forget the schools out west. By doing so, you may miss out on the perfect school and the perfect professor for your child.</p>