<p>So I consider myself to be a pretty good guitarist. Definitely nothing earth shattering; I'm not a "rare talent," not some sort of prodigy, etc, but I have no desire to be a performance major. I do also consider myself to have good musicianship; as a clarinetist I was one of only 3 sophomores in my HS's state finalist concert band. I ended up dropping band because I despised the clarinet and wanted more time to focus on guitar. I've been playing guitar for 10 years and music has become a passion of mine.</p>
<p>As I said before, I have no desire to be a performance major. However, I've been looking closely at Miami's Frost school for their music technology major(which I'd plan to do with the double major option in computer science). I was wondering how heavily they would weigh the musical audition portion of the application seeing as it's a BS technology degree even though it's in the music school.</p>
<p>Academically I am very confident. I take every honors class my school has to offer, will be in BC Calculus next year (which will be my senior year) am on track for the highest diploma, and will be a valedictorian candidate assuming I don't bomb a final any time soon, lol. I don't have much of a doubt about my academic abilities.</p>
<p>It's the musical audition I am worried about. I think I'm a solid musician, but I don't know if that will be enough. I will probably complete the jazz guitar audition (Frost auditions require selection of an area of musical study regardless of major) and while none of the requirements seem too terribly difficult, I'm not sure of the talent level I'll be up against. In addition, I highly doubt I will be able to procure a live backing band for that section of the audition and there's a good chance I will have to submit a recorded audition rather than complete a live one; I live in the Midwest. Will this hurt my chances at all?</p>
<p>Also, I'd love to hear about any other colleges that can offer a similar program. Right now I can only find Miami, Michigan (whose app requirements seem slightly insane... O_o), and USC (minor in recording rather than dual major). That's not a whole lot of choice.</p>
<p>The school is easy to get into academically. But due to the popularity of the Music Recording Dept (of which the Production and Technology major is part), it’s a little harder to get into that program.</p>
<p>RokR, you do sound like a good fit profile-wise for the PAT program with a concenctration in engineering at UMich, which also has an awesome computer programming rep (Umich) and lots of programming opportunities (in PAT). My son is in the BFA stream (music/multimedia) of that program and loves it – but he takes more of the engineering courses than what’s normal so we’ve had a bit of exposure to that side of it as well. The portfolio requirements are truly pretty in-depth, but what part is causing you concern? If you send me a message, I can outline what he did to produce his portfolio over the summer.</p>
<p>Eg. to do the multitrack recording he worked with a prof at a local cc in music tech to create and track same – for that one he actually played all the instruments (except drums, which I played.) For the bach fugue, he simply used garage band to notate it and then applied a lot of really crazy jazz style voices – it sounded great, and was time consuming, but if you’re creative and like tech and have some background in ensemble (via clarinet) I’m sure you could handle it. A midi controller would be handy if you have one (Oxygen is very inexpensive.) The instrument audition portion is just a straight recording with no sweetening preferred. The sampling can be accomplished inexpensively in something like Audacity, which is a free/open source program. The electronic and acoustic original scores are pretty flexible – they recognize that HS students do not always have access to the kind of facilities they possess If you’ve every played around with MaxMSP, that would be awesome, but if they like the scope and variety of your material together with your playing, you really don’t need “advanced tech” software to complete the portfolio (although obviously the multi-tracked requirement goes a lot more smoothly in protools.) In terms of composition, if you’re daunted by actually WRITING composition notation, there are programs that facilitate that.</p>
<p>Miami is also an awesome program. I can’t say for sure, but I would expect that at both schools (many students apply to both programs) are looking for variety, musical competence, creativity, a well developed ear but perhaps slightly less developed performance technique than perhaps a performance stream student. For UMich, your math SAT must be strong and they pay particular attention to your science/tech background overall, so if you’ve done any programming you can submit that to enhance your portfolio.</p>
<p>Three other “major” and competitive programs you might want to look into with similar bents/cross applicants are:
Belmont – very good recording program
Indiana Bloomington = Jacobs school of music BSc in Recording Arts
NYU’s Tisch Clive Davis Recording Arts (more producer/performer emphasis, but tech as well)</p>
<p>All of these programs are hard admits, ranging from 1 in 10 (average at NYU) to 2 in 10 from what we were told a few years ago. So it’s worthwhile making a broad and flexible set of portfolio assets this summer in anticipation of submitting to ALL the programs to see where the fit is. There is no “safety” among these particular programs, but there are other accessible routes to a solid music tech education. Since you seem very academically accomplished, I would also suggest that if you apply to Michigan you also apply to the COE or LSA as a dual degree applicant (that way you can be admitted to one if you don’t make the other and still be able to access the resources and some of the classes – some students get in after a year in a regular program.)</p>
<p>I looked at IU, but am leaning against it because I really want an engineering degree to go with the recording degree. I realize that recording is an insanely hard industry to break into and I’m also interesting in the design of acoustical equipment, and I figure having the recording major in addition to an EE or CS degree will give me a leg up on the competition in that sector if any forays into the recording industry don’t work out.</p>
<p>Hi again, Rokr93. Ignore the comment in my PM then about IU being so much more inexpensive for you since it’s in-state – Just saw this update now. Your interest in designing acoustical equipment is right up UMich’s alley, as I can tell you know by now. I will ask my son where else Bose recruits from (they recruit from Mich) and let you know if I find out about other programs.</p>
<p>I think I’ve heard in the past that Colorodo has a straight up sound engineering degree but not super sure about the music aspect/element. I do know a fair number of people who did dual degrees with EE/CS – great combo and good thinking.</p>
If you’ve every played around with MaxMSP, that would be awesome, but if they like the scope and variety of your material together with your playing, you really don’t need “advanced tech” software to complete the portfolio (although obviously the multi-tracked requirement goes a lot more smoothly in protools.) In terms of composition, if you’re daunted by actually WRITING composition notation, there are programs that facilitate that.</p>