<p>My son is a music composition major. We started out with a tremendous amount of schools he was planning on applying to. We narrowed the field significantly after he got into Bard College through their IDP program. He loved Bard and their music program so much he eliminated about nine schools we were already in the process of applying to or had completed applications for. He is now in the process of applying to the Conservatory program at Bard. Originally he would not consider a liberal arts program, but was so impressed with Bard's music department and college climate that even if he does not get into the Conservatory, the college is still tops on his list. He is also looking at the music program at UConn and Blair at Vanderbilt. He was accepted at UConn for their general undergrad program and auditioned for the music school yesterday. We are still waiting to hear on Vanderbilt; he has not auditioned yet and they told him composition major do not really audition and that it can be handled as a phone interview (we live in Connecticut). Any thoughts or advice? I would especially like to hear about peoples' thoughts on the differences at Bard between the Conservatory and doing a music degree through the college. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>momw/3sons, not knowing how much background you’ve read from here, I’ve pulled the titled Bard threads as reference.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/782862-bard-questions-about-non-conservatory-guitar-jazz.html?highlight=Bard[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/782862-bard-questions-about-non-conservatory-guitar-jazz.html?highlight=Bard</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/385212-opinions-alumni-applicants-bard-double-degree.html?highlight=Bard[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/385212-opinions-alumni-applicants-bard-double-degree.html?highlight=Bard</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1594-bard-college-conservatory-music.html?highlight=Bard[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1594-bard-college-conservatory-music.html?highlight=Bard</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/543946-welcome-n8ma-bard-conservatory.html?highlight=Bard[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/543946-welcome-n8ma-bard-conservatory.html?highlight=Bard</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/bard-college/748157-music-bard-not-conservatory.html#post1062927450[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/bard-college/748157-music-bard-not-conservatory.html#post1062927450</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063968536-post15.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063968536-post15.html</a></p>
<p>N8Ma is a frequent poster, and Director of Bard Conservatory admissions and should be able to answer your questions from an official standpoint. SpiritManager’s son is currently a comp student within the conservatory, and you may want to search for past comments under that user name. If SpiritManager doesn’t reply within this thread, I would use CC’s pm feature to make contact.</p>
<p>Comp school choices are usually heavily driven by styles and influences of specific faculty or departments, freedom to develop and find your own individual “voice” (maybe not the right term), and the ability to have student works performed by musicians of high caliber. While UConn has a fine academic rep and I would not hesitate to recommend it as an instate choice for music education, we were personally underwhelmed by the peer quality from an instrumental performance standpoint a number of years back. Just a personal observation, nothing more. Programs wax and wane over time, and our experience may not reflect the current reality.</p>
<p>Most of the existing threads on both Vandy and UCONN are performance or music ed centered. If you can’t find them, I’d be happy to link them for you.</p>
<p>With no intent to create angst, I’ve linked these as food for thought. Best of luck and may all your packages be “fat ones”.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/565405-only-4-schools-we-nuts.html?highlight=Only+4+schools[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/565405-only-4-schools-we-nuts.html?highlight=Only+4+schools</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/784597-flute-major-my-list-too-long-top-heavy.html?highlight=how+many+schools[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/784597-flute-major-my-list-too-long-top-heavy.html?highlight=how+many+schools</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/249741-number-schools.html?highlight=how+many+schools[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/249741-number-schools.html?highlight=how+many+schools</a></p>
<p>Glad your son liked Bard so much! The differences between being a composition student in the college vs the conservatory are subtle, and I’m still not totally sure what they are. One very significant difference is financial - students in the conservatory are eligible for a five year full tuition scholarship. Also in the conservatory a student is required to study composition every semester - while one could get one’s BA without 10 semesters of composition. There is one composition professor in the college who does not teach in the conservatory, and one composer in the conservatory who does not teach in the college. A student in the college would find it very difficult to study privately with the conservatory composer, while the conservatory student would find it easy to study with the college composer. In other words, it is easier as a conservatory student to take advantage of all the opportunities of the college - a bit more difficult the other direction.</p>
<p>The group of conservatory composition students is small - there are many more composition students in the college program. Some of the recital programs mix up both groups. Conservatory students are guaranteed performances by a professional ensemble every semester. I’m not sure if that holds true for the college composers - but the same ensemble did play their work last semester, so maybe? N8Ma would know. There is a required 4 semester conservatory seminar - which is a combination of theory, composition, and history which is not available to the students in the college.</p>
<p>My own son debated back and forth whether he wanted to be in the conservatory or not - he was told it was easy to leave the conservatory for a BA, but close to impossible to get into it as a current Bard student. Once he arrived he was really happy he had applied to the conservatory. But I’m sure he would tell you now that he would prefer to be at Bard regardless (although he might not have made that choice at the time.)</p>
<p>The other major difference, of course, is the double degree. It makes quite a difference on the flexibility of the schedule - both good and bad. If my son were only getting a BA in music he would have more openings in his schedule for elective music courses (or any other field.) There are so many great musicology classes he wants to take every semester, he wishes he could take them all. But, because he needs to fulfill all the requirements for the second degree, his schedule has fewer openings for elective courses. On the other hand, he has five years to take care of everything…</p>
<p>He and another conservatory composer, and a conducting graduate student have started a New Music ensemble this semester (entirely student driven) - the performers are predominantly from the conservatory. I don’t know whether he would have had the same access to those performers if he had not been part of the conservatory himself. On the other hand, he is performing in the senior project of one of the college composers this Spring - an opera. So the groups really do mix and match. Although I’ve heard a complaint on here before that there is no separate conservatory building - the lack of such also keeps there from being a physical division between the college and conservatory programs.</p>
<p>Because the conservatory is new, it is still evolving, and each new student has the opportunity to shape the program.</p>
<p>One huge reason my son chose Bard is that he could see himself happily studying with any of four composers on staff. This was not true of every program he considered. Now that he’s there, he’s discovered that the academic professors at Bard are as stimulating, brilliant and engaging as the music professors.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me with questions, and definitely contact N8Ma - he is a terrific admissions director - super helpful. (I keep volunteering to write a recommendation for him, should he need one!)</p>
<p>Hello, </p>
<p>I’m in the middle of the audition rush, plus we’re performing three operas this week, so I’ve been offline for a bit. </p>
<p>BA in the College’s music program vs. BM/BA offered through the conservatory? What can be said about this very subtle distinction?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>This is the only discipline where some of the same faculty teach in both the music program and the conservatory (namely, Joan Tower). She is a very, very approachable teacher. She’s told me she has no children of her own, so her students are her children, and after teaching at Bard for 30+ years (in fact, she’s one of the few faculty remaining whose tenure predates that of Leon Botstein, she was hired by his predecessor Reamer Kline), her reputation is that of a very beloved mentor. She nurtures composers at all levels of experience and background. </p></li>
<li><p>Those pursing the BA through Bard’s regular 4-year curriculum are not required to earn a second degree. So if someone is really interested in “music” and only music, then the BA through the college’s music program is the way to go. By “music” I reference SpiritManager’s earlier comment, that if you want to study two or three instruments privately, sing in a chorus, and take jazz and electronic music courses in addition to your private classical composition tutorial, you will have limitations in the conservatory that don’t exist for composition majors in the college’s music program. </p></li>
<li><p>The conservatory is looking for really only 1-2 composers each year. These composers combine original ideas with significant accomplishment in terms of awards, works performed, commissions, etc. At this point it is, along with violin and piano, the most “competitive” major offered–somewhere around 30 apply each year to the dual degree program, and like I said only 1-2 are accepted. (Last year, it was only SpiritManager’s S.) And up until now our yield has been 100% for composition, so we don’t have a waitlist for composers, instead giving them the option to earn a BA in composition from Bard College, should they ultimately be accepted on that side. </p></li>
<li><p>The BA in composition is much more flexible in terms of content, and is well-suited to a composer who perhaps started a little later, or didn’t have a private teacher in high school, or who has significant interests in jazz and electronic music. There is no audition component–instead, the student is accepted into composition through Moderation, which occurs at the end of the sophomore year and is common to all academic disciplines at Bard. Moderation is, in essence, a kind of “audition” for that discipline. The first two years are meant to explore various options, and then as the student Moderates s/he offically declares a major and spends the final two years at Bard focused on completing the Senior Project in that discipline. This website may be of use as it fleshes out all of the components of Bard’s BA curriculum:
[Bard</a> College Academics | The Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.bard.edu/academics/curriculum/]Bard”>Undergraduate Curriculum)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>4a. The BA certainly isn’t chopped liver–the composers can take private tutorials with outstanding faculty, they are still given slots (at the faculty’s discretion) on the end-of-semester Da Capo Chamber Players concert, and they get to write a work for full orchestra (Strauss size +) that gets performed and recorded by the American Symphony Orchestra at the commencement concert. Graduates of Bard’s BA composition curriculum certainly come out equipped to do serious PhD work at even elite composition programs. Having said that, the BA is in theory able to absorb someone who, in their first semester of college, decides s/he wants to become a composer, having never studied composition privately before. The BM/BA offered through the conservatory is designed for a very small number of students, and the faculty are very particular about who they admit. Finally, each year a number of kids apply to both, their conservatory application is not successful, they come to Bard anyway, and there’s no hard feelings. The College in and of itself has a tremendous amount of raw materials from which students are able to construct a unique and challenging course of study.</p>
<p>Oh I just stumbled across this and thought it would add to the discussion. A Bard graduate with a BA in composition (and dance) just won an award from BMI:
[BMI</a> Foundation Names Three Winners of 21st Annual Pete Carpenter Fellowship :: Film Music Magazine](<a href=“http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=5021]BMI”>filmmusicmag.com)</p>