Need a "safety" choice -- accomplished with the oboe

College Majors Music Major
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<p>Okay, perhaps the use of the word "safety" was inapproriate.</p>

<p>However, as we know some colleges with strong athletic programs give special consideration to applicants who might be good additions to a team. Therefore, are there any good schools outside the northeast area that would look favorably at an applicant that plays the oboe?</p>

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<p>Just from experience, living in smaller metro areas or even small towns, a great oboist is hard to find. So, it must be the same for some very well respected universities. Why don't you just start surfing the internet and look at festivals, orchestras, rosters of performers, and compile a list of where the oboists got their degrees and which teachers are at their respective alma maters. Then narrow it down, maybe email some of them (most professors are very open to answering your emails) - and take it from there. Life and music exist west of Manhattan, by the way (or even Chicago), and sometimes you'd never know it by this site.</p>

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<p>desanto, are you looking for music schools or liberal arts programs?</p>

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<p>I was thinking more of general liberal arts. I do not think my child wants to pursue the intrument as a profession.</p>

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<p>In that case, just about any smaller liberal arts college might well be happy to have a good oboist, barring those with music degree programs.
However, if a good oboe teacher and reasonably good orchestra or wind ensemble isn't available to your child, the school may figure that he/she won't enroll anyway.
That said, I would recommend Rhodes and Davidson in the South. Both are very strong academically, both offer scholarships for musical talent, and neither has conservatory students to compete with.
In Texas, Southwestern has a very small BM program, but would probably be very happy to have a talented non-major oboist.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for the recommendations. We live in the NE and are intentionally avoiding the area for schools.</p>

<p>There is a built in arrogance and elitism in our part of the country that regards many good schools in other locations "unacceptable". </p>

<p>I think your suggestions are excellent.</p>

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<p>Just an FYI...being a talented oboe player may not be a help in the admissions process. DD is a state ranked oboe and English horn player here (in an tough New England state). To be honest, this didn't help her a lick in the admissions process. Also, we found that it was not all that easy to find schools with decent enough orchestras (many had wind ensembles, but she really wanted an orchestra) for non-majors. DD will be going to Santa Clara University. They have a small music department, and orchestra. She will be able to continue taking lessons (at no cost) and play in an ensemble. She will minor in music because she enjoys it. She also took a lesson with the oboe teacher there and liked her a lot. If you are looking out of the region, I would suggest the following schools...Furman (great oboe teacher and ensembles are open to all students), U of Redlands (I don't personally know about them but I've heard that they have a great music department), Lawrence (again ensembles open to all). </p>

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<p>Regarding the above list...most of these schools have music ensembles for music majors only. CCM and Ithaca would not be safeties...their conservatory programs are great. Duquesne does not have ensembles for students outside of their music programs. Also, at a place like Arizona State you would have to see whether students are even able to study with the top teachers. Often students outside of the music department take their private lessons with graduate students (or in the case of a place like Oberlin, with upperclass undergrads). Davidson is a great school...but you first have to get accepted to Davidson which is no easy feat. Also their music scholarship money is very limited AND they only have one ensemble, and don't need an oboe player each year. How far "out of region" do you want to look? We did a fairly extensive search for schools where DD could continue to play her oboe while studying something else. I'd be glad to share what we learned...but knowing the geography would help.</p>

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<p>We have considered as far west as California, a sibling currently attends a liberal arts college there, as well as deep south, and mid west.</p>

<p>We are familiar with Redlands, and Santa Clara, however, at this point we are putting together a list that can ultimately be pared down. By the way CCM was recommended by someone else, I am not familiar with that one. Where is it located, and what is the size?</p>

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<p>CCM is Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and while it is part of the University of Cincinnati, it has very separate admission competitiveness. The conservatory is quite good and attracts high level performers. I'm not sure if students from U of Cincinnati can study with the faculty of the conservatory, but I seriously doubt it. I would guess that spots in the CCM studios (private study teachers) are limited to the music conservatory students. Admission to the conservatory is primarily by audition and is very competitive. </p>

<p>I'm not sure how your student's overall academic credentials look, but if they are competitive for admission to the Claremont Colleges, they also have ensembles for non-majors. I know you want to leave the northeast, but the college consortium in Philadelphia also has an orchestra program and attracts students who are not music majors. Many smaller colleges have programs for non-majors...Lafayette, and Drew are two we know about (although Drew does not have an orchestra). If your oboe player wants to play in an orchestra in college as a non-major, the search may be more difficult as many smaller schools simply do not have string program instructors..therefore no orchestra. If you are interested in a wind ensemble, the programs are more open. We found it very easy to find out what was up on most college campuses via their music department websites. If we had a question, we simply called. I will tell you...we were surprised at how many schools had NO music programs at all...or programs that were open to majors only. Re: Santa Clara....it's perfect for my daughter who truthfully wants to continue playing for her own enjoyment of the instrument. But she has been told that the college orchestra repertoire may not be particularly challenging.</p>

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<p>Once again, thanks for the quick reply.</p>

<p>My older child is attending Pitzer College, and considers it "off limits" to the other. While Califormia is not out of the picture, I am also concentrating on the Mid West and the South.</p>

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<p>My response addressed the original post, asking for suggestions for safety schools for oboe performance majors. I would not recommend these schools for non-majors.</p>

<p>D's friend, a violinist who chose not to major in performance, is going to Kenyon. She felt there would be opportunities to continue to perform there as a non-major.</p>

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<p>So the question is what would be good for non music majors? Besides, a music major is still not out of the question, I am just trying to get some direction.</p>

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<p>Desanto - you might want to take a look at St. Olaf in MN. They are an LAC of about 3000 and have 2 full orchestras. They offer merit awards for music regardless of your major. All students in the orchestra are required to be enrolled in lessons as well, so they have teacher support for all the instruments. They are well known for their choral program, but my husband and son were quite impressed with their music program overall. They brought home a recording of the top orchestra which was excellent.</p>

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<p>The University of Akron might be a good choice. It has an excellent music program with an orchestra and several bands. The academic program is strong. They have a new Honors program as well. Complete with Honors dorm.</p>

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<p>I thought both BW and Kent were better in that area as safety level schools than Akron. I guess BW a bit tougher admit than Kent and Akron.</p>

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<p>thanks for the quick reply. i think some of the recommendations will not be an " easy sell " to my child if the names are not that familiar.</p>

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<p>I was a bit surprised by some of the comments in response to this question. First, your friend should inquire about the number of oboe openings at any of these schools. There is no such thing as a "safety" if there are only a very few spots available (example: last year Julliard and Eastman each had over 70 applicants for 3-4 spots, and Julliard only accepted "in house" pre-college students (as far as I know). Curtis had no oboe openings last year. I would be surprised if Eugene Izotov accepts any students during his first year in Chicago. At many top conservatories, the limited openings include freshmen, transfer and grad students, further reducing the possibilities. U of Mich, one of the top ranked music conservatories in the country, only accepted 3 oboists (out of a pool of over 30 who auditioned and an unknown number of others who applied but did not meet the SAT/academic cut-off). So the statistics make these schools even more selective than the Princetons Yales and Columbias ...all of which, by the way, would welcome an excellent oboe player with a strong academic background. (contact the orchestra conductors for a chance to play for them at those schools)</p>

<p>As for money being no object to auditioning, you should also know that time is an problem. Auditions are scheduled from late January to early March, and having been on the audition trail with my daughter last year, I can say that it can be quite grueling even if it is possible to fly comfortably and stay in nice hotels. And even if this is prime "senior slump" time, missing many days of school can take a toll...and teacher good-will may be one of the first things to go.
So, fall is a good time to do serious research, and serious visiting, including lessons with the teachers at each of the schools. Then plan very carefully where to send applications and where to audition.
good luck!</p>

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<p>I sure hope you mean fall of the JUNIOR year of high school. We did this with DS...all visits occurred before the end of his junior year. He actually had one audition in the summer before his senior year. Senior year is too hectic in the fall for visits. Students who will need to audition should really get a big calendar and mark off all of their obligations ion their senior years (festivals, school concerts, youth orchestra obligations, exams, SATs, etc). Then they need to look at the schools they wish to apply to and pray to the music gods that the audition dates are not the same day (we hit it lucky...not one school was the same audition day as another). BUT with all that...second semester DS missed 15 days of school between three music festivals, a band trip, and his six remaining auditions.</p>

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<p>we have done the college visit thing already with the older child. the problem was not only cost but logistics. i the case of child #2 there is a wider geographical area to cover and this makes the whole process not only more time consuming, but costlier. in addtion there is a lot of time "wasted" traveling longer distances.</p>

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<p>well, actually I did mean fall of senior year, but perhaps we were a special case. My daughter did only one music teacher visit in spring of junior year, and the results were not great. Even though this was not an audition, the fact that the teacher was a bit less than encouraging was not good. She needed the summer to hone her skills, so most of the playing visits were squeezed into fall vacation days. Responses then were great.
We were semi lucky on audition schedules, but when there were conflicts, a call to the appropriate person worked well. We found most admissions/ audition scheduling people very friendly and eager to be helpful. Total missed days from Jan to June were about 15, including not only the audition days, but also the visiting campus days for accepted students...so yes, I agree that a big calendar is an absolute must, and concerts, tours, senior recitals, (not to mention senior prom, AP exams, and time to practice the instrument etc.) all make for a pretty busy way to conlude a high school experience. I had had no idea in advance of just how crazy this process would be, so hope all our posts are helpful to this year's auditonees!</p>