<p>Carnegie Mellon has a professional music school, but there is no need to apply to the Music School or to audition if you are interested in a minor. I don’t know if there are classes only open to majors.</p>
<p>She could double major and also have a minor at Vassar (which is what S1) did. There are only three 'distribution ’ requirements at Vassar - the freshman writing seminar, an intermediate language and a quant-type course. I believe Hamilton College and Amherst College (UMASS is right next door with many opportunities through the 5 college consortium) are similar to Vassar in having fewer requirements than most schools. Vassar has warmer weather than Hamilton for sure (not quite so cold) in the Hudson Valley. You may want to pursue the college catalogs if she might want to double major. It is much easier (with a little room for some exploration) at some schools than at others.</p>
<p>With LACs w/o cons or schools of music (like Lawrence, Oberlin, or Puget Sound) or otherwise known for strong music programs (like St. Olaf at least for choral music) and Bard, be sure to investigate closely. DD sang choral music at a high level internationally but has never wanted to major in music like many of her fellow choristers. Nonetheless, she is very particular about the quality of her conductors, etc. When we visited LACs, we always observed the conductors and choirs and one school was dismissed outright. The school she attends does not have a strong music program which means they awarded her a a very good music scholarship and she is a pretty big fish in that small pond. I don’t have that much confidence that she will grow much musically as the music doesn’t challenge her and the other choristers aren’t that great. She can, however, get free music lessons. Had she gone to a school with a con, I don’t know that she would have ever been able to sing in the highest ensemble, particularly since she is a soprano.</p>
<p>I had a memory about our visit to Case. Not only are non-music majors allowed to use the practice rooms… as campus visitors we had no problem slipping in to play one of the Steinways. Then we talked to some very helpful folks in the music offices. There was a neat lab for electronic music studies.</p>
<p>CCsiteobsessed is correct about visiting colleges and rehearsals/concerts. We probably heard approx 25 musical groups in our college visits with S1 and S2. The musical environment was very important for us. Listening to the music groups made the trips worthwhile and helped us to quickly narrow the field. For example, when S1 heard the Vassar orchestra rehearsal during our visit, after just 5 minutes, he turned to us with a huge smile and we knew he knew that Vassar was the school for him - the level of music was high and the conductor is excellent. Watching the conductors and players/singers in action is so important. I hope you can visit many schools.</p>
<p>More and more you can find youtube videos of college music groups - try Google searches. It’s not as good as a real visit, but it’s still helpful. </p>
<p>Here’s an example from Olin Conductorless Orchestra at Franklin Olin College of Engineering . These are all Engineering students, surprisingly fine musicians. “Look Mom - no Conductor”
[Olin</a> Conductorless Orchestra - Symp # 35 in D - Mozart - YouTube](<a href=“Olin Conductorless Orchestra - Symp # 35 in D - Mozart - YouTube”>Olin Conductorless Orchestra - Symp # 35 in D - Mozart - YouTube)</p>
<p>University of Rochester does allow it’s students to take lessons at Eastman, but those kids don’t have access to the same faculty as the conservatory students. A shuttle runs between the campuses and although it can be a lengthy process, I know students who are very happy with the situation. Case Western in Cleveland has it’s own music faculty and students can attend Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Severance Hall. Baldwin Wallace students can make use of the conservatory’s faculty.</p>
<p>OK a few tweaks to her list:</p>
<p>She dropped URichmond & added Lee in TN; also dropped Kenyon.
Dropped Haverford & Swarthmore and added Westminster.<br>
Still has Case, Cornell, W&L, Vanderbilt, Belmont, Geneva, local state school.</p>
<p>It’s not possible for us to visit some of the more distant schools before she applies, but we definitely will if she gets in (e.g. Vandy & Belmont) after soccer season is over.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas! </p>
<p>One other question - what if she starts off as a non-music major & wants to switch to music later?</p>
<p>If it is a program in which a performance admission is by audition, they will likely have to audition as they would if they were applying for freshman year. If they are doing well with their private lessons and performing groups recommendation from those faculty members will be a positive, but there would not be any guarantees.</p>
<p>Also, if she picks up a VP major later, she will probably have add additional time to finish her undergrad degree. Why not continue private lessons in undergrad and if she wants to pursue voice, pick it up as a MM grad student? If she wants to pursue classical voice professionally, it’s a long long haul, she will need grad school eventually and an undergrad VP program is not required for grad school (just a drop dead killer voice). Just make sure she also gets plenty of language classes in addition to those private lessons—German, French and Italian. (NOT just diction) . If you are interested I will PM you an interesting run down of options. Though you may have to add two posts until we can PM.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Her voice is good, but lyrics & song compositions are her areas of strength now - she has college level music theory knowledge as well. She is not interested in opera.</p>
<p>I would say that at least 90% of the VP programs are Classical Voice.Opera or Choral. That includes Westminster and Vanderbilt.Most “music classes” are going to be geared towards classical music. So you are looking for Jazz and/or Popular music? You might want to do a search in the music majors forum for schools that feature jazz or popular music for voice and/or composition.( Pop music programs are few and far between.)Of course this would only be a consideration if she wants the option of switching her major later on.</p>
<p>USC and Belmont being the biggest “non conservatory” players in the pop music world.</p>
<p>If she does want to combine a science major with a lot of music it sounds great. Be sure she is not shortchanging herself with a school that may be great for liberal arts/religion but not as good for lab facilities and research opportunities. Don’t worry if she changes her major once she discovers various fields in college. She likely can continue with her religious life by joining a campus area group that fits her beliefs- she can have strong academics as well as strong faith. I would be leery of most small “Christian” colleges’ science facilities.</p>