My son has been admitted to Northeastern’s dual computer science/ music composition & tech program. Can anyone provide information about the quality of music comp at NEU? He is also waiting for decisions from BU and North Texas - he’s applied to double major; not sure whether he can get into music schools there as they are more competitive. He’s also been accepted to Oklahoma and Trinity U. NEU seems like the easiest place to combine CS and music comp, but I am really trying to understand the quality of music comp at NEU.
Has your son spoken with the composition professors there? Has he looked at their bios and listened to their music - which could give him a sense of their aesthetics? Is he interested in composing more with computer media rather than acoustically, or is he just trying to combine his interest in computer programming and music composition? All questions he’ll need to answer for himself. What is his goal as a composer? Do his tastes tend towards the traditional, or the more experimental? Does he intend to continue in grad school for concert music, or is he more interested in writing music for media such as video games or film? Or is he interested in more experimental electronic music?
I know absolutely nothing about the department at Northeastern, so cannot help you there. I did see that there is an additional charge for private composition lessons, which is unusual for a composition major.
I personally have never seen a program like this. It could lead to all kinds of things (Like Brown’s MEME or Dartmouth’s Digital Arts, or many other programs for grad work; a job in CS; or who knows what else.
There is also the coop program so he will gain work experience.
The Northeastern students can take classes at New England Conservatory next door and can audition for ensembles, which is pretty darn good. I saw there is a certificate with NEC for Northeastern students.
Lessons at NEC are probably not possible, but the NE program includes at least 4 semesters of private lessons and there are quite a few composition faculty. Have you looked them up or has your son? Some for electronics and computer work of course.
We probably said this before but composers can really major in anything and still take lessons and write music and get into grad school. This program gives the option of having the resources of the music department and CS at the same time- pretty rare to see it all set up for students like this.
This program might be a little light on both ends, the CS and the music curriculum but they look great to me. Grad school requirements might or might not be helpful in evaluating. Probably just reading course descriptions would do and I am sure you son has done that.
BU and North Texas are great options but this is a great way to get both composition and CS (and music tech), in a school with coops and that is literally next door to the accessible resources of NEC that are open for NE musicians.
Hi, @compmom and @SpiritManager thanks so much as always for your input. We are planning to re-visit NEU (and BU, if admitted) to meet with the comp faculty and ask a bunch of those questions. I personally just feel at a loss all the time, not being a musician and not knowing how to judge these programs. But these are all good Qs for DS to be thinking about. I think he’s more interested in commercial music (films, games, etc.) and I don’t think he has any idea yet whether he’ll want to go to grad school. He mainly just wants a chance to get some serious instruction and guidance in composition (and related topics) - I don’t think he cares much, either, whether he has a degree in composition. But it seems to be hard to get into the classes he wants if he is not a music major.
I really do think this is a great option for him. On a personal note, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston yesterday. Then walked from Northeastern to a concert at New England Conservatory. The whole area has so much going on, with Berklee, Boston Conservatory, NEC, Northeastern, Mass. College of Art and Wentworth all so close, not to mention all the other schools in other neighborhoods.
I am so glad you let us all know about this program, actually. I had never heard of it. It does look good for his interests too. I know they also have music industry type classes so there is that too.
Thanks @compmom I value your input so this is very helpful. At so many schools, they are very resistant to students trying to do both majors, so there certainly is some appeal to a school that actually encourages it.
I was curious and looked up some of the faculty in this program, and they look excellent. I don’t know if your son has done electroacoustic work. Some of the faculty have studied with very prominent teachers in the field and are quite accomplished. You might want to look at the “outcomes” section of the website as well. Northeastern has risen in the academic world, partly, I believe, because the school has always focused on outcomes in both an educational and vocational sense.
@compmom thanks!! Exactly what I was curious about but couldn’t judge for myself. That’s really encouraging and makes me feel much more confident in this program.
The number of faculty in composition and in this specialized program surprise me as well. I wonder how many students there are in the BS degree program.
@compmom I don’t know (need to find out). They do have a separate music comp major within the arts school, as well.
I’ve not heard anything about the composition program at Northeastern, although the school is highly regarded in our Massachusetts town. I do know a composition undergrad at BU who is extremely happy with the program there.
This is not a straight composition program. For that, there are better programs no doubt. It is composition and music technology combined with computer science in one BS degree, very unusual.
And then the added benefit of courses and possibly performance (though not lessons) at NEC, which is top notch.