Now for a Lesson in how to NOT apply to college for music

College Majors Music Major
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<p>Hi my name is Scott and I will be a freshman Music Comp. major at the SUNY Fredonia SoM next fall. I would like to write this because I think I had a very unique experience when it came to applying to Schools for Music, and would like to share advice on the (I feel) plethora of mistakes I made when applying for school. A lot of these things may not be problems for many people, but I know there a lots of students just like me who are caught in that fine line when it comes to college of being a contemporary and classical musician.</p>

<p>1) Take Lessons! - This is a gimme right? Not for me. I am so far a 100% self taught musician. What I wish is that I wasn't so arrogant to think that I could get into the elite schools on just my own knowledge. But because I play several instruments on the college level (voice, guitar, upright bass in addition to composition) I was always afraid to "put my eggs in one basket." I would much rather have been good at 4 instruments than great at one. In hindsight, I would have gotten lessons on at least one of those instruments just simply so that I could prepare for the auditions which brings me to point number 2...</p>

<p>2) Prepare like hell for your auditions!!! - I know for most (not dumb) people who are unlike me, this is again, a given. But I choose instead of preparing religiously several audition pieces, I remained indecisive not only about music, but which instrument I was actually going to audition on. Although I had made all-state for voice, I did not feel confident as a singer like I did as a guitarist or even a double bass jazz player. But because of the pressure from my parents, teachers and everyone who knew something about "respectable" music, I decided, and this I will never forget, on November 29th, to be a voice auditionee.</p>

<p>3) Get your pre-screening tapes in and done well! - For those of you that know, IU School of Music has a Dec. 1st pre screening tape deadline for voice majors. I started learning my music the 30th, crammed it, and then recorded it in my freinds studio, despite having a sore throat that night. Needless to say, the tape was absolutly awful. This once again goes back to me being a crazy, often disorganized person, but there is no reason for anyone to have to cram like that so be sure to pay close attention to those deadlines as well!</p>

<p>4) Listen to yourself in the end. - I know there are a lot of parents on here who are seeking advice to try and help their kids. As if applying to college itself wasnt enough stress, we all feel the need to throw in this extra process which is (in my opinion) the most rigorous that any student can go through. I am not saying that the parents should not have an opinion, and especially not saying that their opinion is not valuable, but as was in my case, my own opinion on many issues was not respected. My parents absolutly refused to allow me to apply to schools for anything other than a BM of Music, and then change my major later. This was a problem because far and away my best talent in music is composition, and it was not until I went behind their backs and applied to comp programs at Fredonia, Crane and UMass that I finally got the results I was looking for. I was offered a full scholarship to study Music Comp. at Fredonia and I decided that free is free! Another is where to apply to school. I refused, point blank, to apply to conservatories or strictly school of musics. I have a strong desire to double major in the future in a feild outside music, but once again I limited myself before I knew all of my options. People told me that I was a Berklee type of kid, but I did not apply to the school for fear of what I would do with all that debt and no job security after graduation. </p>

<p>These are a few things that I experienced during my college application process. Again, things did work out for me, I will be happy at Fredonia, and my Comp. Professor is leaving to teach at Michigan next year and already has strongly urged me to think about transferring with him. I hope that everyone can take this to help them as they go about this rediculous process of applying to schools!</p>

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<p>It sounds like you did a pretty good job on your own and learned many things on the way. It is always in the learning, I think. :) Always follow your own heart in this process.</p>

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<p>As a mom helping her son prepare his cds and audition material for his upcoming senior year, I THANK YOU for your honest and helpful advice. My son has decided to focus his efforts but he too is torn - he is a jazz drummer but also very strong voice, though like you, does not have confidence in his voice even though his voice teacher - a skilled professional and top notch teacher - thinks he has great potential. The one thing she did convince him to do is to apply for the Presidential arts scholarships in BOTH voice and jazz percussion. This way the schools he is applying to for percussionw ill see he is also a strong singer and overall musician. She believes this will give him an edge up and since she just retired from Peabody and was at Julliard for awhile I think we should trust her opinion. Bottom line - --prepare, focus, but also make sure the schools know how multi-talented you are. It sounds to be like you will do very well. Congrats - there is nothing like linking oneself to a good teacher.</p>

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<p>Thank you for sharing your experience . My S started lessons late in life ( he is in school orchestra and just got into a youth orchestra ) but self-taught himself since he was 12 as well . Whatever , his teacher took him on and he is doing well.</p>

<p>He is not sure of his major as of yet . Please tell us some things about Fredonia as a college .This is on his list . Is the new teacher for comp just as good as the one leaving for UMICH ??</p>

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<p>I do not know who the new comp. teacher at Fredonia will be. The one who is leaving has only been at the school for a year or 2 and was a graduate teacher type. He has told me that he could give me a very strong recommendation to UMich (his undergrad degree). As for the professors still there, there is Karl Boelter, the head of the School of Music, as well as the Comp studio professor to upperclassman, and Donald Bohlen, who I will be working with primarily. These two are phenominal, both have been at the school for 20 years or more. </p>

<p>As far as my experience with the school, I have found Fredonia's SoM to be a very underappreciated dept. Many of the students I am going with are picking Fredonia over schools like Eastman, Michigan and Indiana. This is mostly due to financial concerns, as the SUNY tuition is one that is very hard to turn down. I also attribute the "underrated" nature of this school of music to the fact that Fredonia is not a top flight academic institution like the afformentioned schools. It is certainly not a bad school though, it is a 92-93 average, 1200 SAT type of school. </p>

<p>The thing that I enjoyed most about Fredonia when I first went to visit it was the enviroment of the SoM. It was completely different than any of the others that I had visited. It was a much more laid back, individualistic approach than that which I found at some of the other schools I visited. I also fit in better with the kids there, the musicians at Fredonia tend to be more progressive, Berklee type of musicians rather than fundamental, Juliard or Indiana type of musicians. Most of the students are New Yorkers who are majoring in Music Ed., but the composition program there is probably the strongest major in the school. I believe that they only admitted 5 students to the program this year, and there are 23 undergrad music comp majors total divided amongst 3 professors, so there is a lot of 1 on 1 attention. There is a very cool program they have called ETHOS new music which is a concert series performing works written by student composers every semester. They even arrange guest conductors and musicians to lead the performances. It is a very exciting way to get your music performed and noticed. Anyways, I wish I had more to offer, but I haven't actually started at Fred. yet. Hopefully I can buzz back in the fall with more information. </p>

<p>I would definitly come visit the school, if your son is interested. If he is a strong student, it is a very good saftey school both academically and musically, and carries the awesome SUNY price tag.</p>

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<p>I second that post about SUNY Fredonia . My S is a hopeful music performance & maybe education major . I was devastated that he wanted to look at a SUNY music school but he was thrilled with SoM at Fredonia too . We are going back for second looks ...........</p>

<p>The campus is very nice which was a plus .</p>

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<p>Just checking back in, I started classes at Fredonia and had my first composition lesson yesterday, I absolutly love it. If you have a young musician in NY, you must definitly visit!</p>