NYU Steinhardt for music performance?

<p>Averagewoman, I didn’t think there was a graduate program in piano at Steinhardt. Is your son doing jazz?</p>

<p>Thank you Violadad.</p>

I am from India and looking for MS in Music Production and Technology in USA. Is NYU Steinhardt a good option? I am really confused about the colleges to choose. I wanto get into Msuic rpoduction ,sound design and stuff. I am doing my 4th year engineering here. Please help

Like with anything else, it depends. I agree with other’s perceptions of NYU, its UG classical music program is not as strong as the other big music schools in NYC. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have good teachers, or that for example if someone goes there for grad piano (as one poster talked about) that it ‘won’t be any good’. Rather, that for UG classical music the typical level of student is lower than other programs, a friend of my S went there, and she did New York Youth symphony because the orchestra program at NYU (according to her) was not very good and I have heard similar things across the spectrum. That doesn’t mean you can’t get a great education at NYU in terms of music performance, that you won’t find a teacher who drives a kid forward, that it won’t be a great experience. In things like Music technology NYU’s program has a very stellar reputation, so again it really depends on what you are playing, what you are doing.

The big downside of NYU quite bluntly is the cost, their financial aid stinks (and merit aid is very, very scarce, given it is mostly need based as well), and fwiw almost every rating of schools says going to NYU, given the cost and the lack of aid, say it basically may not be worth it. They these days attract a lot higher level of student then when I was going there, and their cost is among some of the most expensive schools in this country, they are easily Ivy League level with total cost, but they give a lot less aid than the Ivies do (it is one of the reasons I refuse to give money to NYU as an alumnus, they spend a large percentage of their endowment on things like buying houses or building housing to attract ‘star’ professors, rather than on aid). The school is in a wonderful area and being in NYC can make it an amazing experience, but especially if you are desiring to go into music, that cost may loom large.

As far as the name value of an NYU diploma goes, it really depends, I think that people assume an NYU diploma has a mystical value to it a lot more than it does. In certain things, like for example the grad business school, it has the kind of horsepower to get you interviewing at a Goldman Sachs or whatnot, the Law School and Med Schools are top schools, but as a whole NYU diplomas probably don’t have the mystique around them, even now, that let’s say the Ivies do and so forth (just my opinion).

MSM and Mannes have their plusses and minuses, especially when compared to their sister school, Juilliard, in NYC (though for example, I think MSM’s Jazz program is better than Juilliard’s, for a lot of reasons, and MSM and Mannes voice program from what I hear may even be better than Juilliard’s at the moment, overall Juilliard, at least in terms of student body, is pretty much the top of the heap on average).

@keyshavindia is looking at NYU for its grad programs, which are a different animal. I know many elite performers who’ve attended NYU for grad - and studied with many of the same teachers that they would have at the top conservatories - because there is significant financial assistance at the grad level. I also believe that the Music Production/Industry program - whatever it may be called at NYU- is likely to be one of the better ones anywhere. But I have no idea if there’s any financial assistance, unlike for performance studies, which is a doctoral program. NYU is a great place for graduate work.

keyshavindia , you might want to start a new thread asking for schools that are good for grad work in music production/technology. You can also do a search because this comes up quite a bit here on the forum.

Brown has their MEME program and Dartmouth has a Digital Arts Program. MIchigan has the PAT program (I think it’s called which may be undergrad: kmcmom knows a lot about it). NYU may be a good choice. SUNY Purchase, Hartt? Many schools will have music production though, some well-known and some not. If you do a new thread perhaps parents and students who know about this will come on.