Percussion Performance Schools in California?

College Majors Music Major
1

My son is a Junior in HS and interested in pursuing a percussion performance major in college. He has studied percussion since 3rd grade and has been part of the youth orchestra since 5th grade. He has studied piano since 6th grade and is at the advanced level of Certificate of Merit for classical piano. He loves piano but prefers to perform on an orchestra setting where the attention is not solely focused on him. He’s quite introverted. He says he would like to be a professional timpanist in an orchestra. Since we are in the Los Angeles area I think it may be wise to have him study at a university in CA, not to mention potentially save $ on college tuition. I’m researching schools that he would apply to for a BM in percussion pefformance. He doesn’t have the highest of academic record- 3.64 GPA and 1300 SAT. He’s taken lots of AP/ honors classes in the math and sciences. Up until recently he thought he wanted to pursue computer engineering, so I won’t be looking at conservatories for him, in case he does happen to change his mind about his major.

I’m wondering if he should even bother applying to USC and UCLA because academically he’s not where those schools are. Would his audition count as heavily as his academic grades? He’s extremely talented, so if there’s a chance, I think he should go for it, but also don’t want him to waste his time since the audition process is so busy.

Also about how many schools would you recommend I have on his list, keeping in mind all the auditions? I’m also looking at Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, and Sacramento State. Private schools I’m considering- Chapman, University of the Pacific. I may put a couple of out of state schools on there- Indiana University and Boston University, and University of Denver… Does anyone have any feedback on any of these schools or have any other in state recommendations? Thank you in advance!

2

Since you are in the LA area one idea might be to check out Colburn. Your son could get involved now at one of their pre-college programs and then apply next year to the conservatory program. Best of luck with your search

3

You say you won’t be looking at conservatories for him…I think you mean “freestanding conservatories.” Some colleges and universities have “conservatories” and some have “schools of music” on campus. Most all of these have BM programs (like the freestanding ones) that are 2/3-3/4 music. UCLA has a BA that resembles a BM in many respects.

So does he want a BM program? Double major? Double degree? Major/minor? The “Double Degree Dilemma” essay closer to the top of the music forum gives a really good explanation of all the options.

Steven Schick is at UCSD. The grad program in percussion is top notch, but I don’t know much about the undergrad program.

U. of Puget Sound is another one, along with the schools you have listed.

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Ooops. Sorry I missed the comment about not wanting conservatories. Please scratch my earlier post about Colburn then.

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If he applies to the Music School at USC those numbers are fine – they tend to put less emphasis on the GPA if the kid has talent, but it is a BM program. I believe UCLA also does the same. Good luck!

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As a parent of a soon-to-be percussion performance major - there are a lot of schools outside of the west coast that give merit money and talent scholarships that make it as affordable as a UC (or even cheaper). My kid didn’t want anything on the west coast - but if we were to have looked, I probably would have considered USC and Chapman (both are known for giving $$). And definitely don’t sweat the grades as it’s been mentioned a lot - schools know music kids spend more time practicing than studying.

What we found when researching schools was to look for a school with at least 2 or more professors (ideally you want one who is a timpanist and one who specializes in mallet percussion). Your S should also decide whether he wants classical or more jazz/modern focus as that will influence the program as well. If you look at the prescreen thread there are a couple of percussion performance majors and you’ll get an idea of schools outside of the west coast. Indiana has a very well known and well regarded program, but there are 53+ percussion majors there (undergrad and grad), so keep that in mind as well. We have found some smaller programs have robust percussion faculty who are also ‘working musicians’ in local/regional orchestras and larger programs might only have one professor - so it pays to really do some research.

Also, visit as many schools as you can before applying and have your S sit down with the head of the departments to see if he likes the philosophy of the school and take a lesson, if possible.

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If he’s interested in a double degree - have him look into Bard Conservatory’s percussion program: http://www.bard.edu/conservatory/undergraduate/percussion/ The conservatory usually offers significant merit aid, which can make it less expensive than an in-state California public college. It’s a unique program.

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Oberlin? I believe there is a summer program there that he might want to look into.

For some reason I know a few percussionists out of Stony Brook, which is a BA but more than 50% of classes are music, so, as with UCLA, it is close to a BM https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/music/academics/_undergraduate/major.php

ps the Bard program looks fantastic. ( it is a required 5 year double degree fyi.)

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Oberlin only has one percussion professor and he’s been teaching a long time - so not sure how long he will be there.

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It would appear Oberlin has 3?
https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/faculty-and-staff (search on Percussion)

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Only one of the Oberlin profs is classical. The others are modern and/or jazz.

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@Memoriesqueen – USC and UCLA are still a possibility for your son. GPA and SAT are probably within the ballpaprk for what the universities would accept for music majors they like, so don’t let those discourage him/you from applying or auditioning to those schools.

Beyond those two, definitely DEFINITELY apply to Cal State Long Beach if your son is a classical percussion major. Ted Atkatz is Director of Percussion Studies at CSULB’s Bob Cole Conservatory, and he’s fantastic as a performer, a professor, and a person. And FWIW, he is also the main percussion guy at Colburn, so even though your son probably isn’t interested in stand-alone conservatories (my son is exactly the same in that regard, so I understand), you’d be getting the same primary instructor at CSULB. Lastly, he runs the “Ted Atkatz Percussion Seminar” (TAPS) during the summer and I also highly recommend you look into it. When my son was 14 and still considering classical percussion, he was strongly considering attending it (it was only held in Long Beach then), but Ted suggested he wait until he was at least 15 yrs old. By the next year, my son decided to focus on jazz, so did not to pursue it anymore; therefore, I can’t give you first-hand feedback, but people I know thought very highly of it. He’s since expanded to doing both West Coast and East Coast sessions, and all the faculty is impressive. If you’re interested even a little in TAPS, you should email him tatkatz@gmail.com (it’s on the website, so I’m not divulging any secrets).

Also definitely look into UCSD. As @compmom said above, Steven Schick is there and his studio is legendary for being awesome. Double-check that he teaches undergrads, and if he does, UCSD is a “must apply” school on that basis alone. FWIW, the fact that the La Jolla campus overlooks the Pacific definitely does not suck either.

As far as California schools missing from your list, I’d probably look into CSUN, CSULA, and CalArts too based on the music school overall and/or the music faculty. Not as well-renowned as others above perhaps, but solid resumes. We’ve looked into pretty much all the California schools and can give you more insight if you’d like

Out of state, check out Northwestern, Michigan, Peabody (part of Johns Hopkins), Miami (Frost School of Music), Rice, and NYU. On top of that, think of the top 25 orchestras in the country and the university (or universities) in the same city of each of those orchestras will probably have the some or all of their percussionists on faculty.

Good luck!

13

The USC Thornton School of Music is one of the finest schools of music in the Country…right up there with Curtis, Eastman, Juilliard, New England Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The Percussion Program, has produced outstanding students, the most recent impressive news is the appointment of USC Thornton School of Music Alumnus Matthew Howard as the Principal Percussionist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Both percussion professors there are members of the L.A. Philharmonic: Joseph Pereira the Principal Timpanist of the L.A. Phil (formerly a percussionist in the New York Philharmonic) and James Babor a long-time percussionist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The USC Thornton School of Music is VERY well endowed and is generous with scholarships to extremely talented applicants. USC Thornton is far and away THE BEST CHOICE of schools on the West Coast and in the West ad as I mentioned before, right up there with the big names from the East Coast. That being said, it should come as no surprise that admission to Thornton is EXTREMELY TOUGH as they only accept the cream of the crop. If you feel that your son is indeed good enough to compete with the best kids in the country, The USC Thornton School of Music can bend the arm of the general USC admissions office when they really want to admit an exceptional player to the school.

The Colburn School of Music is building a great program, however, the school is still too small and too limited to provide the king of performance options that either the USC Thornton School of Music or the East Coast Biggies do. Tuition is totally Free at Colburn, as every student is on 100% Scholarship, once again admission is extremely competitive at Colburn as they are looking for the best of the best players.

UCLA has never been know to have a great music program…I would personally choose Cal-State Northridge over UCLA any day for it’s School of Music. Cal State Northridge is an unsung hero…kind of a jewel that gets overlooked too often when students look for schools of music, and the academic expectations are not as rigorous as UCLA.

In terms of the best of the best schools schools of music on the East Coast with particularly strong Percussion Performance Programs check out:The Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music.

I attended Both the Manhattan School of Music and the USC Thornton School of Music and could not have been happier with my choices. I hope I helped you out!

14

Thank you everyone for your wisdom and advice! @WestOfPCH I will definitely check out TAPS for my son for this summer. I liked their facebook page and they said 2019 info. will be posted soon. @compmom Thank you I will check out UCSD. Since we are doing the UC application, would be nice to have another school to apply to besides UCLA. He is looking for a BM program, but it looks like UCLA and UCSD’s programs even though are BAs, are more like a BM. He is not looking to double major at this point, but I was just thinking if he ended up changing his mind, would rather him stay at a the same university, just switch majors, rather than switching schools. At this point he is pretty certain he wants Percussion Performance. He is focused on classical percussion, as his dream would be a timpanist in a orchestra. I appreciate your words about still having him apply to USC and UCLA even though his grades aren’t typical of their high averages, I understand now that the audition weighs quite heavily and if they want him, the scores shouldn’t be an issue. He is now studying percussion with one of the professors at Cal State Northridge, so I’m hoping this will increase his odds of getting accepted there at least. :slight_smile:

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Don’t know if this is relevant but here is a list of schools that don’t require or emphasize scores including some music schools. https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional