Percussionist- Need Help Choosing College & Majors!

College Majors Music Major
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<p>I have been putting a lot of time into planning out what I want to do after high school. I have been looking at colleges and majors to see where what would best fit me. I have a different circumstance than most people it seems, so I am not having any luck. Any help you be fantastic!</p>

<p>I am currently a Junior at a school with a great music program. I have been doing percussion since 6th grade, taught by our percussion instrutor Mr. Rick Dietrich. I have been taking lessons with him for 3 years now. Our school has had major success in the past years for music, our Wind Symphony (top band which I am in) has performed at The Midwest Clinic and this year was invited to perform at JanFest. Our marching band has won 2 times and came in twice 2 times while I have been here. Two of our percussion ensambles made it into the National Day Of Percussion in Indianapolis last year, the first time ever (I was in the top ensamble). This year we will be heading to Hawaii for the National Day Of Percussion there, performing with the university. Next year we will hopefully get into Pasic. Having been so involved in Music, I don't think I could live without it anymore. At the same time I am involved in my schools robotics, one of the top in the world. I program the robots and do graphic design and web design, which I learned when I created a side business.</p>

<p>I am unsure of what to study in college, I want to continue my music in wind symphonies/orchestras, percussion ensambles, and marching band/drum corp. At the same time my parent believe I should start my own company using my technology smarts and live that way. I would love to combine both, but that seems pretty far fetched. I want to study somewhat near Georgia, nothing too far away. I am mainly looking for a top notch music program with a good percussion, as I am already playing Jr. level college percussion pieces/4-mallet solos. I have also considered continuing web design or doing music technology, which I have had some fooling around with. Any help?</p>

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<p>The biggest ones I know of are Indiana and University of North Texas. I believe Michigan as a good program too. Are you looking at a private music conservatory or a big state school?</p>

<p>Also, where do you march/where to do you want to age out? That can also affect where you want to go.</p>

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<p>lbrandon225: I hope this is not a totally dumb/off topic statement but when I read your post, it made me think of Field Shows. I always wondered how the whole concept works, where you have a few hundred bodies on the field moving all over the place, and no one (mostly) seems to be crashing into each other. I understand people write programs and sequences for this and there is software involved. I have no idea where you would go to learn this. It seems to me that my D performed in a piece recently that was written by such a person who had come up through the Music Ed route. I sure wish I could find his name.</p>

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<p>Lbrandon, music and a technical aptitude can be combined as a field of study. I take it you’re accomplished in programming? Or were your parents referring to a more physical aspect of tech?</p>

<p>At any rate, my son attend university of Michigan, (not as a percussionist) and studies a form of music +technology that includes programming, music engineering if you choose that route, performance and tech if you choose that route, etc. So even though it’s not in GA, you might want to take a peek at both the percussion programs and the Performing Arts Technology programs.</p>

<p>A school closer to you with a strong music school is university of Miami frost school of music. They also have an awesome music technology/engineering program. I don’t know as much about percussion. And of course, UNT and JAcobs as mentioned have robust programs.</p>

<p>So tell us a little more about how YOU feel about technology and what your parents were referring to and maybe we can give you some ideas!</p>

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<p>BTW, do you have any experience with sequencing/recording software (eg Logic or protools), have you ever played around with audacity or maxmsp (eg programmed interactive or created sound samples) and have you ever written and recorded original music? </p>

<p>In terms of web design, is it the programming that you’re good at, or more the design, or both? What programs are you using now?</p>

<p>Here’s one example of music and programming if you enjoyed creating electronic music – video game companies need people who can score/create a sound environment but who are also proficient at c++.</p>

<p>You have Georgia Tech in your back yard for an engineering powerhouse, but I don’t even know if they have music.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for the replies!
As I have been looking around, it does seem like music technology would be a good fit for me. I just want to continue to perform as well, so maybe double major. </p>

<p>In response to kmcmom13, I have slightly used ProTools before because my mom has a (very, very) small recording studio in our basement for voice translations. I haven’t really played around because they switched to GarageBand for simplicity sake. And for the web design question I would say I enjoy the design aspect of it more than actually building it.</p>

<p>Adding on to the list of colleges already stated, what are some other good ones with music technology and a good music program?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Here is a good essay on various ways to study music in college, just for general interest:</p>

<p>[Double</a> Degrees | Peabody Conservatory](<a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html]Double”>http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html)</p>

<p>I think you have several options, and you can explore all of them and even apply to all of them, then decide in late April what you really want to do.</p>

<p>1) You can do a BM program in percussion (classical, jazz, popular?); and take some classes in technology and music in that program (including electroacoustic composition)
2) You can do a BA in music (theory, composition, music history, technology) which may or may not include any performance; then you could do percussion in extracurriculars, and perhaps especially look for schools with bands/ensembles that you would want to play in; also some BA programs (Brown comes to mind) include a technology strand as a concentration within the music major
3)You can study computer science, graphic design, software engineering, marketing or any field you like and do the extracurricular music outlined above. The focus of your interest in technology studies seems to be less about programming and more about design, which could inform your choices, though you need to learn the technical skills to enable you to design of course (sounds like you already have these).
4)You can decide to combine your interests (and it is okay not to, and pursue them separately) and do some sort of music technology program, which is offered at several schools. (Hartt, for one, and Northeastern, UMass Lowell, in the Northeast, are ones that I know of, but there are many more).
5) You can double major in music and music technology, or some other subject and music technology, or combine computer science and a music minor, etc. etc.
6)You could do a double degree with a BM in music and a BS in some technology area or any other area.</p>

<p>There are probably more, but you get the idea.</p>

<p>It sounds like you might want to be in a school with a marching band or wind symphony (which do you prefer, if you had to choose?), or other opportunities to pursue percussion.</p>

<p>The real question is, do you want to study percussion intensively in a music program for a BM, in which at least 1/2 and maybe 3/4 of your classes would be music? I know your parents are not really supportive of this, but is that what you would want if they were supportive? Or perhaps a full BM in music technology, again, with most classes in music and music technology?</p>

<p>Or do you want to do percussion mostly on the side and take gen. ed. classes plus 10-15 classes in some other area, including computer science, design or other technology field, for a BA or BS?</p>

<p>You will have some exposure to music technology, most likely, no matter what your choose. So don’t feel it has to be a major necessarily, to get some experience, unless, of course, that is what you really want.</p>

<p>Conservatory/music school or college/university? Off the top, I would think that a state university or largish university with both BM and BA music programs, and decent technology offerings, might work for you. You can try out different options once there and could easily switch programs, at least early in the game.</p>

<p>There are parents on here whose sons are doing music technology or double major in music and music technology who know a lot more about this than I do. I can say that my very classically-oriented composer daughter who claims to break computers when she enters a room, is nevertheless currently engaged in a thesis involving a lot of musical technology/ProTools work. Very unexpected and not on her radar at all when applying to schools.</p>

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<p>Have a read through the department overview, programs and portfolio requirements here to see options available at umich that. Was referring to: [UM</a> School of Music, Theatre & Dance - Department of Performing Arts Technology](<a href=“http://music.umich.edu/departments/pat/index.php]UM”>PAT 200/500: Introduction to Electronic Music Production Showcase (Section 4) - University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance)</p>