Performance double major - Is it possible?

College Majors Music Major
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<p>Hey everyone, I'm Michael. I'm currently a high school junior. I've come onto the forums with a very important concern regarding my future as a musician. My family has a very musical background; my father is a high school band director and has gotten me and my two sisters into music. As much as I would love to be a music educator, I have lost interest in pursuing a music education degree due to the fact that we have to learn pretty much every instrument under the sun. My attention has now turned to a possible performance degree, but I'm unsure which one to choose. On one hand, I love playing the (French) horn and would love it if I could play it professionally or give lessons. But on the other hand, I also love playing piano, but especially jazz piano. However, I think there could be a wider number of opportunities to make a living as opposed to playing horn. I would love to double major in French horn and jazz piano performance; however, I'm afraid that not many colleges would allow that. Do you guys have any insight into my situation and if there are any possible ways to do both during my first years of college?</p>

<p>P.S. Sorry if that was a little long. Also, if you want to recommend colleges to me, I'm looking at colleges in the states of New York (primarily), Pennsylvania, and Ohio.</p>

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<p>SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music will let you double major in two instruments. However, they do not have a jazz major only a jazz minor.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply, momofbassist. SUNY Potsdam is one of several schools I’m looking into.</p>

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<p>C’mon people, don’t be shy!</p>

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<p>@Jpmichaelg -I expect most notable schools of music will share the opinion University of Michigan’s school of music and dance shares in this FAQ:</p>

<p>

<a href=“http://www.music.umich.edu/prospective_students/faq.htm#doubleprogram”>http://www.music.umich.edu/prospective_students/faq.htm#doubleprogram&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So, possible, but really really dependent on their assessment of your background and skill level. In other words, I suspect most schools will not “automatically” schedule you auditions on two different instruments. In each case you’d likely apply for one instrument, then submit a request and have detailed communication about applying/extending your application to both.</p>

<p>So to pull this off, you probably need to develop a pretty clear idea of what schools are strong/fit for both instruments, and for which your level of play might also be a fit.</p>

<p>So a large school of music like Mchigan, with a robust selection of music degrees might be a valid choice (eg Umich has a jazz improv BFA and a French horn performance degree that might be compatible to some extent but might still take 5 years to complete – there will be overlap in your core requirements like music theory, but possible conflicts in scheduling due to heavy ensemble requirements for horn…)</p>

<p>Another source of guidance should perhaps be your private teachers’ assessments of your level of play/readiness for conservatory level work on each instrument. If both feel you’re a great candidate on each instrument, then you’re likely in a good position for dual instruments. But often, a student has an area of specific strength.</p>

<p>Eg., if you were my kid, I’d likely tell you to first apply on the instrument for which you’d achieved notable regional or national recognition. (Eg. My kid was great on trumpet, for our area, though not likely competitive when stacked up against all the other “best in school/best in area” trumpet players…but he was more accomplished as a composer/producer, not just locally, but regionally. AND he liked to sing, but wasn’t at all notable as a singer in the comparative scheme of things. So he was able to major in composition and production, which was complicated enough a combination, took opera lessons on the side for enjoyment, then a second studio at school in vocal. To keep up his chops on trumpet (but by no means at a performance major level) he performed with the unversity’s ensemble. There are ways to access the lessons/training you want, but sometimes the avenue to access those things are through the thing you’re most competitive/accomplished at ;)</p>

<p>So assessments + music school department research + communication with intended music schools for permission to audition on dual-instruments would be your plan of action to my mind.</p>

<p>Best wishes on the journey. You will have a complicated audition prep season ahead of you next year. Might not hurt to start planning for that now ;)</p>

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<p>One more thought.</p>

<p>My son, like you, is multi talented with varied interests, and as such, had a lot of well-meant pressure from teachers and mentors about future avenues to pursue in college, and not confined to music. Eg. His conductor thought he should conduct/perform, his fav science teacher saw him in science, his English teacher was convinced he should be a journalist, another was certain he’d have an acting career and several others viewed him as a filmmaker. So, really scattered eh?</p>

<p>It is sometimes hard to narrow down or strip down your interests to get at the core of where you want to go and what you want to learn.</p>

<p>One exercise we did repeatedly during sophomore and junior years was to really notice WHAT kept him up at night. Eg. If he’d had a busy day and was tired, what would one find him doing? If he had a free day how did he spend it?</p>

<p>Would he be more likely to pick up the trumpet and improv, or to write a song? Or edit a hobby video? Or have the guys over from his jazz band? Or work on/prep for a solo gig?</p>

<p>He was a busy kid, but what we noticed was that among all the things he loved, the thing that would keep him up at night, or that he’d do with a sliver of time, was compose and produce. He noticed that his relationship to instruments was just that – they were instruments, but his real love was putting them together in his head ;)</p>

<p>So my question for you is if I locked you up for a weekend somewhere, where would the majority of your natural attention go? Would you loose endless hours playing jazz piano? During that time, would you hanker for a horn? Or would you spend your time nailing something on the horn, thinking about a piece that stymied you, craving the opportunity to be with your ensemble…?</p>

<p>Or would it really be 50/50?</p>

<p>Think about that question. The answer should guide your next steps, because vocation aside, what you’re investing in is something you will have your whole life long. Its something that no one can take from you, and in some ways it doesn’t matter what you end up making your living at. It matters what your living is like, if you get the difference ;)</p>

<p>So don’t chose one instrument over the other based on what you think you can make your living at. Choose what will make your living worthwhile ;)</p>

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<p>My daughter got her double performance degrees, piano and flute, from U Mich. She finished the study in 4 years without any summer sessions.</p>

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<p>^good to know, pointegirl. Did she have any friends who paired the as BFA with the BMus? I’d been wondering if the difference in degree reqs between the BFA and BMus would add time or not. I know in my son’s case (BFA) he would have needed a fifth year to finish his second degree, but his particular BFA was very sequenced/regimented because it already combined multiple disciplines (music tech production, programming and composition).</p>

<p>The Jazz BFA curriculum might be a little more fluid and better complement a BMus, but I don’t know ;)</p>

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<p>I don’t think it is typical to finish double performance degrees in 4 years. This is how D was able to do it:

  1. She got enough AP and college course credits to fulfill the general electives. She only had to take 2 required English courses.
  2. She passed the Foreign language placement test and therefore fulfilled the requirement for piano major. But she still managed to take more foreign language course.
  3. She was exempt from 4 semesters of music theory courses by passing the placement test. She managed to take more advanced music theory classes in addition to ones required of piano major.
    She also was exempt from sight-reading (passing placement test too) for keyboardists which is a 2-semester sequence.
  4. Private lessons in flute and piano took away 8 credit hours every semester. She was able to avoid paying extra credit fees by taking advantage of the flexibility of ensemble credit hours. Since she was a scholarship recipient, she needs to take large ensemble every semester. She registered orchestra as 1 credit instead of 2 credits. This counted toward both flute and piano requirements. She took 7 semesters of piano chamber music which is an elective. She didn’t have to use any of her credit hours for this course. The rule is that as long as one member of the ensemble registers as a credit course (again flexible 1 or 2 credits), the ensemble is entitled to the coaching.
  5. There are other courses that are flexible in credit hours. The one I know that D took advantage of is piano literature courses.</p>

<p>That being said, her college life is pretty stressful. It took a strong will to pull it off.
D did not mention anyone who are in BMus and BFA but she had 2 roommates who are double degree students in music performance and science. I think both took extra semester(s) to finish the degrees.</p>