Performance Masters without undergrad

College Majors Music Major
1

Hello!

I am an international college student, currently majoring in Medicine in an university in my country. I am also an orchestra violinist (at least I try very hard) and I would like to pursue a masters degree in violin performance after I graduate. I have been invited to audition in a school that has a faculty to which I am very attached, as I have been at this school’s summer camps a few times, the ambient is amazing and also the violin teacher is a national of my country. But it’s a small school in a rocky mountain state (not the place I always dreamt about living in) and I keep wondering if doing my masters there wouldn’t put at risk my chances of going to a city with a bigger music scene in my doctorate.

The big question is: does anybody know about mid-ranked (or better) schools that would accept in their performance masters programs a student that has majored in something other than music? I know this “mid-ranked” thing sounds really bad, but don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to underestimate a school to which I might be going in the future, it’s just that I would like to go to a bigger place in the doctorate (NY, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland…). Keep in mind that I ask this assuming I would be able to pass the audition (which I think I would be able to do at this moment, at least for most of the smaller schools, no Julliard/Curtis for me anytime soon ).

I hope you guys didn’t get me wrong, as I am acctually really grateful for everything the faculty of this school that I mentioned has done for me so far, I just want to broaden my options. Hope to hear some positive answers soon!

2

It doesn’t matter what you majored in as an undergrad. Your presecreen and audition need to be good enough, of course, but if you have kept up with violin during your years majoring in medicine, go ahead and apply where you want, and good luck!

3

I may be a bit jaded having watched international competition winners switch to Med School after their conservatory undergrad degrees and having seen extremely talented, accomplished major conservatory graduates struggle to pay their bills while teaching at Community Music Schools, but I have a question for you. What is your ultimate goal beyond a DMA? Would you be teaching or performing in your home country? Hoping to stay in the US? Are you sure you don’t like medicine???

In the US in recent years, the DMA has become a popular route for very accomplished violinists coming out of major conservatories. The competition for admission to “better” schools shouldn’t be taken lightly - not that you are, but if you feel you are not ready for a Masters from a highly competitive school, how will that change before DMA auditions? It is a rare player that suddenly in two years develops an ability that hasn’t been evidenced earlier. I may be reading too much into your post, but I get the sense that you have not been a slacker and that you’ve had good training and still feel that you aren’t as accomplished as others. Perhaps I’m wrong and two years of very concentrated work with a good teacher who can quickly and accurately assess your needs will make a big difference in your playing level.

Having been negative, let me say that I truly am all for trying to reach your dreams. I paid many years of major conservatory tuition for my offspring. Just be aware that a MM and/or DMA is not a ticket to employment possibilities or even musical fulfillment if you are hoping for outstanding performance opportunities. In the US, you will be in competition with a number of truly outstanding players. The situation for orchestral violinists is not what it was 35 years ago when I came out of school. For instance, many recent hires in pay per service regional orchestras in urban areas (you mentioned wanting a city) are violinists who have attended major conservatories, studied with the best teachers and attended the most select summer music festivals. If you’re curious, pick several orchestras and look at the bios of new hires.

All that said, I agree with compmom. It’s your audition and prescreen that will be most important for admission. If you haven’t studied music history and theory in college, there will be exams for those either for placement or possibly for admission purposes, but not as heavily weighted as the audition. Music admissions website pages will explain the requirements and probably suggest texts for review. Like compmom suggests, research some schools that you’d be interested in and send off the pre-screen. It sounds as if you have a good back-up with the teacher that knows you. The prescreen acceptance or rejection from other schools, perhaps more competitive ones, will tell you how you stand in the admissions ranks.

Best of luck to you!

4

I edited the previous post and perhaps changed a meaning. In the last paragraph, meant to say in the last paragraph above “If you haven’t studied music history and theory in college, you will want to do some catch up work.” There will be entrance and/or placement and/or admissions exams in those areas no matter what your undergrad degree and the courses you took. Don’t stress about this other than doing some preparation. Many, many music undergrads who are attending a different school for a Masters will be prepping the same way - every school in the US is different in their theory emphasis and methods and history can also have some differences in approach. So, even the best theory or history students often need to review for a new school. And, if you don’t do well, you will be in the company of other very fine music school grads who find themselves in non-credit “remedial” theory and/or history courses to make up deficits.

5

I agree with what others have written, the key is going to be the level of your playing when you apply to the program, whether you have a BM degree or not won’t matter, lot of musical kids go to universities, study privately, get a degree in something, then apply for an MM and so forth.

Like @momofadult, what I am concerned about is your playing level now, for a very good reason. Getting into a top BM program on violin is extremely difficult, and by the time you are applying for MM or DMA programs, you will be competing against kids who probably were doing intensive work before college on violin, then spent 4 years focusing on it in conservatory or a college music program, and be competing against kids from all over the world. I think the biggest thing you can do may be to get a skills assessment from someone who knows what the levels are (perhaps your current teacher knows, but to be honest, a lot of teachers think they know what the level is, but don’t). If you school has a music performance program, or a teacher who is well known, you may want to try and get an assessment from them, or if not, try another school in your country known for high level music, even if you have to travel.

Especially since you have been studying medicine, which I assume takes a lot of time, you will probably not have been practicing the way the kids who are studying music do in college, which means you will have an added handicap there. It is why the assessment is important, it at least tells you if you have a realistic chance of getting into a competitive program for a masters and/or DMA. The key thing there is competitive, there are a ton of music schools out there now that offer MM’s and DMA’s, and many of them will actively recruit students, sell them on the idea the program is a ‘top program’, and the reality is, to be bluntly honest, is that the kids getting into the program are going to have an even more tough time making it coming out there, if your desire is a career as a musician. They have programs and especially if kids are paying for it, will recruit almost anyone (note, I am not talking about the school that encouraged you to audition, since I have know way of knowing which school it is, or how good it is).

It doesn’t mean if music is your dream not to try, but as momofadult said, go into it with open eyes and know as much as you can as possible. If your skills assessment shows that you are near the caliber to get into a top MM program, for example, and if the school you are talking about has a decent teacher, and is also going to be affordable, then you may be able to go there, then build your skills enough to get into a great DMA program…but if your skills are only ‘good’, it may be a very tough sled, to impossible, to get into that top program doing an MM anywhere…

Things have changed a lot in music over the last 30 years, 30 years ago what you want to do would probably be a lot easier than today, and violin is especially bad because there are just so many wanting to play it (primarily because it is a solo instrument, it is like Piano and Cello and Flute that way).Back then someone could be an okay player in high school, get into a pretty high level program, then get into a decent career, that isn’t true any more, the number of jobs have dried up that used to be there, and it takes a lot of perseverance and networking and hard work to put it all together into a career, it was hard back then, it is difficult today, that is the reality. as @momofadult pointed out, getting into that top level MM program or DMA program these days guarantees little, other than you probably are pretty accomplished, the real hard work is what happens after. It isn’t like kids getting DMA’s from programs like Juilliard et al go to a placement office and there are a ton of offers for jobs, it doesn’t work like that, the difference from coming out of those programs is likely the talent and skills are refined to a very high level, so when competing for jobs, they will even be considered. Some make their own careers, and there someone less accomplished may be able to create something new, form their own ensembles, but when going after standard jobs, auditioning for ensembles, orchestras, etc, gig work, it often comes down to the best player.

If your dream is there, pursue it, there is nothing wrong with pursuing something you know is difficult, it is one of the horrible things about these times, that people are afraid of trying and not making it, if you pursue it and it doesn’t work, other doors open up:). Go into it knowing that, going into it knowing where you stand compared to others is knowledge, and knowledge truly is power, it lets you make plans, navigate, otherwise you would be finding your way blindly.

I wish you luck!

6

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful answers! It might be useful if I explained a little bit more about where my relationship with my violin is right now: I have never had family support on the matter of being a violinist. I am, in a way, doing what my family tells me to do, which is graduating in a higly respected (and by that I mean “high income”) profession and doing whatever I want to do afterwards. If I ever find out that my dream of being a violinist is not really what I thought it would be, I’ll always have my M.D. in my country, and that way I’d never be in financial insecurity. I’m not saying that I don’t like the idea of being a full-time doctor, but I’m still having a harder time “finding myself” in this profession than as a violinist.
In these med school years I’m also working part-time in the first violin section of my city’s orchestra. It’s nowhere near the top american orchestras, but still we often play very hard repertoire (romantic symphonies, Stravinsky ballets and Bartok works comes to mind), and I managed to pass this orchestra’s audition with a very decent version of the Bruch concerto. Since then I have slowly worked on most of the repertoire required for auditions. That’s why I do think two years of intense work with a very good teacher in a M.M. degree would maybe be enough to get me into a good D.M.A., and the purpose of this post is to know if there are other schools that would accept me not having a B.M… I asked this mainly because I emailed one of the schools from which I thought about getting my M.M. and they told me that havingthe B.M. is mandatory. Maybe this school is an exception.
As of my aspirations as a violinist, I would be really happy if I were to become a university teacher or an orchestra musician. I just love it so much to help others grow as musicians. I once worked teaching begginers at a local school and it was a fantastic experience. I think if I went to this school that invited me to audition I would be able to get a teaching scholarship/assistanship and develop this side of my “musical persona”.
I do know it’s competitive and, if I might say this without sounding like I think too much of myself, I am mature enough to understand what I would be getting into if I were to acctually pursue those plans when I graduate. I’m not sure I would succeed, but it’s only human to try and see; I can’t help to think that I would be throwing my life away if I didn’t give this at least a two-year (M.M.) try. After the M.M., I would have the resources to decide if I want to go after a D.M.A. or a medical residency program, which is also a very nice plan for my life :wink:
As for sending videos for the prescreening auditions, I was thinking of using my next vacation to record a nice quality audition (broad repertoire, so I could have everything I need to apply for multiple institutions) and see if I would be invited to audition at any of them, but do the schools charge a fee for considering your prescreening audition? That would be really expensive for my student budget… but surely, doing that would be really interesting to find out where I stand in the “top school kid” universe.
Again thank you so much for your replies, hooe to hear from you soon!

7

It’s been several years since “mine” submitted prescreens for MMs, but I doubt that things have changed much in general terms. I think you should assume that there is an application fee that must be submitted with the application and prescreens. I am familiar only with typical practice of conservatories and schools like Indiana. Perhaps the school where you know the instructor and other “less competitive” schools do not have fees. (I don’t mean offense with the less competitve label. There can be phenominal teachers at less widely known places.). The information will be available on the music school admission requirements web pages. These pages also list audition repertoire requirements.

It sounds like you’ve moved forward since Bruch, but in case you aren’t aware, in the US, this concerto is often one of the earlier ones taught and frequently played well by middle school or early high school aged kids. I mention this only to give you a benchmark to measure yourself against. It does sound like you are being reasonable in looking into your options and I certainly understand wanting to give your dreams a try.

I’m a little surprised you were told that a BM was necessary to apply for an MM, but I’m not familiar with all the types of university music programs out there. Did you speak directly to the School of Music or Music Department? Often, music schools have their own admission processes or requirements in addition to the university as a whole. A general university admissions person answering the phone may not be accurate. Of course, it’s also possible that some music departments want to see a transcript with the usual set of undergrad theory and music history courses. I think this info is, again, probably available on music specific admission web pages. If you call again, be sure to speak specifically with someone in the music department and ask to speak to the admissions director. Often schools have student employees answering phones and they may not know all the possibilites allowed.

Good luck!