<p>Mini, what are some of those 10 top notch liberal arts colleges with great music programs?</p>
<p>I can't speak for mini, and I'd love to hear what (he? she?) has to say, but Oberlin, Wesleyan, St. Olaf (ok, not so top tier), Williams, Sarah Lawrence, and Pomona come to mind.
Swarthmore's music department is perfectly strong, no doubt.</p>
<p>mini: about Bard vs. Columbia/Juilliard etc., I would tend to agree with you, but Columbia is to many people a lot more appealing than Bard. Personally, I think getting a BM is important (though not critical), and it would be nice to avoid the travel troubles inherent to Col/Juill or NEC/Tufts. </p>
<p>Rice might make sense for you, GarnetTide.</p>
<p>You might also want to look into Eastman. They have a fabulous piano program and since it is part of the University of Rochester, you can take classes there as well. And I believe that UR has tennis but I am not positive. In any case, if you can find the time to do piano performance and tennis, more power to you!</p>
<p>"Mini, what are some of those 10 top notch liberal arts colleges with great music programs?"</p>
<p>It's a great question, but not a simple one. Some LACs do not have performance majors at all. And some of these have fine performance opportunities, and some very little. Some schools have strong composition/theory faculty, and some very little. Some have little opera programs, and some none. Some have JYA connections to strong music programs abroad (Scripps, for example is connected to the IES program in Milan, which is headed by a composer, which in turn has connections to La Scala, and the Giusseppe Verdi Conservatory) and some have none. You really have to kick the tires, and what is right for one is not going to be right for another. Size counts, too (the music faculty at Swarthmore is tiny, even by LAC standards).</p>
<p>Rather than provide a blow-by-blow on each (because the needs and fit for every student is going to be different), let me name 10 LACS which I have no doubt have overall stronger music programs than Swarthmore, and then you can do your own due diligence:</p>
<p>Scripps (especially on the performance side), Pomona, St. Olaf's (VERY strong), Oberlin (caveat - if you are not doing the Conservatory side of things, you need to check out the music major VERY carefully to ensure you can get what you need), Lawrence, Vassar, Williams (very strong in composition, and two student symphony orchestras), Wesleyan (best known for jazz and ethnomusicology), Bard (President is a conductor, faculty is awesome), Smith (where my d. decided to go after being accepted by a bunch of these - new opera consortium, strong theory/composition), Mount Holyoke, and, I think, Davidson. I don't have any question that all of these are stronger than what Swarthmore has to offer.</p>
<p>Schools where things are "different" than what Swarthmore has, but not necessarily stronger, include Whitman, Haverford, Amherst, Wellesley, Macalester, Carleton, Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Can you tell me about Vassar's music program? I'm applying there and will probably be a music major. Is their music program more theory-based? Performance-based? Big? Small?</p>
<p>Vassar's department is larger than Swarthmore's, but not what one would call large. They have two composers (Wilson and Sorkin - my d. is friends with the latter), and faculty is heavy in piano and music theory/history. They have ties to the Steinway family, and as such have 65 Steinway pianos around campus (and in good state of repair.) Fine music library (not a match for Smith's or Yale's) but really nice. Lots of performers come up from New York. The head of the department Todd Crow directs the Mount Desert Music Festival in Maine during the summers, and, I've heard, there may be internship opportunities there.</p>
<p>As always, do your own due diligence and, if possible, go visit.</p>