<p>I am a senior in high school and am still very undecided on where I am going to end up, or even apply to college. The two things that I spend most, if not all, of my time are playing tennis and piano. I am very accomplished at both and plan to spend even more time on these two passions in college. I am more concerned about a college that has a great department in music in regards to piano than I am about the tennis. I was just wondering if anyone had some great college in mind where I can pursue my passion for music and reach my fullest potential. Right now I think I am most set on Swarthmore, however I don't know how official this is...I have only known about the college for two days.</p>
<p>Do you know what you want to major in? Obviously, a music conservatory such as Juilliard or Curtis is not going to have much of a tennis team. Most conservatories have joint programs with other colleges, though (Juilliard / Columbia, Curtis / UPenn, Cleveland Institute / Case Western, etc.) Then there are wonderful schools with strong music programs within them: U of Cincinnati (College Conservatory of Music), Rice (Shepherd School of Music), Indiana. Schools like these would allow you to major in something else and still pursue piano. Or major in piano and pursue other things, as the case may be.</p>
<p>Well I am not 100% sure what I am going to major in...but I might major in Psychology/Cognitive Science or just Music/Piano. The main thought for me in a college is a great piano program, with an at least decent tennis team. </p>
<p>When you say Julliard has a joint program with Columbia, what exactly does that mean I get from Columbia? And also if you know anything detailed about Swarthmore's piano program that would also be helpful.</p>
<p>What do you mean by "piano program"? you mean a piano major?</p>
<p>The joint Columbia/Juilliard program lets the student take most academic classes at Columbia while doing music/dance etc. at Juilliard. Reportedly, the workload is fairly brutal due to each school holding the student to normal expectations. The campuses aren't adjacent, so some time would be spent commuting. In addition, the student must be accepted by both schools, no small feat. If you survive, though, it's sort of the best of both worlds. :)</p>
<p>IU Bloomington would be a great choice, although the signature piano program is the Toradze Piano Studio at Indiana University South Bend. Bloomington would combine one of the nation's best music schools with Big 10 athletics. South Bend offers tennis only as an intramural, as far as I know.</p>
<p>I've been told Oberlin is great in piano.</p>
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<p>Yes, a piano major, and a piano program in general...not really sure how that all works in college. I want to play the piano. I want to study the piano. I want to play tennis. That is all I need. </p>
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<blockquote> <blockquote> <p>I've been told Oberlin is great in piano.</p> </blockquote> </blockquote>
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<p>That does seem like a good choice, but I don't think that they have a very good tennis team...a school like Oberlin with a good tennis team is exactly what I am looking for.</p>
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<blockquote> <blockquote> <p>The joint Columbia/Juilliard program lets the student take most academic classes at Columbia while doing music/dance etc. at Juilliard.</p> </blockquote> </blockquote>
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<p>So does this mean that I could be doing music at Julliard and be playing on the Columbia tennis team? Also, would it be an everyday commute or would I be at one school certain days and than the other the rest?</p>
<p>Garnet, you should try posting in the [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24%5DColumbia%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24]Columbia[/url</a>] or [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=232%5DJuilliard%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=232]Juilliard[/url</a>] forums to see if someone can give you more specific feedback. I'm guessing that like most college scheduling, you'd have various courses and sections to choose from; it would be up to you to try to work out a schedule that minimized running back and forth. Be aware, too, that the sheer hours involved in maintaining an academic courseload at Columbia, an instruction/coursework schedule at Juilliard, practicing piano, commuting, and playing a Division I varsity sport would be truly daunting and would probably leave zero time to enjoy the college experience.</p>
<p>Whichever schools you start to get serious about, be sure to talk to actual students in the programs and try to get some honest feedback. Good luck!</p>
<p>How about Lawrence U or St. Olaf? Both have wonderful music programs and varisity tennis teams. Other possibilities of schools with strong tennis programs and good music programs: Kenyon (Ohio), Furman in North Carolina, U of Miamia (FL), U of Redlands (Calif), UVA, Indiana U, U Mich.</p>
<p>when you say you want to play tennis, do you mean as a varsity athlete or simply as a club or intramural? that will help us narrow it down a little, oh yes and would you rather have a conservatory joint program or a music program within the school?</p>
<p>celebrian,</p>
<p>Definitely varsity tennis, not club or intramural, and preferably a good varsity tennis team. As for the conservatory/in-school program, if it is between a school with a bad tennis team/joint conservatory, and a school with a good tennis team/in-school program, i would take the good tennis team/in-school program. However I would prefer a joint conservatory.</p>
<p>Today at my high school a representative from USC came and talked about different aspects of the school, and I found out that it was one of the best music colleges on the west coast with its Thornton School of Music. I was wondering if anyone had some input as to how good this school might be in terms of piano.</p>
<p>TheGarnetTide:</p>
<p>Have you spoken to your piano teacher about this? If you are a conservatory-caliber student, he or she will be your best source of information about piano programs that fit your needs. (Not tennis needs, though.)</p>
<p>I myself am not a music student, but would you reasonably have enough time for both conversatory level music and a varsity sport?</p>
<p>For the past year I have been able to divide my time efficiently between extremely competitve tennis, passionate and dedicated piano, an exuberant social life, a 3-month intensive SAT study course, and a very demanding prestigious public high school - high accpetance rates to Ivy League Schools - (and pretty much in that order). I believe that in college I will have even more time to focus on tennis and piano specifically because I will not have to worry about SAT and related tests, as well as wasting 7 hours, five days a week, sitting in a classroom doing nothing. However, I do not expect to have much free time, and do not want or need it...being able to pursue my two passions in this world is all that I need. My biggest question now is where is the best place to do this.</p>
<p>You're a unique individual then, congrats on your achievements, it's just most students couldn't do both, but if you can, best of luck.</p>
<p>What about Rice? I heard they have a school of music there. Is it strong in piano? And also anything else about the school I should know.</p>
<p>There are some very good colleges and conservatories in the States, but I strongly recommend very gifted performers to receive training in Europe. It doesnt mean that I think the level of the training is lower here though; it is just that in Europe they have institutions with hundreds of years of tradition in music training and also the centre of classical music is there!!! Europe lives the classical music and you can feel that in the streets!!!</p>
<p>To name a few conservatories in Europe:
Sibelius Academy, Finland
Conservatoire de Paris, France
Royal Academy of Music, London
Escula Superior de Musica Reina Sofia, Madrid
Universität der Künste, Berlin
University Mozarteum, Salzburg
Hochschule für Musik und Theater, München
Royal College of Music, London</p>
<p>I was born in Martinica and I have studied at Juilliad in NY and in Berlin. Believe me: nothing compared to the experience of studying in Europe. There I learnt to live and love classical music!</p>
<p>Roger Dooley, I have to disagree about the Toradze studio being the signature studio in the Indiana university system-- what about Pressler at IU?
Swarthmore and Carnegie Mellon are both schools with great sciences and good tennis teams; music at C-M is excellent and conservatory-style, whereas Swarthmore has great extracurricular music, and a good non-performance major.</p>
<p>Garnet, Williams is a school that is similar to Swarthmore in size, academic quality and teaching style that has BOTH great tennis and (from what I'm told) a very strong music department. Psychology and sciences are excellent too. If you search posts from Haon who is a current student and a pianist you can get some firsthand information.</p>
<p>From what you have listed already, it seems that Rice would definitely fit your bill. It's great in the sciences (cognitive sciences being a very strong field) and it's Shepherd School of Music is <em>very</em> good. I had a classmate, also very passionate about piano, who applied to Rice, and from what I've gathered, it's piano program is top notch. Apparently, there's some famous faculty there? You could research a bit on that.
Mind that at the same time, Shepherd is known for its rigorous training, so if you want to double major, it's going to be...well, difficult, though maybe slightly easier than at similar schools, since (and this is just an observation), there seems to be a lot of Rice graduates who double and triple major. And if you don't plan on double majoring, then cross registration between the two schools is easily accomplished.<br>
Williams is a great choice as well, being, like momrath mentioned, similar to Swarthmore and fitting all your requirements. Lastly, I'd seriously look more into Oberlin. E-mail the tennis coach or something. Take it into consideration, it could surprise you. :)</p>