Piano Performance Double Major

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi. I'm a Senior this fall who is hoping to double major in Communications and Piano Performance in college. I have a few questions to make sure I'm heading in the right directions/am informed about the application process. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>So the double major is very important to me. When I apply for colleges and add on the supplemental music school application, I'm not closing any doors to Communications, right?</p></li>
<li><p>Auditions. Are live auditions recommended? I'm applying to a good number of schools and some don't require a live audition, should I still try to fit in my schedule?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Here is a list of schools I'm planning on applying to (in no particular order):</p>

<p>Indiana University Bloomington
University of Southern California
Webster University
Binghamton University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Texas at Austin
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Rochester
New York University
Ithaca
Syracuse
Penn State
Rice University</p>

<p>Should I be worried about whether a college allows double majoring or not? I was looking at the supplemental section of University of Southern California application. In it, there's an option that says: First choice major, Second choice major. For some reason, a bachelor's in Piano performance is not available in the Second choice major drop down list, and Communications is available in both.</p>

<p>What does something like that mean? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Some schools like Rice require that if you want to major in music you can only apply and be accepted to the School of Music as your primary application. There is no way to apply there as a second major. Once you are in there, you can add the other major by scheduling the classes and declaring the major. You should know that although it is is done, double major is not really encouraged in such places. Liberal arts are easier than sciences though. For performance degree you have a lot of practicing to do and there are still ensemble requirements. At Rice you can drop to a BA in music after your first year to free up time for another major if that works better for you…</p>

<p>BTW - I don’t see Communications in the majors for Rice. If it is so important, why are they on your list?</p>

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<p>Singersmom07, I have noticed that a heck of a lot of potential students don’t bother to check to see if their desired major is offered by particular schools. I guess it’s something they don’t think about - they just assume that every college offers every major. </p>

<p>It’s their fault for not checking, but also not really their fault. They either just aren’t to that point yet, or either they aren’t getting any guidance as to what colleges would be appropriate for their needs.</p>

<p>At one of my son’s auditions, there were two auditionees in my son’s group who wanted to major in subjects that college didn’t offer (conducting and recording). When they said their intended majors I didn’t think anything about it, but I realized it on our drive home.</p>

<p>I’ve also talked to several students that wanted to be band directors, who were applying at schools that didn’t have football. When I mentioned that they said “no football?.., Doesn’t matter - I’m going to be a high school band director”. I asked them if they didn’t think it was a good idea to go to a school that had a marching band since they would likely be teaching marching band, they said “never really thought about it”. I think that secretly they had just assumed that every college has marching band.</p>

<p>Just eliminating schools that didn’t have a significant marching band and didn’t have my son’s major was our first step in eliminating colleges off my son’s long list. It eliminated something like 75% of the colleges in the country.</p>

<p>Anyhow, just in the past couple of weeks I have heard from four students or parents that they now realize they made mistakes in the colleges that they picked. It’s too late now - for this year. One picked a college just because his girlfriend was going there - only to find out yesterday that she decided to go to a different college.</p>

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<p>one word: spreadsheet</p>

<p>or is that two words? :)</p>

5

<p>I agree with others, I think you need to focus on what you are doing, because while your list of schools at a glance offer piano performance degrees, some of them may not offer communications, as others have said, and others may not allow a dual major (some music schools, like Bard, require you to do a double major…). Couple of things I see here that might help you focus:</p>

<p>-Did you pick these schools school of music after getting a realistic assessment of your abilities on the piano? I am no expert on piano, but the range on these schools is pretty wide and in general, piano admission is very, very competitive. Are you sure of your abilities, to be able, for example, to get into USC, Rice or Indiana or U Mich, all of which are in that top level of competitiveness by conventional wisdom (and even within this grouping, some are probably more competitive then others). All the top schools attract a lot of really, really talented students and on piano especially it is going to be a difficult admit for performance. Admission for that comes down to your audition and how well you do on that, period, and even if you are a top student academically, it won’t help you with admissions to the music program (on the other hand, if your academics are poor, it can keep you out of places like Indiana, Michigan or USC no matter how good your performance audition was). Knowing realistically how good you are would help make the performance side of the list smaller.</p>

<p>-As others have pointed out, does the school even offer a degree in communications? Doesn’t make sense to apply where they don’t offer it</p>

<p>-Does the school allow students in a performance degree to dual major? And if so, what is involved? How difficult is it? Is it a 4 or 5 year program if you do that? And do they make any concessions for dual degree holders, like maybe waving some general core courses? Some schools may not even allow you to get a second degree if you go for performance, or make it so hard that few try it. </p>

<p>-What are the requirements to dual major? What is involved in the application process (if anything?)</p>

<p>-What level of music school are you willing to settle for? Syracuse U, for example, has a widely respected communications program, but musically it is generally not considered one of the top level programs, definitely not in the range of U Mich or Indiana or USC, for example. Would you be okay with a school that has a great program in communications but not known necessarily for performance?</p>

<p>I liked the last suggestion, put it on a spreadsheet as a matrix, with the schools on one axis and questions (the ones above and/or others) that need to be answered. You probably can answer some questions yourself right off the bat, if you look at the school website and they don’t list communications, you can cross that off, and if you get an assesment of your piano skills that says “I think U Mich or Rice would be a difficult reach” you might want to cross them off for that (assuming they offer communications). </p>

<p>For questions like being allowed to double major, if allowed what the requirements would be, your best bet is to put together your questions and send an e-mail to the schools involved, to their admissions department. They would be the best source on whether they allow dual major with performance and what it would take to do it, and it doesn’t take a lot of work:)</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for replying! All of you are a lot of help. </p>

<p>I’m applying to Rice because I’m currently part of the pre-college music program and studying with a fantastic teacher I wouldn’t mind studying with throughout college (although I am open to change) and it’s about 15 minutes away from where I live. Thanks for letting me know that they don’t offer a Communications major! Imagep was certainly right, I didn’t get around to checking that. I’m unsure whether or not I’ll still apply.</p>

<p>I am keeping my options open – applying to schools that are more known for communications and/or piano in case I change my mind. </p>

<p>I’m pretty confident in my abilities on the piano, although I will need to work really hard. I do know several professors at U of Mich and I attended the Indiana U Piano Academy for pre-college and met a lot of the staff there. I’m not connected to the Thornton School at USC, but I feel that USC is a good fit for me. </p>

<p>So is it recommended I focus on applying to the music schools for most/all of the colleges I’m applying to, and then once I’m in college (wherever that may be) I’ll add on the credits needed for a Communication degree? </p>

<p>Also, (what I’ll probably end up doing) and thanks so much musicprnt for suggesting this, to compile all my questions and email/call the admissions department for each of these schools. Would you think email or calling would be easier? I feel I would calling might provide more immediate answers, but I might be able to phrase my questions more clearly by email and be able to document more easily the college’s reponse. Any suggestions?</p>

<p>Thanks so much for replying! And yes, definitely starting a spreadsheet and checking the remaining colleges for Communications degrees. </p>

<p>Sorry, just wanted to ask again - are live auditions recommended? Any suggestions on that?</p>

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<p>Live auditions are always best, but sometimes you simply need to send a recording if time and distance don’t permit them.</p>

<p>Just a picky note: Communications-with-an-S refers to telephone and telegraph. If what you’re interested in is more of a media/journalism type thing, leave off the last s (just like those mattress commercials…). :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for letting me know! :)</p>

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<p>I think either phone or e-mail would work, a lot of it depends on your comfort level. Some people work better with e-mail, it is really a matter of style. That said, I have found with other things that phone calls often get better results, you have their attention immediately and people tend to respond to that, whereas with an e-mail it can take them a while to respond, plus you never know if something gets into a spam bucket or the like because someone else on your ISP was spamming:). One other thought, have you looked into Bard college’s music program? I am not familiar with the piano department, but they require their students to double major and they have built a fairly solid reputation with the music school. I don’t know if they offer communication as a major, but might be worth looking at with the other schools. If you are in Rice’s pre college program, you are already pretty established, so you probably have some pretty good guidance there on your abilities and they should be able to help steer you into a program that fits:)</p>

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<p>Bard does not offer “Communication” as a major in the college. Not to say that all the elements of such a major would not be covered under a different name!</p>

<p>As for the piano department - it’s phenomenal: Professors in the Conservatory - Melvin Chen, Jeremy Denk, Richard Goode (masterclasses only) & Peter Serkin. Professor in the College: Blair McMillan.</p>

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<p>I am thinking about double majoring in piano performance and business too. I am a spring admit in USC…but I am wondering if the workload will be too much since piano performance seems to require a loooot of practicing…</p>

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<p>One thing that is common about performance degrees is that they are time consuming, between hours of practicing, ensembles of all kinds, theory, music history, etc, it is a pretty full day, especially on piano and violin where the norm is probably in the 4 hour range a day practicing (give or take). Given that, trying to fit in an academic degree would take a lot of energy and stamina IMO. I know with Bard’s program that you get a dual degree, and it is 5 years because of the dual degree.</p>

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<p>One thing that no one has mentioned is the possibility of going to a local jr/comunity college during summers to get that second education field creditial.</p>

<p>You just have to get creative and spend a few (dozen) hours studying the curriculums. there are litterally dozens of possibilities. The most obvious one is to take as many of your general education requirments in summer school and transfering those to the 4 year college for credit. 12 credit hours is normal during a summer term (although some will allow as many as 18), and if someone went the summer before their freshman/sophomore/jr/sr years of college they could get as many as 48 extra hours that could be co-unted towards a second major/degree. Or since most minor programs are only around 18-20 hours, one could possibly have a minor, or maybe even two or three minors if the school will allow it. It just depends. Some schools don’t have minors at all.</p>

<p>Or you could possibly get an associate degree at the jr college. Or possibly all of the above if you plan carefully and if your college(s) are willing to be flexable.</p>

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<p>Imagep’s idea is intriguing, but I wonder how doable that would be, in terms of whether the college would accept credits taken at a community or local college over the summer. I would be especially cautious with a top academic school with that, from everything I know or am led to understand they are very, very picky about what credits they will accept or not. I think as a suggestion it is an interesting one, but if you even think of doing that, run it by some prospective schools admission departments to see what they say. The other option would be to take summer courses at the college itself to help make doing a dual major thing possible.</p>