<p>I am looking to do a double major with Piano performance as my B.Mus component. Can anyone tell me which are the best school's for piano performance that offer a double degree program? To be a little more specific, I am wondering how Northwestern's piano program ranks...thanks a lot...I look forward to hearing from you.</p>
<p>look for: U of Rochester + Eastman; Peabody + Johns Hopkins;</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>a bachelor of art/science and a MM degree in piano performance:
Harvard + New England Conservatory
Columbia + Juilliard</p>
<p>It all depends on what are you looking for besides piano performance, e.g. are you looking for an excellent academics schools like the ivies? etc. etc.</p>
<p>I know nothing about Northwestern's piano performance program, although I have heard that they have an excellent string program, so their piano program should not be weak.</p>
<p>Check out the Thorton School of Music at USC - University of Southern Calif. USC encourages students to do double majors, especially in diverse areas- i.e music and geology [which my son is doing]</p>
<p>Bard and Oberlin are probably the best organized double-degree programs (and believe me, an ill-organized one is something to avoid!). Both are top notch for piano.
Peabody/Johns Hopkins would be amazing, with Leon Fleisher.</p>
<p>It would be so cool to study with Fleisher.</p>
<p>ooh, I'm looking for something similar. I'd like ivy-level academics + music performance. However, I am not near the level musically as would probably be needed for NEC/Harvard, Julliard/Columbia, or Peabody/JHU... I haven't heard much about Eastman. But since it's a conservatory, it's probably at a similar level of difficulty. Can anyone recommend anything for me? (How's music at Yale or UPenn?)</p>
<p>Eastman is as hard to get into as NEC, Juilliard or Peabody. Do some search on this forum about if you are just going to UR and take lessons from Eastman (if you are good enough) or the nearby community school at Rochester for free - see if that's what you might want. </p>
<p>I don't think UPenn have any relationship with any music school, and even if it does have some program with Curtis, Curtis may be even harder to get into than NEC, etc. etc. </p>
<p>Yale does have a BA/MM program with Yale School of Music, which you don't need to audition until your junior year at Yale. But I think it's also difficult to get a good teacher from Yale School of Music who's willing to teach you for the first three years. </p>
<p>Do some more search on schools, but I really can't think of an ivy-level university/college that has connection with a music school/conservatory that is not as hard to get into as those you mentioned.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh I did forget something. Perhaps you might consider a great university that has a decent music department. That may be Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, etc.</p>
<p>If you plan on being a piano performance major and trying for a double degree, you might be smart to focus on a university with a conservatory-style music program (i.e. Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Oberlin, Rice, even Vanderbilt). I'm sure there are many others. You didn't mention at what level you are in piano or the realistic chances of being accepted into a true conservatory, i.e. Eastman, Julliard or Peabody. I am assuming your GPA and SATS, etc. are way up there? These are such highly competitive schools, especially for piano performance, that the odds of you being admitted to the conservatory AND the universities associated with them, and THEN being granted a double-degree track on top of it...well, slim to none, although I realize it's been done. Just incredibly difficult and demanding. I perused the Carnegie Mellon site and they seem to have an excellent piano faculty and they actually promote a double degree program there. Northwestern's music site is being updated, so there's no way to see who is on their piano faculty at the moment. I imagine it's top-notch, since they have an incredible cello teacher there and also excellent violin faculty. You couldn't lose with either of those schools. Hope this helps a little. There are so many great universities with exceptional music schools -- but to name a few in random order: Univ of So. Cal, Univ. of Texas, Univ. of North Texas, Park University (an incredible Russian teacher there - they are producing great performers - it's in Kansas City, I believe or St. Louis), University of Michigan, Univ. of Illinois.. I could go on and on. Others will have ideas for you. Good luck and have fun researching your numerous choices. Main thing: practice, practice for those auditions.</p>
<p>UPenn + Curtis</p>
<p>I like to think that my academic stats are up to par. Music-wise, I'm not sure.
I've been playing for 12 years, I swore off competitions after 7th grade because of just horrible experiences-so.. may be hard to evaluate.
I attend a local music school that is quite strong and well-known enough to those in NY area...though it's not Julliard PreCollege, it's graduated some really talented students and shares much of it's faculty with the NYC schools (Julliard,MSM, Mannes... my teacher also teaches at MSM). I'm at my school ~12 hours a week and am part of the Honors Program.
Recently, I played a recital with the following program: Bach Prelude & Fugue in Bb Major Bk 1 No.21, Beethoven Piano Sonata Op.10, No.1, Brahms 2 Rhapsodies Op. 79, Debussy 2 preludes (Girl with Flaxen Hair and Fireworks), Chopin Impromptu in Ab Maj. Op. 29, and Schubert Impromptu in Ab Maj. Op. 90 No. 4. I'm playing the program in China too next week (but not like at a concert hall). Planned Rep. so far for next year includes Liszt's Mephisto Waltz.</p>
<p>What do you all think?</p>
<p>oh, p.s. how does the app/audition process work? I've received mailings from regular schools...but no information on anything for music.</p>
<p>You cannot do a double major between Penn and Curtis. The deal is that, once you're done with the liberal arts requirements at Curtis, you can take elective courses at Penn.</p>
<p>You submit an application to whatever music school you're applying to, just like any other college. On this application you specify what audition day you'd like (assuming you're going to do a live audition) and your audition program (which is outlined on the various music school websites). You then show up at the school one whatever day you were assigned, are assigned a time, and will play for the judges (i.e. the faculty for your instrument) at that time. Peoples' audition experiences vary pretty widely, but most don't think they're as bad as one might fear. See the "can anyone help me" thread.</p>
<p>Curtis is the most prestigious conservatory in the US. It is the most selective and nearly impossible to get into. Unless you are a prodigy, you will not be accepted at Curtis.</p>
<p>If you are a to-be senior and planning to apply to school this year, I'll suggest that you should start preparing your audition repertoire now, or at least starting looking for what pieces to play to give yourself enough time to spare if you happen not to like one of the pieces. (You definitely don't want to play some pieces that you hated for the auditions!)</p>
<p>Your current program looks not bad, although no one can make a reasonable judgement without hearing you play. You'll need a substantial romantic piece (I'm not sure if the your Brahms counts as one, depending on the schools), a 20th century piece, and an etude in addition to a Bach prelude & fugue and a complete classical sonata. As far as Mephisto Waltz you mentioned, I would suggest against playing that piece for audition. You don't look like one of those students with crazy techniques to me (I would image that if you are one of those, you will be playing several Chopin/Liszt etudes in your program), and if you are not, playing the Mephisto Waltz is quite risky for auditions, especially you will have a chance to show off your techniques in the required etude (for most music schools). </p>
<p>But before you do any thing, read this article from the Peabody website about the "Double Degree Dilemma" if you have not done so. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in double degree with music: </p>
<p>Double Degree Dilemma
<a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/692%5B/url%5D">http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/692</a></p>
<p>See which one of those profiles mentioned in the article most fits you before you embark on the journey of applying for double degree. Good luck, as always!</p>