<p>I was wanting to know if there were any public schools that had really great music programs.</p>
<p>My kids' school has a lot going for it. It is a large cluster of schools in the Atlanta area -- fairly well-to-do, with lots of parental support. There are still some challenges -- my biggest peeves: Teachers who think music pursuit is "just a hobby" and penalize kids who miss class for music-related activities. Administration and general public who put sports above everything. Parents in the band boosters who are reliving their high school years, and who end up being lousy chaperones, and run high-end budgets and programs so that students can fund the parents' travels and parties. The parents sometimes have little understanding of the "serious musician" who is already paying through the nose for lessons and activities, and really doesn't need to pay for you to go to Hawaii, too.</p>
<p>But the positives were many. In elementary school, teachers recognized and encouraged those with talent. The chorus teacher guided us to community activities where she thought my kids would shine. There were "Variety Shows" to allow performance ops. </p>
<p>In middle school, there were quality programs for band instruments and orchestra. (No chorus then; there is now.) The teachers were capable, and the funding was pretty good. (The large band program could have used a second teacher; for political reasons I don't understand, the much smaller strings program had two full and one part-time teacher.) Our middle school band director was especially good at choosing the right instrument for his students. I found the band program at this level to be better for my children than the strings program. Actually, this was true at the high school level as well.</p>
<p>In high school, there are ability-groups bands and string classes, and a full orchestra as needed. There are during-school and extracurricular jazz bands. Musical theater. Ballet and dance programs. Music technology class. AP Music theory. Chorus (several levels).</p>
<p>The music program also supports a large marching band, many participants in district and all-state programs, and Governor's Honors programs. The community has several different youth orchestras, both school-related and not.</p>
<p>In general, the program has places for those students who do music for the social aspects, and those who do it seriously. </p>
<p>Although my children were involved in music privately long before the school got involved, the teachers for the most part were valuable in their encouragement and guidance.</p>
<p>Did the op mean high-schools or colleges?</p>
<p>Assuming the OP meant colleges, here are several that I know of:</p>
<p>Boston U
U Hartford (Hartt School of Music)
Indiana U
North Carolina School of the Arts
Temple U
U Arizona
U Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign
U Miama (FL)
U Michigan
U North Texas
U Southern California</p>
<p>Pretty sure Miami is a private, not state university</p>
<p>Boston University I believe is a religious based not State</p>
<p>Hartt I think is private </p>
<p>And Temple off the bat my guess is private and not State</p>
<p>But I could be wrong haven't looked any of them up</p>
<p>Okay - sorry. I read "public school" and automatically thought high school, because I think of public colleges as "public colleges" or "state colleges". I thought he was talking about what public schools (don't know what else to call the pre-college institutes of learning) do right, as opposed to magnet or performing arts schools.</p>
<p>My apologies.</p>
<p>Rockford,</p>
<p>you are correct on all but Temple. That one is public, at least acording to collegeboard.com. Boston U is listed as private with no religious affiliations. So the revised list is:</p>
<p>Indiana U
North Carolina School of the Arts
Temple U
U Arizona
U Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign
U Michigan
U North Texas
U Southern California</p>
<p>USC is private.</p>
<p>Despite the name U Southern California is private...</p>
<p>Yes USC also should not be on the list. Dont pay much attention to West Coast schools or it would have hit me right away.</p>
<p>Boston U, I was referring to it being founded by a religious group as opposed to the state. They probably are no longer affiliated.</p>
<p>Temple was private and was taken into the state system, so my error there.</p>
<p>To me Indiana is the example of a State Unversity being able to put forth a top rate music program. The school in Denton is interesting as state schools go.</p>
<p>OK, OK I've learned my lesson - no more posting lists off the top of my head with the tacit assumption that U of Somewhere is public. That said, I'll offer a few more as replacements. (Anyone know of any non-public schools with both the words "State" and "University" in their names?)</p>
<p>Arizona State U
Indiana U
Louisiana State U
North Carolina School of the Arts
SUNY Purchase
Temple U
U Arizona
U Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign
U Michigan
U North Texas</p>
<p>Indiana is indeed the poster child for a conservatory-level program at a large public university. Michigan, UIUC and CCM are also right up there in some departments. I find it interesting that these schools seem to be primarily in midwestern and sunbelt states.</p>
<p>Haha, no one expects perfections. It does get confusing with the names.</p>
<p>It becomes instrument specific pretty quick. Illinois, Temple and some of the others on your list might not be top 50 on some instruments.</p>
<p>Then again not sure there is ONE top 50 list anymore.</p>
<p>I know Indiana claims to be THE top music school above all the traditional list of conservatories. In some ways they might have a good argument.</p>
<p>It does get instrument-specific very quickly, making an overall top-50 list pretty worthless. Some of those may not be top-50 in several instruments but, among publics, they are all near the top of the heap in at least some areas. Temple has an amazing Jazz program for example and they share teachers with Curtis on several instruments.</p>
<p>Boston University is private but has no religious affiliation. You may be thinking of Boston College, a Catholic school about a mile away. Hartt is part of the University of Hartford, a private institution despite its name.</p>
<p>Boston University began as a Methodist seminary </p>
<p>But is no longer affiliated.</p>
<p>My point was not that it was religious but was founded that way and was not started by the state.</p>