<p>I have read with interest many, many discussions in this forum regarding which LACs have "good" music programs. My S, a high school junior, percussionist (all classical), has decided for a variety of reasons to attend a LAC rather than a conservatory or university with a strong music school. He may or may not continue his involvement with music past college but definitely wants to continue his music studies. We have looked at many, if not most, of the schools previously recommended by others. </p>
<p>My questions do not pertain to WHICH schools we should be looking at, but rather to WHAT we should be looking for at the schools. When people say that a program is "good" or "strong," how do we evaluate that? Clearly, my S will be giving up a great deal of the depth and rigor that a conservatory education in music would offer, but how can we judge what he WILL be getting? </p>
<p>We have been meeting, at each school, with members of the music faculty but the focus of those sessions (from our perspective) has been on getting the schools to know our S and seeing how our S responds to the faculty. We have gathered some fairly general information.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.</p>
<p>I think part of the answer lies in what schools you are considering.</p>
<p>And another part lies in his specific focus. As a percussionist, he’s much more likely to want “more” in an orchestral, large ensemble experience than a pianist, violinist, harpist or cellist more concentrated in developing solo rep and chamber music, or a high level music student just there for to maintain and increase skills for avocational/personal reasons rather than potential grad school/career development. LAC’s that field a full high standard audition based (potentially majors only) orchestra might be much more important to him. </p>
<p>Same thing applies to peer level, some of the LAC’s (and universities) do not have anywhere near the depth of instrumentation that a conservatory level program would have. While some may bring in professional ringers or faculty to fill slack, others may field orchestras open to the community at large. </p>
<p>In a smaller environment, it can be harder to find “like minds” when it comes to specific focus of interest. My example above would also apply to chamber, small ensemble and instrument specific ensembles. Will he find the quantity and quality of like minds?</p>
<p>These were my immediate thoughts, I’m sure I can come up with others. Often those interested in the LACs want that specific level of academics and small(er) “feel” that a conservatory or attached university doesn’t provide, and that may come into play.</p>
<p>It’s just important that he weigh what MIGHT be the most important musical (and academic) factors and balance selection based on those. The LAC’s can run the gamut from the Oberlin college/conservatory experience, through the programs in the Colleges That Change Lives list, to tiny programs that may boast a music program that comprises 20 students.</p>
<p>From the point of view of a percussionist, here are some things I would pay attention to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Availability of percussion ensembles. I personally love orchestral percussion, and orchestral experience is vital preparation for a career as a classical percussionist. However, if I was not considering a career as a classical percussionist, I would be more concerned with chamber groups. Percussion ensemble is so much fun. I often here complaints about boring triangle parts in orchestra, but parts in percussion ensembles are generally very involved. </p></li>
<li><p>Size of the percussion studio (with respect to the size of the music program). Schools with only a few percussionist need those few percussionists to fill a lot of roles. This means a lot of play time in high-level groups but a lot of responsibility. Bigger studios means more competition, but it also usually means more chamber groups. I guess it basically comes down to how competitive your son wants the program to be.</p></li>
<li><p>Availability of practice instruments. This is a problem I saw more in LAC’s than any other type of school I visited. One school had 2 marimbas for 13 students. In a situation like this, practice time would be tough to get. </p></li>
<li><p>Specialization. I’d say that most studios these days are trying to produce a well rounded percussionist, but many allow, or even encourage, some kind of specialization. If your son is primarily interested in snare or in marimba or something and would like to focus on that instrument through college, I would look for a school where he could concentrate mainly on that instrument. Also, is the teacher specialized? For example, if I was not interested in marimba, I would not go study with Gordon Stout. If I was very interested in marimba, I definitely would.</p></li>
<li><p>Non classical percussion. I know it’s strange, but when looking at programs, I was very attracted to schools where I could study African drumming. Maybe your son likes world percussion or electronic percussion or something. Or maybe he wants to avoid stuff like that. You said he is a strictly classical player, and a lot of schools now require some study on drumset. If he doesn’t want to do any work on on kit, then I would definitely ask the professor if he would have to. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I guess that’s all I can think of that is percussion-specificish. Then there are the obvious things. like the quality of the teacher, the rigor of the program, the credit hours needed, etc.</p>
<p>If hope this helped! If you have any questions or need school suggestions let me know. I would be more than happy to answer them. Good luck!</p>
<p>for the most part, “strong” LAC music departments are “strong” by virtue of their academic faculty - so, for example, Williams is known to have a particularly good music department in that respect; Amherst and Smith as well. Most of the music departments are very small - 4-5 full time faculty, having to cover all the subjects (history, ethno, theory, composition, and performance) with a varying number of adjuncts who may merely be listed on the faculty website and not be around much.
An LAC that is part of a consortium - such as Amherst/Smith/Mt Holyoke/UMass, or the Pomona schools will likely have more performance options than a school like Reed, which is likely to have few.
And certainly, Oberlin and Bard, and I’d add Wesleyan (though more ethno oriented) are the three LACs that stand out as having strong music performance and academics, though Bard has not offered percussion, as I recall from N8Ma’s posts. Oberlin’s percussion group is small but quite excellent.</p>
<p>N8Ma may have mentioned the possibility of Bard starting to accept percussion students next year. Some searching may be in order if you are interested.</p>
<p>I have a nephew who is seriously looking at Loyola New Orleans. While he does not want to major in music he is also a percussionist who has spent some time talking with the Thelonius Monk school which is now part of Loyola New Orleans.</p>
<p>mamenyu, the line can blur. Oberlin does offer a few at the Masters level within the Con but for all intents and purposes is an undergrad “LAC” at least in public perception. Lawrence is Lawrence University.</p>
<p>Bard also has at least one MM in voice/opera.</p>
<p>Semantics aside, I think it is more a “feel” of the institution and it’s offerings as opposed to strict definition.</p>
<p>you’re right that the lines blur. Lawrence, though calling itself a University, is quite small and describes itself as being a “LAC + Conservatory = University.” Looking briefly at the website, Loyola doesn’t look like what most would call an LAC, though it isn’t huge - a little more than double the size of Oberlin, but 35 percent graduate. It may be a perfectly good fit for the OP though…</p>
<p>Maybe I should have worded it differently, my nephew has been looking at LAC’s like Oberlin, Ithaca, etc., but after visiting Loyola decided that it would work well for him.</p>
<p>i’m a composer looking to transfer to Amherst & was impressed by all the music the orchestra does and the orchestra director said they needed percussionists–currently he said the only major player in orchestra (timpanist from Interlochen) had friends come over from U Mass to help out…and they played stuff like Sheharazade, Shosti, the musiucal Sweeney Todd, and other fun stuff (oh they were going to do the opera Carmen when I was there–not sure if that happened yet) So it seemed your son would have lots of chances to play there and Amherst is ranked really high. Also lots of composers there who write for percussion (including me :0 if I get in!)</p>
<p>curiousapplicant:
Thanks for the advice, and good luck on the transfer. We have visited Amherst and met with the orchestra director. Indeed, the timpanist from Interlochen is a dear friend of my son’s…from Interlochen!!</p>
<p>What impressed you about Music at Amherst? Are you interested in transferring to Amherst because of the music opportunities? If so, what opportunities are there for you? Thanks.</p>
<p>It seems obvious, but you want to look for performance opportunities (which includes whether the school has adequate performing venues and access to those venues, adequate numbers of practice rooms, and support for said performances), and you also want to make sure that any curriculum and distribution requirements are reasonable in light of what areas your child wants to pursue. We discovered after the fact that Barnard/Columbia’s music department doesn’t own any performing venue on campus, that it has only 6 practice rooms on campus (with another 6 in dorms on the east side of Columbia’s campus), that Barnard’s music department website was 6 years out of date (it’s just been updated). Moreover, the music major is structured like a performance degree with a ton of requirements, which, coupled with a huge set of distribution requirements, make it almost impossible for anyone to double major in music and another field and force one to take classes like “The Sociology of Music” merely to fulfill a gen ed requirement. We could’ve discovered this earlier, of course, had my daughter not been focused on conservatories and then changed her mind in October of her senior year. But perhaps you or someone else can benefit from our experience!</p>