My HS junior son is a percussionist. He does not want to major in music, but wants to be heavily involved in music. in general, when we visit colleges, should he reach out to the percussion faculty? Any tips for how he should proceed?
Also, we are visiting University of Rochester in a few weeks. Does anyone here know if there’s a specific percussion faculty person he should meet with when we visit? He found the name of the person who runs the percussion ensemble, but it’s not clear if that person is actually on the U of R faculty. Does Eastman allow non-conservatory students to participate in its ensembles and take lessons with faculty there?
Thanks so much.
Also posting this on the U of R forum.
When there is a conservatory or school of music on campus, and a student is not applying to the BM but doing a BA or BS, it is always good to check out whether the best opportunities (teacher and performance, funding for summer etc.) go to the BM students.
Your son could choose among many great colleges with good music departments, that don’t have a BM program on campus. Liberal arts colleges in particular.
Some schools that don’t have a conservatory or school of music, will offer lessons but the teacher is not on faculty or is adjunct or has some special, limited status.
If he is not applying for a BM he can submit a music supplement to the common app with a recording/video, music resume, letters of recommendation and programs or awards.
I think it is fine to wait until acceptance to meet with teachers, when the red carpet is out, but others do try earlier.
I would ask him to think about the other usual factors, size, location, academics, “vibe” and of course finances and then look into the music department. Look at curriculum requirements, gen ed requirements, course descriptions, faculty bios, and google grads if that info is available.
Many schools without music BM degrees have great music programs with lessons for credit and many extracurricular performance opportunities. For starters (in my state), check out Tufts and Clark U., - look up their music depts.
Thank you so much. He is looking at Tufts, as well as Williams, Amherst, Skidmore, Lawrence, and others.
When my D was looking at schools, in the same situation as your S wanting to participate in music and ensembles but not as a music major, she emailed the Chairman of music at smaller schools to ask how things work and what opportunities she might have. Then when she narrowed her list she reached out to the professor for her instrument. Sometimes at smaller schools that don’t have a conservatory or school of music it was hard to even find out who would teach lessons on her particular instument so she found out as much as she could from the Chairman of music. At larger schools it might make sense to contact the head of the percussion dept. to see what opportunities might be available for your S. You might be able to meet with someone informally when you visit a school.
Thanks! That’s a great idea to contact the chairman and let him/her direct him to the best person. I like that.
My son emailed music department heads of the LACs that he was interested in. They gave him info on who to talk with and he even took sample lessons with several of them. He had a really cool two hour lesson with the head of jazz music at Hamilton. I will forever be grateful to the professor because he encouraged my son to read poetry – it was great.
Have your son reach out to the music departments and see if he can visit when on campus. Also as mentioned, make sure he creates a really solid music supplement.
If he does apply to a school with a conservatory find out what opportunities are available for non-conservatory students.
Lawrence has a conservatory as you know. Now that I think of it, though my kid is primarily a composer, she did contact a couple of the schools you mention to see if a classical guitar teacher was available. I believe it was Williams or Middkebury- can’t remrmber which- that offered to find her one if she attended.
Thanks! I think Lawrence will be a GREAT safety. They admit 73% of applicants. I suspect the quality of student is way stronger than its acceptance rate suggests.
Well, maybe not…since there is a conservatory on campus, you need to find out how that affects non-BM students, because the best teachers and performances may go to to BM students in the conservatory, not the college kids.
@brantly I do think the academic environment at Lawrence is much stronger than appears by their acceptance data. It’s a small, somewhat rural school (though Appleton is a cute town) and I just think the student population is pretty self selecting. I actually know several ivy stat kids that chose Lawrence for the intellectual vibe combined with a great merit deal. Musicians and not. We are in a neighboring state and visited not long ago too.
I cannot comment on exactly how the professors work at Lawrence for music majors vs. non-majors. I do know a VP major who also plays piano that gets to study with one of the piano professors on the side. So it is possible to be in a professor’s studio as a non-major. You’d still need to audition I’m sure. You could e-mail and ask. Their admissions department is very responsive.
Oh - I was also going to say level of applicant’s interest is considered at Lawrence. So even if you are considering it a safety, you may want to reach out to show interest and visit if possible. I do know high stat kids that were rejected from Lawrence after dropping in an RD application there but never visiting or reaching out to admissions.
My D’s best friend went to Lawrence for a BA. She was able to take voice lessons from faculty and was in ensembles. She was talented but did not want a performance degree. She chose Lawrence partly due to the strong presence of the music school on the campus. Note that you must be talented to get lessons with faculty. It could also depend on instrument and faculty availability too. So you will need to check. I know of kids denied acceptance to the conservatory who had high academics and strong music skills (but not great). The conservatory is a tough admit (so lessons with faculty can’t be assumed). As for the school in general, it does have a good academic reputation. I agree with the comment above, however, that you DO want to show genuine interest if you want to consider it a safety. And an interest in music should definitely help.
Lawrence has a very friendly admissions dept and the school is small so you could just contact general admission to get started with any questions on lessons…and get on their radar as seriously interested.
We (including D20, who is a violinist but definitely won’t be a music major) will be at Lawrence for the Spring Open House Friday after next, if anyone wants info that could be obtained in person. They have such great web / video presentations of themselves and Appleton that my primary concern is that they won’t live up to it in person.
I second the impression that their admissions department is friendly and responsive.
Edit: lesson info here: http://www.lawrence.edu/s/academy/programs/music_lessons
My D is just about to graduate from Lawrence. The conservatory is very open to participation from non music majors and they will work with students to make things work. Prospective non music major students can apply for their ensemble award which is a scholarship that pays for private lessons with a professor in the con. It also requires participation in an ensemble which is great because if the student gets the scholarship then they know they will be accepted to play in an ensemble such as the orchestra. It’s nice also because it’s very flexible, the student does not have to participate every term but can rejoin in any subsequent term while they are enrolled at Lawrence when their schedule permits.
@allyphoe I hope you enjoy your visit to Lawrence, at all the schools we visited it was really the only info session I ever truly enjoyed.
We just visited this weekend, should really be nice there when you visit!
I love the sound of Lawrence, but I can’t figure out how it could be convenient to travel there from the NYC area. Newark and LGA don’t have direct flights to Appleton. There are few nonstop flights to Milwaukee. So the most likely scenario is connecting in Chicago for Appleton or connecting in Detroit for Milwaukee, then driving two hours. Am I missing something? I think they’d get a lot more applicants from the NY area if their administration could somehow convince the local airport to initiate a few direct flights to EWR or LGA.
There are connecting flights to Appleton from Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis. So what I’ve heard is most students have a two leg flight that connects through one of those airports to Appleton. It seems a lot of smaller lacs are in towns that don’t have a lot of direct flights into their smaller towns? Is this a lot more difficult than getting to other schools that are not directly in big cities such as Boston? I admit I am lucky that my D can take a direct flight from Detroit back to Appleton but I’m wondering if it is that much more difficult than getting somewhere like Grinnell or Oberlin?
The administration also has a bus back to campus from Chicago and Minneapolis so some students get a flight to one of those airports and then catch the bus back. Also, keep in mind that because of the trimesters they don’t go back after Thanksgiving until after the New Year so that cuts out one back and forth trip that students at other schools make.
Thanks for this helpful info. Most of the other schools he’s looking at are in the northeast, driving distance, within one to five hours of our home. Other possibilities are Oberlin (direct flight to Cleveland) and Carleton (direct to Minneapolis). So Lawrence is the only one that has an added layer of complexity. It’s good to know that the school runs a bus from Chicago and Minneapolis. Very easy to get a cheap, direct flight to Chicago for us.
Carleton is direct to MSP, then you have to get to Northfield, either by bus or by car. It’s about a 45 minute ride, IIRC. Oberlin isn’t on my kid’s list, and we drove when I visited as a teenager, but I’m pretty sure it’s nowhere near the Cleveland airport.
Lawrence is 6 miles from ATW. For kids who are visiting, Lawrence has a list of hotels that will not only accept minors traveling alone, but will shuttle them to and from the airport and college.
I told my daughter, who is 14, that if she really didn’t want parents along, she’d have no problem getting herself to and from Lawrence independently. She’s been making connecting flights alone since she was 12; they’re easy and it’s fun to explore a new airport.
I, on the other hand, am not looking forward to the hassle of getting to Northfield to visit Grinnell. There’s no way I’d put that same kid on a direct flight to MSP and expect her to make it to Grinnell.
Oberlin’s about a half hour drive from Cleveland Airport. We rented a car when my S auditioned but there were also shuttles to and from the college.
@brantly re: your question about Eastman, I’ve got a son there, and I’m virtually certain non-Eastman UR kids cannot participate in the major ensembles there, and I’m pretty sure that most UR students who take lessons would be taking lessons from grad students rather than main faculty. The grad students are generally terrific, though.