So You Want To Be Music Major - One Family's Experience

<p>Thanks to all who responded about my composition major son. We have gotten so many good ideas of what to look for, and even more schools to look at. This could be a full time job, one that my son doesn’t have time for. I suggested we start a spread sheet to organize our thoughts, and compare schools. Has anyone done this or have an idea that worked for them?</p>

<p>88fingers- Spread sheet, or an old-fashioned hand written facsimile is an absolute necessary! Use it with a separate calendar upon which you write all deadlines, possible audition dates, etc. I also kept a personal notebook in which I kept notes from visits, tours, faculty presentations at audition time, etc. We couldn’t have hoped to keep track otherwise!</p>

<p>Based on advice I got here, I’ve purchased a calendar devoted entirely to D’s musical activities this year - concerts, allstates, auditions etc. We just put together a chart (in Word, we’re not Excel people) with columns for school, application requirements (letters, transcripts etc), deadlines (including prescreens), audition rep requirements, faculty, and audition dates. So far, my technique has been to bold preferred dates and faculty D would like to have sample lessons with. I’m sure it will need refining, but it seems to be a good overview for now. If nothing else, it gives me something to obsess about while D is busy practicing!</p>

<p>ETA: musmom2 beat me to the punch!</p>

<p>I like the free online calendars like Yahoo/GMail/etc give you with their free email service. It sends out free email reminders when an event is coming up. Easier for me than a physical one where I can not forget to check it. Since I am online everyday checking email anyway. Tells you Concert at School in 2 days, or 3 or 10 whatever you set it for. Good for SAT dates and application dates etc.</p>

<p>Easy to block out days for a camp this summer or even years in advance.</p>

<p>We actually resorted to using the Google calendar which allowed Mom, Dad and DS all to see what scheduling challenges we were facing. </p>

<p>I did use a spreadsheet for the schools analysis - my main goal was to understand their offerings, have key information (like websites) compiled, and then key dates. I use spreadsheets a lot, and it was easy for me to add columns and move lines around to prioritize. I shared the spreadsheet with DS, so he could see what the list looked like.</p>

<p>In the end, I am not sure how helpful it was to him, but it did make me feel better that we had identified all the options and were in a position to adjust depending on the results of interviews and visits.</p>

<p>Lee Cioppa recommends spreadsheets:</p>

<p>[Juilliard</a> Office of Admissions Blog - Blog Archive - Application Tip #3 Copy and Paste](<a href=“http://blog.juilliard.edu/?p=124]Juilliard”>http://blog.juilliard.edu/?p=124)</p>

<p>This blog has lots of tips on it, even if you’re not applying to Juilliard. </p>

<p>I could not function without google’s apps, especially calendar.</p>

<p>Yes the online calendars like Google and Yahoo are available anywhere there is internet and can be shared with people in different places.</p>

<p>I find the reminder timers sent to your email a very big advantage. But then my memory is probably worse than most.</p>

<p>This is really a great resource. Thanks for posting it.</p>

<p>You are welcome, pruneface. I hope it helps.</p>

<p>BassDad, thanks so much for posting this. I have my first audition in a couple of weeks (I made the mistake of scheduling 6 of my eight auditions in February). I wish I had found this article months ago, but even now, it is helpful. </p>

<p>Oh and also, Oberlin is amazing! Out of all the schools I have visited, I like their facilities the best by far. I’m sure your daughter is getting an incredible education there.</p>

<p>Rach,</p>

<p>Glad you found it useful. My daughter has already graduated but she enjoyed her time at Oberlin very much. I hope you auditions go well.</p>

<p>I found your postings great. I only wish I had read them before my daughter applied to colleges. I agreed with everything you said, except FYI, at the colleges without conservatories, most of the voice teachers did take a payment for the lessons (voice). I think we paid the teachers’ usual private rate. </p>

<p>One teacher did not charge my daughter for her fee, but did charge her for the accompanist’s fee, and this teacher was in the situation where the head of the music department mentioned to us to call so and so, she would “give” my daughter lesson, This lesson was my daughter’s first meeting with a teacher and we didn’t know if we should expect to pay then. In hindsight, we probably should have been more forthcoming with offering to pay the teacher, and the teacher probably would have accepted payment. Much later, my daughter did thank her again, by email, and my daughter mentioned that she didn’t realize at the timesince it was her first college tour, how extraordinarily nice that teacher had been. The teacher responded that she appreciated the extra thank you and had even sent my daughter’s email to a colleague, and she forwarded the colleague’s response, I believe, because the email was so moving and complimentary to the voice teacher.</p>

<p>I found your comment about the way the voice majors dressed, especially female, very amusing. We tried very hard to dress my daughter in a professional manner, yet still lovely and elegant. We joke that she should look like Audrey Hepburn. My daughter did wear makeup–about what an makeup wearing adult would wear to an office in an artistic field, where looking “natural” was not required. She wore eye makeup and some blush. But I agree with you, I was surprised to see all sorts of dress on the other sopranos. I saw one girl wearing a partially see through net type longish dressy dress. I also saw more clevage than I expected to and more shiny dressy materials on the clothes.</p>

<p>In voice, we have been told that looks do matter and we have been told that looks do not matter if you are in the orchestra, but again, they do matter if you are a soloist such as a pianist. My daughter got into most of the conservatories (she did not apply to the conservatories that wouldn’t let you do anything besides music, in case she wanted to double major in something else) that she applied to, so I assume she was dressed appropriately.</p>

<p>Do you know anything about graduate schools for composition? I am starting to look at graduate schools for my daughter. She wants to go into composition and still study voice, at least a little. I don’t know if this is so easy, usually the schools want the student to only pursue composition. She will be qualified to go to graduate school. She will have a portfolio of works, both compositions and probably voice. </p>

<p>Obviously, she knows all the big conservatories, but I am wondering if a graduate school at a college might be good too. Off the top of my head, I wonder if universities such as Columbia U, or Princeton, if they even have a graduate composing degree, might be an alternative. I think it might be nice socially to still have a big college with interaction with people in different fields. Accordingly, I want to offer her some alternatives to the stand alone conservatories. </p>

<p>We live in the North East and might like to have her stay in the area if possible. Plus, I would like her to go somewhere like Yale where I heard they do not even charge tuition for some of their programs, or someplace that usually doesn’t charge the grad students because they are TAs or something similar. I will go one by one through the universities, but if you have any information to help focus my initial search for the non obvious graduate programs or the flexible programs that would let my daughter concentrate on composition but still study some voice.</p>

<p>Again, thank you for taking all the time to make your postings.</p>

<p>Thank you, and you are welcome. I do not know much about music grad schools. My daughter did not apply to any and, even if she had, the plan was that she was going to do it on her own.</p>

<p>Princeton might be an interesting place for a singer/composition major. I used to sing with an Early Music group there that was made up of mostly grad students and faculty members. They were an interesting lot, and Princeton has some pretty well-known names in its composition department. I am not very familiar with the voice teachers there, but there are certainly some very good ones across town at Westminster.</p>

<p>Beyond that, I have no direct experience with graduate music departments.</p>

<p>GW07626, as the Mom of a singer - but not composition, I’m still going to say - it’s time to stop. Grad school is their gig. Unless asked to help with some logistics, and even then she should be handling all logistics for herself. Selection of grad school should be between her and her teachers. She should make the decision and arrangements to further her own development. We are not in that decision anymore. It is not your search. Sit back, be the sounding board, but let go.</p>

<p>Just realized it sounds harsh and I did not mean to be really critical, just to encourage you to step back and let her take over. It’s hard. I know. I really want to help mine, too. So it’s kind of the conversation I have with myself.</p>

<p>Again, to add to the consensus, I agree. She should be working with faculty, advisors, peers, her network that know her strengths, weaknesses, influences and style. </p>

<p>Be the sounding board, the shoulder to cry on, and bask in their success. There’s not much we can do other than to sit in the audience, smile and think that’s MY kid. </p>

<p>And it’s not meant to be harsh advice. </p>

<p>I still have to bite my tongue at times at times, and it’s not always easy.</p>

<p>Best of luck to her.</p>

<p>I just wanted to thank you so much BassDad for posting this article. I think, like your D, I am embarking on a double major in music and language and this is really helpful. I’m glad I found this early on. :)</p>

<p>You are welcome, yeowoobi. As it turned out, she stuck with the music major (and an ethnomusicology minor) but was at one point considering a double degree program. Good luck to you.</p>

<p>As this is the jumping off thread for many, here’s a couple of “where do I start” type threads. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/674345-cello-player-what-do.html?highlight=cello[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/674345-cello-player-what-do.html?highlight=cello&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/458455-how-determine-your-childs-ability.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/458455-how-determine-your-childs-ability.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hopefully they will provide some insights to those contemplating this road.</p>

<p>And this one should be in the list above as well.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/531161-do-you-have-map.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/531161-do-you-have-map.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In one of my first messages on this thread, I said the following about my daughter’s former bass teacher during her high school years:</p>

<p>“He is now the principal bass for the Grand Rapids, MI symphony orchestra and teaches in a college or two in that area. I expect he will soon be on to bigger and better positions and I recommend him as highly as possible to any serious bass student in search of a teacher.”</p>

<p>Within a year or two after I wrote that, he earned a position as a section player in the Atlanta Symphony. I got a message from him this morning saying that, as of September, he will be the assistant principal bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. My next prediction is that some lucky school will land him for their faculty. If anyone in the Philadelphia area is looking for a great bass teacher, feel free to PM me for more info.</p>