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

<p>Adding to the excellent advice above, our experience has been that shops ask for a price range as a starting point to select instruments to try out, and we have tended to end up with something at the high end of the price range…so our new strategy is to lowball the initial quote somewhat. It’s very, very personal for D3 (who - true to form - is the big shopper in the family) and she needs to “feel” a connection to the instrument. Also, set-up can make a big difference, and I continue to be amazed at the difference having an expert nudge a soundpost a micrometer or two can make in sound.</p>

<p>For string players, the bow also can make a huge difference, and a great bow can extend the life of a lesser instrument. D3 found the “magic bow” for one of her violins, which somehow made everything sound better, but it doesn’t have the same effect on any of the other instruments in the house.</p>

<p>The most important thing is finding someone who you trust and can establish a long term relationship with. We’ve worked with a few shops, with varying results. I’ll drive a fair distance in order to upgrade or get repairs from someone I truly believe has my best interests at heart,.</p>

<p>My son has a great cello bow. He said the other students in his undergrad studio had “bow envy” :)</p>

<p>I have an non existent musical…but my daughter is gifted…she has a beautiful voice and a fantastic actress. She got into most of the schools she auditioned for. I wanted her to be close to home so her choices were somewhat limited. She chose SUNY Purchase voice conservatory. Do you know anything about the program. On this website they said It can be “controversial” but they did not elaborate.
I really can not give my daughter any advice since I really am no authority.
so I was wondering if you had any insight.
Thanks
Carol</p>

<p>Carol,</p>

<p>I don’t know much about Purchase myself, but I think you are likely to get more help if you repeat your message in its own thread. To do that, go to [Music</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/]Music”>Music Major - College Confidential Forums) and click on “New Thread”</p>

<p>OOPS, never mind. I see you have already done that. I suggest you PM Sopranorose, who has offered to help in that thread.</p>

<p>For those without deep pockets, do you pay more for a school’s reputation with an economy that may not justify the additional loans? Pratical mom has to try to explain to my talented daughter that the large scholarship offered by BGSU should be considered verses little to no assistance from Univ Cinti CCM. Am I wrong? How much is the difference in the schools going to determine her future success?</p>

<p>@ohmusicmom - here’s a plan for you and your daughter - have her attend BGSU, make believe you took additional loans, and put money aside towards those loans. But, since the loans aren’t real, you’re setting up a fund for your daughter for the future.</p>

<p>Also, find musicians/singers who your daughter respects, and research where they went for u/g. I’m sure you’ll find that they attended a WIDE range of schools</p>

<p>@ohmusicmom, if your D truly wants to attend CCM, is there any reason why she can’t work and contribute to her own education? It’s not always easy, but it can be done and still do everything she needs to do in school (and get top grades).</p>

<p>ohmusicmom, welcome to CC.</p>

<p>I don’t know much about the performance faculty at BGSU, although I have heard good things about their musicology department. Without knowing either your daughter or the specific teachers involved, it it impossible for me to say what effect this would have on her. </p>

<p>I believe that it is likely that her peers and the ensembles that they form will be playing at a higher level at CCM. The importance of that can vary, depending on your daughter’s personality and goals. If she got very little money from CCM, might that indicate that she would be one of the smaller fishes in their large pond? That works very well for some students but not so well for others. Do you think your daughter would be more inspired by having to work harder to keep up with the others, or by being the one who is looked up to and who is expected to set the standard? Might she have more opportunities as a soloist at BGSU and does that matter to her? </p>

<p>Has she taken sample lessons with the teachers she would have at each school? The working relationship between student and teacher is generally the most important piece of the puzzle and should count for a lot more than the overall reputation of the school. If there is a better fit with the teacher at BGSU, that could be the better choice regardless of the money issues. If the teacher at BGSU is several notches below the one at CCM, that could make a large difference in her future success.</p>

<p>I am of the opinion that it is not a good idea to take on large debts to pay for an undergraduate degree. I hope that you had the financial discussion with your daughter early on in the application process when there is less emotional attachment to a particular school.</p>

<p>I am going to include your daughter’s acceptances over at the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1045522-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2011-a-67.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1045522-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2011-a-67.html&lt;/a&gt; I would appreciate it if you could tell me her primary instrument (or voice) and any other schools where she has been accepted.</p>

<p>Not sure how this thread disappeared from its well-deserved lofty location but I thought we should bring it back up.</p>

<p>I love this thread!!!</p>

<p>operahorn- As I help my daughter decide what to pesue as a career we cannot deny that “music chose her” as you said!</p>

<p>Thank goodness for all of these posts!! Bassdad–you were largely responsible for my percussion S (currently a junior) going to Tanglewood last year and he loved it!! Now I am starting to look at colleges and programs and I am a little bit lost. Here are the issues:</p>

<p>1) My son is a talented percussionist but also loves Jazz piano (not quite as talented there but getting there…). While a great percussion program is important–I would like him to also have opportunity to explore his other interest.</p>

<p>2) I have serious financial concerns but it seems difficult to weed out schools based on finances since you don’t know what you might get until much later in the process.</p>

<p>3) I have concerns regarding musical performance as his ultimate goal since he does want employment post-college. I know we all want our children to pursue their passion but I would like to have him get a good LAS education as well.</p>

<p>In terms of my second concern should I just pick our top 5 or 6 and apply with one or two “safety” schools that we know we can afford? How many schools should he apply too?</p>

<p>We are in the Midwest and University of Illinois, Indiana, Oberlin, Lawrence and Michigan, and Northwestern are all on our list. We are open to other schools on the East and West coast such as Boston College, Berklee etc. but I certainly don’t want to waste time and money auditioning if we cannot afford it.</p>

<p>P.S. Are there any schools that are best for Percussion? I have heard University of North Texas and Kentucky?</p>

<p>Don’t know how to answer your percussion/piano specific question but as the mom of twins in the midst of their college application process I will say that an initial long list of schools has become a very short list after some tours and visits and summer sessions. One is a jazz guitarist, the other an all around bassist electric and upright. What they really want is limited to a few schools so our plan is to focus on those schools. As has been said here many times, there is no safety when it comes to music majors. I am not asking them to have a “Plan B” as that will reveal itself if the time comes for such thing.</p>

<p>Just an aside, one of the most talented percussionists (and a valedictorian) I have ever heard is attending the University of Central Florida. He could have gone most anywhere and chose that school in part for their willingness to allow him to play multiple genres, classical, jazz, on many different percussion instruments, marimba, vibes, timpani, behind a kit etc.</p>

<p>Drumdad,</p>

<p>Welcome. I am glad to hear that your son enjoyed Tanglewood.</p>

<p>The number of schools to which he applies is probably going to be limited by the number of auditions he is prepared to perform. Most people find that anything over six or so auditions gets pretty exhausting, although I have heard of some students doing more than twice that. There are a few factors that can come into play that mean that he may apply to some additional schools at which he does not audition. For one, he may be able to audition via recording for some schools (be sure to check with the school, because some require live auditions for those living less than a certain distance to the school or to a regional audition site.) For another, he may want to apply to a few more schools than he will actually audition for. The results of the earlier auditions then inform the decision of which of the rest to pursue. For yet another, some schools may require a pre-screening recording and he may not even be invited to audition at all of the schools to which he applies.</p>

<p>My daughter initially applied to ten, and that was whittled down to nine by a pre-screen. She had an early audition on the first weekend of December at Oberlin. When that acceptance came through later that month, she withdrew applications to four of the schools that were clearly lower on her list and wound up doing live auditions at five schools, three of which accepted her and two of which offered talent scholarships.</p>

<p>You are correct in that it is difficult to eliminate schools on the basis of cost because you do not know the actual cost until near the end of the process. What that means in practical terms is that you need to have the talk about finances with him up front in hopes that he does not fall in love with a college that accepts him but does not offer sufficient aid for him to attend. That is less likely to happen if you communicate up front the limits of what you can afford to contribute toward the cost of his education.</p>

<p>As musictwins points out, there is no such thing as a safety for a program that requires an audition. So many things can happen to contribute to an unexpected result. That is why you need to play the percentages, apply to a lot of schools and try to be flexible for as long as possible. </p>

<p>University of North Texas is a great program and the price is certainly right, but the competition can be pretty tough, it doesn’t have quite the reputation for academics as some of your other choices and it is quite large.</p>

<p>I can offer the following information about Oberlin to address your concerns:</p>

<p>1) There are enough outlets on campus to allow him to follow pretty much any current musical interest that he has, and to pick up a few new ones. Beside the conservatory groups, there are college/community groups led by conservatory faculty, clubs, ExCo classes involving music taught by anyone who wishes to organize one, and ad-hoc student-run ensembles constantly forming. If he wants to play Jazz piano and is not good enough to get into one of the permanent conservatory groups, he would have ample opportunity to find others with similar interests and ability levels to form a group of his own. There are lots of pianos available on campus - Oberlin has over 200 Steinways alone and permanent staff dedicated to keeping them in tune and in good repair.</p>

<p>2) Oberlin meets 100% of financial need for all accepted students. The catch is that the amount that the family is expected to pay is determined by the FAFSA and CSS Profile forms and that amount is usually surprisingly high. The good news is that substantial scholarships are available and that Oberlin is very good about providing their need-based aid mostly in the form of grants rather than loans. The Co-op system also makes it possible to save a fair amount on room and board if your son is willing to do a few hours of work each week. The equivalent rate of pay (savings divided by hours) comes out better than most other student jobs, and he learns some valuable skills to boot.</p>

<p>3) Oberlin offers its conservatory students a lot of opportunity to study other fields. The double degree program usually takes five years, but there are opportunities for both academic and talent-based scholarships so the cost of five years will not necessarily be all that much more than the cost of four years in the conservatory alone, where only talent scholarships are offered. Even within the four year BM curriculum, the student is required to take about one course per semester through the college division and has the opportunity to use electives to take even more than that.</p>

<p>I do not have much first-hand experience with the other colleges on your list, so will let others chime in with details there.</p>

<p>Drumdad-my S is a freshman at Northern Illinois in percussion performance. He auditioned at UNT and did love the facilities and profs. They have incredible percussion profs(he’s probably playing their music in his school now). He was offered a scholarship which put his tuition down to in-state also. I loved the school too if that means anything. His only negative was the program’s size. UNT accepts a huge number of percussionists-so he felt like he might get lost in the shuffle and not have a lot of one-on-one with his profs. UK was something he looked into but did not pursue. He did also audition at Belmont in Nashville but immediately realized they were not a good match. He also did not want a conservatory experience. Right now he is happy where he’s at because he can freely communicate with his professors and he is getting a lot of individual attention. He knows he will be getting his Master’s in the future and UNT will probably be on his list at that time.</p>

<p>drumdad,</p>

<p>We were going through what you are going through now last year about this time. We looked in state and were thinking of East Coast as well, but somehow the time to explore and apply ran out. Berkelee we ruled out even though son was interested in it because we heard the tuition was high and also we didn’t think he was ready yet for a big-city campus, and we still wanted him to have the time to be a college kid and not a gigging semi-pro musicion :-).</p>

<p>My son applied to three in-state schools, IU and UNT. Ended up going to UNT because he liked it best and as it turned out, was less expensive than two of the in-state schools due to an academic scholarship that qualified him for in-state tuition. My perception is UNT doesn’t have perhaps as strong an academic reputation as some other schools, but OTH it makes it easier to get an academic scholarship there.</p>

<p>My son though his major is Jazz Studies, concentration Trombone, also wanted to pursue his Jazz piano interest so that was a question I had on all his audition trips. I’m happy to say at UNT he is taking Jazz Keyboard Fundamentals this semester along with the standard keyboard skills required of all music majors.</p>

<p>Like you I am concerned about employment post college for a jazz studies major so I sat in on the music education presentation at UNT during the audition weekend (in case son should have a change of mind) and was favorably impressed…large staff and good program.</p>

<p>Not sure if I would say that UNT admits a huge number of percussionists (unless this is strictly classical) because their jazz drums major accepts roughly 6 out of 125 applicants. Not exactly an easy admit.</p>

<p>yes, percussion major admissions are high. Drumset is probably different. But UNT has Ed Soph for that and he is very good (according to S)</p>

<p>Jazz drumset admissions aren’t as high, as usually there are only 1 or 2 drummers per group, depending on the size of the ensemble. FYI, Oberlin has no first year jazz drummers this year, so they will probably be looking to take a number of qualified students this year. They are drummer heavy in the junior class and pretty balanced in soph. and senior classes.</p>

<p>Just bumping this thread to bring it to the front. Wish it had a stickie! BassDad - you should just periodically post to keep this front and center.</p>