<p>Here’s another plug for Wesleyan. My son is a sophomore, double majoring in philosophy and music (piano) and is having a wonderful musical and academic experience. He wishes there were more classical musicians and nicer practice rooms, but he hasn’t complained about anything since his first semester. He is learning so much and being exposed to a tremendous range of musical activities and sensibilities. His teachers seem terrific and are incredibly attentive to the kids. I attended a concert over the weekend that my son was in. His music and philosophy professors were all in attendance and all came over to meet me after the concert. I was so impressed with how interested they are in him and how well they know him. (President Roth was there, too, in cut-offs and a t-shirt!)</p>
<p>Your son has lots of good options and sounds like a very interesting kid. All best of luck as you sort this out!</p>
<p>Wesleyan also hosts the SuperCollider conference. It is one of the most popular real-time audio synthesis software programs and has a big mainstream and cult following. Being an open-source software, there are numerous builds of it available, and the students and professors at Wesleyan program some of the most used builds. Wesleyan is definitely one of the major hubs for electronic music on the East Coast. Ron Kuivila and Alvin Lucier both teach there, and both not only are just private composition teachers but are busy lecturers as well. Lucier, in particular, is one of the legends of the field.</p>
<p>Whether either of these programs will work for your son is another question; he may prefer to do a lot of independent, ad hoc performing and composing rather than focusing on a single endeavor as he would have to do in a conservatory program. I would imagine that he could do quite well at either Wesleyan or Oberlin. The cultures are similar but also different; Wesleyan has a more NE culture, more sports-oriented, has fraternities. As to performance and practice spaces, Oberlin has 150 practice rooms, all above ground, with windows. My older kid took one look at the Wesleyan music building and wanted to leave, but I agree that it is a superficial reason not to go to a school; he ended up happy at a college where the practice rooms were in a basement.</p>
<p>Just some general observations that might help: 1. A large city will probably give him many more casual coffee-house type opportunities. 2. Be aware that although he may be good enough to participate in a top performing group of a music school or conservatory, he may not have the hours to prepare and practice for it. So for example, although the Oberlin conservatory is right on campus, the time commitment may keep him out of elite groups if that’s what he wants. 3. Peabody is really separate from JH, geographically and socially, and I’ve been told that JH students generally are not even aware that Peabody is part of JH - it would take a lot of effort to get involved in Peabody. I’ve heard that Eastman is far away from Rochester but don’t know that personally. 4. Re Wesleyan, music extracurriculars and activities are huge and I know liberal arts majors who went in there and came out music majors. About an hour and a half to NYC. 5. Just throwing this out for next year’s class: in looking at schools I noticed two schools in particular that have lots of extracurricular music and theatre for liberal arts majors: BU and Northwestern.</p>
<p>I wish I could add something that would make this crystal clear, but there really is no magic bullet to all this. It sounds to me like your son has an interest in Jazz and in electronic music/recording, but may not be totally convinced he wants to go that way as a vocation. I think taking a gap year may not be a bad idea given what he wishes to go into. In the classical world, even getting serious in college can be considered late, especially in string instruments or piano, the level to be seriously involved with that field is quite high entering college/conservatory; with Jazz and the other programs the barrier may not be that daunting (and let me make it clear that I am not saying Jazz or recording or electronic music is ‘easy to get into’; I am simply saying the path to those is different then with classical music, there isn’t the pressure or competition at the early ages that happens in classical). So waiting a year and then deciding to ‘switch to conservatory’ mode wouldn’t hurt him. One thing your son may want to look into is the wealth of resources available to him outside the school environment. For example, if your son went to Columbia or NYU in NYC as examples, there is an incredible wealth of music making opportunities he could take advantage of, from the informal gatherings of musicians to paying gigs; in Jazz, assuming he is good enough, he could join the New York Youth Symphony’s Jazz program, as just one of many opportunities. Having those opportunities can help him make up his mind (and obviously, other places can provide opportunities too, but NYC is absolutely loaded with opportunities). </p>
<p>In other words, whatever path your son chooses I am sure he will do okay. If you told me he was interested in heading into classical music on certaiin instruments, I would probably tell you that the conservatory would be the better ticket, but given what he is interested in, taking the gap year to me would not hurt him and would probably help:)</p>
<p>Monydad: As it happens, I drove from Wesleyan to the Upper West Side last weekend. Traffic was light and it took me exactly 92 minutes. I’m sure it’s much longer during rush hour.</p>
<p>Perilous…Not to add to the confusion but IF your son determines he wants a gap year then there’s something you might wish to check into, if you haven’t already (similar to but different from NYU’s Tisch Clive Davis program in my mind.) In the post where you described what he actually DOES with his time (tracking, composing, playing multi-instruments etc.) he sounded very much like my son, who is strong in both jazz and classical trumpet but not committed enough to any single instrument or mode to pursue conservatory performance route (and likes to say his instrument is technology : ). His happy fit was University of Michigan School of Music BFA program in Performing Arts Technology - Music Curriculum (similar is ALSO avail as a BMUS if one wishes to pursue performance stream as well). He is pursuing a dual degree between the SOM and college of literature, arts and sci, film major in the later. It will take at least 5 years and scheduling will be no picnic (and we’ll see what ACTUALLY happens) but for him it came down to investing in what he loves to do, which includes electronic arranging, composing, reinforcement, performing, multimedia performing, scoring etc.
Like Tisch and Jacobs, it is quite competitive to get into and is portfolio-based (plus audition if BMUS, but only a recording of you playing if BFA, plus the other requirements, including multitrack, electronic comps, original performed/recorded and tracked comps, plus inclusion of notated score) but I would suspect not as competitive (at least in terms of playing) as Oberlin’s TIMARA program. (I could be wrong about that – if so, forgive my ignorance. He ruled out Oberlin b/c I believe to do TIMARA you had to audition for BMUS stream and he refused to focus on 1 instrument for BMUS…this may be inaccurate but was cause for his initial disinterest in it and a number of other conservatory music technology options…would not marry that instrument : )</p>
<p>The PAT department (so far) has seemed very supportive of the pursuit of a dual degree in his case…but note it is only actually viable with the BFA variation (as opposed to BMUS). This program was much more of a fit for my s. than Tisch/Clive Davis.</p>
<p>At any rate, fear this has not been especially helpful…but just in case you revise programs under consideration. If not, lots of awesome options regardless so best wishes.
Cheers,
K</p>
<p>Mapquest
Start: Wesleyan U, Middletown, CT
End: greenwich village (Say, NYU). ( Near The Blue Note, e.g.)
Alternate destination columbia U saves about 8 minutes, but nothing to do there, those people all go down to greenwich village all the time too.
I don’t know what speed you were going but mapquest and I don’t go at that speed.<br>
Maybe OP does, more power to you both.</p>
<p>mapquest doesn’t even take traffic/ rush hour into account.</p>
<p>8 minutes from NYU to Columbia? That’s either 6am Sunday morning or the best geeks from both schools have developed a secret transporter to allow you to jump over the lights! On a bad day it’s taken me close to an hour from my daughter’s dorm at 400 Broome to the Holland tunnel!!! Okay, so exactly what IS wrong with those of us that love the city???</p>
<p>LOL BeezMom…sometimes it takes me longer to drive the 5 city blocks toward Lincoln Center than my entire trek from Connecticut to the West Side Highway exit. Insanity that we love it so much.</p>
<p>When computing travel times, Mapquest and most GPS units I have used seem to assume that you travel at the posted speed limit 100% of the time without having to stop for lights or slow down for traffic. Obviously, that is not going to be very accurate most of the time in the city.</p>
<p>Wesleyan to Columbia is almost exactly 100 miles via Rts. 91 and 95. It may be slightly less distance via other roads like the Merritt Parkway, but Mapquest and my GPS pull up 91/95 as the route that minimizes travel time, which they estimate as just a touch over two hours. Doing 100 miles in 92 minutes would require an AVERAGE speed of slightly over 65 mph for the whole trip - not impossible under optimal conditions, but not very likely most of the time.</p>
<p>8 minutes from Columbia to NYU is not going to happen in a car.</p>
<p>What’s the point of arguing about this? NYC is very accessible from Wesleyan, whether an hour and a half or two hours. Most students take the train anyway, with the shuttle from campus to New Haven. I think Wes wins in the access to urban centers department.<br>
P.S.- 65 on 95 will look like you are standing still, CT drivers can be a little reckless.</p>
<p>I doubt if Wesleyan students go to NY very often; it takes too long to get there and is too expensive to do much while there. In fact, I’ll bet most students at most colleges don’t spend much time commuting to any city not within walking distance. I’ve heard kids complain in Berkeley that they have to walk half a mile from their dorm to campus. How many of them go into SF regularly? Almost none. It’s one thing to go to NYU to be in NY. Another to go to Wesleyan for its proximity to NY as the crow flies. In other words: Don’t go to Wesleyan because of its commuting distance to somewhere else. Go there if you like being there.</p>
<p>Guys: Whatever the software robot says, it really did take me 92 minutes. I probably do have a heavy foot, though. :)</p>
<p>FWIW, my son has been at Wes for two years and so far has gone to NYC on the weekend (by train) only three times that I know of, for rock shows and such. He usually doesn’t want to miss all the stuff happening on campus. I agree that campus culture is much more important than proximity to a city in making a college choice.</p>
<p>The point is to correct the original post, which projected, IMO, an overly optimistic impression as to how long one should expect it to take to get from Wesleyan to NYC, and back. IMO people should be made aware that going from Wesleyan to NYC and back will likely take them 4.5 hours travel time, round-trip. Not 3 hours. The frequency this trip is likely be undertaken is related to the round-trip travel time, so that’s why I feel it is best to have the time involved stated accurately, and not overly optimistically which may mislead. It is actually not in routine commuting distance to NYC, IMO, it is further away than that.</p>
<p>FWIW, if Cleveland counts as an “urban center”, it is within a 45 minute drive from Oberlin, which is essentially a typical commute by NYC standards. If one doesn’t drive, there is bus from Oberlin to airport, change to train there. D went to Cleveland to see shows and concerts. I hear they have a good symphony, don’t know about jazz. Obviously it is not NYC, but you can much more feasibly get there & back, daily if you want to, if you have access to a car, than in the other case. Whether that means it “wins” is up to you I guess.</p>
<p>Not doubting your word, froshdad, just saying the trip would take longer in most cases. In some cases a whole lot longer. I have been on 95 too many times when it took 30-45 minutes just to get across New Haven.</p>
<p>I am a college student and have a few friends currently attending Bowdoin…I don’t hear too many good stuff about the social life there…I am not talking about parties just overall its a very dull place and in the middle of no where which eventually destroys a student’s morale…Wesleyan is not in a big town either but from my visits there I was really impressed…they are really committed to the arts and the vibe from the students is excellent…i applied as a transfer there and my younger brother is wait listed there for Fall 09…although my brother got into bigger schools with great scholarships and aid he is still waiting on Wesleyan coz he loved it so much!</p>