<p>So, I would like to pursue a double major in music (BA in music, with concentration in vocal performance) and something else in the humanities, such as history or anthropology or international relations. Moreover, I'm looking for a very strong liberal arts school with a strong music department with credible and well-versed vocal teachers. </p>
<p>I've been researching schools quite meticulously for a while now, and a number of schools have been added to/persisted on my potential list as a result, due to the apparent strength of their music department and music opportunities for non-majors. These schools include: </p>
<p>Brandeis
Pomona
Tufts
Williams
Lawrence
Smith
Swarthmore
Oberlin
Bard
and Northwestern.
** Note about Northwestern: it was already on my original list, and though I understand and recognize the drawbacks of a dual major (BM and BA), it's such a great school that at least for the moment, it's not crossed off my list entirely.</p>
<p>However, I was wondering if you guys could help me identify the strength of the music departments of the following schools.</p>
<p>Middlebury
Dartmouth
Amherst
Reed
UChicago
Whitman
Macalester
Brown
Lewis and Clark</p>
<p>Thanks guys! I really, really appreciate it!</p>
<p>I'm a bit surprised that Vassar didn't make your list. My understanding is that vocal performance there is quite strong, and there are many opportunities to perform. Perhaps I'm wrong about this?</p>
<p>I actually visited Vassar and hated it from the second I walked onto the campus. I was beyond horrified and repulsed by its blatant affluence. Now, perhaps I'm too impulsive, but I just can't bring myself to reconsider it, despite the stength of its vocal performance...</p>
<p>(No offense to anyone from Vassar. It just clearly wasn't the right place for me. If it helps, I felt similarly about Yale although not quite as strongly.)</p>
<p>Well, I happen to like Vassar a lot, but I know what the OP means, and s/he is not the only one I have heard voice this opinion.</p>
<p>Cousins refused to have their son apply because they didn't like the cloistered atmosphere that effectively separated the school from the town. Another close friend has told me that his daughter wasn't happy at Vassar because everyone was just waiving their money around, and she felt very uncomfortable.</p>
<p>My S goes to Williams, and although it is a "wealthy" school, it really doesn't feel that way. Williamstown is very low-key and there is nothing to spend money on! The rich kids and the not so rich kids don't appear very different in the Williams environment. It feels more like a Yankee town than a bourgeois country club.</p>
<p>For me, Vassar and environs are beautiful.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence has a good voice program, but talk about afluence ummm, bu to tell you the truth it feels a bit run down.</p>
<p>S liked Dartmouth's music department; chair was very nice and responsive.
UChicago has an awesome music department, but there is not enough support for performance centered programs IMO. Students have to venture into Chicago for lessons and find their own teachers, not on campus. My S would have had a problem with that (lack of initiative), but he loves his violin teacher at Williams.</p>
<p>Amherst' program is very small. You have to want to use the consortium, and you'll probably take classes at Smith, which is okay. The one professor we dealt with there was very nice.</p>
<p>Brown does not have a performance strand at all to its major.</p>
<p>Just as a note about the affluence comment, it wasn't so much that Vassar just happened to be rich, because obviously all of these schools are ridiculously opulent. But it just felt rich. And as mythmom said, I could feel the town/college separation there. I would feel quite uncomfortable living in Poughkipsee, debating world issues when there is poverty less than five miles away from me.</p>
<p>And again, as mythmom said, Williams didn't feel like that to me. It was of course very polished, but I felt comfortable being there, which I didn't at all at Vassar.</p>
<p>Mythmom: So would you suggest Amherst as having a strong music department? Which of the 5 colleges is the strongest in the consortium for music?</p>
<p>To MichaelNKat: Hmm, I had never heard Kenyon mentioned in the same breath as "music". It had been on my list for a while, but it came off recently, in fact, due to its seeming lack of musical strength! So thank you for that! I will certainly investigate further!</p>
<p>Anyone else? It doesn't sound like Brown is remotely what I'm looking for! (Who would've thought?)</p>
<p>the_daydreamer - My daughter, who is a BFA student in Musical Theater, has a close friend who attended summer musical theater programs with her and has always been involved in vocal performing arts. Her friend attends Kenyon and loves it there. Academically very rigorous and tons of opportunities for vocal training and performance. You may also want to look at Bard, another school with a reputation for a very strong liberal arts curriculum which also has a music conservatory program and a load of opportunities for vocal training and performance. Muhlenberg is another school that combines strong academics with a very well regarded performing arts department, including voice training and there are loads of vocal performance opportunities there including many musical theater productions.</p>
<p>Skidmore, from what I understand, does not have the same level of vocal training opportunities as Kenyon, Bard or Muhlenberg. In fact, its theater department rarely puts on musicals and is more drama oriented.</p>
<p>As I said, Amherst is a very small department. Smith is stronger for music, as is Mount Holyoke. mini's daughter has been very happy with the opportunities for voice at Smith.</p>
<p>At Williams my son recently sang a contemporary South African cantata whose lyrics are all testimony from the Truth and Reconcilation Commission. He found it very moving.</p>
<p>Wesleyan's music department is very highly touted, but its emphasis is so on World Music that for my S, who loves Bach et al, it was not the right place. </p>
<p>Bard does not have good opportunities for undergraduate voice. Dawn Upshaw and the voice faculty are dedicated to their graduate program. Its instrumental program is good at the undergraduate level, but not its voice program.</p>
<p>I repeat the advice of looking into Sarah Lawrence which has had wonderful voice people.</p>
<p>You have Oberlin and Lawrence which are conservatory programs. The others are not. I am not clear about exactly what you are looking for because there are other conservatory like programs which offer a BM in liberal arts settings; then there are dual degrees from joint programs like Tufts, NEC, and then the BA programs which seem to be the ones you are focussing on. Are you clear about what you want? See Violadad's posts about the difference in the programs or BassDad's.</p>
<p>Have you checked out Grinnell? I don't know anything about their voice area specifically, but their music performance program in general is very good. Great school academically, right up there with others on your list.</p>
<p>I attended, um, a while ago, but I echo people who've suggested checking out Sarah Lawrence. The affluent thing is there, but I don't think its as everpresent as Vassar (having recently seen both schools) and the music "third" program at SLC is I think pretty unique. I don't know anything personally about voice, but I, as a non musically focused person, was able to spend 1/2 of my academic time on different classes in music, a choral group, private piano lessons, music theory and history. It was one of my most satisfying and memorable academic experiences in my college years. Good luck!</p>
<p>MichaelNKat: Thanks for the note about Kenyon and Muhlenberg! I actually loved Bard when I visited-- it's officially on my list as a safety that I'd be thrilled to attend (as all safeties should be). And although, as mythmom pointed out, their conservatory isn't open to undergraduates for voice, it seemed like the kind of place where, if you knew and were able to articulate exactly what you wanted to do, the faculty would do everything in their power to turn it into a reality. Also, it's interesting what you said about Skidmore. I'll definitely look into that further, as I have heard, in the past, good things about their music department.</p>
<p>To mythmom: The reason that Lawrence and Oberlin are on the list is because I had heard that they were both strong liberal arts schools where double majoring in music was not just feasible, but also strongly encouraged. I'm aware of the schools with joint programs at conservatories but I've heard many stories about the difficulty of obtaining these dual degrees, due to transporation constraints and overload of work in both areas. However, it had seemed like Lawrence and Oberlin were the exceptions to this generalization, in that a dual major was quite feasible. </p>
<p>To HSN: I actually live about 15 minutes away from Sarah Lawrence! It's really a shame, because I have the feeling that I'd really like it--- if it weren't so ridiculously close to home! But thank you!</p>
<p>To Skie: Hmm, I hadn't heard that about Grinnell... that's quite interesting, actually... I'll look into that further. Do you know, by any chance, about the music departments of Carleton and Macalester? (I think of all those schools, for some reason, as a little trio, even though I don't think that they're remotely affiliated with one another!)</p>
<p>Thanks guys! Anyone know anything about the other schools on my list that have so far gone unmentioned? ie. Middlebury, Lewis and Clark, Whitman and Macalester. Or anything at all that you'd care to mention would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Just a note on Bard, and it is not meant to denigrate the program, but only as a caveat: the program is extremely new, in its second, maybe third year and as yet they have to graduate a conservatory class. At this point there really is no track record.</p>
<p>The program appears very selective, but at the same point they have
yet to field a complete orchestra comprised of students. </p>
<p>There are numerous world class applied faculty across the instrumental and vocal areas, and at this point the administration seems committed to the program, and it appears to be more than adequately funded.</p>
<p>The mandatory double major is appealing to many, as is the LAC environment. It could well be a perfect program for many, but it is importaant to see if the whole package is indeed a "fit" for you.</p>
<p>This thread is going to be a great resource some day for our daughter, currently a high school sophomore and interested in classical voice and humanities. Can I also ask which of the top large universities are strong for both?</p>
<p>I'm a singer, and I've visited two of the schools on your list. Oberlin has music in spades, and the conservatory is seamlessly integrated with the college. Macalester's was shabby at best. I loved the academic part of the school, but if you want music it is not the right place for you.</p>
<p>I also reiterate what a previous poster said about St. Olaf. It has one of the most highly regarded choral programs in the country. It also has a music library and facilities to match Oberlin. I loved it when I was there. Cold as hell, though.</p>
<p>You should post this on the Music Major board. The people there are absurdly helpful and knowledgable.</p>
<p>An article in the school paper just came out, crying out for improvement in Amherst's music department. Interestingly enough, it stated that Amherst has more music majors than any of its peer schools, and more students are involved with music than sports. I think change will come soon, but as it stands, the arts are not Amherst's strong point.</p>
<p>Thanks to those who suggested St. Olaf's. It sounds like it could be a great safety school for me. The location is a bit of a turnoff, I must admit, although I guess that Oberlin's is hardly any better. </p>
<p>To MelancholyDane: Thanks for the tip about Macalester. Off the list it goes!
And yes, Oberlin sounds like it might be a really wonderful school for what I'm looking for... I'm planning to go up and visit in a couple weeks.</p>
<p>To unregistered: Wow, that's really interesting. But quite disappointing, as it was definitely one of my favorite schools of the ones I visited.</p>
<p>On that note, I absolutely ADORED Middlebury when I visited... does anyone know anything about the quality of their music program? I have to decide, in any case, whether a weak music department would eliminate from my list entirely, since I did really love everything else about it...</p>