<p>Crane doesn’t require pre-screening, but you need to pick from one of the 2 remaining audition dates SOON. You apply separately to SUNY Potsdam and to Crane and then you are responsible for scheduling your audition DATE (not time, please note). They also have 3 off campus audition sites.
As for the no pre-screeing, some schools don’t and some do but only in certain fields and others use it across the board. A school may really want to attract students and if your academic stats are high enough, they will hear you. One may need, say, voice majors, but has too many cello players, so they’ll request a pre-screen for those. Crane is a great school, especially their Music Ed Dept and the weather in Potsdam isn’t exactly an attracting factor! I know that they had a decline in applicants for a period of time and are building up certain departments again, but that’s not all that unusual. So decide if you want to audition on campus or off and pick your date. Good luck! My D is a VP major at CIM, this being her first year, so if you have any questions about what to expect, feel free to PM and we’ll see if we can help you out!</p>
<p>Gabrams, I’m responding just to your comment about Swarthmore. I know a wonderful, gainfully employed soprano who graduated from Swarthmore, then went to a highly reputed grad program in opera. I know a baritone who graduated from Grinnell and is now an employed singer. Singers definitely do not need to go to a conservatory as undergrads to make it in the singing world.</p>
<p>Thanks, Violadad, I will repost over in the other thread. I had looked over there some months ago (and did, indeed, read the essay on One Family’s Experience), and I have to admit that this one seemed more helpful - that one seemed much more focused on musical performance schools, but maybe I didn’t get far enough into the thread. I’ll try again! Music Ed searches seemed to pull up anything that mentions music and education, which covers just about anything here, but again, I’ll just spend a bit more time sorting. Thank you!</p>
<p>Grabrams, I’ll add some thread links to your repost in the music major forum. If I can be of any help let me know. BassDad’s tome is written from a performance major’s perspective but the same caveats of audition based (or centric) parameters,the variations of weight of audition versus grades/stats, instructor/student compatability, quality of peers, performance opportunities and other facets are equally important in amy music discipline pursuit.</p>
<p>My D is looking for a liberal arts school with a strong music program. She’s considering a double major that would include music. She is at a public high school that is a music academy with a strong academic program as well. She’s a vocalist and is singing in one of the top high school vocal jazz ensembles in the country. She loves jazz but is also extremely interested in folk/bluegrass/American roots music. Plays guitar and banjo. Interested in violin (fiddle). Although we live in LA she seems to be drawn to schools in the South. She’ll have AP Music under her belt and I believe she is vocally strong enough to audition into a lot of excellent schools. Academics are strong but not top of the heap. She could go on to have a performing career akin to someone like Norah Jones (if she’s that lucky) but she wants a real college experience so sending her to a place like Berklee doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>My first thought was Wesleyan (and then Oberlin, if she’s interested in a double degree. The thought of a conservatory alone might not appeal). </p>
<p>And Columbia (but I think the ethno program is grad level, but I would imagine there are undergrad offerings. There’s just an incredible amount of interesting music at Columbia, not to mention in NYC! One of the most interesting and eclectic graduates of Columbia/Juilliard seems to cover a lot of ground from electronic to classical to Appalachian music–Nico Muhly. (he’s got a fascinating blog!). Listen to his Mothertongue album, esp. the stuff with Sam Amidon, who plays fiddle. Of course, Columbia is not a liberal arts college. </p>
<p>And University of Chicago is really big on ethnomusicology. And urban. but not a LAC.</p>
<p>And Carleton, which has a pretty big ethnomusicology dept for the size of the school, and a major metropolitan area not far away. THAT’s a fabulous LAC.</p>
<p>My older son (vocal perf at NU) has a good friend majoring in ethnomusicology with focus on classical and bluegrass/strings at Northwestern, where they have recently revived their Jazz program to much acclaim. Look on Youtube for the NU channel. But def. NOT a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Why are so many of these in cold climates? (probably UNC-chapel hill and University of North Texas (Norah Jones went there for 2 years!) would be well worth a look, even if they aren’t lacs)</p>
<p>Thanks Neumes. Hadn’t thought of Wesleyan. My daughter is well aware that Norah went to North Texas, but I’m hoping for something a little more overarching. She’ll definitely apply to Oberlin. She’d have to audition into Columbia if that’s possible because she wouldn’t make it on grades. I happen to be in the film music business so I’m well aware of Nico. He’s a fascinating guy. At any rate thanks for the good info.</p>
<p>To apply to the School of Music (Crane) you have to apply to both the college academically and Crane with an audition- contact Crane to find out when the off site or campus auditions are scheduled. I know that they have them from Jan to Feb. They will videotape you offsite as well.</p>
<p>I also spoke to a current vocal performance student at Crane and he said that they are much better for education than performance. He is planning on transfering in his Junior year.</p>