Strong music skills -- can they boost chances for admission for a music major to top schools?

I hear that Oberlin kids get to take some really good classes and of course they live with students doing a variety of things. People seem to love Lawrence too. Ithaca. Lots of options. It sound like a liberal arts college with a conservatory will be perfect!

@classicalsaxmom :
That is a good point about general ed requirements and the load that can put on, while conservatories have requirements for liberal arts classes, they aren’t particularly strenuous (My S ended up taking more than he had to, simply because he wanted to take non music classes, he had the time because he passed out of 2 years of theory). I will double what you said because again I emphasize that of the many things performance students have, one of the things they won’t have is an excess of free time, I was in a science/pre med program as an UG, with all the labs, recitations and so forth, and I had a lot more time than performance students have in a given day, so having a lot of general ed classes to take can be taking time the kid will have a hard time balancing:)

I get how a piano or violin performance major would not have much time for other coursework due to all the practicing, but what about voice majors. I have heard others mention that voice majors have to watch their vocal health carefully and want to avoid stressing their voice from over practicing. So do voice majors tend to have more time than other instruments?

Comparatively speaking, it’s hard for me to say if a vocalist or an instrumentalist would have more time. Regardless, time in any performance degree will be limited, Here are a few things to consider when looking at schools:

What are the ensemble requirements? When do the majority (or likely for freshman/sophomore year) ensembles meet? How often? And does the work expand over time? My D had to be done with classes throughout UG by about 3:45 for ensemble work. In some cases, this could be just an hour or two a day. However, everyone wanted to be in opera chorus (and by sophomore year most VP students were) and that could start out as just a couple hours a few times a week and then balloon into 5 days a week for hours and then Saturdays.

What are the possibilities to be in operas or other performances (opera scenes/concerts)? How many are staged a year? What are most UG VP students participating in at a school (meaning is it mainly graduate students as principals in operas, are UG in chorus only or is it only an UG school doing opera scenes). Does the school limit UG participation? This will impact time. If it is a busy performance school, while doing ensemble work, a student may also be doing opera scenes or dictation coachings for the NEXT performance. It was not uncommon for my D to be in 3 performances a year (not freshman year but all other years). While the full scale opera productions for chorus may meet from 6 - 10 (with a dinner break), you could also be working with a coach/director/conductor/ensemble from 4 - 5 preparing for the next “thing” to start to ramp up.

My D’s schedule would begin a little light for a week or two and then begin to ramp up. By the time it was full swing (maybe 6 - 10 many nights - but not all), a new project would begin in the 4 - 6 time slot; and it would become very stressful for a few weeks until the performance finished. Then the other project would begin to ramp up. Of course some students can be cast less…but still most schools have a lot of different opportunities.

So…it is not the practice time that causes issue…it is performance and ensemble time. For my D’s first principal role, she took the lightest schedule possible based on the recommendation of her teachers and peers to free up time. And even with that, she struggled.

As said above some schools limit how much UG VP majors can do. Others do not. It is something to consider…a “slow steady path” or “sink or swim”. We choose the second without realizing it…thank goodness she swam…but it wasn’t always pretty. Do research on this. And note boys are often in high demand.

Remember you also have to go to school, do home work, and practice. For a vocalist, they will spend less time in a practice room…still they will spend a lot of time listening and translating. My D has to do book work for each new opera (often entirely in a foreign language) which is a part of her “practice” time.

I can’t speak directly to voice ,the way @bridgenail can or @“Mezzo’sMama” can, but from what I know of voice they have things instrumental performance majors don’t, like language study that adds to the load, too. In instrumental music wind instrument players cannot practice as much as string instruments or piano because like voice of physical limitations, but they are just as time constrained IME as the string and piano players are. If I had to make a general statement, it would be that any kind of music performance is going to be intense and to be very, very careful about things like dual degrees or with the kind of general ed requirements a school has, like responding to a brush fire in California, always better to assume the most intense scenario and plan from there.

@bridgenail, @musicprnt Thanks that is very helpful!

@vistajay - I just to make sure my comment above doesn’t imply other studies or gen eds are out of the question. While it is very true that performance majors will most likely have limited time for serious secondary pursuits, my D did take a good amt of gen eds (math, science, a world studies thingamabob etc) and even an extra literature class and business class (due to AP credits she did have some extra time and she chose non-music courses). Besides the literature and business classes, all the others were entry level gen ed classes with very reasonable homework requirements. So despite the struggles of time, she greatly enjoyed a variety of classes. She chose a conservatory in a university for this very reason. Still, in the end, she spent most of her time in the music school…but she enjoyed the outlet into other areas of study. So…another consideration…what does your kid want out of their 4 years academically - only music or music with some academic variety (from a small amt to a great amt of variety).

@vistajay definitely, vocalists will spend less time alone in a practice room than instrumentalists! However, as @musicprnt mentioned above, language study is (or should be) Intensive. Also, singers spend A LOT of time studying scores, translating and memorizing text (other character’s text, as well as their own parts), and in acting or body movement study. Also, I would suggest there is more pressure to “look the part” and vocalists spend time and energy (and money) on hair, makeup and clothing; they are essentially singing actors, after all. My D was startled (and slightly horrified) at the realization that some instrumentalists, say a piano performance major, spend an average of 5 or 6 hours a day alone in a practice room. Lol! Not a whole lot of seriously introverted vocal performance majors out there!

Lots of good advice @akapiratequeen. Back to your original question, “Strong music skills-can they boost chances for admission for a music major to top schools?” From our experience with my D, yes. She had an unweighted GPA 3.35 (no AP courses) and low SAT/ACT scores and still managed to be accepted to Michigan, Oberlin, Johns Hopkins (Peabody) and U Miami (Frost) w/ very generous merit scholarships and grants. I truly thought these schools were reaches based on her test scores. Since junior high she had made her decision to spend her after school hours studying music at a choral institution and refining her craft (voice performance) basically having no time for enhancing her academic profile. It was very nerve wrecking but I decided to support her passion. Ironically, three schools/conservatories that do not require SAT/ACT scores during application did not invited her to audition, so go figure.

Strong music skills can boost chances for admission for non-music majors as well, if performance is extracurricular.

This is amazingly helpful (and a relief!) My DS has a 3.7 weighted GPA right now, it will go up because he’s taking tons of music courses but it won’t go to the levels top schools need. And his boards are meh (so far), plus I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on him to bring them up if they are not important. He’s doing his first visit to a school next week, to Ithaca College, where he’ll have a lesson with the jazz sax professor and sit in on a couple of classes/meet with the program head. Also on his current list: Oberlin, Eastman, Northwestern, Berklee, and he’s looking for 1-2 more with strong jazz programs so would love recommendations.

Jazz is not my specialty, but from what I hear, you might want to add UMiami Frost to your list. Good luck - once you start the auditions and visits, we found more clarity. Some schools dropped off the list quickly and others jumped to the top.

Thank you! What were winners and losers?

Ithaca is a great school!

NEC, Manhattan, Hartt at U. of Hartford, SUNY Purchase come to mind. In addition to the great schools already on his list.