Studying two instruments in college

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Does anyone have experience with studying two instruments at a conservatory? I'm referring to two different woodwinds, such as flute and clarinet, not an auxiliary instrument, such as flute and piccolo. Can a student who is good enough to audition into a conservatory on two different instruments study both of them equally? Or would one have to be the major, and the other just lessons?</p>

<p>We're aware of the programs that offer a multiple woodwinds BM, Indiana and UNT among them I believe, but my D is not interested in that degree for undergrad.</p>

<p>At this point my D plays two woodwinds very well, and two others well enough to make it to All-State.</p>

2

<p>Only 24 hours in a day. D3 considered doubling on violin and viola but decided that one would be more than enough.</p>

3

<p>Certainly some instruments require more study time, such as violin or piano, in part because it is possible to practice these instruments for many hours a day. On oboe however, my daughter’s embouchure doesn’t last for more than an hour of intense practice time. This is when she moves to her other instruments. She can practice the sax for many hours a day.</p>

<p>We know a student at Peabody who was a performance major in both bassoon and saxophone. I was wondering how many other conservatories would allow this. I read on the website of one (Boston Conservatory?), that doesn’t allow double majors, and therefore it seems would frown upon the idea of studying two instruments equally.</p>

4

<p>I have no knowledge of conservatories, but my son’s “lips get shot” after a while of practicing trumpet, so he will practice piano or some other random instrument until his lips recover.</p>

<p>Anyhow, I would think that a great musician would be able to play multiple instruments. I dont have much knowlege of music as a career, but when I watch studio musician types, I see them frequently playing multiple instruments (like the background band on Idol).</p>

5

<p>Often studio teachers will have a big influence over the double instrument issue, even if the school permits it. Many teachers want their students to focus exclusively on the instrument that they teach them. </p>

<p>Woodwind doublings are more common than any others–as imagep notes, it is almost mandatory in many pit bands (the scores of many musicals are written for only two or three woodwind players who each play 2 or 3 different instruments). </p>

<p>Contact the teachers directly about how they feel about their students doing a second instrument.</p>

6

<p>Sometimes schools want their students to declare a principal/primary instrument to focus on, but allow students to take lessons for a secondary instrument or two if their schedule allows. I haven’t heard of any schools allowing 50/50 study on two instruments, but then again I’m not too familiar with classical procedures, as I’m applying for non-classical programs whose instruments don’t usually fall into the same categories - ie. jazz: drums, piano, upright bass, electric guitar, voice, saxophone… not much similarity anywhere.</p>

7

<p>As many people on the forum know, my son auditioned on two instruments, and is currently in his junior year, on track to complete a double performance major in May, 2012. </p>

<p>It hasn’t been easy, but it hasn’t been impossible either. I think a lot has to do with the type of student, the talent, the ambition, and the openness and acceptance of the two teachers. It also helped to have summer courses, AP credits and to test out of first year courses in theory and ear training, because most schools were honest that it would take at least five years to complete a double performance major, and he will be doing it in four.</p>

<p>At my son’s potential schools (top conservatories or university music schools), he was prescreened and allowed to audition on both instruments. Then for some, they said he would have to choose one as a primary, but all said he could take secondary lessons in the other instrument. One conservatory said he could audition on the second instrument for the second year, to do the double, although nowhere in the school’s literature does it say a thing about being allowed to do that. Two schools accepted him to do both—a third said that they would have accepted him on both (he ended up not doing the audition).</p>

<p>I don’t want to say which schools, because I doubt my S’s experience is anywhere near the norm. I’m just saying that yes…it is possible. </p>

<p>The best advice I can give is to meet with professors, play for them, have lessons, and see what kind of feedback you get. Don’t necessarily believe anything written in the literature, because they will all say that students cannot pursue majoring in two instruments, and we know for a fact that this isn’t true. But also know that it is a difficult path, and that having one instrument as a primary and taking supplemental lessons on the other is much easier (only one set of juries to prepare for, only large and small ensemble in one instrument, etc). </p>

<p>Feel free to PM me if you have more questions!</p>