<p>D’yer:</p>
<p>LOL! We promise not to send a letter from Nigeria asking for your bank account number…</p>
<p>BTW - did your son end up going to Wesleyan or did he choose another school?</p>
<p>I should add that DS did not continue to study music in college! even though we chose the college for the strength of the music program. He did play in the orchestra and sing in the chorus. I miss him as a musician a lot, but he is a brilliant (a mom can say these things) budding art historian entering an art history graduate program as well as a photography. He switched from art for another (with a foray of Classics in between.)</p>
<p>I bring this up just to say that or a kid who eschews the conservatory type school, it’s best to choose an all around school that nurtures many interests. Someone should not attend a music program in a college s/he doesn’t care for unless s/he is very sure s/he wants music as a career and is gifted enough to see it through.</p>
<p>DS’s gf who probably had about the same level of talent of he does did stay in music but she had to switch to viola da gamba and other early instruments to do so. DS could have as well, but he had other fish to fry.</p>
<p>Mythmom:</p>
<p>Point well stated. I think my son fell in love with Wesleyan because it offered so many other subjects in addition to the 70 practice rooms; it’s a fantastic school and most importantly he fits there. But it’s a reach school…</p>
<p>The task for us has been to find other alternatives in the event he’s not accepted. Since my husband is an experimental drummer, my son has naturally drifted in that direction. Very few schools offer this kind of music (Bard being the closest to Wes), so we’ve been searching for a combination of strong academics and a contemporary music department.</p>
<p>On a separate note - after reading “A is for Acceptance” by Michelle Hernandez, I realized that I have miserably failed to bring up a ‘super hero’ son. Just the sample EC activities in that book made my hair stand up 
</p>
<p>It’s been very rewarding to read all the comments and helpful advice. I’ve committed myself to an enjoyable approach to the college process, and you guys are providing exactly that…</p>
<p>Kalina - During my son’s senior year of high school I started reading The Gatekeepers, by Jacques Steinberg, about admissions at Wesleyan. Great book but I couldn’t take it, and had to quit in the middle! Just kept thinking about how brilliant all these kids were and how mine didn’t stand a chance. Of course I picked it back up once the acceptances were in and enjoyed it very much. ;)</p>
<p>Wesleyan is a pretty special place when it comes to drumming. I’ll be interested to hear what other schools you come up with to consider. (UNC’s new percussionist’s info isn’t up on the UNC website yet, but his name is Juan Alamo. Excellent, versatile player and interesting guy, not sure about “experimental” but maybe you can figure that out by googling his personal website.)</p>
<p>Skie:</p>
<p>My son’s GC suggested I read “The Gatekeepers” when she found out he’s planning EDI for WES. Like you, it scared the hell out of me at first - he’s not at a ‘feeder’ school, didn’t build a flying submarine, didn’t climb Kilimanjaro, etc… </p>
<p>However - I did finish it and ended up much more optimistic; at least he has a 50/50 chance. I realized how hard and how thorough the admissions people work, and how individual each application is. Plus, it’s a really well written book and I couldn’t put it down; I got so invested in those kids…</p>
<p>I didn’t know that WES had strong drumming (how did we miss that??), so this comes as fantastic news to us. </p>
<p>My son loved the tour and the approach to academics, but we only saw the music school from the outside. His eyes lit up at the mention of 70 practice rooms. He’s planning on visiting the music classes in the fall to get first hand experience…</p>
<p>His style of drumming - he’s learning many different styles with his teacher - from jazz to world to rock (his favorite). His heart is in contemporary music which is why he stopped playing Mozart & List on the piano. His new piano piece is from Grenados, a 20th century composer… </p>
<p>I should add that my husband’s music falls under the ‘new music’ category, he rarely plays live anymore and prefers to compose electronically… My husband is self taught & doesn’t read sheet music. Our son is already 2.0 since he reads music :)</p>
<p>His other top school choices for music are Vassar & Bard.</p>
<p>Schools with strong writing & academics but smaller music departments - Davidson, Connecticut College, Skidmore.</p>
<p>We’re now researching Middlebury (classmate suggestion), Brandeis and UNC - Chapel Hill (your suggestions), Ursinus (his oldest friend got in there & loves it).</p>
<p>I’m going to look up Juan Alamo who sounds great. I can’t thank you enough for the continuing support.</p>
<p>Kalina - you might want to post on the Music Major forum for more ideas. There’s an incredible wealth of knowledge and generosity over there.</p>
<p>70 practice rooms at Wesleyan? That doesn’t sound right. I’d be surprised if there were half that many. My son is coming home today (yay!) so I can ask him.</p>
<p>Oh! there is a Music Major forum?! I’m very new to this site, the format, etc… still figuring it out.</p>
<p>The girl who gave us the tour knew very little about the music department, so maybe there are only 17 practice rooms but to her it sounded like 70?? Hilarious!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son!</p>
<p>If you scroll down on the Discussions Home page, you’ll see College Majors, and under it, Music Major. Lots of good discussions there about percussion programs.</p>
<p>17 practice rooms sounds much more likely than 70!</p>
<p>Thanks for the congrats. One year of grad school under his belt. And he’s still glad to come home for his breaks. 
Your congratulations will no doubt be coming in another month or so, right?</p>
<p>I know nothing about contemporary drumming, but I do know a lot about the schools mentioned. Please ask anything and/ or PM me. I think I would suggest looking into NYU. Music performance majors are at Steinhardt not Tisch or A & S. S’s friends who went there and had remarkable experiences. And of course there are limitless opportunities to hear contemporary music. It is not hard to take those courses with a music major at A & S and there is some movement between the schools.</p>