UCLA vs. Berkeley (Schools of Music)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey guys! I know a lot of people aren't acquainted with the music programs at UCLA and UC Berkeley, but if you are... which is better?! I guess my question is annoyingly vague, but honestly, any sort of input would help.</p>

<p>(P.S. I'm looking into piano or piano performance.)</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>UCLA not only has an awesome marching band, they have an awesome music department.</p>

<p>Herb Alpert recently gave the music department millions of dollars, and they named the school after him.<br>
[The</a> UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music](<a href=“http://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/index.php]The”>http://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/index.php)</p>

<p>There is a famous piano in the basement of the music building, it is autographed by Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky. It was given to the school by actor Edward G. Robinson, his wishes were that it be placed into a practice room so it could be played by students and faculty members. He thought that his autographed piano would inspire them to greatness.</p>

<p>[The</a> Daily Bruin - A piece of music history hides on campus](<a href=“http://dailybruin.com/news/2007/oct/11/aecenterpiecepiano/]The”>http://dailybruin.com/news/2007/oct/11/aecenterpiecepiano/)</p>

<p>UCLA also schedules fantastic concerts in Royce Hall.
[UCLA</a> Live](<a href=“Uclalive.org - Situs Informasi Casino Online Terpercaya”>Uclalive.org - Situs Informasi Casino Online Terpercaya)</p>

<p>[Royce</a> Hall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royce_Hall]Royce”>Royce Hall - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Photos of Royce Hall:</p>

<p>[Royce</a> Hall, UCLA on Flickr - Photo Sharing!](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/tatler/17940181/in/photostream/]Royce”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/tatler/17940181/in/photostream/)</p>

<p>[Royce</a> Hall, UCLA on Flickr - Photo Sharing!](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/tatler/17940422/]Royce”>Royce Hall, UCLA | Named after the philosopher Josiah Royce:… | Flickr)</p>

<p>[Royce</a> Hall pictures from world travel photos on webshots](<a href=“Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!”>Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!)</p>

3

<p>Thanks! (I want to see that piano so badly…! Royce is gorgeous.)</p>

<p>Anyone else have any more advice/additional input?!</p>

4

<p>^ Yeah, Berkeley is better…:p</p>

5

<p>No bias here</p>

6

<p>UC Berkeley has a better music history program, but no performance major; you can take private lessons on piano, and if you are a music major there is a small subidy, but expect to pay $80 a week or more for good private lessons. There are performance opportunities – concerto competition, chamber music with coachings. But the music major is a BA, a general music degree, with requirements in music history, musicianship (theory), ethnomusicology, and performance. There is no performance tenured faculty.
UCLA offers a music history program in the College of Letters and Sciences, an ethnomusicology major (with jazz studies) in the School of Arts and Architecture, and music performance in the College of Arts and Architecture. There is also a theory department. So quite a divided set of programs. That includes piano performance. It is a BA, not a BMus. There are two pianists: Vitaly Margulis and Walter Ponce. The music departments will undergo some big changes, especially with the Herb Alpert donation. There has been a fair amount of contentiousness, though, in recent years, both between and within the departments.<br>
UCSB and UC Irvine also offer performance degrees, including on piano.<br>
You might take a look at the threads about music study on the music site – you can find it by scrolling down from the Discussion Home section. Lots of helpful discussion there.</p>

7

<p>A little more about Schoenberg Hall, the music building at UCLA. (where the famous piano is kept)</p>

<p>Here is what it looks like from the outside, there are mosaic murals all around the tops of the columns.</p>

<p>[UCLA</a> Music Library: Schoenberg Music Building](<a href=“http://www.library.ucla.edu/music/location.htm]UCLA”>http://www.library.ucla.edu/music/location.htm)</p>

<p><a href=“ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs”>ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs;

<p>Here is the Schoenberg Hall Theater where students give recitals, etc.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.music.ucla.edu/Assets/Schoenberg%20Theater.doc[/url]”>http://www.music.ucla.edu/Assets/Schoenberg%20Theater.doc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And this is the view from the front steps of Schoenberg Hall </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.biochemistry.ucla.edu/biochem/Faculty/SClarke/images/img05.jpg[/url]”>http://www.biochemistry.ucla.edu/biochem/Faculty/SClarke/images/img05.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>The Berkeley music department also has very attractive buildings in a lovely setting. (Morrison, Hertz Hall, and the new music library), which makes it seem like a small school within the big University. These are nice features of the programs, but the most important thing for you to know is that you can’t major in piano at UC Berkeley, just in “music,” but you can major in either “music” or piano performance at UCLA.</p>

9

<p>If you want to be a performance major, no doubt UCLA.</p>

10

<p>FWIW, here’s the NRC ranking for music:</p>

<p>1 Harvard 4.59
2 Chicago 4.53
3 Cal Berkeley 4.51
4 CUNY 4.41
5 Yale 4.40
6 Princeton 4.39
7 Penn 4.35
8 Rochester 4.24
9 Michigan 4.16
10 Illinois 4.11
11 Cornell 4.05
12 Columbia 4.05
13 Brandeis 3.85
14 SUNY Stony Brook 3.80
15 Stanford 3.79
16 North Carolina 3.72
17 Texas 3.69
18 UCLA 3.56
19 NYU 3.53
20 Indiana 3.47</p>

11

<p>The National Research Council rankings are 13 years old, and are for music PhD programs, not Performance Majors.</p>

12

<p>^^ well, the OP did say “music programs.”</p>

<p>Not to mention that a) schools change very slowly, and b) graduate program quality and undergraduate program quality are highly correlated (if not virtually the same). The entire undergraduate may not be as high quality, but in specific programs, yes.</p>

13

<p>Here is a critique of the 1995 NRC Graduate Music rankings.</p>

<p>[A</a> Critique of the National Research Council’s Report on Research-Doctorate Programs for the Field of Music](<a href=“http://dfenton.com/nrc_report/nrcintro.html]A”>A Critique of the National Research Council's Report on Research-Doctorate Programs for the Field of Music)</p>

<p>

If you go back to my first post, you will see that the UCLA Music Department is changing very quickly. Last November they formed a completely new Music School.</p>

<p>

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14

<p>This depends on what kind of music education you want. The great irony of Berkeley is that it is very traditional and very old school in its approach to academics. If you are inclined towards western and euro-centric music than Cal is the choice, but if you want a more diverse Musical education than UCLA is the choice. I mean heck you can take a class with Kenny Burrell at UCLA. If I was going to pick someone to take a jazz class with, he would be high on my list. He made an album with John Coltrane!</p>

15

<p>Just to clarify on the irony of Cal…liberal environment;conservative education. Also, with respect to the NRC rankings, the criticisms of how old they are is completely ludicrous. Do you know how long it takes to get tenure in a department? It can take 5-7 years. When you hire a faculty person tenure track they are there 5 years at least, unless they leave. It takes at least 5 years to write and get a book published in the social sciences or humanities. Also, there is not a high turnover rate of faculty. The fact is academic departments don’t change year to year. The rankings should come out at most every 5 years and even that is short. The NRC takes many things into account and is extremely thorough. They are the best and most responsible source of ranking departments. They are also coming out again this fall.</p>