<p>Topic. My friend wants to major in music and I thought about helping her look for good colleges for music majors in NY .</p>
<p>Are you looking for a conservatory or a university? </p>
<p>For conservatories, Juilliard, Manhattan School, and Mannes are tops. The New School is also good. </p>
<p>For universities, Columbia & NYU are ok for music.</p>
<p>Do you mean just NYC or NY State? If NY State, Eastman School of Music in Rochester rivals Juilliard.</p>
<p>For New York City: Julliard, Mannes (which is part of the New School) and Manhattan School of Music are all top conservatories; NYU's Steinhardt School has music performance program, Queens College's Aaron Copeland School of Music offers BM and BA programs, as does the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music.
Columbia Unviersity has a good music department, but does not offer a performance major.
If you mean New York State, then there are many other options.</p>
<p>Ithaca and SUNY Potsdam are both very good as well. I have heard that SUNY Fredonia is also good. It really depends on your friend's instrument/voice and what the want to major in.</p>
<p>She plays the clarinet and the piano. I think she would like to do either music or musical theater.</p>
<p>Also, NYC is better or like in Queens. Somewhere close to home.</p>
<p>Musical theater students have to be able to sing, dance, do drama, unless they are in the tech side of things. She could look at conducting, but that is usually graduate level curriculum. She would have to be a super pianist or pianist to gain admission to conservatory, lots of competition. Even if she wants to play clarinet in the pit for music theater or opera, she has to excell as a clarinetist. What year is she in high school, and what can she picture herself doing?</p>