<p>Our daughter is a HS junior. My wife and I are not musicians. Our daughter is a serious violinist (weekly private lessons since 2nd grade, daily practices, pre-college programs, summer music camps), but is not accomplished enough for Julliard, Curtis, and Cleveland Institute. Also, we suspect that she would not gain admission in music performance at Indiana, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin, Peabody, and other schools with music performance programs of that ilk. She wants to major in music performance, but is considering music education also. She has a 3.6 non-weighted GPA, and is expected to score in the 80 percentile on the SATs. Our daughter understands the keen competition for auditions at music schools and the dim prospects of gainful employment as a musician, but she enjoys playing and wants to study music. She is open-minded about large and small universities and small liberal arts colleges. While we are interested in "big-name" music schools, we also want to find those lesser known schools with strong music programs and excellent teachers that are not often mentioned. And a generous financial package would be a bonus. As with many families, finances are an issue.</p>
<p>What colleges/universities would you recommend in Indiana, Ohio, Pa., New York, Maryland, DC, and Virginia?</p>
<p>Look at Baldwin-Wallace College in OH. They have a conservatory within a liberal arts college. The school is strong but not overly competitive. They offer music ed as well as performance. I don't know about FA. </p>
<p>Also take a look at Duquense in Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>I do not know the violin teachers in particular (which is the most important piece of the puzzle of course), but you may wish to look at some of the following:</p>
<p>Ball State, Muncie IN
Bowling Green State U, Bowling Green OH
Butler U, Indianapolis IN
DePauw, U, Greencastle IN
George Mason U, Fairfax VA
Ithaca College, Ithaca NY
James Madison U, Harrisonburg VA
Miami U, Oxford OH
Rutgers U, New Brunswick NJ (NJ isn't on your list but is surrounded by others that are)
Shenandoah U, Winchester VA
SUNY, Potsdam NY
SUNY, Purchase NY
SUNY, Stony Brook NY
Temple U, Philadelphia PA
University of Delaware, Newark DE (again, surrounded by other states on your list)
University of Maryland, College Park MD
West Chester U, West Chester PA</p>
<p>I teach at James Madison in theatre, but have a lot of interaction with students and faculty in the school of music. JMU has a strong music ed program and a strong music industry program, students in both programs audition and study on a major instrument. I am not sure what the competition is like for violinists who intend to focus on music ed, but I would be happy to check for you. PM me if you have questions.</p>
<p>If she is leaning more towards music ed than performance, the schools suggested are all well known and respected from a music ed standpoint, save SUNY Purchase. I would add Duquesne as shennie suggests and Lawrence to the list and UPenn as well. SUNY Purchase is a performance based, conservatory program; music ed is not offered. SUNY Potsdam (Crane) is the "go to" SUNY for music ed, with a well respected national rep. SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Buffalo also have music ed programs.</p>
<p>As BassDad indicated, instructor is one of the primary criteria for selecting a school for an undergrad performance track. It may be less critical from a straight music ed pursuit, but if one is intent on pursuing a combined music ed/performance program, I'd elevate private instructor to one of the deciding factors.</p>
<p>Another point to consider in looking for a music ed school is the benefits of a Strings Project affiliation NSPC:</a> NSPC. A marvelous program, and a couple of schools BassDad suggests are in the consortium. </p>
<p>Music ed is normally most cost effective within your state public system, but it makes sense to look at privates for reasons for specific faculty, mus ed/perf dual tracks are offered if she is unsure. A combo of talent and merit based aid may make costs comparable (or less) than your in state public.</p>
<p>I want to urge you to look at McDaniel College in Western Maryland because it is a small, nurturing school with a solid music department and good financial aid. University of Maryland College Park is a tougher admit but has an excellent music department and music ed. I am from Maryland and have seen these music departments grow over the years. Plus I graduated from UM college Park and had a great experience there (English, not Music).</p>
<p>Also, if she wants to go north, UMass Amherst has good music ed, and a small music department that seems warm and low-key. </p>
<p>DC has no schools with distinctive music programs--UMD is the place to go for that--and James Madison, a bit to the south.</p>
<p>UMass Amherst used to have a very solid music ed program, but in the northeast of late, there have been a growing number of disgruntled grads and students who contend otherwise. Part of the issue appears to be a lack of funding. Don't discount the program, but please do your homework. </p>
<p>If you are going to look that far afield, then look at Hartt (U/Hartford) with strong performance and a national rep as a top producer of music ed grads. They also offer performance/ed double majors, as do Oberlin and others.</p>
<p>You did not mention NC, but Appalachian State has a fine music school, is located in the northwestern part of the state, just below VA, close to Tennessee. The violin teacher there is excellent, fine orchestra conductor, good music education program and performance degree. No public transportation (maybe a bus once a day) into Boone, but it is a great place to visit!</p>
<p>Another southern choice is UNC-Greensboro. They have a good music ed program and a lovely recently built performance/music facility. I agree...Hartt is a good choice too. Suny Potsdam is the go to music ed school in NY State. </p>
<p>Miami of Ohio is also a good option. There is another poster here, Binx, who has a daughter (also a string player) who is a music major there. </p>
<p>Regardless...you need to pay a visit to the school, try to have a meeting with a music admissions person, and try to schedule a lesson with the applied faculty on the violin.</p>
<p>I would second these places as ones I would have recommended "top of mind":</p>
<p>Ithaca College
Lawrence University
Appalachian State</p>
<p>Ithaca and Lawrence can look pricey, but both are apparently fairly generous with financial aid. Applachian State is incredibly reasonable, coming in at the low 20's for out-of-state, if you get no $$$ at all. Boone is a great little college town, and the campus is really intelligently designed.</p>
<p>Since you're from Western PA, how about Penn State, and Ohio State?
If you can get her to zero in on MusicEd as her major, I would reconsider Indiana University.</p>
<p>Further afield, I would consider:
Oklahoma City University, especially if she gets more serious about Music Ed. But this is a school you really, really have to visit before you commit. The atmosphere is not for everyone.
U Texas at Austin. Pretty reasonable cost, and the program is pretty reputable. Plus UT-Austin just got a huge endowment to expand their music program.
University of North Texas. "violinmom" has a son enrolled there right now, in the strings department, and has always been positive in her comments about UNT and the program. You might think about pm'ing her. UNT has the most awesome tuition deal -- if your child qualifies for ANY competitive scholarship of $1000/year, that qualifies them for in-state tuition.</p>
<p>I second a lot of the suggestions and have one addition. My son looked seriously at U. of Wisconsin for violin performance. It's small, but seems like a very nice music school. The violin faculty appear to be excellent and it is a bit less competitive to get into. I don't know anything about their music ed. program, but they have one.</p>
<p>Violin is quite competitive, and if you do not think she is accomplished enough, then it will be quite difficult for her to major in violin at a top school. However, most of the schools mentioned have Music Ed programs. An ability on a particular instrument is much less important for Music Ed majors. There may also be financial aid targeted towards teachers (education majors). I would suggest you look into Music Ed programs if she has any interest. For music ed, there is generally 2 or 3 tracks: Choral vs Instruments, where there may be a differentiation between Orchestra and Band for instruments. Given that she plays the Violin, I presume she would go the Music Ed - Orchestra route. Once she is admitted to Music Ed, she should have some type of opportunity to take lessons on the Violin.</p>
<p>All music education major must have an applied instrument. If a student is in the choral music ed program, they must have voice and keyboard skills. In the band or orchestra music ed curriculums, they must play (coming into the school) an appropriate instrument, very difficult to master the secondary instrumental classes in strings if one is not a string major for orchestral emphasis. Usually the BME requires five semesters (or more) of applied music study on the major instrument. A musician will not be admitted into any music education major without first being admitted on the major instrument by audition.</p>
<p>The state schools like Slippery Rock U and Indiana U of PA offer good music ed programs in western PA. Of course Duquesne does as well. I know many of their graduates working in school districts in this area.</p>
<p>Not exactly in response to the OP's question, but a NY point of view. A couple people have mentioned Crane (SUNY Potsdam) as the "go-to" music ed. state school in NY. I think this is a slightly dated theory and would argue that SUNY Fredonia has equal "status" and some would say it has "surpassed" Crane in difficulty of admissions and academics. SUNY Buffalo (the College) is not considered to be in the same league, most people don't know they offer Music Ed. SUNY Buffalo (University) does not have music ed. Also, Ithaca is not particularly well known for financial aid. I know several families who have been VERY disappointed when the kids fell in love with the school, were excellent students/musicians and were accepted, but could not afford to go there. They have a new Dean of Music this year, so maybe the financials will eventually become better.</p>
<p>Addendum: D is a vocal major at IUP and loves it. Don't know anything about the string program/faculty though. The facilities are new and beautiful, people very nice. Might be worth a visit and a trial lesson. She chose it over Fredonia and Ithaca and has had no regrets. She received a very nice out-of-state package, and music in combination with the Honors College has been very satisfying to her.</p>
<p>xSteven, NEC is a stand alone conservatory, on the same "level" as and as tough an audition based admit as institutions the OP said he felt his d was not competitive for. </p>
<p>Arguably, NEC may have one of the best string faculty and programs currently out there, but they do not offer music education, although there are undergrad degree paths in the music academic disciplines of theory and history.</p>
<p>musmom2, I agree that SUNY Fredonia has been gaining strength in regards to its rep in matching Crane. I am confused about your SUNY Buffalo comment </p>
<p>
[quote]
SUNY Buffalo (University) does not have music ed.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Unless I misread the info available through the SUNY main page
campus/program search, I thought that SUNY Buf was listed as having the music ed major. :confused:</p>