<p>My son is a HS senior. He has dedicated the last 4 years to playing drumset. He doesn't see himself doing anything else. He wants to attend a college that teaches contemporary music (rock, pop, progressive metal, etc.). He wants a 4 yr degree in music performance. He also wants to take courses that will expand his knowledge and prepare him for the music industry (i.e. production, technology, business). We have narrowed down our search to 8 colleges that teach contemporary music. What questions should we ask the colleges to determine which have the best programs and opportunities for a drumset player.</p>
<p>Can I ask which 8 schools he is looking at? My DS is a HS Junior and is interested in (he thinks) a music industry/commercial music major. He also mainly plays drumset, but also has some experience on other percussion instruments. He has a list of schools, but it looks to me like most of them require auditions on mallet percussion, tympani, or other types of percussion instruments. He is just starting to look at admission requirements</p>
<p>Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>My son selected the following schools because of their contemporary music programs. He is not interested in classical at all and not even a traditional jazz program. He wants a 4 year degree that concentrates on performance but may incorporate other music industry courses. Columbia College, Chicago (CUP program: contemporary, urban, pop)…Belmont U., Nashville (Commercial Performance Program)…Capital U., Columbus (Music Industry Major), U of Colorado, Denver (Music & Entertainment Industry Studies - Audition/ Performance Track)…McNally Smith, St Paul (contemporary music college)…Florida State U., Tallahasse (Commercial Music Degree), U of Central Oklahoma, Edmond (Academy of Contemporary Music - looks like newer program and not sure of their track record), U North TX, Denton (not contemporary but very large, well regarded percussion program - he could study jazz). Note: We have excluded other colleges (such as Berklee, Boston) due to cost. Several contemporary colleges in CA but excluded those due to location.</p>
<p>He wants a school with a strong focus on drumset and a strong drumset faculty. Does anyone know how we can determine that in order to whittle down the list? What about doing preliminary interviews (phone or email) with the colleges before visiting, since most are far from where we live in WI? What questions should we ask?</p>
<p>S auditioned at Belmont for percussion performance. Belmont requires their music majors to take both classical and commercial to be “well rounded”. Their drumset profs are “adjunct” faculty-meaning they may not actually be there all the time or are shared with other schools. They are big names but the rest of the percussion faculty is not. UNT has Ed Soph-if your son is interested in drumset he should know all about him. My S also auditioned there. You are not guaranteed to get Ed Soph as your teacher however. Overall, my S LOVED UNT and was so not impressed with Belmont. Which was OK since Belmont was more $$$</p>
<p>A few suggestions-- most coming from a local percussion teacher who my DS talked to</p>
<p>Questions to ask:</p>
<p>How many students in your studio?
How many percussion teachers in your program?
How competitive are auditions for ensembles student might want?
What is 4 year graduation rate? 5 year graduation rate?
How much travel is involved with various ensemble groups? (this prof looked at a lot of travel as bad thing-- students gone too much, couldn’t keep up in classes)</p>
<p>I don’t know how to best ask questions-- email or phone?</p>
<p>Also (this from me, not percussion prof) It seems like schools on your list are in 3 categories</p>
<p>Private not for profit</p>
<pre><code> Columbia College
</code></pre>
<p>, Belmont
Capital U</p>
<pre><code>Public U
U Colorado Denver
Florida State
U Central Oklahoma
North Texas
Private for profit
McNally SMith
</code></pre>
<p>Maybe compare costs/locations and narrow down to one or two private (since would be more expensive) and maybe 3 public. Many people on CC don’t like the for profit schools, so investigate the pros/cons of for profit schools</p>
<p>Thank you both for your valuable comments. idahomom, great suggestions on ?s to ask. I also thought of these questions to try to determine if the school’s drumset program is robust and well developed. Have visited or talked to some schools where drumset is not a focus. For schools that have a strong drumset program I wonder if there is a down-side to too many drumset students? The large # of positive comments about UNT’s drum program makes me wonder if it could get too large and a student may not get the attention they need?</p>
<p>idahomom, great evaluation of my list of schools. You present a good approach to narrow-down the list (love it!). </p>
<p>It has been a struggle finding schools that teach contemporary music. So it’s not like this is the list of top picks…it is the only list I could come up with…excluding CA schools because of location and Berklee because of cost. And I think I’ve done my research. I have a list 114 schools on a spreadsheet that spans 29 columns of various school data. </p>
<p>Also, thanks for the comment about for-profit schools. I have also picked-up on that vibe on CC. I have similar reservations but not sure how to clear those up. We visited McNally Smith over the summer and had a 1/2 day visit focused on the facility, programs, and teachers. Met with a couple of teachers and a percussion faculty member of 10 yrs. We felt pretty good about it. Have also read some mixed reviews, but not poor reviews. glassdoor.com has 3 reviews from McNally employees (or ex-ee’s?). General comments of good programs, hard working teachers but upper admin needs to get their act together. Comments that they need to pay teachers better to keep them and focusing on education rather than profits. You want to take anyone’s review with a grain of salt…but they can be telling when you try to read between the lines. My son’s friend attended there 2 years and liked it. Unfortunately he ran out of $ and returned home to small town with little opportunity to grow a career other than small town gigs and private teaching. I am somewhat impressed that they have 9 percussion faculty members. Here are the number of years these 9 faculty members have been teaching there: 22 yrs, 22, 2, 9, 6, 10, 21, 3, and 5 yrs. What do you glean from the # of faculty members and the years on staff? S actually liked this school and feels comfortable with the relatively small size and focus of a music-only college.</p>
<p>I’m wondering about the following approach to try to save money. Although S is adamant about studying contemporary music, what if he went to a public U in our state for BM-Perf the first year or two and then transferred to his dream school? He could complete his gen ed requirements along with beginning BM classes? I’m sure that transferring is a headache, but maybe savings would offset that? Does anyone have comments about this approach?</p>