Where to Begin?

<p>I've read through many pages of posts here and still need some direction. My son is a HS sophomore and plays piano and guitar. He loves theory and can listen to a song once and play it. He plays piano at churches and makes decent money, enabling to purchase his equipment. He plays with his HS jazz band, a local community band and has formed his own "rock" band and loves to perform. He loves all kinds of music. Music is his life as many of you seem to feel your son/daughter is the same.</p>

<p>He's good, but not a superstar - not sure he'd fare well at an audition. He'd like to major in music but not sure exactly what...he does NOT want to teach and realizes he's not good enough to go into performance. How do we explore other music majors? Where do we begin? I've read about Music Therapy and Music Business - what else is out there and how do we get more info?</p>

<p>He is very strong in math and science and has also expressed an interest in Pharmacy!</p>

<p>He was recently diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease which will most likely result in a transplant somewhere down the road. I don't want to limit him, but I'm nervous about him being too far away from home. We're in western MA so would look at schools in the northeast, midwest and southeast as possibilities. We'd like to begin to visit schools Spring 2012. He's the youngest of 3, so we've been through the college search process with the other 2 - but not with music majors!</p>

<p>Thanks for any insight!</p>

<p>If he is strong in math, I know that Peabody or Johns Hopkins has a major in sound engineering. My son got a letter from them because he expressed an interest in music and had a high SAT in Math. My son wanted to do performance, so he never looked into the program, but it might be of interest your son.</p>

<p>I believe Boston has a fairly well-respected Music Engineering program you may want to check out. That’s definitely not too far from home it seems. Northeastern has one as well.</p>

<p>

I too immediately saw the music technology/sound engineering route in your comment.
You also have a fairly strong recording program in your neck of the woods – U Mass Lowell. We heard many good things about the program but did not visit directly.
It is valuable to be nearby when dealing with health issues IMHO.
Best wishes.</p>

<p>Im not sure about the other music programs at Western Michigan. But, I do know that they have an excellent jazz program.</p>

<p>^I think the OP said Western MA, not Western MI – but if she’s in Western MI, UMich has a great technology program as well ;)</p>