 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Amanda S
Date: 2004-01-05 22:01
I am thinking about maybe majoring in music in college. What colleges have the best music program?
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-01-05 22:52
That's kind of a broad question. Where do you live? What do you want to do with a music degree? You should look at colleges with while keeping your goals in mind. If you want to be a soloist or performer, you should probably focus on schools with clarinet teachers who are very capable and (VERY IMPORTANT) with whom you can get along for 4 years and have quality ensembles that will give you appropriate experience. If you want to be an education major, you might want to look for a school with great education classes and who can place you in good student teaching programs. You should also look at the college in general. Do you wanta big college or a little college. What kind of music/academic scholarships do they give. What will the cost of living be? Etc...
Mostly you should just go to the school that will work best for you. Going purely off of "reputation" won't necessarily turn out right. For example, I live in Texas and the University of North Texas is has a reputation as being one of the best music schools in Texas. I have several friends who went there to major in music, and didn't like it.
I personally believe that with adequate instruction, a person will succeed based on their own abilities and hardwork, not the name on their diploma. This isn't to say that the college that you go to has no effect, but many people get romanced by colleges with certain names for no apparent reason. Just decide what you want and need in a school and go from there. That should help you find the school that is the best match for you.
Don Hite
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
PS - probably not the answer you were looking for...
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-01-05 23:25
Hi Amanda,
So, do you want to teach or be a performer? What's your level of musicanship right now? Have you been considered one of the better players in your school's musical organization(s)? Do you like working with children, parents, etc? Have you talked to some music teachers or performers? Lots of questions to be answered before you will get too many answers.
HRL
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2004-01-06 05:01
After you decide what you want to do as a career, there are a whole lot of different choices:
1) Go to a conservatory or a "school of music" (like Julliard, NEC, Eastman or a lesser known example). Some are individual institutions and some are parts of larger universities. This will essentially position you for a career in performance, though some conservatories and most larger universities also have education programs. You'll study music almost exclusively and will basically spend four years in a practice room. If you want to perform, this is the way to go. If you like academic work, you might feel isolated. This kind of program would most likely give you a B. Mus. You have to be a pretty good clarinetist to get in.
2) Go to a liberal arts college or an academic university (like Amherst, Princeton, or Stanford) and major in music. This will probably involve a lot more courses in normal academic subjects- English, math, and so on. This will best prepare you for graduate work in music history and theory. You'll perform, but it won't be your focus. I've taken this path and I love it! Next semester I'm taking Intermediate German, Harmony and Counterpoint 2, Introduction to Philosophy and Russian Literature, if that tells you anything (I'm a freshman at Swarthmore in Pennsylvania). You'll probably get a Bachelor of Arts in music. You have to have good grades to get into a good college; they'll like your playing if you're good but it's only an add-on. These colleges' music departments vary vastly in size and quality- check out they're course offerings and try to talk to some students there. For example, Sarah Lawrence College is a good school with decent music classes but their orchestra had about 12 people in it when I visited. My school is not too much bigger than Sarah Lawrence but has a full size orchestra.
3) Some combination of the two. Lots of big public universities (and other schools) have programs which are in between the two extremes I describe above. I don't know as much about this because I never considered going to the kind of school that has this sort of program but I know there are other people here who can better describe this.
Sorry, that's kind of long. If you have any questions about being a freshman in a liberal arts school, e-mail me.
Hope this helps,
Micaela
(visited 19 colleges in my junior and senior years of high school including most of my examples- I guess that makes me qualified?!?)
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-01-06 15:12
Don't be afraid of "state" schools. I HATE it when people act like big name schools are the only way to a successful career in your chosen field. (Micaela didn't exactly do this, but it just got me thinking). Any adequate school will do if you try hard enough. Richard Stotlzman got his bachelors at Ohio State University. Whether or not you appreciate his playing style, who can argue that he hasn't "succeeded" in the professional music world?
As I said before, be wary of placing all your hopes in a school, when you should place them in yourself. For every person who succeeds because they went to an expensive school, I'm sure there's 5 people with massive student loan debt and nothing to show for it they couldn't have gotten at a reasonably priced university.
For example, I started out at a private methodist college majoring in music. Even though I had a full scholarship for tuition, the price of living turned out to be very expensive, several 1000 per semester. My parents weren't willing to pay this much and I, at that time, was unable to earn enough to pay for it myself, so I came home (some might call this cruelty or carelessness for my future on my parent's part.. I call it reality). I then came home and finished my basics at a community college and continued studying with their clarinet teacher (who is 10 times better than the one I studied with at the private university). He has a BM, MM, and Perf. Cert. from Eastman, and has had many of his students transfer to Julliard, Eastman, and the like after their studies with him. While I chose not to continue majoring in music, I am a clarinet teacher, and with his help (and connections) now have a studio of about 40 kids. While this certainly isn't success in the "Carnegie Hall" since of the word, he's helped me to make a whole lot of money doing something I love, so in that regard he's helped me become very successfull. This story is pretty pointless, but I guess the idea is that you can get top notch instruction anywhere if you are willing to find it. Don't be romanced by big names alone. If you have the cash laying around or can get scholarships, go for it, but don't think you have to go to a big name school to be a success.
DH
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
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Author: William Hughes ★2017
Date: 2004-01-06 15:59
Amanda:
My son has just gone through this process. To find U. S. schools with music programs that suit your preferences as to size, location, academic difficulty, etc. you might try http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/index.jsp
You should also talk to your teacher and others in the field about their experiences, visit school websites, write for information and visit schools that interest you. When visiting, ask to "shadow" a music student, attend music classes and talk with faculty in your area of interest. There is no better way to get the "feel" of a place.
I hope you are starting early in your high school career to investigate the opportunities that are available to you. Best wishes on a most important leg of your life's journey.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-01-06 16:11
If you want both high-level music & academics, you might want to check out Cleveland Institute of Music. A conservatory where the academics are taught by profs from Case Western. Most music students I know there don't avail themselves of the harder academics taught, but they are available.
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Author: Keil
Date: 2004-01-06 17:39
the question for me would be do i want a career performing or do i want a career teaching... if you are interested in a high profile performance career then you have to take into consideration which schools provide the best performance opportunities. If education is what you crave then you need to look at a school that has a good music ed. program. Ideally you can get the best of both worlds from one school but unfortunately that isn't always the case. If you find yourself strapped for cash i would recommend a state school with a good school of music and save the expensive "conservatory" for grad. school where performance at the highest level is more important. Ideally for an undergrad. the best education is a well rounded one, IMO, one in which you get a very strong foundation in performance, academics, etc. Also remember that success is what you make it. Right now it might look as though success for you is doing a certain job making a certain amount of money, however, as you get older you might find that success for you comes in many different forms and salaries. Be open to all possibilities and you'll ultimately find your way.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-01-06 20:20
Why are you thinking of study in the music field?? As clarinetist your job prospects are very bleak UNLESS you are exceptionally gifted. Also, I highly recommend you learn saxophone and flute to an advanced level because if you want to do "broadway style" pit work you'll be much more marketable.
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Author: Brandon
Date: 2004-01-06 21:25
Someone who knows wrote:
>
>
> Being at a school surrounded and working with players already
> at the professional-entry-level on a daily basis is therefore
> desirable.
>
>
I hope I am not misreading what was said, but in others words if I were majoring in music, I would look at the latest audition winners and see where they went to school. Do not be fooled by some of the bigger name music schools. I would say that there are about 3-5 schools out there right now that produce more than 1 winner. Out of the few that get selected at Curtis, how many do you think make it? Very few. And Curtis is considered to be one of the best schools in the world for music. Not taking anything away from Curtis, but that is just how hard it is to make it in music.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-01-06 21:28
Quote:
Being at a school surrounded and working with players already at the professional-entry-level on a daily basis is therefore desirable. Yup. You read it right. There's nothing like a little competition to bring out the best in you.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: pzaur
Date: 2004-01-08 04:47
Interesting how the general view is that we're all assuming that Amanda wants to be a "performer."
Amanda, the biggest question that needs to be answered before you can really start your search is:
Do you want to be a performer or a teacher?
Most of the schools listed on this thread, to me, would be more geared toward getting a degree in performance. It's been mentioned that you look at the auditions won of past graduates and students. I would take that a step further and talk to the professor (or professors) at the schools you're interested in and ask them about recent "placements" or "appointments" of students. While I was doing my undergrad, more than a few graduate students left to take college/university positions. I can only recall one person who actually took a playing position. That position was in Europe and she already had played with a professional orchestra there before coming to Arizona State.
Different schools push their students in different directions. Intentionally or unintentionally. Some schools push more for performing while other schools push more for teaching.
Shameless plug - Even though I was a saxophone major at Arizona State University, the clarinet studio (and other studios) definitely kicked some major butt and turned out great teachers - who can also play the pants off of a vast majority of professionals out there.
If you are looking to be a Music Education Major (band teacher), you may wish to go to a school that is in a growing area or nearby. The town/distirict I teach in has doubled in size in the past 10 years and is opening at least one new school every year and will continue to do so for at least another 4/5 years. As long as schools are being built, they are going to need their music teacher(s).
pat
ASU - 2000 Music Ed.
Post Edited (2004-01-08 04:53)
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-01-08 13:52
We need to hear from Amanda again, now that she has had lots of advice. Amanda, you out there?
HRL
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2004-01-08 15:36
Indiana University has a renowned music school -- from what I understand, one of the top ones in the nation.
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Author: William Hughes ★2017
Date: 2004-01-08 16:02
I suspect we have either hopelessly confused or scared Amanda to death. She's probably looking into large animal veterinary schools by now.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-01-08 19:48
William Hughes said
"large animal veterinary schools"
the outcome is no different (to working in an orchestra) except the salary is much, much higher ... still working with unpredictable and often quite nasty animals.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-01-08 22:16
I've played in a professional orchestral environment ... I speak from experience. The conductor is rather like the lion tamer, sometimes.
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Author: Amanda S
Date: 2004-01-09 22:57
Wow...this is soooo much information. I had read that scholarships were more availiable in the music field, but I didnt realize that my chances wernt too good for becoming a musician...I guess I'll just major in something else and minor in music.
I come from a little town where our main focus is athletics, and music is verrrrry low on the spectrum. I havent been exposed to all of the music I've read about for auditions...there actually is something challenging out there in my reach!
Thank you so much for the information
Amanda
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-01-10 01:59
Majoring in something else then minoring in music... that's what I was doing. Then I realized that I was taking almost enough music classes for a degree, just for fun. Since then, I've upgraded to a music major, then upgraded that to composition (still along with my original major). I'd never have done that initially, but am quite happy at the moment, with just over 2 years left on my double major.
In other words, I'd recommend starting with a music minor, and if you like it so much that you can't live without it, you've already done a good deal of the coursework.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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