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i am planning on study music and am having trouble finding schools which are known as being good schools that also have good music programs/music schools....i'd like to go to a fairly liberal school...could anyone give me some schools to look at? keep in mind i don't want to go to a solely music school, i'd like to go to a good college with a solid music program or music school within the college. thanks!ol

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 05:50 pm: Edit

Here's 3:

Northwestern
Rice Shepherd School of Music
Vanderbilt Blair School of Music
(not terribly liberal, but not as conservative as one might expect)

By Thenarrator (Thenarrator) on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 05:58 pm: Edit

OBERLIN. they have a 5 year double major program where u study music and another major.

By Spiffybrownboy (Spiffybrownboy) on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 07:18 pm: Edit

Are you interested in conservatories part of a school? Eastman School of Music (part of University of Rochester) is excellent, especially for instrumental. U of Rochester has superb academics. Other universities with good music programs include Indiana University (mainly for voice though, and the university itself has mediocre academics or so I have heard), Barnard (has a joint program with Julliard), and Tufts (joint program with New England Conservatory). There are MANY others. Oberlin, mentioned above, is great too and verrry liberal!

By Shennie (Shennie) on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 03:11 pm: Edit

Also look at the following schools: University of Michigan, Lawrence University, Univ. of Southern CA, St. Olaf's. A lot really depends on what instrument you play. Some schools have stronger programs in one instrument than another. Also, are you interested in getting a Bachelor's of Music or Bachelor's of Art in music? These are two different things and will impact where you might want to look.

By Uschicka (Uschicka) on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 05:50 pm: Edit

University of the Pacific (UOP) in Cali has an amazing music program and has a great all-around reputation as well.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 10:08 pm: Edit

Gettysburg College in PA just received a huge endowment to build their music program.

By Dhf1720 (Dhf1720) on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 12:42 pm: Edit

What's the best place to study cello? With whom? Thanks.

By Celebtracker (Celebtracker) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 02:05 pm: Edit

Joshua Bell studied at Indiana, as did many outstanding musicians (Renee Fleming, too, I think). Very good reputation. Bucolic setting about 40 mins south of Indianapolis. Michigan is good. Can anyone tell me anything about Julliard's pre-college program - is it good, not worth the trouble? Where does one board while studying there?

By Mrbobn1 (Mrbobn1) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 03:32 pm: Edit

lawrence u has a good conservatory and is a good lac.

By Bluegurl813 (Bluegurl813) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 08:53 pm: Edit

UCF (University of Central Florida)
FSU (Florida State University)
Stetson University
Julliard

By Sunshine916 (Sunshine916) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 09:11 pm: Edit

Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins.

prodigy violinist in my town went there, now goes to Julliard for grad school, and has had articles written about her in New York Times and all these big newspapers. she liked Peabody a lot.

By Becca (Becca) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 03:36 pm: Edit

yale has a killer music program and I highly support the eastman and oberlin posts above.. One of my good friends is also going to Barnard on a joint thingie with Julliard...ya ya, but if u ask my piano teacher, he says that julliard isn't really all taht it's cracked up to be.. it's like.. the harvard of the music world.. it sounds really great, but the school's... debatable. Like.. all these great musicians come out of there, but you have to wonder if it's just the students themselves who are mad talented or if julliard actually gets some of the credit. But nonetheless, barnard is a great school, for music or otherwise oh and so is yale.

By Musictoad (Musictoad) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 06:47 pm: Edit

since when is yale undergrad (a dept of the university) useful for performance? the grad school is a school of music. but the undergrad curriculum just doesnt cut it.

By Becca (Becca) on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 01:02 am: Edit

oh sry i can see where the confusion bout yale came in. I didn't mean music as an undergrad MAJOR at yale.. just.. if you're like.. majoring in something like poli sci and ur really in2 music, it has a strong basis for that

By Uschicka (Uschicka) on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 10:00 pm: Edit

USC is like the number one non-conservatory music school.

By Bobhood (Bobhood) on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 11:12 pm: Edit

columbia (not just barnard) has a joint program with juilliard. it's really hard to get into (you have to be individually accepted at both schools), but probably worth it. my best friend from high school got into but actually chose to attended only juilliard (he's a flautist with carol wincenc). i disagree with becca's comment on juilliard being just hype. the only american school orchestra on par with juilliard's is curtis'!!! and music, frankly, is something that can be taught only to a certain degree...without talent, you go nowhere...after that, it's just that you need the proper coaches to keep nudging you in the right directions...that's what juilliard is all about. sure, they just take the best of the best, and then prod them along rather than making them from scratch! and both columbia and juilliard are quite liberal .

johns hopkins and peabody work jointly as do case western and the cleveland institute of music.

eastman school of music is a great school and the u of r is a decent university.

northwestern, as mentioned, has a good program too.

a solid notch down from the aforementioned schools is also umich ann arbor...solid music school and solid university but nothing spectacular.

dhf1720, check out CIM for cello with steve geber. juilliard also has the reputation for having the best strings department in the country.

By Becca (Becca) on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 02:43 am: Edit

lol yeah, but julliard is so highly selective that all the kids that get admitted are so so so talented.... every year my piano teacher sends about 1-4 kids there, and they're EXTREMELY talented, so when you talk about Julliard's orchestra? Well.. i mean.. it is made up of the most talented young musicians in the country.. so.. i dunno! I mean, I LOVE julliard. I don't plan on applying there, but I think it's an awesome environment for developing people's incredible musical talent, but I mean, I just have to wonder how much the teachers do and how much the students do for themselves. I mean, when you practice 10 hrs a day and are among the nation's most talented musicians, you're bound to develop some killer skills no matter what ur teachers are like Just my 2 cents. So in the end, my conclusion is that the kids that go2 julliard are bound to be on the top anywhere they go, but somehow they just all end up at julliard, either because of the hype or the actual teaching. But you are definitely right that music takes much more than just good teaching, although that does help

By Sopranosweety6 (Sopranosweety6) on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 07:27 pm: Edit

Bobhood: You seem to really know what you're talking about in terms of what schools are best for what type of music training. In your opinion what is the best school or conservatory for undergrad vocal preformance training?

By Bobhood (Bobhood) on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 12:24 am: Edit

becca: i do agree with your further comments on juilliard. the thing is, my friend who went honestly wasn't that great (comparatively) when he got in (i mean, of course he was one of the best in the country, but still...). however, upon getting there, as a combination of the teaching and also the motivation and push he got from the talent and drive of his fellow students really helped...and now he's amazing.

one comment about small conservatories. if you go to them not as a part of a university, it is a very very small closed community. competition is REALLY intense, EVERYONE one of your friends is also your rival. the people can't talk about anything except MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC AUDITIONS AUDITIONS AUDITIONS. i know this drove my friend nuts...some people like it though...so it's whatever floats your boat.

sopranosweety...um, i really don't know much about vocals. i knew some voice students and juilliard who were amazing, and one of the nice things about being in nyc is the number of gigs you can land for all the different venues in the city...i think nec's voice program i pretty decent too (nec is new england cons in boston)...

By Marcyr (Marcyr) on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 04:43 pm: Edit

People talk about joint programs between conservatories and colleges/universities, but they rarely mention how killingly difficult it is to do two degrees at once. Yes, Columbia (and Barnard?) has a joint program with Juilliard, but a professor at Juilliard with whom my son spoke said that she actively discourages kids from trying to do a double degree program. The number of people who actually are accepted into, and graduate from, the Juilliard joint program is miniscule. The better part of a conservatory student's day is taken up by required courses, homework and practice time; add to that transportation time between schools, additional classes and course work, and you've got a hellish schedule. My son goes to Peabody, and even with the shuttle that runs between main campus and the Peab campus, it isn't easy for the Peab students to schedule courses over at Hopkins. When a friend of ours asked my son about doing a degree at Peab and one at Hopkins, he told her to forget about it, she'd end up blowing her brains out. Joint programs look good on paper, but they are extremely difficult to accomplish.

Bobhood, you commented that attending a small conservatory means that you're always in competition with your friends, and that all anyone talks about is music. Well, that's true, but most people who attend conservatory are so happy to be in an environment where it's OKAY to talk music all the time that it doesn't bother them. That's exactly why they're there, to be engulfed in a world of music. My son was always considered somewhat, shall we say, different, because he would occasionally get glassy-eyed and his attention would go off somewhere when something around him triggered a line of music in his head (he's a composer). Going to conservatory was the best thing that ever happened to him - for once, no one looked at him funny if he stopped talking and went scrambling for a piece of paper and a pencil to jot an idea down. It was all part and parcel of the environment. And while it may be a more competitive environment for his girlfriend, who is a flutist (her term, not mine), for a composer to be surrounded by hundreds of talented musicians is a dream come true. I firmly believe that you need a particular type of mentality to be happy in a conservatory, but if you have it, you won't be nearly as happy anywhere else.

By Musictoad (Musictoad) on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 06:32 pm: Edit

Marcyr, pls tell us more about Peabody and the Mount Vernon area. whenever I mention Baltimore people get this frightened look on their face and say "have you visited?--it's not safe and the surrounding neighborhood is BAD". Nonetheless, the school offers opera and that's what I'd like to do. I was going to either do the audition in Balt or a NACAC pfmg arts fair. Thanks.

By Sac (Sac) on Friday, August 01, 2003 - 12:46 pm: Edit

Northwestern, as someone mentioned, is a good school with a music college that's essentially a conservatory within it.

Tufts has an arrangement with the New England Conservatory of Music in which you enroll in both. People on this post have raised some excellent points about whether such programs are really possible to complete, but you might check it out.

UCLA has a good school of music within its college of arts and architecture. You apply directly to the music department, which keeps its classes small, but have the whole huge catalogue of classes to choose from to fufill your general ed. and other requirements. I think University of Michigan also has good music programs.

By Marcyr (Marcyr) on Friday, August 01, 2003 - 05:10 pm: Edit

Musictoad, my personal opinion is that Peabody gets an undeservedly bad rap. Yes, there are areas of Baltimore that you definately want to avoid, but all cities have them. The Mount Vernon area seems to be safe if you use common sense. Do you want to go out walking by yourself in the middle of the night? Heck no, but you shouldn't do that in the middle of a lovely, suburban campus either. One of the first things the Peab. Residence Life staff does is tell the freshmen where it's safe to go, and what areas they should stay away from. My son and his friends are always walking down to the Inner Harbor, and the last time my husband and I were on campus for a concert, we ended up walking to the train station at 11pm to catch our train back home. I have never felt threatened in the Mount Vernon area, and the female students seem to come and go without too much apparent concern. I would absolutely recommend that you visit the campus (such as it is - it's basically one big square block), and see how it feels to you. If YOU don't feel comfortable or safe, then it isn't the right place for you.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about the opera department, but we did attend one of the performances of 'Candide' this spring, and it was absolutely amazing. My husband isn't a big opera fan, so we skipped the opera performances the previous year. LOL, that will not happen again - I'll go by myself if I have to!

If you have any specific questions you'd like me to try to answer about Peabody, fire away. As I said in my original post, my son is the happiest I think I've ever seen him. He's double-degreeing in Music Composition and Music Education, he's taking a minor in conducting and there aren't enough hours in the day, but he's singing, he's playing, he's writing and he's fulfilled. As a parent, that makes ME happy!

By Benzoyl (Benzoyl) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 11:20 am: Edit

I'm currently a student at Juilliard and I thought I'd give a little bit of advice to other young music students:

1) Apply to as many schools as you possibly can. Don't make any kind of decision or judgment before you are accepted because it will alter your audition. Believe me, the stress level of the Juilliard or Curtis audition is much higher than that of Eastman's or any school like Boston University (all great schools, by the way). Your acceptance of a school should be based on things like a specific teacher, repertoire you'd like to focus on (Juilliard offers some great styles that many other schools don't and vice versa), performance opportunities, FINANCIAL AID, exposure to the music world, post-graduate placement, location, etc.

2) If you're going to study music in any intensive program, you're going to have to commit at least 100% of yourself, which is why a dual degree program is discouraging. There's a high drop out rate for students who are in the music program alone, not to mention those attempting the dual degree. As a young adult, you're going to be maturing a lot, developing into a new person with different needs and ideas. Therefore, you're going to need space to breathe and any kind of program that combines so much stress and work can really limit your own personal development.

In other words, tread lightly. The dual degree isn't impossible, it's just that it seems to combine a social desire for the "well-rounded person," an ideal that needs to be re-examined. Music is an art, and art is one of the most challenging forms of examination that we have. It requires talent, dedication, technique, commitment and humility.

Best of luck to all you...