Is conservatory the right choice for my daughter?
Friday, July 31st, 2009Dear Babs,
My daughter plays 1st violin in her school’s orchestra, and she is very devoted to music. We have always encouraged this passion, but when faced with the task of choosing a college, we are concerned. While we would love it if she is able to make it as a musician, we know it is not a certain career. She really wants to go to conservatory, but we worry that she will have nothing to fall back on. Are there any schools that excel in music, but offer some other majors as well?
-Conservative about Conservatory
—
Dear Conservative,
There are plenty of schools that are good at both music and academics. The important thing to distinguish here, however, is the difference between offering a major in music, and a conservatory program. Many schools offer a general major in music history or music theory but with less of an emphasis on musical performance. At a college that offers music as a major, there may be other academic requirements, as well as electives, that do not involve the study of music. Thus students can double-major in music and any other discipline. Some great traditional colleges for music are Yale, Oberlin, NYU, and University of Michigan.
A conservatory, on the other hand, focuses on performance, and most of the program’s credits will be music related. An audition in person or on a CD or DVD is usually required to gain admittance. These rules are general, and there is a lot of overlap, but usually speaking, if your daughter hopes to place in an orchestra after graduating college, she should study at a conservatory.
That does not mean that her options are limited to music alone. There are a few conservatory schools that offer joint-programs with neighbouring universities. Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Harvard University and the New England Conservatory, and Julliard and Columbia University all have such programs. These joint-degrees are usually highly competitive, and requirements vary. But they could be a great option if your daughter is not only gifted in music, but academics as well.
Look around, and explore your options. Keep in mind that no matter what path she chooses, she may decide she has changed her mind, and transfer. If she opts for the conservatory route, she may later decide that all music, all the time, is too much for her. On the other hand, if she goes to a traditional college, she may decide she misses the training a conservatory program could give her. The main thing is to get her to start thing if music is truly what she wants to do for the rest of her life. If you know any professional musicians yourself, or you can arrange for her to meet some, try and get her to ask them about their own opinion about their career, and how they got there. Listening first-hand to their experiences as musicians and as students of music might really help her in making this tough decision.
Good luck!
-Babs
