Hey everyone, I know that you may think that this topic has come up about 100 times already, but believe it or not, I did a search and didn't find a topic that addressed my personal situation...


-=Finding a School=-
So here's the scoop. I want to be a music ed major with a focus in percussion. I want to go to an actual university so that I can learn a little more than just music (so count out a lot of those conservatories). I DONT care how good the university's marching band or drumline is because I'll get all of that through DCI/WGI. The concert ensembles however should be of high quality. For our purposes here, don't take location, cost, or admission difficulty (for either the university or the music school) into account. With that said, here's my tentative list... (in no particular order)

Top Choices:
Indiana University
University of North Texas
University of Texas

Others:
University of Michigan
University of Miami
University of Southern California
Oklahoma University
St. Olaf College
Northwestern University
Boston University

I think this depends on what you want to do with your degree. Do you want to teach? Do you want to perform full time? I've never known any symphony guys to come out of UNT. I'm sure there are some out there I just don't know who they are. Lots of college professors, set players, and marching guys own degrees from there and have done really well.

Although I'm not familiar with all the percussion programs you listed, most of them will give you a great well-rounded percussion education.

Northwestern just lost Burritt to Eastman but hired She e Wu. Not many schools could lose someone of Burritt's caliber and replace them with another tremendous player like Wu. Michigan, Miami, Indiana...all great places to study and would look great on any resume.

My wife did her graduate work at Southern Cal and loved it. They're more of an orchestral school and there are tons of outside playing opportunities in the L.A. area. Beautiful campus but once you step off the university grounds you're in South Central. Most performance majors don't have anything to do with the marching band and, as I recall, the band room is on the opposite end of campus from the music buildings.

No, these schools aren't conservatories but I think you'll find that they expect you to be that level of player.

Good luck!

LSU is another great school for orchestral percussion, and Baton Rouge is not too far from texas.

For music ed, a plus for staying in Texas would be the fact that you would get licensed as a teacher in Texas. I think it would be wise to want to work as a band director/percussion instructor/private lesson teacher/whatever here because (well you obviously know) how awesome of music programs we have down here. Plus you have a large state with lots of job opportunities. I know i'm going to UNT, but look at it this way. UNT is THE cheapest college to attend out of all the one's you just listed. Look at EVERYTHING they have. It is truly insane. So many ensembles. So many other performing groups you can be a part of if you want to be. Personally, i absolutely LOVE steel band. It is one of the most fun experiences i have ever had and it is really an instrument that you can play no matter your percussive experience. As an ed major, you can learn a lot of awesome stuff like that and things like south indian, brazilian, african, afro cuban, and others and teach it to future students. I think that is a huge plus. But yeah i mean looking at those other colleges, they have good schools and all, but some are really expensive. Now if you're rich that's cool and stuff but do your parents really need to spend 45000 a year for school when you can come to denton for 10000 or so? Alright there's my shpeel.

It's all personal preference. UNT has a ton of playing opportunities and a very diverse program in terms of different areas of percussion. To me it's a matter of size and individuality. Does every undergrad percussion major get a lesson with Mark Ford every week or do they receive lessons from grad students? When you've got 100+ percussion majors it's easy to get lost. Some people thrive in that type of environment while others don't. Going some place like IU or Northwestern you're going to be one of 20-25 majors in the program.

Yes, there is something to be said for the cost of tuition but that's why there are scholarships and student loans. I don't know what it costs to go to most of these schools but I know NU has eclipsed the $40,000/year mark. In-state tuition can be a blessing.

Usually you will have to play with a grad student for a semester to a year before you can play with mark ford. personally i'm going to be a freshman taking lessons with him. but yes one problem with UNT is that the percussion studio is so huge. you really have to work your butt off to thrive. however i think it's an advantage because real life isn't going to be a small studio with a few guys. it's going to be a ton of really good people competing for the same spot. but yeah i mean the other thing is that there is nothing wrong with grad students. they're great players and they prepare you for the big time guys.

Something that worries me about UNT is that I won't be able to get into any of the top ensembles... I hear that grad students get most of the spots so it's difficult to get some good exposure.

But don't take that as an insult, I'm actually thinking about going to UNT for a performance master after I get my Bachelor's in Music Ed at wherever I go (hopefully IU).

Also, I doubt mark ford teaches ed majors :P

dude you don't pay to go to college NOT to get lessons with mark ford. a guy i was with at orientation is a composition major and he's getting lessons with mark ford first semester also. and about the top ensemble thing, just work hard and see what happens. honestly, its going to be the same at almost any college you go to. as a freshman you most likely will get owned.

Out of the schools you listed, I would definitely go with Northwestern, Boston University, or U of Michigan. With all due respect to UNT, I [personally] would not go there for undergraduate education because of the 120+ percussion major number. That being said, obviously many people have gone there for their undergrad education and done very well not only at UNT but in their careers afterward. IU is still large (50-60), but I think more reasonable. Last year at this time my vote would have immediately gone to Rutgers, however, with She-e moving to Northwestern, Deviney moving to Curtis, and Abel leaving, my vote would have to go to the schools above.

You say you're not interested in conservatories, but have you considered doubling at one of the conservatory/university connections? There's Juilliard/Columbia, CIM/Case Western, NEC/Tufts/Harvard, Peabody/John Hopkins, etc. I can't really speak for all the options at the other schools, but at least at CIM/Case you can either double in performance at CIM and education at Case, or performance at CIM and an academic field at Case (I'm not personally doing either of these, but I know some people who are).

Berklee is acredited. Go study with nancy zeltsman.