Lawrence University which is a liberal arts college that also has a music conservatory. It offers both a specialized Bachelor of Music degree, as well as the Bachelor of Arts degree.  The BM degree is more narrowly focused on music, and it generally the choice of students who want to major in performance in voice or on an instrument, or perhaps they want to pursue a career in music education. The BA degree is the liberal arts version of a music degree: you can major in music within the liberal arts.  For the BA, you would take about 25% of your courses over four years in the music department.  For the BM degree, it would be more like two-thirds or even three-quarters of your courses in the music department. 

The Reasons Why Major in Music

Whether or not one aspires to be a professional, performing musician, there are many answers to the question of why major in music. Even in this day and age of high technology and the importance of science and mathematics, or even business, music remains a viable option that can give any student the sorts of skills and habits that employers value.  

Music Majors Make Independent, Diligent Employees

Music majors are used to working independently to achieve a goal.  They meet with their supervisors once a week.  They review past work.  Then they get new assignments to continue to improve and amplify what they are already doing.  The supervisor gives assignments and expects the person to return the next week with those assignments completed.  During that week, the employees work on their own and they puzzle out the problems, and ultimately through practice and exploration, they find the solution to that problem or puzzle. They practice whatever they need to practice in order to make sure that it’s right. A week later, they return to their supervisor and say, “Got it done; give me my next problem.”  That’s exactly what musicians do.  When they are going to their private lesson for an hour each week and they’re getting information, they are getting an assignment and they complete it.  They are developing the independence to take direction, do the work, and continue to improve over time.  

Why Major in Music?  Collaboration!

The workplace today requires people who can collaborate.  Employers want team members who can listen, appreciate the contributions of others, seek out the voices that may complement their own, and work together toward a common goal.  Musicians do this sort of thing on a daily basis. In every ensemble that they are ever in, they are working with one another to achieve a common aim: to perform a piece with a clear vision that may be jointly defined.  Importantly, they are listening to one another.  They respect the roles that each plays in the accomplishment of the goal.  They are attuned to what other people are saying and communicating so that they can take that information and do something with it.  

Practice, Practice, Practice

Music develops the sort of habits that any employer values. However, no employee is going to be perfect every single time.  Some things take practice to get right.  Musicians are used to practice. They are also used to making mistakes and then fixing them.  Musicians know that in order to improve, in order to build technique, and in order to get it right when it counts, it’s important to practice over and over until things become routine and the ultimate performance is stellar.  

Importance of Communication

Finally, he talked about the importance of communication. And then he talked about while he was in Microsoft, that he was working with some of the biggest brains in the world. But sometimes despite those big ideas that these smart people had, these people at Microsoft weren’t communicating. It’s one thing to have ideas, but if you can’t be a good communicator–especially to others who may have different perspectives or roles within the organization, then those ideas really aren’t worth all that much.  Employers want good communicators.  What do musicians do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?  They communicate.  They do so through the music itself, and they have to do so with words–so that they can agree upon and work toward a common goal.   Further, a musician is used to performing in front of large groups.  They are accustomed to the jitters that can be channeled in a positive way to make the performance better.  Performance is something that musicians are able to do very, very well.  They’re not afraid to put themselves out there and show people what they can do. 

Employers Value Young People with a Music Degree

The fact is that most employers are not looking for people with specific majors or degrees.  They are looking for team member who can get the job done.  People who can learn quickly.  People who can work independently to achieve a particular goal.  People who are not averse to practicing over and over until things are done right.  People who know how to collaborate with one another.  People who can communicate clearly with others as they map out and accomplish a common goal.  People who can share ideas with others and who can perform when the time comes.

So why major in music?  Because it develops the skills and habits that employers of the 21st century value–and pay for. 

To hear Brian Pertl deliver his own TedX talk about majoring in music and pursuing the liberal arts, have a look at this video.

Great College Advice
 
 

The post Why Major in Music in College? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

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Transcript
So Lawrence University is a small liberal arts college that is a member of the Associated Colleges in the Midwest, and the thing that really distinguishes Lawrence aside from the fact that it’s got great liberal arts generally, is that it has one of the few undergraduate conservatories of music.  So a lot of its identity is wrapped in the fact that it is a very fine music school that is linked inextricably with the liberal arts.

Now why would that be important to someone who is a music student?  Well most conservatories are really focused in on music. So Eastman School of Music, Julliard, they do nothing but music.  As was one kid who listened to a presentation today, this one kid said, ‘you know, I didn’t want to go a college where I just would have to take remedial English for drummers.”  He really wanted to be challenged academically.  The thing about Lawrence, and there are a few others like this as well, Overland for example, but Lawrence really integrates the liberal arts with the music experience so that the conservatory students are taking quite a few classes with the regular  undergraduate college students.  But in addition, the fact that this is an undergraduate institution, full stop, gives students who want to the opportunity to do both a bachelor of music and performs in the conservatory and also to do a full bachelor of arts in the college.  So there are students who are doing in five years getting two degrees; bachelors of music and a bachelor of arts.  So that’s one of the most distinguishing features about this place.

I would say also that it’s possible here at Lawrence for students who are really, really good at music but who don’t want to major in music, and don’t want to participate in the music conservatory on this campus.  We listened to a jazz jam today in the conservatory where they were auditioning students for the jazz studies program and the guitarist who is student here; he’s not in the music program.  He’s not majoring in music, and yet he’s in all of the jazz programs.  He plays a lot on campus.  So for students who really want fine music, whether or not they want the bachelor degree in music, this is a really great place to consider.  If you really want that academic, that solid academic background in liberal arts and the music, Lawrence is the place.
Great College Advice

The post Liberal Arts + Music Conservatory = Lawrence University first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Check this video out to learn how faculty members use the help of TAs to manage large classes:

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
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You may read the transcription below:

I’m here now on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. It’s about 12 miles or so north of Chicago. Great location. If you get out towards the leg it’s, the campus is right on Lake Michigan. You can see downtown from the campus. So it’s another kind of, one of these campuses is like Tuffs, like the University of Chicago where you feel like you’re very much part of the city. But you’re still enough outside of it that you can have this beautiful tree lined campus, green, especially now in the summer.

Probably not so great in the middle of winter. But there are a few things to know about Northwestern. Of course, I can’t sort of in this short video tell you everything. But remember that first of all Northwestern is on a quarter system. So that means that you take only three classes at a time in ten weeks – three or four, maybe four classes – four classes a quarter in ten week quarters. So it’s a little more intensive than at some other places where you might take five or six classes over a 15 week quarter.

A couple of other things. There are about 8,000 students here, so it’s a little larger than some other private universities, the caliber here. But it’s not so large that it’s a great big huge state university. Sort of a nice size in between. This is a size that a lot of students are looking for that is difficult to find. The Admissions Office is telling us also that 97% of the classes have fewer than 100 students. That’s an important figure to know.

That’s probably more important than the student to faculty ratio, which is a 7 to 1. Ignore that statistic. It tells you absolutely nothing about the classroom experience. The percentage of classes that are certain enrollment or less, that’s better. So 97% of the classes here are 100 students or less.

However, if the class is over 40 students then there is a TA for the class that runs the discussion section as opposed to the professor. So we were, our tour guide was from a double major, Bachelor’s in Music and Performance at the Venice School of Music, and none of those classes are large, and so there were no TA’s in that school. But then she also is doing a BA degree in History, and about 50% of the student classes that she had taken in History were over 40 students and therefore had TA’s. Now of course it depends on the classes you pick.

You might be able to take History to find a lot more classes that have a lower enrollment if that’s one of your priorities. To find those classes that have maybe 15 to 20 or maybe even fewer students if that’s a priority. But also remember that the more popular the class. The larger the enrollment and the more likely you are to have a TA.

The post Class Sizes and Teaching Assistants at Northwestern University first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

• What is the audition process like?
• Do they have an all- female group, male group, co-ed group or all of the above?
• Do the groups travel? If so, how much?
•  What kinds of performances do they do?
• What types of musical genres do they sing?
• Do they make recordings?

Most college a cappella groups have websites that you can check out to learn more but better yet, look at the campus calendar of the college you are visiting to see if there is a performance happening while you are there.
Lastly, I would argue that one of the biggest factors in your consideration of joining a college a cappella group is the camaraderie you will find. Many students in college a cappella groups are involved in a variety of other activities (student government, volunteer work, sports, greek life, etc.) aside from singing. However, alumni from these groups will often tell you that the a cappella group they were in was one of the most meaningful experiences they had in college. While honing your singing skills during late night rehearsals it is easy to find yourself surrounded by life-long friends.

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