Music in College - Looking for Suggestions
  • JacobFlahertyJacobFlaherty
    Posts: 331
    Hello!

    A young mother approached me before the start of the school year and asked me about her son, who is starting the 11th grade. I get to work with him in choir this year. Apparently, he is a very talented young man, plays the piano very well, (plays Chopin, Mozart, Liszt, etc.., composes with great ease, and takes his Catholic faith very seriously. As of right now, he has no experience on the organ, but he is interested and wants to learn. He currently lives in Minneapolis. Do you have any suggestions of colleges, either local or not, that he might be a good fit of all of these various goods? A very personable young man with a bright future, and as his choir director, I'd love to help this mother and her son out.

    God bless,
    Jacob
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    St. Olaf comes to mind. It's close to Minneapolis, has excellent academics, including music. Check it out.
  • nknutson
    Posts: 16
    You likely know my answer, but he should visit the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Piano program is strong and it's hard to beat the Newman Center.

    KU is another semi-local option. If he wants closer, Gustavus Adolphus would be a good undergraduate school.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Concordia College in Moorhead, if Rene Clausen still teaches there.
  • Kevin Anthony
    Posts: 40
    Catholic University's School of Music has excellent programs in all these areas. They have a world-class piano division that performed all 32 Beethoven Sonatas in 2015. I personally know a few of the composition professors and have worked pretty closely with the organ professors (3 adjuncts but all of them incredible musicians and scholars). Chamber Choir would be a great place for choral singing, although it's possible that there may be some changes in the structure of the choral program over the next year or two. I have noticed that undergraduates will often work alongside graduate students in all of these areas - I had the unique opportunity as a graduate student to work closely with the undergraduates as choral librarian, choir member, and teacher's assistant. Regarding the faith, the university has a pretty active campus ministry and the National Shrine is right there with easy access to their liturgies and confessions. Unfortunately, CUA is very expensive, and the School of Music doesn't fund its students particularly well.
  • teachermom24
    Posts: 327
    Notre Dame has an outstanding music program, sacred and all around. My son was an accomplished pianist before entering ND and now takes organ lessons there, hoping one day to be allowed to play on the new organ just installed in the basilica (or almost installed--haven't heard the official word yet).
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,315
    They’ve been installing it.
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