Posted by Kenneth Sloan on February 08, 2004 at 22:09:40:
This is probably off-topic for this forum, but I think there are some people here sho can help, so I encourage e-mail replies.
My 16yo son thinks he might want to be a band director. His (current) major instruments are trombone and piano (among others). He's bright enough (1200+ SAT's in 7th grade) but has issues with authority and completing assignments, so his grades thus far are...not good. We think they are turning around.
We believe in college as a time to make choices, so we're interested in degree programs, and colleges, that will provide a broad education - probably involving some sort of double major (music ed + X?). We also figure that he will do a master's in *something* (performance? conducting? dunno) before actually hitting the job market. Outside of music, his current major interest is philosophy - but he also has strong math skills. History and science are not currently viewed as strong points.
Born in Seattle, he grew up in sweet home Alabama. He thinks he wants to return to cold and snow (and perhaps the Great NorthWest)
So, the questions are: what sort of degree programs would produce the broadly educated and well trained band director of the future? and what undergraduate institutions come to mind (think academically - and musically - strong, but probably not academically "highly competitive"). His musical skills are strong enough that he might be competitive at the "conservatory" level - but that's not the direction he's heading...this month.
We just returned from an inspiring weekend at the U of Alabama Honor Band. Perhaps a great choice, were it not a mere 60 miles down the road from home (i.e., not far enough away) ...and that objection might disappear in the 2 years he has to make a choice. For those who know that program and can calibrate - he was 2nd chair in one of the two lower bands and has a realistic shot at making the top band next year as a high school junior.
His older brother is at U of Rochester. He'd probably be a better fit at Eastman (but neither of those two fine institutions has a marching band...and I suspect -but do not know- that UofR's music program isn't strong enough, while Eastman fails the "broad education" test.)
One ReallyBig question: if "band director" is a career goal, is it necessary to do an undergraduate degree in (music) education? Or, is it feasible/desirable to do the teacher-training component as a master's degree?