We've had several students at Northwestern University complete ad hoc majors in conducting in the past couple years.  Honestly, though, I don't understand why a student interested in conducting would not complete an ed major.  No amount of training comes CLOSE to what you learn in three to five years of high school teaching.

Dear Ms. Parsons:

 

Contact the Chapman University School of Music in

Orange, CA.

 

 

Cordially,

 

Thomas Sheets, D.M.A.

Hi, Julie. I think you'll find that it isn't a "normal" degree for an undergraduate, but as Tom said, there are schools where you can sort of build your own degree program (and others, of course, where you cannot). We used to have a designed option degree here, but it has been phased out.

 

But there's always an option for someone willing to think outside the box, who is a self-starter and who is willing to build your own program WITHIN a conventional degree like vocal performance. Ask for and sign up for advanced private conducting study after you complete the introductory courses. Find a position where you can help out as an Assistant Conductor. Put together your own Junior and Senior conducting recitals, and learn to work with and to lead not just singers but instrumentalists as well. After all, the people skills and musical skills it will take to do those things are exactly the skills you'll need as a conductor out in the Real World!

 

The usual assumption, and the assumption that drives the degree programs at most colleges and universities, is that the undergraduate years are the time to learn the basics, and that includes the VERY basics of conducting, score study, history and literature. There's a reason for that mind set, since most faculty have been through it and understand how MUCH you need to learn about music in general and not just about conducting in particular, whether you presently know it (or agree with it) or not.

 

I don't necessarily agree with Tom that a music ed degree is the BEST prepraration for someone seriously interested in conducting, although it is a degree that's more likely to get you a job, and you WILL learn a lot on that job, just as he says. Whether what you learn is what you will need to become a professional conductor is a different question.  (And if you aren't careful you can learn some awfully BAD conducting habits that will only have to be discarded later!) At most schools even the masters programs are skewed toward education or church jobs. That was certainly the case at Indiana back in the '70s when I did my graduate work, and that's why I stepped outside the box and petitioned for permission to take the doctoral choral conducting and score study courses for my masters (twice as many courses and twice as much work, but I wouldn't trade them for ANYTHING!).

 

All the best, Julie, and I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

John

 

 

 There are a good number of Canadian choral conductors who have benefited from such an undergraduate program at either of the two Mennonite colleges in Winnipeg (now combined to form Canadian Mennonite University).  I know of at least a dozen who are now successfully engaged in choral careers who had their initial start in this program.  The capping exercise in each case was a full-fledged choral recital.  Only 1 or 2 students were enrolled at any one time in these programs, so it was possible to organize the resources needed for these recitals.  Mention should be made of the two choral professors at the time, William Baerg (Concord College) and George Wiebe (Canadian Mennonite Bible College), who were instrumental in seeing these programs flourish.  To my knowledge this undergraduate choral conducting program still exists, under the direction of Rudy Schellenberg and Janet Brenneman.

 

Len Ratzlaff

University of Alberta

I know when I was doing undergrad I would have loved a BM in Choral Conducting.  I didn't want a MusEd degree because I wanted to go into church music and be a choral director for churches.  My emphasis has somewhat changed since then, but I still wish I would have had more opportunity in college to learn about choral conducting.

Hi Julie,

 

 On the website for Mannes College at the New School in NYC, choral conducting is listed as one of the BM degree fields of study. I don't have any information about their program. Sorry. Here is the link.

 

 

Alice Cavanaugh

Suffolk Community College, NY

 

 Hi Julie: A few places -- Westminster Choir College at Ryder University, NJ.; California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA;  Julliard School, NYC;  Mannes (mentioned before); SUNY (State University of New York), Purchase, NY.; Peabody School, Tennessee; Indiana Univeristy, Bloomington, IN and many others, I am sure. --   Follow your dreams. Music Ed is useful if you intend to be in education and in a school. if it is for professional reasons, get to the training ASAP. 

 

Corltandt S. Bender

San Carlos, CA

 Julie,

USC is now offering a BA in Choral Music Degree.   Our intent was not to go the music education route - but rather a degree which focuses on a student's particular interest outside of choral music.  A student for instance may combine this with a any other interest, whether Biology, marketing and advertising, arts administration, sacred music including Jewish Studies to create a degree which is specific to their interest. A terrific plan for those not necessarily interested in just one facet of music.

 

 In addition they may also chose to complete a fifth year of work and receive not only a California teaching certificate but also a Masters degree in Music.  

 

Jo-Michael Scheibe, DMA

Chair and Professor

Flora L. Thornton School of Music

Department of Choral and Sacred Music

Hi Julie,

I'm currently a student at St Olaf  finishing a BA General Music degree, but I've been able to work through the conducting sequence here. I think what you'll find at most schools is that you can't get a Conducting degree persay, but you can easily take the courses that give you the experience needed. Here at Olaf there are 3 semesters of actual conducting classes, culminating in an Advanced Conducting project where you rehearse a choir of peers for 6 weeks and put on a recital with your classmates at the end of the project. There are also several courses in literature and pedagogy that aren't purely music education based, but give you practical information regarding rehearsal and repetoire. I don't know how many undergraduate programs out there offer as in depth a conducting/rehearsal practices sequence, but i'm sure they exist. Hope that helps

 

Bryce Kennedy

St. Olaf College

To follow up what Bryce said, it is possible to take 4 semesters of conducting at St. Olaf.  I graduated in 2003 with a music ed major and took 3 semesters of choral conducting plus one semester of instrumental conducting.  This semester, I will finish my masters in choral conducting at Colorado State University.  I found my training at St. Olaf to be invaluable.  Much of the material covered in the third semester of choral conducting was graduate level material.

 

Austen