Understanding Music Conservatories

"Music was always just something I did. Then I began to understand that it was more than that—something that is such a part of me, I can't imagine my life without it."

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"Something happened on that stage when I began to play. It was as though the music took on a life of its own. It was extraordinary, a combination of the music and everything I had to put into it. When it was over, the audience was dead silent for the longest time. Finally, they broke into enthusiastic applause. And then I knew that I wanted to be a performer."

The two quotes above are paraphrases of typical responses we get when we ask college-bound musicians why they are interested in attending a conservatory of music. These are incredibly hard-working, intelligent, and focused young people. Yet the choices they face as they ponder the next steps in their musical careers are complex. Most music school web sites focus on the schools themeselves; the hopes and dreams behind the creation and the mission of the school. The rest of the Peabody web site can give you that information. However, if you want to explore what makes a given school a good match for a given young musician, it is best instead to start out focusing on the hopes and dreams of prospective students.

If you dig deep enough, the dreams of the students and the goals of the conservatory will have to be similar if both are to succeed.

Our ability to address these issues comes from experience. It's "what we do" in admissions. And, since these essays are being written from a personal perspective, you need to know that I am David Lane, Director of Admissions for Peabody.

Pleased to meet you.

With that background, we ask you to relax and spend a little time with us as we let you in on what we have learned about young musicians�especially those in the process of looking at music schools. Along the way, we will talk about the factors differentiating one school from another. We will discuss where Peabody fits in, and we will identify the "profile" of students likely to thrive in a conservatory environment. Finally, we need to address the concerns of parents who have proudly supported their sons or daughters in their musical studies thus far, yet are unfamiliar (and maybe a little uneasy) with the notion of a musically intensive college program.

First, we need to cover some basics.

What is a music conservatory?

I suppose at some time in history, the name "conservatory" implied something about the focus of a music school, but currently I am aware of no international convention which qualifies an institute of higher learning to be a "conservatory," as opposed to a "school," or an "academy." This is not to say that all places of college music study are the same. Far from it. It simply means that one has to look beyond the name before making assumptions about the value of the program.

Differences between schools tend to orbit around three elements: The kind of programs offered, the amount of non-musical study in the curriculum, and the environment in which the learning experience takes place. Together, these determine the types of young musicians the school will attract. And it is the students themselves who then create the "character" of the learning experience. This last idea may seem a bit cloudy at the moment, but it is just a fancy way of emphasizing that much of what you learn in any school comes from the quality of your experience with your classmates. Let's dig into each element a little further.

Programs Offered

Peabody Conservatory offers the usual undergraduate and graduate degrees and diplomas. Generally those interested in graduate degrees are already well focused on what they want to do and why. For that reason, I want to use this space to clear up some misconceptions about the Bachelor of Music (BM) degree. This is a full-time, four-year, college-level program, affording graduates the same status and options in life as those with any other undergraduate degree. To understand why this particular degree is the cornerstone of conservatory training, we need to contrast it with the more familiar Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, the one offered by most colleges and universities.

A music student pursuing a BA degree with a major in music will graduate with roughly one quarter of the required credits earned in musical subjects. The other three quarters of the credits are earned in general studies. Music majors within the context of a BA program are considered to have specialized in music to the extent that they are knowledgeable about the subject. This is simply an emphasis, similar to the kind of emphasis (or specialty) gained by majoring in history or biology.

A Bachelor of Music program reverses the proportion of music study to general study. Thus, Peabody students take three quarters of their credits in music; musical academics (theory, history, etc.) and music performance. It is this last element, performance, which separates a bachelor of music program from other undergraduate degree programs.

Graduates of a school offering the BM program are certified as performers.

Students accepted to a conservatory have been building musical skills for a number of years. These skills are accelerated and polished with four years of intensive private study guided by a master teacher (also called a "private" or "studio" teacher). The relationship between the private teacher and the student is critical to the success of a conservatory education. In addition to guiding, coaching, and leading the student's musical growth, the private teacher becomes the student's mentor and connection with the professional world. Typically, a teacher will bring his or her students together in a weekly repertoire class, where students perform for each other, and learn from what they hear.

Finding musical professionals who are also gifted teachers can be a daunting task, but the success of the effort is the single most important element in creating a conservatory. It might even be said that the rest of a conservatory program is constructed to provide practical applications (large and small ensembles) for what is learned at the private lessons, and supplemental streams of musical training (eartraining, keyboard, and sightsinging) to make the experience even more valuable.

Beyond performance, the music program is supported by several levels of classroom study in music theory, literature, and history. Musical and non-musical elective classes are also part of the program.

A point to be made at this time is that while there is general agreement in the academic community about what should be included in a given math or science course, there is no agreement among music schools about the level of musical development required for entrance into (or for graduation from) a Bachelor of Music program. Likewise, there are no definitions about what skills are required for completion of a first-year music theory (or any other musical academic) course. Thus, all Bachelor of Music degrees are not equal.

The value of the degree as an indication of musical accomplishment is tied to the standards of the school that awards it.

Academics

While most music schools have common elements in their music programs, there is wide variation in the quality, quantity, and intensity of the academics offered. At one end of the spectrum, you will find schools offering certificates or diplomas with little or no academic study. At the other end are programs imbedded in universities which require a full range of academic classwork, enough to seriously compromise the hours available for the time-consuming skill-building process necessary for musical growth.

Peabody is a division of The Johns Hopkins University, but it does not rely on University courses for the "general studies" portion of the curriculum. Since our entire student body is filled with musicians, we take advantage of the opportunity to focus our liberal arts curriculum toward their needs. Students with a need for more traditional liberal arts courses can take them via cross-registration at the Homewood campus of the School of Arts and Sciences. There is a shuttle bus that makes hourly trips there and back.

It is our philosophy that a good balance of academic and musical study produces better (more well-rounded and circumspect) musicians than programs limited to practice, practice, practice. It is a primary goal at Peabody to produce graduates who are not only capable of performing to the highest standards, but also capable of coping with the twists and turns that all of us face as we go through life. We will discuss the role music plays in developing such people later.

The Students

The defining characteristic of a music conservatory is that all full-time students of the school are enrolled in a performance intensive music program. Students learn best when working with others who share their ideals and dreams. The sheer joy of working with equally advanced performers in a program designed to meet their needs becomes the focal point of the community. In this way, students of widely varying backgrounds learn to work together, and to value each other's ability to contribute toward common musical ideals.

The importance of this commonality cannot be overstated. In fact, it is fair to say that conservatories have been around for such a long time simply because other types of schools are less successful in meeting the needs of such students.

One indication of how important it is for young musicians to work with others on a similar path comes from our experience with transfer students. Each year, Peabody entertains applications for admission from young musicians who have spent a year or two at liberal arts colleges—schools where music is considered to be something nice to do when nothing else is going on (an "added interest," if you will). By now you understand that those who chose a music program at a conservatory have a very different view of what they want to do in life. When placed among students who are not as focused, rapidly developing music students become restless and feel isolated, which is why they soon decide to transfer to a conservatory. By the way, we are not talking about an isolated phenomenon. Some years, one out of three undergraduate applicants to Peabody are transferring from liberal arts colleges, or from music schools with less intense programs.

This brings us to the last element I mentioned at the start of this essay, where the students themselves create the "character" of the school. Here's how it works. The school community is made up of people who were initially attracted to the school's philosophies and values. Once established, the community will tend to cement the values in place, and the administration (if it is wise and sensitive) will want to keep the community happy. Over the years, administrations will change, and the school will be constantly "evolving," but the "character" of the school will stay similar since it is anchored to the student body and the faculty.

"Character" is a key element in understanding Conservatories. Conservatories are not the same in that regard. Each has a character, a culture, and a set of philosophies. Prospective students seem to understand (on an intuitive level) the schools where they will be comfortable. One reason I am happy so many students visit schools for their auditions is that they have an opportunity to sense the school's character in person. It makes for a higher quality decision when the time comes.