Tied with Princeton for the title of Top National University, according to 2010 U.S News and World Report rankings, Harvard University's music program has gained a reputation as one of the most esteemed in the nation. After being accepted to Harvard's music program, you can expect your studies to be grounded in the classics. Music history and theory are at the forefront of this program, exploring such classical composers as Beethoven and Mozart. Unlike other college level music programs, Harvard does not offer study in musical performance or education, however, master's level students currently working as performers or teachers may enjoy the school's Performance Practice program.
Princeton University allows music students the opportunity to study a variety of subjects related to composition or musicology at the graduate or undergraduate level. The school boasts the title of Top National University (an achievement shared with Harvard) according to 2010 U.S News and World Report rankings. If you are interested in music but do not wish to complete a degree in the subject, you are "welcome to take courses with world-renowned composers and music historians." According to Princeton.edu, non-majors may also "take instrumental or voice lessons in the private studios of top professionals," at the university. Also available through Princeton's music program is the chance to audition with the school's jazz groups, choruses, orchestras, wind ensembles, opera theater, musical comedy troupe, a capella singing groups, chamber music ensembles and even a laptop orchestra.
With alumni including Quincy Jones, Diana Krall and Steve Vai, Berklee College of Music has been pumping out music industry luminaries since 1945. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the school offers an extensive list of available majors including composition, film scoring, music education, musical therapy, production, performance and song writing. If it is modern music you're looking for, the school's curriculum is "distinctly contemporary in its content and approach and embraces the principal musical movements of our time," according to Berklee.edu.
The Juilliard School in New York City has earned its status as one of the nation's top performing arts schools. Since 1905, Juilliard has offered aspiring actors, dancers and musicians quality training in their desired fields and graduated such acclaimed musicians as Yo Yo Ma and Barry Manilow. According to Juilliard.edu, undergraduate students accepted into the school's music division can pursue specializations in a wide variety of subjects, including: composition, guitar, harpsichord, jazz studies, orchestral instruments, organ, piano and voice. If you haven't yet made it out of junior high, but just can't contain your passion any longer, you'll be happy to know that the school auditions hopeful artists of all ages and offers a prestigious pre-college division as well.
According to the school's founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, students at the Curtis Institute of Music "shall learn to think and express their thoughts against a background of quiet culture, with the stimulus of personal contact with artist teachers who represent the highest and finest in their art." Be prepared to work hard at this Pennsylvania school. An education in musical excellence from the Curtis Institute does not come effortlessly. Speaking to its prestige, this school had one of the lowest acceptance rates in the nation in 2010, according to U.S News and World Report rankings, admitting only 4% of the applicants that year.