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I'm thinking of double majoring computer science and music composition.

The two schools I'm looking at right now are University of Texas at Austin, and University of North Texas. I'm legally a Texas resident, so I get very VERY cheap tutition there, and I've heard great things (especially UNT) about these schools.

Anyone have any advice related to either the schools, or the task of double majoring? I would like to be a performance major, but I don't think there would be time and I like composing as well. I know Brenden said he did work with computers but I don't know if he's a double major.

Also, they want me to submit three to five pieces with different instrumentation. I've composed a lot, but not enough structured works, so I'm hard at work building up a portfolio. Does anyone know what they are expecting from someone applying to be a freshman composition major? I'm working on a chorale right now and I thought I would maybe do a modern-ish piano work and then a fugue for string quartet.

Edit:
I also can't seem to figure out whether UT Austin offers an undergraduate degree in music theory. I can't seem to get a straight answer from their website...

Both schools are huge and well-respected.

Go visit and talk to the people. Your decision on where to go should be made as follows:

1) Pick the school that gives you a better overall vibe/feeling when you visit. If you absolutely cannot make a campus visit, at least call and talk to the faculty.

2) If both schools seem like nice places, go to the school that gives you the most scholarship money.


Also - Austin is a very cool place. They have this weird hippie liberal beatnik thing going on. There is also a bridge downtown that contains a few thousand bats. (The flying dracula kind, not the baseball kind.) You can go bat watching in the summer - it's super neat!

Denton, on the other hand, is near the metroplex, which means you're near the Dallas and Fort Worth symphonies, TCU/Cliburn stuff, that neat looking building with a hole in it, and lots of blonde babes.

I am pretty sure UT has an undergraduate theory major. Just call the admissions people and ask, though, they'll know for sure.

Both programs have good reputations in their respective music departments.

I finished recently at UT Austin. The composition program is pretty serious there, with good support for the new music scene at the University and around the town. The comp faculty will work you HARD there, and some of the students find the program pretty challenging.

Two issues:
I seriously dislike the curriculum for the undergraduates there. Not enough "serious" music classes, and too many undergrad courses taught by TAs. To me, the UT grad program kicks the tail of the undergrad program, and you can tell by looking at the quality/diversity of the students in each. My view on curriculum is biased heavily toward the conservatory approach at the undergrad level, though, and the state schools here (in TX) have too much superflous crap forcefully inserted into the undergrad degrees at the expense of necessary, supplemental music classes.

There's no sensitive way to say this, so--- Why would you want to be an undergrad theory major? BTW, I don't think that degree exists at UT. You'll learn plenty of that stuff anyway as part of any other degree program, not to mention the ancillary stuff you learn as a comp major.

Hope this info is of some use to you.

I know who Terminaldegree is in real life now!

terminaldegree:
I would take music theory into graduate degree and maybe pursue a job in academia...

And yes, I know, it's a pity about all the BS classes. I would get some knocked off via AP scores but they won't even give me much for my 5's, they're really picky. UNT on the other hand, they hand out AP credit waivers like candy.

Sort of on the topic, I just finished 8 measures of the chorale. Here's a link:
http://www.vkgfx.com/misc/chorale.mid

I know I'm going to have to spend some time revising of course, but is it any good for a start? It's pretty safe tonally but I'm going to write a more wild constrasting piece. And no parallel 8ths or 5ths, I checked.

Edit:
And as long as I'm posting stuff that I just wrote I might as well share the orchestration I did for "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" for my Music Theory AP class. He just wanted a melody taken from something and arranged for 3 or more voices.

http://www.vkgfx.com/misc/muffinman/draft_1.mid

Ok I finished the short 16 measure chorale. I'm not at all happy with the ending but it's 12:43 and I have to get up at 5:30am so I'll fix it tommorow.

http://www.vkgfx.com/misc/chorale_2.mid

I thought about it but ended up going with a music major and doing computers on the side for fun (usually it's the other way around, laffo).

UNT and Austin are both good schools, but don't neglect the other places in Texas that are also reputable - TCU and Rice come to mind immediately.

CrashTest is a composition guy. He's been posting here lately. You should pm him for perspective too.

"but don't neglect the other places in Texas that are also reputable - TCU and Rice come to mind immediately."

I would love to not neglect Rice, but that's a lot of $$$.

Well, you never know what kind of offer they will make. I would send in an application and just see where it goes from there.

That's not a bad idea Brenden.

Do you know if their CS program is any good?

I just looked and UNT doesn't require ENTERING FRESHMEN to submit a composition portfolio. Nice.

I've composed at least 40 minutes worth of stuff, but none of it is something I would want to submit to a college. =/

UNT's composition faculty seems to be focused more on contemporary music/computer music, etc., which may be what you are looking for. I think UNT might be a good choice if you want to double major, just because it is not quite as academically challenging as UT - meaning you would have more time for your music. My son is a freshman violin major at UNT and he LOVES it. (The UNT Symphony is performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony tonight). He tested out of the regular freshman theory class and was bumped up to accelerated theory/aural skills, which will knock at least a semester or even a year off of his theory requirement. As someone else mentioned, don't necessarily discount the private colleges, as they always have alot more money to throw around. UNT is not too expensive, but they have 1,600 music majors and so scholarship money is limited. In fact, my son also was accepted to SMU and was awarded quite a large amount of scholarship/grant money. But he ended up at UNT solely because of the violin teacher there. That was his deciding factor. SMU has a small, but very good, music department. Of course, UT is also excellent. You have lots of choices -- good luck!

I just looked at Rice's stuff and they have a very attractive program there as well. Doesn't look like they want a portfolio and their audition requirements match up perfectly with my senior recital reperatoire.

I've met Arthur Gottschalk and even played one of his works a few years back. He's very nice and was pleasant to work with.

I heard a performance of a Pierre Jalbert work that was truly memorable. I think he teaches at Rice. Dan Welcher at UT is really good as both a composer and teacher, not to mention a great conductor.

Agreed that you should apply to schools that you may not afford, but represent the quality level you desire. Places like Rice have some significant scholarship money to attract strong candidates.

If you're going to do the theory thing, fine, but I'd humbly suggest you save the actual degree with the "music theory" label for last. Be a well-rounded player and musician, then specialize... Too many theory folks live their lives in a vacuum of analysis that has little to do with anything useful to anyone else.

Okay, maybe I'm cranky and just need a little sleep...

It's good advice, actually. In fact, most theorists I know would recommend a performance or education degree for a bachelors.

Theory is about music, so you should immerse yourself in music first, then theorize later.

I would love to do performance (and I think I could easily) but I think that would create a problem as a double major.
Performance majors spend a LOT of time practicing don't they?
How would I fit that inbetween homework for higher level CS classes?

Have you found out what the requirements are for performance in a composition major?

For a freshman entrance in composition, they're not going to be looking for the ultimate work, they're going to want to see that you're serious about comp and that there's potential there for you to learn and apply new skills.

Now, I don't know what kind of focus they have at these schools you mentioned, but my advice would be to branch out into more modern stuff. While the chorale you wrote is pleasant, I doubt that it's going to impress the composition staff - that's pretty standard stuff you'll be writing in theory classes.

Also bear in mind that bigger isn't always necessarily better. When I auditioned in composition, one of the pieces I went with was a 80+ page piano concerto which was romantic in nature. Looking back, I wish I had shown them some of my smaller, 1-2 page works that showed a bit more of a modern and imaginative angle. But I got in, so I'm not complaining.

The piano work and string quartet you mentioned might be good places to break into some more modern technique. Another suggestion might be to write something for a group of instruments that's not quite so overdone as a string quartet, string trio, etc... It might show them that you're thinking outside the conventional instrumentation box.

As for double-majoring, it can be done - but it will definitely take a lot of time. You may want to think of picking one discipline as your major and then minoring in the other.

Good luck and keep us posted...