Talk:College or university school of music/Archive 1

I don't mean to pick on anyone here, but this is a prime example of a sort of entry that looks a lot more like a directory page than an encyclopedia article. Of course, I think it's great that this article has been created and that the information added has been added. But this (and the many other articles like it on Wikipedia) seems right now to serve the purpose of briefly defining something and then listing as many of the items falling under the heading as possible. That's not an encyclopedia article!

What could be added? Well, lots of stuff: what the typical curriculum of a music school is; what instruments are taught; the extent to which attendance at one is a prerequisite for getting a job in an orchestra or a career as a soloist; their focus (no?) on classical music and jazz, to the exclusion of virtually all other kinds of music; etc.

For similar kvetching in this vein, please see this column (by me) and this one. --LMS

I think The Cunctator started this page out of necessity to simplify a sentence in Embouchure which listed about 5 schools, in parenthesis, in one sentence. I agree though that (unlike some other link-articles) there is scope for a proper page. -- sodium

You're right. It does serve a sort-of-purpose as it is (and I'm sorry I've just made it 'worse' by adding a couple and trying to clarify something!) but it isn't yet a real encyclopedia article and I agree that one could/should exist. I will think about trying to consider finding the time for a pre-feasibility study to see if I can add anything even slightly more useful - while all the while hoping secretly that someone else will! -- Nevilley :)

Vienna
I removed the existing Vienna entry as I thought it really too imprecise to be left in. Why was it in French, and bad French at that? Is there an institution there called "Conservatoire de Vienna"? I think not. It seems logical to me that we might here refer to an institution in Enlgish, becase this is an English wiki, or in German, becase that's the relevant language. But why French? Maybe what was meant was the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, or perhaps the Gustav Mahler Konservatorium für Musik und darstellende Kunst? Oh and not, please not, some place with a similar sounding name established 20 years ago. I'm sorry but this entry does not wash and it does the wiki no good to do stuff like this. 82.35.17.203 00:05, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Royal College of Music
Can anyone explain why the RCM is the only conservatoire with (World Class Conservatoire) after its name?

Fatboy06 00:29, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Rename?
Should we rename this page in "College and university schools of music" ?

"Notable" schools
If there is a section here of "notable" schools, it seems like it should contain a short list of schools that are notable, as it did before the previous edit. Simply linking to an enormous list that mentions any music school in existence is quite different. (and less useful, in my opinion) It would make good sense to avoid randomly generating the list of "notable" schools (unless there was extensive discussion here), so references to outside sources mentioning a school would be useful. Possibly an expansion could include sub-sections for schools that are notable for different things.--Grinik 21:40, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Unless there is some objective way to define which schools are "notable," any such listing will just digress into an argument over which school (or whose school) is better than another. It is more objective to categorize schools by location, size, student-faculty ratio, degrees offered, undergraduate vs. graduate programs, availability of specific area instructors (e.g., trombone), types of individual and ensemble programs available, access to a major orchestra, quality of faculty, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.47.128 (talk) 01:49, 2 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree. Although it is difficult to assess the quality of a music faculty! Also the list would be huge just with the main european conservatoires (personally I can think of 27 really important Music Colleges in Europe and 3 or 4 in the States!). Let's leave the notability for TV and lets focus here on objective facts. Cheers --Nandonaranja (talk) 23:51, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Any idea why they are called conservatories?
See title.

Because a conservatory is "a school giving instruction in one or more of the fine or dramatic arts; specifically, a school of music." (dictionary.com-Random House) Perhaps it derives from the fact that traditions such as art and music are saved and continued through the training of new students??

UDK
Why UDK redirects here if there is no mention of this acronym in the whole article? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.26.124.42 (talk) 18:48, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Way too US centric!!
I propose, as a first step that the section on US music schools be transferred to a new page on "Music Schools in the US" --Hywel Ashkenazy (talk) 12:52, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

I have moved the section - but page could still do with being less US-centric. --Hywel Ashkenazy (talk) 17:59, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Classical music is an European art-form, and as such, most of the worlds' best conservatoires are located in Europe. However, this page gives way too many examples of schools only in America. I think a major makeover is needed. TheFinalSay (talk) 02:48, 6 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Why most of the references to schools and examples are about Juilliard? I think the article should show a broader view of the world of the conservatoires and make more references to the European Conservatoires, where the elite of classical music has been trained since the 18th century (let's be honest, most american conservatories were founded in the 20th century). I know Juilliard is a good school (I briefly studied there in the late 60s) but it has little history compared to the most important conservatoires in Europe such as Moscow Conservatory, Paris Conservatoire, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Royal Academy of Music, Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre, Prague Conservatory etc. There should be more examples of these schools. --Karljoos (talk) 09:19, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Just so people know
A while ago I added Peabody to the list of notable conservatories-as-part-of-larger-university. It's interesting that it often gets omitted, but Peabody is the oldest U.S. conservatory and still one of the most famous, so if we're going to include The Hartt School in lists of "notable conservatories" we need to include Peabody as well. I moved it there from the "university schools of music" since Peabody is closer to the other category; for the most part, it operates separately from the main campus of the Johns Hopkins University even though it is a division of it, and it is in a different part of the city. So it's closer to Eastman or Mannes than it is to Indiana's Jacobs School of Music or the University of Michigan School of Music, for example.