Tune In

Posted on April 23, 2008
Filed Under Culture, Tune In | By Jessica Dye

Music majors finally see a big college payday

While the typical college student’s idea of music usually involves Jack Johnson in a field somewhere, college conservatories like Juilliard and Los Angeles’ Colburn School have received over $100 million in gifts and donations over the last few years. The Chicago Tribune reported last week that music schools have seen significant increases in funding and enrollment recently, despite the fact that the demand for classically-trained musicians isn’t nearly as high as the demand for crappy new tracks from Britney Spears.

Among the recent big-money winners are Northwestern University’s new music building (price tag: $93 million), the recently finished Colburn School conservatory in L.A. (ringing up at $120 million), and Juilliard, considered one of the country’s top performing arts schools (and whose planned expansion has already brought in $193 million in funding). The phenomenon, according to the Tribune, can be attributed to a kind of “donor envy,” where one big-money, big-name gift causes other philanthropists with millions to burn to open their wallets. In 2005, an anonymous donation of $100 million to Yale University was used to eliminate music-school tuition altogether, and Indiana University sold naming rights to its new conservatory, the Jacobs School of Music, for a cool $40.6 million.

The National Association of Schools of Music reports that the number of music majors has risen over by over 30,000 in the last 15 years–freaking out a new generation of parents, no doubt. But the changing nature of music majors may shine a light on the changing nature of college education. According to Gwyn Richards, dean of IU’s Jacobs School, “[M]aybe now we’re back to the idea that [you’re] going to college really to be educated as a person, and that what you do as an undergraduate doesn’t have to be directly tied to what you do professionally.”

Another reason to bring in the big funds has to do with the shift in music education away from instrumental performance to more digital and technologically creative pursuits. A lot has changed since most of these conservatories were first built, and schools who’ve invested millions in wi-fi networks and computer labs have to bring that same 21st century-savvy to their music programs.

So, if your neighbor’s late-night “homework” on his drum kit is keeping you from doing some homework of your own, you might want to invest in some earplugs–music majors aren’t going anywhere. Although now maybe they can afford to go play in some padded rooms, instead of the one directly next to your head.

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