Posted by Bob on January 30, 2004 at 09:20:41:
In Reply to: College, coservatories posted by Chris on January 29, 2004 at 21:55:13:
Here is my interpretation from watching my son go through it last year.
A Conservatory is oriented to preparing people to be professional musicians, i.e. a "trade school" approach. The focus is on making you competitive in an audition environment.
A college is oriented toward giving you a "liberal arts" education with emphasis in music. You can have music colleges which have several fields of study such as performance, theory, history etc. or one that has only one or two. These schools are preparing you for a graduate study program.
Some schools such as Eastman, claim to do both. Some schools, such as both Eastman and Oberlin have programs in conjunction with other affiliated institutions which offer the opportunity to study both music and some other dicipline. These result in obtain two degrees if you complete the work and usually take 5 years.
As another post pointed out, to become a teacher you need to get an education degree and be certified. Most music schools and colleges offer some way to do this. This is a dual-major program where you get one degree with two majors (i.e. performance and music education).