# What should I expect when applying for a composition program?



## Dany98 (Jun 24, 2015)

I'm going to apply for a composition program. Right now, my main colleges are USC, Indiana, or Eastman. I will try to choose maybe another or maybe replace one because I know these are really difficult to get into. I talked to my band teacher and some professors and they all said that they only accept the best of the best. Exactly how talented are the people they accept? I started playing alto sax when i was 13 and didn't learn theory until i got to college when i was about 19. I'm afraid that it might be too late for me. I know that there are thousands of people who started when they were kids and they are all prodigies by now. Even worse, my university doesn't have a composition program, so I've never had a teacher. I've had a composition class, but our teacher just gave us general advice, like explore more, let the melody guide the harmony, etc. I am above average and got highest honors. I know my theory from common practice, to 20th century, to post-tonal. The only thing I lack is a background in composition, but I have been told that I show promise. My question is how hard would it be for a hard working student like me to get accepted to a good composition program?


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

I'm confused. Are you wanting to get a Bachelor or Master's degree in comp?

Meanwhile, do you have a portfolio of completed original compositions for various instruments & or voices? Were any of them performed by real musicians and if so do have recordings of them? Without those your chances are very slim regardless of the quality of the composition program you seek.


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## Dany98 (Jun 24, 2015)

I'm going for a master's degree. I'm going to complete the bachelor's degree in a year. I have completed works, and for various instruments (piano, wind sextet, voice, alto sax, violin). They were all performed by either me or other people. I have recordings of some, but I can get permission to use the studio and record the ones I want to put into the portfolio.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

_Ok, then. Here's what I said in response to your initial posting a while back _( it's here: http://www.talkclassical.com/38733-question-about-applying-graduate.html)

There's no way to know "what are your best chances?"

With that said, you must give it a shot. Send your best pieces to as many of them as you can and wait and see. It isn't always important that you have a undergrad degree in comp or that you studied comp formally. If the selection committee feels you have enough talent they'll take you. It's possible that they'll take you conditionally, perhaps taking a semester or two of undergrad courses in subjects you never took or did not have enough of. That happened to me for my first semester going for a master's in comp at Eastman. At the end of the first semester I proved to them that I did well in their classes and then was formally accepted into the program.As I told another poster here about a month ago, it's not too important to have a Bachelor's in comp itself or that matter


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