The Hollywood Reporter - 06.11.2019

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 110 NOVEMBER 6, 2019

UCLA: JUAN TALLO/COURTESY OF UCLA. SUNDANCE: ROB WILLIAMSON/COURTESY OF SUNDANCE INSTITUTE. BELTRAMI: JEROD HARRIS/GETTY IMAGES

. DIAMOND: JACK MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES.

Top Music

Schools

in composition and experimental

sound practices.

TUITION $50,850 (undergrad

and grad)

NOTABLE ALUMS John Adams,

John Debney

23

GUILDHALL SCHOOL

OF MUSIC & DRAMA

LONDON

It has been training musicians

since 1880, but it also does its best

to stay up to date, with its elec-

tronic music department offering

graduate and undergrad degrees

in areas ranging from sonic art to

film scoring.

TUITION $19,673 (undergrad

and grad)

NOTABLE ALUMS Harry

Gregson-Williams, George Martin

24

CLEVELAND INSTITUTE

OF MUSIC

CLEVELAND

It’s all classical music all the time

at this nearly 100-year-old school

affiliated with Case Western. It’s

also highly selec-

tive, accepting only

8 percent of appli-

cants. Bonus points

for recently lowering

its tuition.

TUITION $42,006

NOTABLE ALUMS David Diamond,

Donald Erb

25

MANHATTAN SCHOOL

OF MUSIC

NEW YORK

Some 1,000 students from around

the world learn composition, jazz

arts, conducting and a variety of

other skills at this Lincoln Center-

adjacent campus. MSM grads have

premiered operas at Carnegie Hall

and sung on Broadway.

TUITION $48,280 (grad)

NOTABLE ALUMS Dave Grusin,

Elliot Goldenthal

songwriting for film, among

other courses. Only 12 students

are accepted each year.

TUITION $40,040

NOTABLE ALUMS Brendon Williams,

Bobby Brader

20

UNIVERSITY

OF NORTH TEXAS

DENTON

Getting in here is relatively easy

(a 61 percent acceptance rate),

and it’s pretty affordable, with

the lowest tuition on this list.

But that doesn’t mean the school

is skimping: It offers 101 dif-

ferent undergrad degrees,

82 master’s degrees and 38

doctoral degrees. Plus, U of NT

houses one of the world’s largest

music libraries.

TUITION $25,680 (undergrad);

$22,568 (grad)

NOTABLE ALUMS Kristopher Carter,

Michael Daugherty

21

FROST SCHOOL

OF MUSIC

CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA

Frost offers master’s degrees in

arts presenting and live enter-

tainment management; music

engineering technology; and

media writing and production.

Clearly it’s doing something right:

It places 90 percent of its grads in

music industry jobs.

TUITION $63,000

NOTABLE ALUMS Ben Folds,

Joel McNeely

22

CALIFORNIA

INSTITUTE OF THE

ARTS

VALEN CIA

Danny Elfman didn’t officially go

here, but when he was a young

composer he used to sneak in for

gamelan classes. For those who

actually register, CalArts offers

a music BFA as well as a master’s

and session musicians, has
evolved into a full-fledged music
school that offers master’s and
bachelor’s degrees, even as its
Hollywood and Highland campus
retains some rock ’n’ roll swagger.
TUITION $24,030
NOTABLE ALUMS Mimi Page,
Shane Alexander

15

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
In addition to its famed
Computer Music Center that
attracts artists from around the
world, the school boasts a two-
year sound arts MFA program
that admits only three or four stu-
dents a year. Last year, it hosted a
spring film scoring workshop tied
to Columbia’s Film Festival, with
four films selected to be scored by
student composers.
TUITION $54,400
NOTABLE ALUMS Richard Rodgers,
Oscar Hammerstein

16

UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA
SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
WINSTON-SALEM
Year one of this two-year mas-
ter’s program includes lessons in
technical and composition skills,
postproduction and the dramatic
function of music. In the second
year, students create 90-second
main title cues, study music
theory and learn the business side
of the music biz.
TUITION $23,203
NOTABLE ALUMS Eddie Barbash,
Randy Jones

17

YALE COLLEGE

OF MUSIC

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

Yale offers a conservatory

approach — for both undergrad

and grad students — focusing

on art and concert music, but

it also has a media production

department that

gives students access

to state-of-the-art

recording studios.

The acceptance rate

is pretty rough — less

than 10 percent — but those that

make it in receive full tuition.

TUITION Free

NOTABLE ALUMS Marco Beltrami,

Martin Brody

18

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE

PARK CITY

You don’t earn a degree,

but Sundance’s two-week Film

Music & Sound Design program

might be just the crash course

you’re looking for. Eight fellows

live and work together, collabo-

rating with filmmakers before

putting on concerts during the

festival. “Being around directors

is what you get from Sundance,”

says composer Tom Howe (Early

Man). “It’s a bit like making a

connection rather than just being

in music.”

TUITION Free

NOTABLE ALUMS Tyler Bates,

Larry Goldings

19

PACIFIC NORTHWEST

FILM SCORING

PROGRAM

SEATTLE

The program at Seattle Film

Institute might offer the only

one-year music master’s degree

in the country, but it squeezes in

a lot during that time: applied

music composition, language

in film, audio recording and

UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

The Music and Sound Design Lab at the
Sundance Institute.

Beltrami

Diamond