Choosing a Music School: A Practical Framework

There is no single best music school, only a school that fits a particular person, instrument, goal and budget. This guide gives you a way to compare schools on facts you can check. It does not rank schools, predict whether you will be admitted, or promise any career, visa or licence.

Start with what you want to leave with

Write down the outcome you are aiming for before you look at schools. Common aims include a performance degree, a degree that combines music with another subject, a teaching qualification, a professional-practice programme such as production or songwriting, or a short course for a specific skill. Different aims point to different kinds of institution and different awards. If your aim involves teaching or therapy, read music education and teaching qualifications and music therapy education pathways early, because a music degree alone may not be enough for those routes.

Check the award, not just the school name

Awards named alike differ by country, and this site claims no equivalence between them. A "diploma" can be a stand-alone programme at one school and a lower-level award at another. Before comparing, read certificates, diplomas and degrees.

Useful reference points, all from official sources:

• In the European Higher Education Area, credits are counted in ECTS. The European Commission says 60 ECTS credits are the equivalent of a full year of study, with bachelor's programmes typically 180 or 240 credits and master's programmes 90 or 120.
• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Quality Assurance Agency describes the level framework for degree-awarding bodies; Scotland has a separate framework.
• Schools can also set out their own structures. For example, Berklee lists the Bachelor of Music as its main degree alongside a Bachelor of Arts and a professional diploma, while the Royal College of Music states that it devises and awards its own degrees.

Ask each school what the award is called, how many credits or years it takes, and who awards it.

Look at the kind of institution

Conservatoires, universities with music departments and specialist colleges organise study differently. The conservatoire versus university guide explains the practical differences. The European Association of Conservatoires (AEC) describes its membership as conservatoires, academies and Musikhochschulen, around 300 institutions in 57 countries; membership is one piece of information about a school, not a measure of quality.

Compare the teaching you will actually get

Questions worth putting to the admissions office, and recording the answers:

• Who teaches the principal-study lessons, and how many hours of one-to-one teaching are included each week or term?
• How much of the programme is performance, how much is academic study, and can you change emphasis?
• What ensembles, orchestras, choirs or bands exist for your instrument or voice, and how are places assigned?
• Is there a named teacher you can apply to study with, and does the school allow requests?
• Which parts are taught on campus, and which can be done online? See online music study.

Lists of faculty on school sites change. Check the date on any page you rely on.

Understand the audition route

Most performance programmes assess you in an audition, and some use a recorded prescreening first. Requirements differ by school and by instrument, so read each school's own page and note deadlines. Our guides on preparing for auditions and prescreening versus final auditions explain the stages. For composition applicants, see composition portfolios.

Count the full cost

Tuition is only part of it. Instruments, accommodation, travel to auditions, application and audition fees and insurance may add to the total. See costs beyond tuition and scholarships and graduate funding. If you plan to study in another country, read studying music abroad and check the official government pages for visa rules, because this site cannot promise visas.

Check recognition for your plans

If you need the qualification for something specific, such as teaching, therapy, or a doctoral application, find out what the receiving body requires. Professional bodies and licensing authorities publish their own requirements, and they differ by state and country. A school page saying a programme "prepares" you for a profession is not the same as an approved route.

Build a comparison table

Take three to six schools and fill one row each:

Leave a cell blank until you have confirmed it on an official page. A blank cell is useful information: it tells you what to ask.

Use this site as a starting point

Our listings gather details from school pages and mark when information was last checked; see the methodology for how data is collected and corrected. Start from bachelor's programmes, master's programmes, diplomas or certificates, then confirm every important detail with the school directly before you apply.