Does Hope College in MI have a OK instrumental music program?

Question

Although we are looking at music education, my son may be good enough to go into performance at the Masters level and wants to make sure he is getting good enough training to do so.
My son would concentrate in Saxaphone, with a first love of Jazz.
They have an adjunct sax teacher, but a full time jazz program leader. He is also accepted at Central Mich and MSU, but we like the small liberal arts atmosphere of Hope.

I know Hope is undergrad only. I was assuming my son would transfer to get a Masters in Music. So perhaps the question is how would reputable Masters programs feel about Hope?

Answer 1

I'm glad I caught your question before it expires. I'm hoping I could get you to reconsider your fondness for Hope over MSU.

While cosaxteacher is correct in saying that you shouldn't worry about which school is better in terms of long-term issues, there is still the fact of the matter that MSU is head and shoulders over the other two programs and your son is going to have a more enjoyable and richer experience while he's there compared to the other places.

While my son was a chemical engineering major at MSU, he played trombone in the bands for 9 semesters straight, so he knew many of the music majors and interacted with several of the music faculty members. I also know a current jazz studies major at MSU (piano and trombone) and he's in absolute heaven with everything that he is getting to do. He even turned down UofM to go there and is delighted that he did.

Meanwhile, don't let the label of "small liberal arts" college fool you into thinking the atmosphere is automatically safer and more idyllic. I know a former dance major who went to Hope her freshman year for the same reasons and transferred to UofM because of the heavy drinking culture that totally permeated the social life at Hope. She said one of the main social activities was to go to these "field parties" (I think they were called) where the kids would get a keg of beer and use a farm field where they wouldn't be seen to hold parties.

In contrast, there are many more options to make a big place like MSU feel small compared to making a small place like Hope seem big. Thanks to my son's involvement with the bands, he had tons of wholesome, hard-working friends. You don't get into the Spartan Marching Band by being a slacker. And instead of having adjunct teachers who must run off to earn more of their bread and butter elsewhere, MSU has an entire building of dedicated music professionals and a host of guest artists.

As a mother, MSU spoiled me in terms of the services it offers to it's students. My younger child is a dancer (hence knowing that former Hope student) who originally attended a small performing arts college (out-of-state) before transferring to a major university (far, far out-of-state), and her current school doesn't have all the bells and whistles that MSU has. To the extent that I, as a parent, had to deal with dorms, or visiting campus, or calling administrative offices, things were always much easier at MSU compared to my daughter's schools. I can also tell you that my son didn't want to leave MSU, yet he was in a very academically intense major with a very full rehearsal and game schedule. He did not lead a wild partying lifestyle, is what I'm trying to say.

Your son got accepted into the superior program, so I hope you'll let him take advantage of that opportunity.

If you email me through my profile, I can try to put you in touch with my friend whose son is currently a music major at MSU. I also know two other parents of MSU music grads whose daughters were the same year as my son in the bands.

Answer 2

Don't worry about if one is better than the other. I can tell you that when he starts teaching, where he got his degree is insignifigant to the people hiring. All they care about is that the school is an accredited university and that the student completed the program. If you get the degree from Harvard vs San Diego State means nothing to them because they are not keeping up on who is better than who.

Also, I think you are getting things confused. Looking at the Hope College site, they do not offer "masters level" courses. If your son is pursuing a MASTERS DEGREE, then he'll need to go somewhere else. Hope college is a 4 year university that only does Bachelor's degrees and associate's degrees.

My best recommendation would be to contact the schools directly. They obviously won't say their programs are crap, but they can answer questions about how good your son is on the saxophone (every sax professor I've ever talked to will gladly do a "mini-audition" to assess student level) to help determine what they can do best.


Universities are just like schools and businesses. They don't care if the previous school is better than another when you go get your masters. As long as they are accredited (which Hope is) is all that matters. That and that your son is proficient enough to get in, which he should be when he graduates college.