musicology in USA

[perseua 0]

Hi everyone!

I'm here with a pretty serious question. This year I'm graduating with a masters degree in Musicology in Belgium. My final dissertation is about film music of John Williams, so you can say I'm a film music fan.

Now, I'm looking into my options for next year and the years after and I'm very much interested in studying abroad, more particularly in the USA. As a musicologist I would like to dig deeper in the world of film music and I think the American Universities might be a step ahead of Europe on that area. The scarce literature about film music is most often written by Americans too.

So I was wondering if anyone of you people has any knowledge of courses or masters or so about film music at an American University? I've been searching for a while, but it's very hard to find anything concrete. Maybe someone on this forum has more inside information, I don't know...I certainly hope so.

Feel free to answer with any kind of suggestion

greets

perseua

[fommes 153]

Where in Belgium?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Kuifje rules man!

[Joe Brausam 214]

Well Berklee has an okay program, I suppose.

[perseua 0]

hi,

I'm studying musicology at the University of Ghent. I'm in my fourth and final year now, hence the writing of my thesis about John Williams-film music.

You mentioned the University of Berkely, California. Do you maybe know if they have specific courses about film music?

greets

[bob23 0]

hi,

I'm studying musicology at the University of Ghent. I'm in my fourth and final year now, hence the writing of my thesis about John Williams-film music.

You mentioned the University of Berkely, California. Do you maybe know if they have specific courses about film music?

greets

I think he means Berklee in Boston, not UC Berkeley

[fommes 153]

I'd perhaps be interested to read it when you finish it. Please post your results when you're done; I'm sure more people are interested. Good luck with your thesis!

[Joe Brausam 214]

hi,

I'm studying musicology at the University of Ghent. I'm in my fourth and final year now, hence the writing of my thesis about John Williams-film music.

You mentioned the University of Berkely, California. Do you maybe know if they have specific courses about film music?

greets

I think he means Berklee in Boston, not UC Berkeley

Thats right, Boston. And they do have a film music program there, though I'm not sure about its specifics.

[perseua 0]

thanks for the advice. I'll certainly check it out!

Once I have my grades and so I'll try to select the important pieces and put it on this website. Have I mentioned yet, it's about the Harry Potter-music?

are there any fellow musicologists on this forum?

greets

[perseua 0]

hello everyone!

I'm still looking for fellow musicologists in the USA! Is there anyone on this forum?

greets

[Jediwashington 59]

While I'm not a musicologist by any sense, I can give you the names of a few schools.

University of Southern California (USC) has a wonderful film scoring program run by the Thorton School of Music.

http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/programs/smptv/

the aforementioned Berklee school of music in Boston has a well known film scoring program.

http://www.berklee.edu/

Those two are the best ones out there in America, though other departments exist. These two are highly regarded as preparing people effectively to score films. My personal recommendation would be for USC. USC is right near Hollywood and sees a lot of guest speakers who are actual film composers. Berklee is a wonderful program, but it has the disadvantage of being so far away from the industry in Boston.

Best of luck with your endeavors!

~JW

[pixie_twinkle 48]

You could apply almost anywhere to do a musicology Ph.D. You'd have to do all your own research, but you can write your dissertation on any subject you want, as long as your committee approves it. A friend of mine recently graduated from Kent Satte University with a Doctoral Dissertation on American film composers of the 1930s.

[rsp3studio 1]

I would definitely suggest the Thornton School of Music in California- it is really the only school in the country that effectively combines serious academic study with top-quality instruction and opportunities in film scoring. One of my fields of study is also musicology, but I am not focusing on film music-so I'm going to end up at Harvard or Boston University in 2008 for my next degree. Good luck!

Robert Summers Potterton III S.P.C.

www.rsp3.com

[tuneman_21 0]

Wow. Good luck with that.

Unfortunately, my experience has been that American Music Academia still looks down on film music and the people that write it. They have this feeling of its just for the "common person," and, therefore, is not worthy of great study. Heaven forbid music should be understandable to everyone and not just the select few.

Post your thesis, I'd like to read it.