From: Cynthia S Donnell
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Jr. colleges was Good vocal programs for less?
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>


Dear Carol (and List),

You make a good point about the cost and quality of music education
available in many community colleges. However, I'd like to address a few
issues which many students are unaware of regarding transfer of credits
from 2 to 4-year colleges.

Numbering of courses generally corresponds to the year of study/experience
for which the course is appropriate. Junior/Community college courses
here in Virginia are numbered as 100 and 200 level courses. 4-year
college degrees require that specific courses and a certain percentage
of total degree credits be "upper division" or 300 and 400 level courses.

Students who are planning to transfer credits from 2 to 4-year programs
are well advised to contact the school they wish to graduate from to find
out which required courses must be 300/400 level.

I have a student in my studio who transfered to my university from a good
community college music program. Once she got here she found that her 200
level music history course does not satisfy our degree requirements
because our music history courses are all 300 level.

Another problem for community college grads going into music is their
expectation regarding class standing. While the university my rank them
as incoming juniors because of credits earned, they must still take some
freshman and sophomore level music courses which are not offered in the
2-year schools. Also, generally speaking, they lag behind their classmates
in both vocal acheivement and repertoire and so they must take more voice
than they anticipated.

One last Point I'd like to make with regard to community college students
is that many students take their "academics" (English, math, sciences) to
get them out of the way, mistakenly thinking this will shorten their
time in the 4 year music program. These students find that they generally
have 4 years of music study ahead of them because of the sequential nature
of courses such as applied study, theory and aural skills.

I am by no means discouraging anyone from attending community or junior
colleges. I simply want to encourage folks to plan ahead.

Cindy Donnell


On Fri, 31 Dec 1999, Carol and John Spradling wrote:
> Molly, at the risk of stating the obvious.. are there any good 2 year
> colleges in your area? Our local community college, Onondaga Community
> College, is staffed with some of the best music faculty one could ever hope
> for.... no, it's not the same as going to Peabody or Indiana, but many
> students go to OCC for two years and then transfer out, and in my opinion
> they're getting very good value for their education dollars.
>
Cynthia Donnell
Coordinator of Voice Performance
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Music
922 Park Avenue
Richmond, VA 23284-2004

804-828-1166 phone
804-827-0230 fax