FAQs

Information about arranging a tour of the conservatory or the college can be found on our Visit the Conservatory page. 

Conservatory Office location
The Conservatory Office is located in the Blum Music Building, within the Avery Center for the Arts complex on 59 Blithewood Road.  (You can also find us by looking for the Edith C. Blum Institute on this campus map.)

No. A home-quality audio recorder will be sufficient, as will any home-quality digital camcorder for video submissions. 

Prospective students sometimes wish to arrange lessons with Conservatory faculty as part of the process of deciding where to apply. This is a good idea, and the members of our roster are happy to try to make such arrangements if their schedule allows. Please email conservatoryadmission@bard.edu for faculty contact information.

The conservatory admissions staff can help facilitate this but, until a student has actually been admitted to the Conservatory, such arrangements have to be made directly between the student and the faculty member, both with respect to scheduling and with respect to payment.

After a student has been admitted the Conservatory will cover the cost of one trial lesson. The Conservatory admissions office can play a role in setting up trial lessons as requested, depending of course upon the schedules of the teachers.

With the obvious exception of works for solo instrument (e.g. Bach Partita, Kopprasch etude), repertoire for the prescreening submission should be accompanied but it is not required. In addition, appropriate chamber music works may be used as the "work of your choice." 

Composers should submit recordings of live performances of their works whenever possible, in place of MIDI realizations. 

All prescreening materials–recordings, scores, resumes–are due on the application deadline for the program you are applying to.

The application accepts the following file types for uploading of recordings and documents:

Although we technically support media files as large as 5 GB, please be advised that larger files will take longer to upload from your Internet connection and may stall if you are on a wireless connection or one that cannot sustain a connection for the necessary period of time. Uploaded documents may contain no more than 75 pages. We support the following file formats:
Video: .avi, .flv, .m1v, .m2v, .m4v, .mkv, .mov, .mpeg, .mpg, .mp4, .webm, .wmv
Audio: .aac, .aif, .aiff, .iff, .fla, .m4a, .mpa, .mp3, .ra, .wav, .wma
Document: .doc, .docx, .odg, .odp, .odt, .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .rtf, .wpd

Conservatory applicants are eligible for merit-based financial aid. Competitive merit awards--up to and including the full-tuition--are based on the strength of the audition and the applicant's overall musical achievement and promise. 

We ask all students - even students who are applying only for merit-based aid - to submit the required Financial Aid forms.

Conservatory applicants are also considered for additional merit- and need-based aid administered by Bard College. The FAFSA and CSS Profile are used to determine financial need and are required in all cases in which financial aid of any kind is awarded. Visit our Financial Aid page for additional information. 

All financial aid is awarded for five years.

It is certainly possible! If you wish to email a Conservatory instrumental teacher please email conservatoryadmission@bard.edu. Please include the name of the faculty member you wish you to contact and a brief musical resume or biography so that we can make an introduction between you and the teacher.

Regular weekly lessons are critically important to the education of the young musician. The vast majority of lessons are taught weekly on the Bard campus. When a teacher's performing schedule does not allow them to come to campus students will occasionally be taught either by someone else on the faculty roster or the conservatory will send the student into New York City for their regular weekly lesson.

A music resume should be a clear and succinct summary of your musical life so far. It is common for people to include their current teacher as well as any teachers they have studied with in the past and anyone they've played for in a masterclass. These can be instrumental instructors or any music theory or history instructors. 
It's also good to include ensembles you play in or have played in (orchestras, chamber groups, etc.). Include any schools you have attended or any summer festivals or camps. Include dates for ensembles and festivals attended. The general month and year is fine (July, 2015 or Fall 2016).  If you have space, it may be beneficial to include a repertoire list. 
It is not important to include everything you've ever done. You should highlight the things you think are important and the things you want people to know about you. 
Typically, resumes should fit on one page. It is Ok to rearrange the margins of your document to accommodate this.

The assignment of teachers is based on the current status of a teachers’ studio, the preferences of the students and the teachers, and the judgment of the Director of the Conservatory.  Every attempt is made to announce these assignments as students are admitted, but in some cases this is not possible. All studio assignments are made by the Director of the Conservatory in close consultation with the faculty.

All applicants will receive notification two weeks after the application due date. If you have not heard from the Conservatory by that time, please contact us at conservatoryadmission@bard.edu or (845) 752-2409.

Information about applying to the undergraduate double degree program as an international student can be found here. 

The Conservatory offers a M.M. degree in the Graduate Vocal Arts Program; there is no undergraduate voice degee in the Conservatory.  Undergraduate voice is taught in the College's regular four-year Music Program.

Jazz studies, and instruments such as guitar, organ and saxophone are offered through the the College's regular four-year Music Program and not through the Conservatory.

Bard College employs two academic units for the teaching of music: the Music Program, and the Conservatory of Music. 

Students accepted into the five-year Conservatory program work toward two bachelor degrees: a B.M. in performance or composition, and a B.A. in a non-music subject. In contrast, a student majoring in music in the Music Program may choose to double major in some other subject, but ultimately earns only one four-year Bachelor of Arts degree.

The study of music in the Conservatory is limited to orchestral instruments, composition, and piano. Voice is offered in the conservatory only as a M.M. degree and not at the undergraduate level. There is however a voice major in the Music Department. Music majors in the Music Program can study jazz, electronic and experimental music, music theory and history, ethnomusicology, composition, as well as classical performance. They can also study other instruments such as saxophone, guitar (electric and acoustic), and world instruments. Students may also major in voice in the Music Program at the undergraduate level, whereas the study of voice in the Conservatory is a M.M. degree only.

The Conservatory and the Music Program share facilities. And some faculty members in fact teach in both the Conservatory and the Music Program.

The double degree is a requirement for all undergraduate students in the Conservatory. While it is possible to attend Bard College after being denied admission to the Conservatory, it is not possible for undergraduates to attend the Bard Conservatory without concurrent enrollment in Bard College's full liberal arts curriculum. 

Students applying to the double degree program may apply to the College B.A. program through the early Action or Early Decision. (Early Action and Immediate Decision are not available for application to the Conservatory B.M. program.)

However we encourage, but certainly do not require, that students who will be applying to the Conservatory should submit both their College and Conservatory applications by the regular January 1 deadline. This is because, after the audition is done and after the college application has been read, we try to look at the whole picture and weigh both sides of a student's life—musical and academic—in making final admission decisions.

All Bard students, regardless of major or whether they are in the Conservatory or not, may arrange for weekly private lessons.

A full range of music courses is available and open to students in both the Conservaotry and the Music Department. There are two orchestras on campus, numerous chamber ensembles, a contemporary music group, symphonic chorus, chamber singers, jazz big band, electro-acoustic and percussion ensembles, a student-run musical theater troupe, a Balinese gamelan and a Chinese music ensemble. In most cases private lessons and ensemble participation for Bard College students occur within the Music Program. In some instances non-Conservatory students are able to arrange for  private instruction with Conservatory faculty by special arrangement. It is also possible for non-Conservatory students, by audition, to play in the Conservatory orchestra or Conservatory chamber ensembles.

More information on Bard College's Music Department can be found here: music.bard.edu/

Conservatory students are welcome to enroll in any study abroad program offered by Bard College. Many use this opportunity to fulfill requirements for the BA degree. To date, conservatory students have studied in Israel, Germany, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Russia, and in New York City with the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program.

In many cases students are able to continue their musical studies while abroad: for example, two conservatory students studying at Central European University in Budapest enrolled concurrently at the Franz Liszt Academy.

Complete information on Studying Globally can be found here: www.bard.edu/globalstudy

Please visit our Sample Plan page for some sample 5-year plans from recent Conservatory graduates.

Since its inception, undergraduate students of the Bard Conservatory have distinguished themselves through:

Graduate School Acceptances: Music Performance
Boston University
The Colburn School
The Curtis Institute of Music
Indiana University
The Juilliard School
Manhattan School of Music
Mannes College The New School for Music
New England Conservatory
Northwestern University
Rice University
SUNY Stony Brook
University of Michigan
University of Southern California
Yale School of Music

Other Graduate and Professional School Acceptances
California Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea - Global M.B.A. Program

Music Festival Acceptances
Aspen Music Festival and School
Atlantic Music Festival
Banff Summer Arts Festival
Bowdoin International Music Festival
Castleton Festival
Colorado Music Festival
European American Musical Alliance Summer Composition Program
Kent/Blossom Music and Arts Festival
Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival
Manchester Music Festival
Music Academy of the West Summer Festival
New York String Orchestra Seminar
Pacific Rim Music Festival
Pierre Monteux School Quartet Program
Round Top Festival Institute
Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival
Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival
Tanglewood Music Center
Verbier Festival
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Yellow Barn Music School and Festival

Competitions and Jobs
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artist’s Competition, first prize, 2011
Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, silver medal, 2010
Houston Symphony, associate principal second violin
Michael Hill International Violin Competition, finalist, 2011

Distinctions earned by graduates of the Vocal Arts Program include:
Winner, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
Winner, Astral Artists National Auditions
Joy of Singing, Debut Artist Award Winner
Prize winners at the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition
Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers
Los Angeles Opera Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program
Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera
Utah Opera Apprentice Artists Program

Appearances with the American Symphony Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Cincinnati May Festival, Peter Brook’s production of Mozart’s Magic Flute, and Bard SummerScape

Acceptances to graduate programs at The Juilliard School - Artist Diploma in Opera Studies, Curtis Institute of Music, and New England Conservatory, among others.

Summer festival attendance at the Aldeburugh Festival’s Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Aspen Music Festival and School, Chautauqua Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, SongFest, and Tanglewood Music Center, among others.