Digipen University:
Peer to Peer Session
I am immensely passionate about music and keen to pursue graduation in a related field. As an attempt to explore higher studies, I came across Digipen university, situated in Seattle, Washington. I reached out to their team and started discussions with Mr. Nicholas from this university. I was provided with the following virtual tour option:
https://www.digipen.edu/visit-us/digipen-near-you#take-a-virtual-tour
After watching this tour and exploring the website I could get a better understanding of what the university provided. Digipen University offers many courses including programming, technology, and of course, music.
Additionally, I was offered the provision of a Student shadow session with a final year student. Talking with a student in such a peer to peer session is definitely helpful in deciding if Digipen or even the music industry, in general, is a good fit. A student shadow session with Suzanne Jelsema was scheduled on 28th May. Suzanne is a final year student. She has been participating in various game teams for the past three years, in which the work duration varied from one day to two month involvement in projects. This one hour discussion helped me understand more about the degree of music in Digipen, procedure to get admission and a few more important aspects. Presented below are the questions I asked Suzanne and the responses she provided:
Q- In the course The Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design which is offered at Digipen, what all concepts are covered? And what is the teaching methodology?
A - In this course, there are mainly two paths. One is the Sound Engineering path, and the other one is Music Composition, which includes production. In the first 2 years, basic concepts are taught and almost everyone will roughly have the same classes. Based on your interest, you can choose any of the two paths till year 3 with the help of teachers.
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Q- For this course The Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design, what are future career prospects, what kind of work in the Music or other industry I can perform, if I study this course. For this course, what is the roadmap beyond graduation?
A - Based on the path you take from sound engineering or composition, there are multiple careers that can be chosen such as a film scorer, game music designer, sound engineer etc. If you prefer composition and making different types of music, freelancing is better for you after graduation. Also, Digipen provides an option to take any course for free uptil 10 years after you have graduated. So that is a good option after graduation if you want to study a different course at digipen.
Q- Are there any advanced level studies also available? Are there any summer courses you offer which I can take? Because I live in India, can I study any courses from your college in an online mode?
A - There are several summer courses available for many topics online:
Q- How can I stay connected with your college or any other Music related general forums or communities? Are there any online meet ups or other channels available, so that I can understand what other music students are working on and I can also exchange what I am doing?
A - There is a discord server named “Dragon Soup”, consisting of not just students and teachers, but also people who haven’t yet joined digipen but wish to. Connecting on linkedin is also a good option.
Q- If I want to study Music as a field formally at graduation, in this college or others, what is your suggestion, what should I focus on? Getting certification in Music theory courses? Giving AP Music theory exams? Learning more instruments at an advanced level? Learning more Music software tools?
A - There is not a lot of prerequisite knowledge-based on music needed. Although, learning one instrument and one software that you're comfortable with, at an advanced level, is recommended. Apart from that, your academics and extracurricular accomplishments, in addition to music, are not given a lot of importance. And for exams such as Music theory AP’s, they’ll surely be good for your profile.
Q- I want to currently homeschool and focus on music. Is this a good option if I want to get an admission?
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A - Yeah, this option works. Homeschooling is not an issue for admission.
Apart from answering these questions, Suzanne showed me several projects of hers which consisted of self composed music for games and animations. I also got an insight into how the scoring actually works with the team from the making of the game or film. Overall, the session was very insightful and helped me build a firm perspective.