Established in 1831, New York University is the dream school for thousands every application year across the globe. NYU is synonymous with top-tier instruction in literature, philosophy, business, and many other fields.
Music is so important to NYU that the university boasts not one, but two Music Schools.
Within the Tisch School of the Arts lives the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Taking advantage of Tisch’s interdisciplinary approach, NYU Clive Davis is a premier school for music entrepreneurship, with courses in business, production, and performance.
Founded originally as the School of Pedagogy in 1890, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development houses an excellent music program, one with a long history of training great performers.
As impressive as these two schools certainly are, the fact that there are two of them can be intimidating for some.
Where should a classical pianist go if they want to study at NYU?
How does a budding music mogul at NYU get their start?
We’ll do a deep dive on the two schools, and look briefly at the University’s musical theater offerings, to help you make the best choice of focus at New York University.
NYU Tisch – Home to the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
The key to understanding the Clive Davis Institute’s goals is right there in the name.
Born in 1932, Clive Davis established himself as one of the most important names in the music business, having won five Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Music Hall of Fame. However, he did so not as a musician, but as an executive.
The school that bears his name seeks to train the next generation of musical entrepreneurs. For that reason, Clive Davis emphasizes contemporary genres over classical, drafting leaders in the worlds of pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, and R&B.
Faculty Chair at Clive Davis, Nicholas Sansano, began his career by recording and mixing artists such as Run-DMC and Sonic Youth.
Sansano has worked on 17 Gold, Platinum, and Diamond records, including Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions.
After receiving encouragement from artist-in-residence Pharrell Williams, singer/songwriter Maggie Rogers began recording music while at NYU Clive Davis. Since her graduation in 2016, Rogers has recorded three studio albums, including the certified Gold record Heard It in a Past Life.
What Kinds of Classes Do Students Take at NYU Clive Davis?
NYU Clive Davis has course offerings as eclectic as its faculty and alumni.
Because of the school’s focus on business, production, and entrepreneurship, NYU Clive Davis has classes you won’t find anywhere else.
All students take a professional development course in their first semester, which prepares them for the school’s multidisciplinary approach to learning.
In addition to teaching study methods, the professional development course features symposia led by senior faculty members from not just the world of music, but also fashion, journalism, and technology.
The second-year course “Producing the Record: A Side” teaches students how to select the best material for an album, theories of track arrangement, and studio recording techniques.
In addition to hands-on study in the studio, students also examine the work of several classic albums determined by the instructor, following the footsteps of the greats who came before them.
As an elective, students can take “The Basics of Branding,” in which they learn how artists and labels develop a rapport with audiences.
“The Visual Music Experience” studies the relationship between image and sound through the history of pop music, examining everything from album design to tour production.
Every class taken at NYU Clive Davis gives students the tools they need to become working music professionals.
NYU Tisch Vs Steinhardt for Musical Theatre
How about musical theater students?
There is a musical theatre program both at NYU Tisch and at NYU Steinhardt.
NYU Tisch houses its musical theater degrees within the Drama program. Unsurprisingly, then, NYU Tisch puts greater emphasis on acting over singing.
Both programs offer excellent training in musical theatre, but here are a few primary differences for you to consider.
NYU Steinhardt Musical Theatre:
- Offers a BM degree, which has more credits in music-specific classes than a BFA degree.
- Does not offer the BFA degree.
- No dance required in the audition. However, there is dance in the curriculum once enrolled.
NYU Tisch Musical Theatre:
- Offers a BFA degree, which has more credits in drama-specific classes than a BM degree.
- It is part of the school’s Drama program
- Dance is required in the audition.
Tisch features a unique program called New Studio on Broadway, which draws from the history of America’s musical theater tradition to train students.
Steinahrdt’s program focuses not only on musical theatre, but also on classical music repertoire and enhancing your traditional musicianship skills.
Either NYU Tisch or NYU Steinhardt has everything a musical theater hopeful needs to become a working professional, so the final decision comes down to one’s preference in what they would like to study.
NYU Steinhardt – Home to the “Traditional” Music Program
What if you’re not interested in musical theater or contemporary music? Does that mean you need to skip NYU altogether?
Not at all.
NYU has a first-class traditional musical school in Steinhardt, a fine institution to study classical and jazz performance, and a great place to study film scoring and musical composition.
At Steinhardt, students will find courses familiar to anyone at music school, such as those in jazz and orchestra performance, music history, and theory.
Ensembles range from those focusing on pop/rock and Pipes and Drums to those that perform chamber music and Brazilian jazz.
However, those who see the more unique offerings at Clive Davis need not ignore Steinhardt, as the latter features several courses in other aspects of music.
The Music in Global Communities minor helps students understand music as a universal language, learning how to use their art to foster connections across cultures. The Music Education degree combines pedagogy courses with performance courses, helping students prepare the next generation of musicians.
NYU Steinhardt even has a Music Business degree, in which they work directly with industry leaders to gain the skills to make a living in music marketing, licensing, etc.
NYU Steinhardt and NYU Clive Davis – Where They “Overlap”
As we see with the Music Business degree, Steinhardt and Clive Davis have certain similarities.
They both offer courses to serve students interested in music production, music business, songwriting, and more.
But it’s in those overlaps that we really see each school’s unique qualities.
For example, Steinhardt’s Music Technology major adheres to the same principles that drive the school’s performance-based majors.
Steinhardt faculty treat the studio as an instrument, giving students the technical skills they need to play that “instrument” well. Just like those performing in ensembles, production majors gain hands-on experience by working in the studio.
This isn’t to suggest that Steinhardt ignores the business side of things. In fact, production majors will take an internship in the industry as part of their degree.
Likewise, both NYU Clive Davis and Steinhardt offer songwriting options, and both take advantage of the industry connections in New York City.
However, where Clive Davis focuses more on the industry side of things, Steinhardt is concerned with craft and understanding of music, as demonstrated by the music theory & music history courses that students take.
Which Is Harder to Get Into?
In my experience, Clive Davis is more selective than Steinhardt.
No esteemed music school is easy to get into, and that’s especially true of those at NYU. As a whole, NYU accepted just 7.7% of its applicants in 2024, making it incredibly competitive.
Clive Davis has an acceptance rate of 12%. Clive Davis admits 60 musicians each year out of 500 applicants, and more people than that apply in some years.
I would advise against anyone seeing those numbers and thinking that Steinhardt is markedly easier. Because it’s the more traditional of the two NYU schools, Steinhardt has a wider range of majors, which means that certain programs have different standards. They aren’t necessarily going to accept the same number of jazz players as they do majors in screen scoring, for example.
In short, both schools at NYU are highly competitive. Anyone who hopes to study at either Clive Davis or Steinhardt would do well to prepare diverse portfolios and create the strongest possible applications.
Which Is Better?
I have no reservations recommending NYU Clive Davis and NYU Steinhardt to any serious music student. I’ve worked with students who have been accepted to both schools and absolutely thrived in their educations.
The question isn’t about their quality. It’s what you want as a student and a musician.
If you’re interested in jazz and classical performance, then Steinhardt is the clear choice.
If musical theatre, both work. I would definitely recommend Steinhardt if you don’t have much dance experience for your audition. If you’re looking for a BFA instead of a BM degree, then Tisch may be the stronger option for you.
If you want to study contemporary music and want to better understand the business and production side of things, then either Clive Davis or Steinhardt can work.
You can’t apply to both, unfortunately; NYU makes you choose only Steinhardt or Tisch when you submit the Common Application.
That all being said, if you want to study music in New York City, it’s hard to go wrong with either NYU Clive Davis or NYU Steinhardt, so the choice is up to you.
