If you were to major in the same thing at a regular, liberal arts college, you’d spend less time on your major subject than you would at a conservatory. You’d have more general courses, including math, English, and history, and possibly foreign language. Those non-major classes would have no obvious connection to your major subject – they’d be taught from a broader perspective. You’d graduate with a BA, a BS or, in some cases, a BFA. People at your school would be majoring in a wide variety of things: from English to Music to, perhaps, engineering.

It’s possible to have both. There are “conservatory” programs within larger universities, such as the theater program at NYU.

When you graduate from a conservatory, you are prepared to work in your field. You’d know music with an intensity and focus that would be hard to reproduce in a regular liberal arts school, but it would be hard for you to be hired in something outside that field.

However, if you graduated as a music major from a liberal arts school, you’d be seen to have a broader preparation. You’d know music, but you’d also have that broader liberal arts education behind you. This would make it easier to get hired into a field unrelated to music than if you’d gone to conservatory.