<p>Hi all,
I am applying to college soon and I am just curious to what colleges have good orchestras and stuff because I plan on doing orchestra in college.</p>
<p>The only one I know is UCLA and American Youth Symphony (I understand that AYS is not affiliated with UCLA, but their rehearsals/concerts are relatively close by and I noticed that lots of people from AYS are from UCLA)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>We need a few more specifics, mylifeisgone195. Are you planning on majoring in music, or playing in orchestra as a non-major? Are you looking to stay in the California area? There are many many good college orchestras all over the country. What else are you looking for in a college? Have you done college visits to start narrowing down your search? Have you taken any sample lessons? There are many many factors that go into choosing which colleges to apply for, and many wonderful people on this forum who are a great resource and help.</p>
<p>@Clarimom Hi thank you for replying so quickly! Most likely playing in orchestra as a non-major, but I might double major/minor in music along with biology or something, I don’t know yet. No, I’m pretty open to leaving California haha but I am fine anywhere. I am also looking for a school w/ a good science program. Yes, I visited Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA so far. And no, I haven’t taken any sample lessons yet.</p>
<p>There used to be a really good thread about college orchestras - but with this new search function I’m having trouble finding it. Here is one recent discussion I did find: <a href=“Universities with strong orchestras even if non music major - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621956-universities-with-strong-orchestras-even-if-non-music-major-p1.html</a></p>
<p>A number of colleges have strong orchestra and music programs even though they may not necessarily offer performance degrees. Some or all of the Ivy league schools (especially the HYP schools) put a lot of emphasis on their school orchestras, they tend to give edges in admissions to kids with music backgrounds who indicate they will play in college, as one example. Some of the big state schools have strong orchestra programs as well. Some of what you would experience as a non major may be impacted by whether the school has a program granting BM’s, from what I have heard those schools often have different orchestras for majors and non majors, so playing in the non major orchestra may be not as good as one for the majors, or even as good as one at a program like Harvard for example…</p>
<p>One of the key determining factors with what you do might be how good a musician you are. You mention potentially double majoring in music (which there are a lot of threads about on here, even recently), these days to major or double major in music in an auditioned music school (within a university or not) is not for the casual player (minoring on an instrument for a BA/BS might be easier, or getting a second degree in music for a BA might be, depends on the school), you don’t major in performance simply by saying ‘that is my major’ like with academic studies, it is by audition, and it will be competitive.</p>
<p>My recommendation? Start looking at schools you would wish to go to for whatever you want to study, then check out their website and see what they say about music programs at the school. If they aren’t clear, send them an e-mail and ask, admissions people are only too glad for the most part to answer your questions. If you are thinking of potentially majoring on an instrument, I would recommend talking to your primary teacher about that, if you are studying with a private teacher on violin, for example, and are playing high level rep is very different then a kid who plays in a school orchestra and has their lessons with a teacher in school. The reason is you may find you are good enough to major in performance/get a BM degree, you might find out you are an okay player in school, which would mean more than likely not doing a performance degree, but rather continuing to take lessons and play in the college orchestra as a non major. </p>
<p>The other thing to keep in mind are alternate programs. For example, if you went to school in the NYC area (Columbia, NYU, Princeton let’s say, if you are interested in that level of program academically), there is the New York Youth Symphony, which accepts musicians up to 22 years old and is one of the premiere performing groups of that type in the country (they also offer a chamber music program), it is audition, but it isn’t quite as difficult as getting into a BM program, and there are programs like that elsewhere, so even if the school doesn’t have an orchestra, programs like NYYS are available. </p>
<p>@mylifeisgone195 - You can actually watch and listen to some college orchestras because they live stream their concerts. Some schools are performing their final concerts this week and next week. If you have any colleges in mind, check on their website if they live stream and maybe you’ll be lucky to catch their final performance of the semester.</p>