College Visit Trip: First Stop Harvard

Parents Forum
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<p>Princeton Music from the Student Guide
Instrumental music</p>

<p>Princeton University Orchestra. This is the biggest of the student art groups, with nearly 100 members. Despite its size, the orchestra is very selective; many members could have easily pursued professional musical careers. Still, experienced woodwind, brass, and percussion musicians are always sought after, and there are openings every year in the strings section as seniors graduate. Michael Pratt has been the conductor for more than 25 years, building the group from a small collection of musical hobbyists to one of the strongest college orchestras in the country. The orchestra performs four or five programs a year, with 8 to 10 concerts in Richardson Auditorium in addition to tour performances. The selections come from different periods, featuring a large variety of composers, but the quality is consistently high; orchestra members put a lot of work into each performance. Auditions for new members are held right after Orientation Week in September, and again in January. In the 10-minute auditions, Pratt will ask you to play a piece of your choosing and a few brief excerpts from the year's repertoire that he makes available in early September. The orchestra goes on tour every other year, so you will get at least two opportunities to go abroad with the orchestra if you join.</p>

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<p>One thing Princeton REALLY needs to work on is the statement "no double concentrations are permitted." Yes, they do say this. What they don't say is that a certificate (minor) in any department requires just as many courses as a major. The only difference is that it doesn't (as Alumother points out) require a senior thesis. However, in most of the performing arts programs, the students do a thesis anyway! It is usually a performance. So the concentration plus certificate really does add up to what any other school would call a double major. Having a child who is doing a certificate in another performing art, I can tell you that this can easily be as much as or more of an in-depth experience than any major. If anything, with the many opportunities offered the challenge is not to let the performing art take over everything else. And there are many, many students majoring in a hard science and doing a certificate in a performing art. </p>

<p>Music performance is a certificate (minor) at Princeton. <a href="http://www.music.princeton.edu/pages/musical_performance.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.music.princeton.edu/pages/musical_performance.pdf&lt;/a>
There are many opportunities to participate in ensembles, orchestra, etc. In general the particular performing art department itself is the best source of information.</p>

<p>I would also recommend looking at Columbia, which offers to a select few students the opportunity to study both on campus and at Juilliard.</p>

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<p>Last comment on Harvard - I challenged my soprano offspring to come up with a Music / Chemistry thesis topic. She suggests that there are frequent cautions to vocalists about what is safe to drink before performing - green tea is supposed to be a curative, milk creates a mucus that impairs performance, some carbonated substances are supposedly problematic - all based upon the acids composing the beverages. She says there ought to be a thesis in there somewhere :-)</p>

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<p>What a crack up! This was exactly my daughter's idea for the thesis!</p>

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<p>In the fwiw department:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/02/0603/6a.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/02/0603/6a.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"She has received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and declined a Marshall Scholarship for next year in order to accept the Rhodes Scholarship to study pure mathematics at Oxford. She has been recognized by USA Today with selection to the 2001 All-USA College Academic First Team and by Glamour Magazine as one of the Top 10 College Women in 2001.</p>

<p>"Also an accomplished violinist, Pierce has served as co-concertmaster of the Princeton University Orchestra, founder and first violinist of the Nassau String Quartet and soloist with professional orchestras. Michael Pratt, conductor of the University Orchestra, has described her as 'a superb violinist who could easily have attended any conservatory in the world.'</p>

<p>"Pierce has participated in summer research in theoretical chemistry at Princeton, in molecular biology at the California Institute of Technology and in mathematics at the National Security Agency....</p>

<p>"As absorbed as she has been in her mathematical studies, Pierce has been adamant about making time for music. 'Music has really been crucial, in particular when I get depressed about studies,' she said. 'Music steps in and becomes very important.'</p>

<p>In fact, when asked about a favorite memory of Princeton, Pierce without hesitation mentioned her senior recital in May.</p>

<p>"'One thing that has really bothered me about coming to Princeton is the idea of sacrificing music and not going to a conservatory -- making that decision that I'm not going to be a musician,' she said. 'I think I've always sort of pretended that I've never made that decision and that I could still be a musician'....</p>

<p>"Pierce said she has especially enjoyed the high-caliber musicians among her fellow students. 'People who got accepted at conservatories come here, and I got to play with them,' she said. She plans to keep up with her music at Oxford, perhaps switching to Baroque violin, an instrument that is played differently because it does not have a chin rest and has a different kind of bow."</p>