I’m a junior currently and am trying to decide whether o keep up private lessons
I plan to become an engineering major with a double or more likely a minor in piano performance. I have been in orchestra for a while(our school has incredible orchestra and band programs) and I enjoy concerts greatly, but practice much less so.
I expect that if I want to make the orchestra in my top choice schools, I would definitely keep private lessons up and practice more. I’m just not sure if I’ll have time or energy to play and practice for an orchestra. At the same time though I enjoy my orchestra in high school and would not consider dropping it at all.
Has any non music majors played in a college orchestra? It would be nice if someone could testify regarding this, especially if you had to balance it with an extra rigorous course load like in engineering. Would this be unnecessary stress?
Probably depends on the expectations of the college’s orchestra program. My daughter is enjoying jazz band as simply a member, not a music major or minor. She finds it fun and a stress reliever. They practice regularly but she opted-out of private lessons to keep it from draining too much time from her coursework.
My daughter is in engineering and plays in several groups on her campus, orchestra included. She does it for fun, not as a minor, though she did focus on music for some non-engineering requirements. She also takes private lessons at college on a weekly basis that she/we pay for. She loves being involved in music so it is a priority for her.
My D was a STEM major (not engineering but lots of lab classes) and played in her college orchestra all four years. She found it to be a really enjoyable experience (as it was for her throughout HS). However, I will say that her college orchestra was fairly low key and had a wonderful conductor who recognized that people were doing it for fun. Also she make a choice to drop down from playing first violin (which she played throughout HS) to second violin because she found that she didn’t need to spend much (if any) time outside of rehearsals practicing to play the second violin part well.
My D found that most schools she looked at wanted to make music groups accessible to non-majors. But as noted above it will depend on the particular orchestra and conductor in the college you attend.
My D, now a grad student, has enjoyed participating as a non music major in orchestra and chamber ensembles in both grad and undergrad contexts, and also while studying abroad. She finds it a fun way to keep up with music and get to know a new circle of people. When her schedule is particularly rough, she simply drops the music for the semester.
Check with the universities you’re interested in. Many have non major orchestras. D1 is an engineering major at Purdue and participated in their orchestra her first two years. They have two orchestras a Symphony Orchestra and a Philharmonic Orchestra. You audition to get in though most with past orchestra experience will be able to participate in the Symphony Orchestra. The Philharmonic is more selective. The nice thing is that orchestra is for credit so it can be a nice way to get college credit and do what you enjoy. There are people who will give private lessons though as an engineering major the course work and rehearsals are often enough. I think you’ll find that many STEM focused universities will have orchestra opportunities.
It is a great way to meet people of different ages and departments. At some colleges, students and faculty are both in the orchestra, which is a good experience. 8 semesters of orchestra can do wonders for your GPA, even if not all the credits count toward graduation.