Hi all-
I’m a junior in high school and have been playing the violin for about 10 years now; I’m looking to to continue my passion for music throughout college. My interests lie in the music performance and science areas, however I think it would be too strenuous to do a double major in these two areas. I would most definitely want to play in school orchestras and chamber groups, but is there anything else I could do to be more involved in the music community without taking up a double major? What would it be like to do a double degree?
Any comments are appreciated!
Many thanks.
You could look at Bard, where all conservatory students do a double degree, and at other schools that have both conservatories and BA programs (Oberlin, Lawrence, Ithaca, many universities etc). Doulble degrees are generallly 5 years and combining two intensive, sequential majors like music and science can be difficult, but people do it.
You can also study science and continue private lessons, practice and extracurricular performance at many, many schools. Students who do this can still get into grad programs in music if their talent and hard work have kept them at that level, regardless of major. Try to take some theory, history or other music classes as electives.
Here is an essay that might help you think about things: http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html
Mine took violin lessons at college, played in the orchestra, there was a chamber opportunity, and later joined a college fiddle group (not a pick-up group, it was a pretty serious campus thing.) She also used violin in an ongoing community project to bring music and training to a target group.
Try to take a look at how many different music opportunities there are, at your target colleges, academic and other. At the school I work for, there are multiple groups and opportunities to accompany or play in a pit orchestra.
You can certainly continue to play in orchestra and chamber groups in college, and some schools even offer students free (or inexpensive) private lessons. You generally don’t need to be a music major for these opportunities. Another option might be to minor in music.
As you visit schools that you’re interested in, you could make it part of your tour to talk with someone in the music department and find out exactly what each school’s opportunities and policies include. And after college, many adults continue playing music in community orchestras and ensembles!
As others have pointed out, there are plenty of ways to do music without majoring in it or dual degree as well. More than a few universities offer music opportunities even though they don’t have performance degrees (the Ivies come to mind, some of the elite LAC’s). It actually might be more difficult in a program that has a conservatory or music school that grants BM’s, some of those schools limit what a non major can do, they might be limited to orchestras or performing groups that aren’t quite that good, or the number of available ensembles, it all depends on the school. Some will let non majors play in the performing groups with BM students if they pass the audition, others won’t.
As you start figuring out what you want to do in college and you start putting a list together of schools you might want to apply to, it never hurts to send them an e-mail and ask them what opportunities non majors have, even if you are thinking of applying dual degree, so you know. If you do decide you want to keep playing music in college, or even might think you may want to get a MM after undergrad, one of the things I have heard is to choose a school where you can have access to good teachers but also a place where you can have access to great performing opportunities like chamber and orchestra. Again, the key is to ask the schools directly what they offer, to see what might work for you.