<p>I'm not majoring in music, but would love to play in a symphonic orchestra in college. Can I do this at Harvard? How is their symphonic or chamber orchestra(s), and are they lacking violas so much that I might get a scholarship just for playing?</p>
<p>the ivy league does not award merit scholarships.</p>
<p>No scholarship for playing. Music at Harvard is excellent... as a similarly engaged musician (I'm in the 15-20hrs/week range) music is a big consideration for me in applications, and Harvard has one of the best programs out of all the Ivies. Yale's good too, though.</p>
<p>Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra is the nation's oldest orchestra. I hope they have some open spots for horns when I apply. :)</p>
<p>Oldest doesn't imply too much.</p>
<p>How many orchestras does Harvard have?</p>
<p>Check out <a href="http://www.prefrosh.net%5B/url%5D">http://www.prefrosh.net</a></p>
<p>Thanks for all the info, guys. blendecho, you practice/rehearse 15-20 hours a week? That's pretty impressive. What do you play, and how are your school's groups? marite, that's a great link. Do you know if other schools have similar prefrosh info? Also, can you be in the orchestra without majoring in music? If so, I'm afraid many college orchestras are too serious for me to be able to handle the coursework as well as practice my butt off ...</p>
<p>My school's group is absolutely awful... I mostly play with Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (gbyso.org), and I play cello. I've also played with some Harvard orchestras a couple times at random.</p>
<p>Midwestviola:</p>
<p>Sorry, I don't know about other similar college websites. It IS great.
As for being in a Harvard orchestra w/o majoring in music, yes. I believe Coureur's D, a science major, plays the horn in one of the orchestras. I would think that most college orchestras are full of non-music majors.</p>
<p>There's no music performance major at Harvard (unless you do Harvard-NEC), only a music history major (which is what Yo Yo Ma did.)</p>
<p>I am a senior at Harvard, and I've played in 2 orchestras. Very few of the musicians in orchestras are music majors. Don't worry. My mom said the same thing to me, that I wouldn't have time to do music because I'd have to practice 5 hours a day or something to be in an orchestra, but that's not true.</p>
<p>Eas, what instruments are in constant demand in the orchestras you have played in?</p>
<p>EAS, you have given me hope :) It's wonderful to know that so many people in orchestra are in a similar situation as I would be, and would understand the time contraints and stress. What is your major/career goals, and what do you play? Also, since Harvard's must be quite an advanced orchestra among nonmusic schools, I wonder if you can tell me how difficult the music is at this and other similar schools. My orchestra has performed Dvorak 9 and Tchaik 5 mvts. 2 & 4 in the past two years and we are now tackling Roman Carnival Overture, Nimrod of the Enigma Variations, and the Montagues and Capulets from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. How does this compare to college music?</p>