<p>While I'm incredibly happy I got into Smith (whoo 2015!!) it has occurred to me that I know very little about its music department, which is very important to me. When I visited Smith last year I didn't have the opportunity to sit in on a music class, and I am highly considering majoring in music, not necessarily because it's a career path I'd like to pursue, but it's just something I'm very passionate about. I'm in no rush to figure out my major, though; I just want to know more about Smith's music and arts department. </p>
<p>What kind of music are you interested in? Do you play an instrument or do you sing? </p>
<p>I think if you do a search of the Smith board you’ll find several threads related to the Smith music department. One of the regular parent posters here has a daughter who majored in music (I believe it was vocal) and may be able to tell you more.</p>
<p>Julnim, did you find the information about music from past posts that you were looking for? </p>
<p>The music department is excellent. The choral program–the Smith College Chorus (first-year choral group), the Glee Club (upperclass women), and the more select Chamber Singers–is top-notch. My daughter sang last year in the Smith College Chorus and this year she’s singing in the Glee Club. They just performed the monumental Bach B Minor Mass this last weekend with orchestra, soloists and the visiting Cornell University Men’s Glee Club; it was a glorious performance. In about two weeks there will be the Spring Serenade concert. If you play an instrument, the orchestra is fabulous. There are other groups, including the Wailing Banshees (a Celtic fiddling group) and a woodwind group, a number of chamber groups, and I’m sure there are others. You don’t have to major in music to participate in any of these groups. Take a look at the concert schedule online; that will give you a sense of the strength of the music department.</p>
<p>The poster, Mini, has a daughter who majored in composition and who is now a grad student at Princeton in musicology/Italian Renaissance Studies. You could PM him if you want.</p>
<p>Smith is a very well balanced school in terms of student interests–1/3 of the student body majors in social sciences and humanities, 1/3 in the hard sciences and engineering, and 1/3 in the performing and fine arts. So you have lots of choices for a major!</p>
<p>A lot of the music department IS great, and many of the professors are great and the community is great, but I’d caution you to think carefully before deciding to major in music. The major has really been constricted (there are barely ANY music classes 2011-2012), and you won’t have that many choices about what to study, at least at Smith, I don’t know a lot about 5 college classes. There is also only one theory professor right now, and he’s wonderful, but he’s usually teaching intro theory courses, so if you’re interested in music theory, you probably won’t get a lot of that in your major. It will be largely historical. You should definitely contact someone in the department if you’re considering it. You can also minor in music and take a handful of good classes, and not have to worry about all the major requirements, and get a discount on lessons (which is great if you’re interested in performance).</p>
<p>It’s clear there are great opportunities for participating in music groups, choral and instrumental, at Smith–but what about Smith students who want to sing in a co-ed chorus or a capella group? Is it easy for Smith students to participate in auditioned choral groups at one of the other 5 colleges? I found info on the 5 Colleges website that was vague about this for choral groups but encouraging for instrumental groups. D is an experienced singer in both chorus and a capella groups which required auditions, and plays violin (but is currently more interested in singing).</p>
<p>It’s fairly easy for a capella groups, I think the hardest thing is just finding out when the auditions are. One of my good friends at Smith was in a co-ed a capella group at Hampshire. Of course, the usual annoyances of doing things off campus apply: you have to budget time for transporting yourself to and from places, and that eats into time when you could be doing ohter stuff, but it doesn’t have to be an overbearing burden. I think it would be difficult to be in both an on campus and an off campus group howeve,r you’d probably have to choose one or the other. </p>
<p>As for the more organized choruses (vs. the a capella ensembles) I have no idea how that would work, I’ve never known anyone personally that did it, but I’m sure that people have done it. The one thing I would caution is that college chorus at Smith alone is a big time committment, with lots of rehearsals and travel to other campuses for concerts and on campus performances with extra rehearsals included. Assuming that it’s the same at the other colleges in the area, it may be difficult to carve out the time to participate in a formal chorus at Amherst or UMASS. </p>
<p>For a while they were doing a Five College Opera project, where they would present 2-3 short pieces from several different operas (usually two older/one modern). Those were great because they were a real cross-consortium collaboration of singers, musicians, technical theater people (the costumes and sets were awesome), actors and sometimes even dancers. But they did not happen every year as it’s not easy to organize so many moving pieces. They may have that while she’s there so she should just keep an eye out. </p>
<p>For instrumental groups there’s an established 5 college orchestra, and many people form their own chamber or other kinds of music groups, so I think that mechanism is easy to work out.</p>
<p>Just be warned that orchestra is very time-consuming and only gives you credits if you are a music major. Lots of rehearsals, lots of work between rehearsals and quite a few performances to fit in as well.</p>
<p>I think it will be one or the other (voice or orchestra), but it seems like a potential avenue to meet other students both on and off Smith’s campus if my D feels the need. I play in an auditioned, full-sized college/community symphony orchestra myself (as an alum/community member) so I know it’s a lot of work for the students to keep up with the extra practicing outside of rehearsals. Hopefully the rewards are well worth the effort!</p>