Music not a strong point for Reed?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Reed College
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<p>I always have been impressed by Reed College and was planning to bring my HS junior S to visit during spring break. My guess is that he will major in a social science, but take many music classes (possibly earning a double major) because music (jazz, contemporary, world) is his passion. </p>

<p>While looking over the Reed website, I noticed that Reed only has 4 faculty in its Music Department. Am I missing something? Most other small LAC we have looked at have many more faculty members in its music dept. We also noticed that very few department sponsored music event seemed to be scheduled. What's up?</p>

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<p>I'm going to try and answer all of your questions, but I'm not a true expert on the music major at Reed so take it with a grain of salt.</p>

<p>First of all, yes, the music dep't at Reed, like you have noticed, is very small. This has to do with the number of students who major in music and also the fact that Reed is a very small school. I am a linguistics major and there are only 2 or 3 professors in the ling dep't each year (changes due to visiting professors and professors on leave, etc). However, the music professors that ARE there are wonderful. Unlike at some other liberal arts colleges, our faculty members do both the teaching of courses and directing of performance groups. We do not have separate staff/faculty members for those, and as a member of both the chorus and the collegium musicum, I NEVER felt like the group didn't get enough attention from the director because she is too busy. Also, on the Reed website, we do not list all our studio instructors, but in fact there are many different options for private music lessons if this is something that interests your son. There are also scholarships that help reduce the cost of the lessons, which is very helpful.</p>

<p>From what I see, the music department at Reed is mostly about classical music. I don't think I'd be wrong in saying that there's some jazz as well, but I don't know about contemporary and world music. Looking through the courses, it looks like there are a couple of courses on world music, but this is not the focus of the music dep't at Reed, I don't think.</p>

<p>Also, about double major. That's almost impossible at Reed unless you plan to do an extra year or two. In order to graduate from Reed, you have to design your own year-long research project at the end of which you have to have completed a thesis (a reason for the Reed curriculum having the nick name "mini Ph.D"). Double major means TWO THESES. Seniors are already grumpy enough with one thesis, you really wouldn't want to throw two theses at somebody.</p>

<p>So realistically, we're speaking of him having a major outside of music, but participating in musical activities and taking classes in music. Now, that is completely doable. As I've said above, I am a linguistics major, but my passion is music. I sing in the chorus and the collegium musicum, and if I hadn't quit violin lessons when I was 12, I probably would be in the orchestra. I was interested in taking private lessons for saxophone, but I think I will actually have to take voice lessons because I am considering singing professionally. Once I return to Reed (I'm in Paris for a semester abroad), I will probably take the historical survey courses as well as theory course(s). And I will be able to graduate on time if nothing goes terribly wrong. In the music circle, we joke that there are many honorary music majors at Reed.</p>

<p>Lastly, you're probably right that there aren't a lot of dep't sponsored music events. However, the Student Activities Office gives out free tickets to music events that take place on campus ALL THE TIME, and believe-it-or-not, it's not that competitive to get these tickets. I'm sure lots of people would love to go, but for most Reedies, they just don't have the time for it or it's not their priority. Not to mention we have Gray Fund that organizes really cool cultural events (all free and sometimes musical). And student activities subsidizes tickets for concerts off-campus. (Yay. Gotta love the SAO.)</p>

<p>I don't know what exactly is going on musically during spring break since I'm not there, but you should definitely visit. If your son's spring break does not coincide with Reed's, that would be better, because then you can see students and also talk to people at the admissions office about stuff like this. Or you could always send your son to Reed for an overnight visit. (Maybe I'm biased because I was an overnight host last semester, but it seems like the best way for prospective students to get to know Reed.)</p>

<p>But yeah, don't let the small number of faculty turn you away, because they are few but they're great!</p>

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<p>Thank you for your very thorough answer! If anyone else has thoughts on this matter, I would love to hear them.</p>

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<p>Not to take over the thread, but can you take music lessons in, say, the sax even with minimal musical skill/experience? Or do you have to be a highly skilled musician to take advantage of these classes?</p>

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<p>D and I visited Reed a few weeks ago and what jinyoung has written above seems to ring VERY true. </p>

<p>D is very musically inclined (HS band, local symphony, music teaching) but does not plan to major in Music. (And as mentioned above, double majors seem impossible at Reed.) Still, we were very interested in music at Reed and we manage to steer our tour over to the Music Department. It is located in a charming building and seems to be staffed by very welcoming staff. We spoke with a Music major who said that there were only a few actual music majors at Reed (I am thinking he said 8 or so). He pointed out that they wouldn't be able to have an orchestra if only music majors participated, so extra-curricular music was a definite option for students. </p>

<p>The private classes seemed to be available to all with scholarships available. While we were there we heard what was obviously a very beginning piano student, so advanced ability is not required.</p>

<p>D had a very warm and fuzzy feeling from her visit to the music department at Reed and said that if she went to Reed, she would definitely hang out there.</p>