<p>My d hopes to play in one of the orchestras - anybody have any experience as a non-major ??</p>
<p>I have the exact same question.</p>
<p>My D finished her freshman year at WUStl in May. She is a double major in P-N-P and a foreign language, is taking the premed prereqs and is involved in music as purely an extracurricular activity.</p>
<p>Tryouts are the first week of the fall semester, before classes start. I just checked and they don't have the 2008 tryout schedule/requirements up yet. Here is the link - you might try it later in July or call the music dept. - Washington</a> University in St. Louis - Department of Music
WashU has a symphony orchestra, a smaller chamber orchestra, ensembles and you can take private lessons. D tried out and received an e-mail a day or two later that she was in the s.o. and was invited as one of seven freshmen to play in the c.o. </p>
<p>Symphony Orchestra -
They practice on Wednesday evenings for 2 1/2 hours or so. The s.o. gives 2-3 concerts per semester, usually on Sunday afternoons.</p>
<p>Chamber orchestra -
They only give one concert per semester. They practice very intensively over a long weekend at the very beginning of each semester and give a concert the Tuesday after. That is it for the semester! They practice all Labor Day weekend in the fall and the weekend before and including Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the spring (since both weekends have a Monday with no classes). </p>
<p>D also took a weekly private lesson with teachers employed by WashU who were violinists with the St. Louis Symphony (had a different teacher each semester).</p>
<p>You can also express an interest in participating in an ensemble when you try out and they will match you up with one. I believe the ensembles set up their own practice schedules. I know that there are opportunities for the ensembles to play for $$$ and they also have a concert maybe once a semester (or it might just be once a year) where the ensembles perform. D did not participate in an ensemble this past year. </p>
<p>D's analysis of her experience (others may have another opinion!)=
She really enjoyed her participation in both the c.o. and s.o. There are some pretty incredible kids at WashU majoring in all sorts of things who are also astounding musicians. The first seated student violinist last year graduated Phi Beta Kappa and is headed to WashU Medical School. My D said he was just an amazing talent - musically and intellectually. </p>
<p>Many of the tests for the premed prereqs are on Thursdays and D found that a 2 1/2 to 3 hour practice on Wednesday nights caused her to be a little stressed. Another thing D encountered was a lack of time to practice. She was a nearly 7 day a week practicer at home for years but found when trying to excel in her classes at WashU, practicing was the first thing she let go. She felt the music they played for the most part was pretty challenging and felt like she had not had (or taken) the time to practice to where she felt she was doing it justice at times.</p>
<p>A complaint I have as a parent is that the music department was moved off campus last year. It use to be conveniently located very near the South 40, but now it is located on 560 Trinity Street (why it is called the 560 Music Center) near the Delmar Loop. <a href="http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/%7Emusic/560info.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~music/560info.htm</a>. It is a wonderful facility, but very inconvenient, especially for freshman students, or any student who doesn't have a car. You have to walk to Mallinckrodt Center from the South 40 and take a shuttle to the 560 Music Center. You have to do this for private lessons, concerts, and the Wednesday night s.o. practices. A 45 minute private lesson can end up taking 2 hours!! I am not sure if ensembles practice on campus or not. D has had times that after a concert the shuttle was too full and some students had to wait (30 minutes or more) for the next shuttle to come. The dress rehersal for concerts is done right before the concert, so the last thing you want to do it arrive at 1 pm to reherse, give a 3 pm concert, then have to stand around waiting for another shuttle if the first one is too full. By then you are tired, hungry, and have a load of homework to do!</p>
<p>All in all, she really enjoyed the experience. She thought that her private teachers were good (especially her 2nd semester teacher). D enjoyed the other musicians and continuing to play an instrument that she loves, even if it is "just for fun"! </p>
<p>Here are some other CC WUStl links I found pertaining to orchestra - </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/379470-chamber-ensembles-eh.html?highlight=orchestra%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/379470-chamber-ensembles-eh.html?highlight=orchestra</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/317381-music-opportunities-non-majors.html?highlight=orchestra%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/317381-music-opportunities-non-majors.html?highlight=orchestra</a>
- you can see that I asked the very same questions you are asking a year ago!</p>
<p>Please PM me is you have any other specific questions!</p>
<p>There is also a new (as of last year), entirely student-run orchestra, WUPops, that plays mostly soundtrack/broadway music plus 2-3 more-traditional orchestra works. We rehearse for 1.5 hours on Tuesday nights, and have had a concert each semester, with one other smaller performance. We welcome everyone, and there are no auditions. There are some really talented performers, but there are also some who haven't touched their instruments since the beginning of high school. I take piano lessons through the music department, and am also in the pep band, but I'm definitely not a music major! The move to the 560 building was initially an inconvenience, but it's really much nicer than the old music school, and it's actually not that far away, walking or taking the bus. To get to WuPops, most of my friends walk over together with some other orchestra members, or we take the bus. WuPops is a lot of fun, and not stressful at all. Check out our webpage for more info: Wash</a> U Pops Orchestra</p>
<p>Yoda & MidWest,</p>
<p>Thanks for the info !! It is very helpful. My d is very interested in the Pops group. 2 more questions - are all practices now at the 560 bldg, or are they split between Tiejtens & 560 ? Also, where is the storage for large instruments (bass, cello, harp) ?</p>
<p>D is a violinist and keeps her instrument with her, so hopefully yodadog will be able to answer that question for you.</p>
<p>I am also not sure how much Tietjens Hall is used. All of D's symphony orchestra practices and concerts were at the 560 building - so were her private lessons. The chamber orchestra concerts were held on campus, but I do not remember where the practices were held. It seems like they were on campus. One concert was in Holmes Lounge and one in Graham Chapel. </p>
<p>D was lucky enough to have a practice room in her dorm last year. Not all dorms have them, but you can go over to another dorm and use their room if your dorm doesn't have one. Residential Life can give you a list of the dorms that have them. If you play a larger instrument you would probably want to practice where it is stored, so hopefully yodadog will have the info on that!</p>
<p>WashU doesn't have a very good music program. That's all everyone has told me that I've asked.</p>
<p>I'm sure the music department is just fine. Unless you go to a music conservatory, you'll be hard-pressed to find a world-renowned music program at any university.</p>
<p>WU is known for it's flexibility and lack of red tape, and music department is pretty accomodating for this. You don't have to be a music major or minor to be in any performing ensemble or take classes in the department. Any student in any division/school/major can participate in any offering in the music school (somewhat rare in colleges). </p>
<p>Their website lists these as instrumental groups: Chamber Ensembles, Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Winds, Concert Choir, Flute Choir, Jazz Band, Jazz Combos, Opera Productions, Symphony Orchestra. </p>
<p>One day per week, Holmes Lounge (one of the fancy lounges on campus) hosts Jazz at Holmes where they bring in a national or sometimes international jazz ensemble and have food, and it's all free. Pretty popular event for WU students and the STL community.</p>
<p>The 560 Building on Delmar is a really beautiful, top-notch music and performing arts facility. The location is a tad inconvenient though. I think Tietjens (and Gaylord and Blewitt, the other to music buildings on the main campus) are used mostly for offices, classrooms, and the Music Library now.</p>
<p>Many dorms do have those soundproof music pratice rooms, which is super convenient.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, all storage is currently at the 560 building, which is also where any large orchestras or private lessons of any sort have their practices. Jazz ensembles and choirs (concert/a cappella) are generally the only groups with "on campus" rehearsals. I'm not going to lie, the 560 building is a nice facility, but a huge pain - the main reason I stopped taking lessons was because it was too inconvenient to try and schedule an hour of lesson with a minimum of a half hour transportation time there and back once a week. That's a two hour block of time for only an hour of lessons, and I'm taking other classes. Ridiculous. We do have a bus (WUSTL Green line) there and back that tend to be on time for things a lot of students are going to - like master classes, orchestra rehearsals, etc - but for individual lessons, it's not so reliable.</p>
<p>Ahem, anyway... Koenig, Danforth, Park, and Meyers are all dorms with practice rooms in them (the latter is a sophomore dorm), and the on campus facilities are pretty nice too (there are practice rooms in the on campus Music Complex, right next to the South 40, also).</p>
<p>And we actually have one of the top Music Theory programs in the country (aside from conservatories), and our voice faculty is outstanding as well - Chris Armistead teaches Christine Brewer, one of the top sopranos in the country. I've also heard our jazz program is one of the best offered (and Jazz at Holmes, previously mentioned, really is an amazing free weekly event unique to WashU). I don't know much about how good we are with instrumentalists, because I'm not one. But the great thing about WashU's music program is that it's not a conservatory, but it still offers a great music education - most of the people I know in concert choir aren't majors or minors at all, and I assume it's the same with orchestra. I also have a few friends who just decided to pick up guitar/voice lessons for fun, because you get 3 credit hours for them. And I know a guy who is a BME/music double major - it's incredible that that's possible.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm sure the music department is just fine. Unless you go to a music conservatory, you'll be hard-pressed to find a world-renowned music program at any university.
[/quote]
If you're really serious about studying music, though, it would probably be better to go to a university where there is an actual dedicated School of Music, like Northwestern or Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>I second what lechza and jcool said - WUStl's music program is great and EXACTLY what the type of students who come there want and need. You can actually double major in something with music! My nephew has a friend who just finished his freshman year at Northwestern and TRIED to double major in math and piano. With the # of practice hours required, etc. it was just impossible. We attended a symphony orchestra concert this past year at WashU that featured a student pianist who is an engineering major and also plays the trumpet - he was fabulous! That wouldn't be possible at a university where their music program was conservatory based. Those who want to major just in music or music is their primary focus, go to a school with a conservatory. My D avoided those schools like the plague because she wanted to major in something else, but still wanted to be able to play her violin. Many of the conservatory schools wouldn't guarantee you that option - WashU did!</p>
<p>I play flute, so I haven't actually used the storage, but I know that for both WuPops and Pepband there are special storage rooms that people use (in the 560 bld, and gym, respectively). To add to the list above, there are also practice modules in Hurd (another sophomore dorm right next to Meyers), and there's a grand in Mudd (it's not exactly isolated/soundproof though). I also think there's a practice room in Millbrook (in the Village).</p>
<p>Sorry to revive an old thread. Is it still true that many of the tests for the premed prereqs are on Thursdays and on Wednesday nights there is 2 1/2 to 3 hour practice for the Orchestras? Is transportation to the 560 Music Center still a problem and a 45 minute private lesson can end up taking 2 hours ? ( all of this posted by @MidWestParent and @lechzayenpara ). Need to make some decisions ASAP</p>