<p>Can anyone tell me about the music program at Emory? My son is a HS junior sax player (also plays clarinet and some flute) who is considering a range of college music options - major, minor, or just performing in ensembles. Thanks.</p>
<p>I actually think it’s pretty good for a non-conservatory program. I know several majors (many of them double majors. I for example, know plenty of talented students who major in it and something like a science). You can major, minor, or participate. It’s a department that is very open to students who want to play any role. Just a warning if they major or minor though. The courses are easy grade wise but are very time consuming from what I’ve seen. I remember hearing all my friends in the intro. music course taking 3-day midterms and finals for it. This was okay for those genuinely considering the major, but brutal for those thinking that it would just be an easy GER similar to a simple music appreciation course they took in highschool. The course stressed the heck out of one of my pre-med friends freshman year (who was taking gen. chem at the same time and found it tough juggling both especially when the exam for chem was within the exam period for that music 101 course). The upperlevel courses on the other hand are a mixture of being more relaxed (like music history) and being just like that (with subsequent courses involving a lot more original works and writing one’s own compositions). However, even when the courses are hard, the mentoring seems excellent. I remember my friend meeting his professor a lot during the more composition based courses, so the profs. work with you in producing an excellent piece. Because of this, all of my friends seem to enjoy it a lot, even when it’s time consuming (remember a friend going to Schwartz performing arts building each day for like 3-4 hours just to work on playing his trombone. Mind you, he was pre-engineering and is now at Georgia Tech. It wasn’t like he didn’t have lots of programming to do for his CS courses or homework for his linear algebra course and diff. eq courses).</p>
<p>Was your GT friend majoring in Music? What are your double majoring friends planning to do with their Music majors?</p>
<p>Yes he did (I think just music when he was at Emory. He just took the pre-reqs. for the Tech engineering program he wanted to enter). I think many of them chose it as a major so that they can stay very involved in music despite pursuing other things as a career. Many were music/CS for example. Another chunk were music and neuroscience. A lot of these students are pre-med/pre-engineering, but are just really passionate about music and wanted to remain on the scene while in college (one of my apartmentmates is NBB/music and is part of a band, and was since HS. When he got here, he got involved with the Emory arts scene as well, even though he is pre-med. Another apartmentmate is an English major and is currently in a band as well). I know many pre-profs. and those of various majors (not music) who have started bands and the like (one good example is Emrock. The members of this band ironically lived on the hall of all these friends of mine who were double majoring in music. The hall was just musically talented that year. That year being last year. The band members would use a lounge space to practice). I don’t know of too many people pursuing it as a career, but I believe my friend knew someone (the one at Tech who is now mechanical engineering). I would just say that it seems that Emory has quite a thriving performing arts scene for a school not really known for it. It’s very surprising (okay, it really shouldn’t be surprising, campus movie fest started at Emory. On top of that, b-school students started it, so it seems we have a history of the “artsy” pre-professionals) and refreshing at the same time! Thank goodness for Emory’s pseudo-liberal arts feel/orientation or else the place would be way too uptight.
This youtube Emory channel displays some of the relevant videos having to do with the arts at Emory. Seems as if we are good at attracting some interesting people to put in residence of our music dept. for example. That, within itself, adds some vibrance to the scene:
[Arts</a> at Emory - YouTube](<a href=“null - YouTube”>null - YouTube)</p>
<p>I’m thinking that Emory has kind of recently embarked on a movement to shed more light on the arts at the school (there are, as of this year, many banners on the lamp-posts that advertise and remind us of opps. in theater and other sectors of the arts). More videos, surprisingly not posted within that link (I don’t think so at least):<br>
<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p>I’m with bernie: There is a ton of mentoring and a ton of work; and the student results reflect it.</p>
<p>There are always performances on campus, perhaps you could schedule a tour and info session around one of them.</p>