<p>Yale is pretty famous for its amazing music/choral scene. I'm curious to see how many of us play instruments (or sing) and what we play. Post your instrument(s), how long you've played, what you want to do musically at Yale, what your favorite time signature is, et cetera.</p>
<p>I've been playing piano for 10 or so years. I'm good, but I'm not amazing. I mostly study for myself, not to compete. I've been a percussionist for 7 years, in the drumline for 4, and an intensive marimbist for 4. I've placed at national competitions for marimba before, and my hands are all torn up and weirdly calloused because it's basically all I spend my free time doing. I think it would be really cool to start a percussion ensemble at Yale (something like THUD at Harvard), and join the YSO as a percussionist. Also, I think it would be cool to find someone else who plays marimba <_<</p>
<p>I’ve been playing cello for 8 years but have been playing music practically my whole life (started out with piano when I was 2…got kicked out of the studio inevitably and started again when I was four, went through violin, harmonica, and flute too). I used to compete in middle school and beginning of high school but now I’ve been too busy to compete :/. A lot of my friends are majoring and going to conservatories like Juilliard and NEC but I like academics too much to do that plus I don’t think I have the discipline necessary to sit still for more than 6 hours a day and practice… At Yale, I’d join the YSO (I like orchestra better than solo, weird right?) and maybe smaller chamber groups. If I could, I’d love to take lessons from Bonnie Hampton at Juilliard since she was my teacher’s teacher, but I don’t know if she teaches non-Juilliard students.
My favorite? 4/4 a lot more freedom to do what you want like Tchaik symphonies <3</p>
<p>^While the Shepard School of Music is certainly great for musicians, Yale is one of the most globally renowned universities in the arts. Yale’s music, arts, and drama departments are all tops. If you’re looking for a good music program, both Yale and Rice would be great.</p>
<p>What? Harvard has no music performance major. Neither does Yale. Both offer music majors that focus on musicology: theory, history, etc.</p>
<p>That being said, Yale does have stunning musical offerings for its undergraduates. The Yale Symphony Orchestra is one of the best undergraduate orchestras in the nation, the Glee Club is phenomenal, and then you have the 15 (official) a cappella groups and the other singing and instrumental groups aside from the YSO. (College orchestras, graduate school-related chamber choirs, etc.)</p>
<p>I have played the violin for 7 years. I am not the best, and I don’t compete in music related activites. However, I like to play in orchestras much more than me playing by myself. If I am accepted at Yale, I would definitely join the music scene.</p>
<p>Yes. There’s so much more of a thrill when you’re part of a group rather than a solo performer. It’s a much more fulfilling sense of accomplishment. I actually wrote one of my essays about this :)</p>
<p>How is playing in part of a large orchestra a larger feeling of accomplishment?
I couldn’t imagine playing a continuo part like cello or something. God.</p>
<p>Being a soloist or part of a chamber group is much better IMO. </p>
<p>When I play with orchestra I play piccolo usually and I always stand out :)</p>
<p>Sure, it’s nice to have the spotlight on you every once in a while. But playing in a group is just an entirely different feeling. For a couple of minutes (or hours), you and everyone you’re playing with are all on the same wavelength, all focusing on the same goal, all listening to each other. I could wax romantic about it for days <.< Plus, ensemble music can carry that oomph that solo music can’t. Prokofiev sonatas can be loud and boomy, but a Mahler symphony can kick you in the throat.</p>
<p>Hey, being a soloist for a concerto has quite the rush. I think it has a higher high than playing in an orchestra. Unexplainable sense of power/control.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, that’s definitely true. Conducting is the same way. It’s a nice combination of solo attention and ensemble cooperation, because even as a concerto soloist or a conductor you have to be aware of what everyone is doing.</p>
<p>Pianist here! Not planning on doing anything serious with it in college, but I did mention it in the additional short answer on the Common App. I pretty much transcribe popular songs onto the piano… and not in the crappy way some Youtube users do it. Lol.</p>
<p>YSO’s one of the reasons why I want to go to Yale so badly. >.< I have no intention of majoring in music but I’ve been doing it for so long that I can’t imagine stopping. I’ve played piano for 13 years and harp for 7 years. And I’ve experimented with a bunch of other instruments, (tuba haha, that was fun =]) but piano and harp are my main ones. I competed a lot and I’ve attended a bunch of music camps but senior year has been rough so I haven’t been able to practice as much. But hopefully that will be fixed once the whole college rush is over!</p>
<p>I absolutely love playing in orchestras, even though I’m terrible at following a conductor. But there’s just this feeling you get after you perform a piece with an orchestra… I don’t know how to describe it without sounding ridiculously cheesy, but I love it! So yeah, my dream would definitely to be harpist for YSO, and I’d want to do some chamber stuff too.</p>
<p>Fave time signature is 4/4. Plain and simple, but you can do so much with it. ^^</p>
<p>hahaha I’ve been a soloist for concertos, but I like playing in orchestras better (and I play cello). Sure, playing stuff like Mozart and Bach doesn’t give a lot of part to celli, but check out the beginning to William Tell or the cello soli in Tchaik 5 or other beautiful celli melodies being woven in and out of instrumentation with others. What got me hooked on orchestra playing was when we played Tchaik 6 at Carnegie Hall and theres this intense climax when the WHOLE orchestra breathed and moved together and it was seriously a magical experience.</p>
<p>^It was actually a Tchaikovsky piece that got me hooked on orchestra too. Before that I had just been focused on drumline and every other musical ensemble was inferior. Then I got to play bass drum on Marche Slave, a part that included multiple marcato, ffff hits. It was beautiful <3 A lot of the time, orchestral percussion parts SUCK (i’ve played entire programs where I’ve had only 4 cymbal crashes) but Tchaikovsky showed me that this isn’t always the case.</p>
<p>Violin! I’ve been playing for about 7 years but I know I don’t remotely compare to all the applicants who’ve played in Carnegie Hall, been in regional orchestras, etc.
But I definitely don’t want to give up music, so I’m planning on taking some music classes and maybe lessons?</p>
<p>I never saw someone reply to the particular comment that Harvard doesn’t have a good music program. Harvard itself doesn’t, but it has a partnership with the New England Conservatory (considered by some to be the best school in the country for strings and also incredible for almost any other instrument) that allows you to get a BA or BS from Harvard and a BM from NEC in 5 years. Not too bad, eh?</p>
<p>Just thought I’d mention that.</p>
<p>However, I want to know more about Yale’s vocal scene, if possible. Are there lots of opportunities for performance in the classical voice genre? Are the lessons/coaching any good? I know that Yale’s grad school is incredible for music, what’s the undergrad like in comparison? I see a lot on hear from instrumentalists talking about the YSO, is there anything for aspiring vocal performance majors?</p>
<p>I play a few instruments. I’ve been playing the piano for 16ish years, classically and competitively, but recently I decided that if I had to play another sonata I would scream and I took up improv jazz (which is CRAZY, by the way, if you’re looking for a challenge). I picked up the guitar about five years ago, and I’m a singer-songwriter now. I also played the sax and the flute in various school/church orchestras but that hardly counts for anything anymore!</p>
<p>My plan for Yale (hopefully) is to major in something like English or Sociology and then let all of my ECs revolve around music, acting, and writing. I’m planning on trying out for the a cappella and improv groups, we’ll see how that goes. I read somewhere that George Lucas, the guy who did the Star Wars films, said something like that being an artist is great, but you have to have something to write about. Which is why he studied Sociology in college, and it’s kind of my plan too (:</p>
<p>Favorite time sig is 3/4 (: waltzes and pop songs, it’s all good!</p>
a lot more freedom to do what you want like Tchaik symphonies <3</p>