<p>Not sure where to post this, here or the USC section. </p>
<p>Daughter is currently a high school junior. While she does not want to major (a minor is a possibility) in music in college, she does enjoy playing her viola and only wants to go to a college where she has a reasonable chance to be part of a decent orchestra and receive lessons, preferably subsidized to some extent by the college. </p>
<p>I know that USC has at least one orchestra, but I do not know if my daughter has a reasonable chance at becoming a member since she will not be a music major and will be, assuming she is admitted, part of the College of Arts, Letters and Sciences, not the Thornton School of Music. As background, my daughter has been a member of her high school orchestra for the last 3 years, has played in a local regional orchestra for the last 3 years, and has been a member of the Southern California Honor Orchestra for the last 2 years.</p>
<p>So, my questions are whether USC has more than one orchestra and/or if the one I know about allows non-majors to be members? If they do allow non-majors, based on your knowledge of the orchestra and my daughter’s background, briefly described above, do you think she has a reasonable chance at becoming a member?</p>
<p>Yes, I could call or email, but it is Sunday and I doubt they are open. In addition, I am looking for some information, such as whether she plays at a high enough level, that I could probably not get by contacting USC directly.</p>
<p>Thank you for the link, but I have already spent some time at the USC and Thornton websites and have not been been able to find the information I am looking for. All I could find was the mention of one orchestra. Perhaps I have not looked in the right place, but I have even done searches on the USC website without success.</p>
<p>USC has many different musical ensembles for musicians of all skill levels. Thornton has its own high level groups that are open to music performance majors, but thee school also has ensembles that are open to all students by audition. For your daughter, look into MUEN320 USC Symphony, and MUEN321, USC Concert Orchestra. Info on these classes are here: [MUEN</a> | USC Schedule of Classes](<a href=“http://web-app.usc.edu/soc/20113/muen.html]MUEN”>302 Found)</p>
<p>Judging by your description of your daughter’s activities, she should have no problem getting into these ensembles. be aware though that they are classes, and therefore will count against the 18 credit per semester limit.</p>
<p>Hi CountMonteCristo.
Looks like I’m a little late reading your thread.</p>
<p>(No surprise) Hawkwings gave you the same info I was going to give you.</p>
<p>My son is a high school senior who likewise wants to continue playing as a non-major. He may well attend USC.</p>
<p>He has spoken to USC staff about playing in one of their orchestras on two occassions.</p>
<p>When he was at our (non-Californian) All-State convention, he spoke to a Thornton admissions recruiter for a little while. She told us that the main symphony orchestra is for majors only, but that there are many non-major musicians at USC and they’re all welcome to audition for the non-major concert orchestra. (I’m pretty sure she said there were only two orchestras – the Symphony for majors, and the Concert for non-majors. But that differs a little from what Hawkwings said. At any rate, there IS an ensemble for non-majors.) She also told us that he would have no problems taking lessons at USC.</p>
<p>And then, when my son was interviewing for the Presidential Scholarship earlier this month, his interviewers (non-Thornton) advised him to minor in music so that he could take private lessons for free. My son was then left with the impression that he could only sign up for lessons, as part of his curriculum, if he was a music minor. In other words, unless he chose to minor, he would have to arrange (and pay) for private lessons himself. I can’t recall what a minor entails at USC specifically, but at nearly every school my son applied to, it included 2 music theories, 2 aural skills, private lessons, and participation in an ensemble. Some minors also required 1 music history and 1 or 2 semesters of piano! Really, for my son’s desired major, that’s an awful lot of extra credit hours that I’m not sure he’ll be able to fit in! Maybe summer school will be in order? :)</p>
<p>My son is definitely going to continue to play. He just doesn’t know if he’s going to minor.</p>
<p>Might be different if you are a music minor in orchestral instruments, but DS is a popular music performance major and for him private lessons are at a fee of about $350/semester credit which is 30minutes of private instruction/week. A reasonable fee for the caliber of instruction he receives, but not free.</p>
<p>^Ah. Interesting. Maybe the facutly interviewers were a little misinformed. They weren’t Thornton faculty, after all. (But, as you said, that’s a pretty reasonable fee for private lessons. )</p>
<p>The “cost” of private lessons is a fee attached to taking the private lesson “class”. Like other classes have lab fees and whatnot, the private lesson classes have “lesson fees”.</p>
<p>My D is a senior at USC. She is a non-music major. She has been playing in orchestras since elementary school. She loves playing in the orchestra, the music is interesting and the conductor is excellent. You do not have to audition if you play violin. Everyone is welcome. Other instruments audition. She takes orchestra as a noncredit class and does not have to pay for it. You can take it for credit if you wish. It usually meets on Wed. from 7 to 10 but this semester it was changed to Tues 7 to 10 due to room restraints. Students and faculty can play in this orchestra. You can audition at the beginning of each semester. The selected music is also available at that time if you want to look at it. Sometimes music majors join the orchestra for specific pieces. There is a concert several weeks before finals so that orchestra can be completed before the onslaught of study for finals. She also takes individual vocal instruction and has an excellent teacher. She takes those classes for credit and has to do a midterm and final voice jury. She could not fit in a music minor with her demanding major (130 required units).</p>
<p>Son is also a music major at USC. Unfortunately lessons are not free. I can’t imagine they would be for classical, either. Lessons, after all, are lessons. But both lessons and ensembles (as would be the case for an orchestra) are offered for credit for both majors and non-majors. </p>
<p>My son’s guitar lessons are one hour per week, so about double what raddad quoted. Still, I think we paid more for his private guitar teacher through high school.</p>
<p>I meant call them when they are open. And I see no reason why they wouldn’t be able to give you an idea if she plays at a high enough level. You have been given some good answers here, but no one here knows at what level your child plays. It is always best to go directly to the source.</p>
<p>The USC Concert Orchestra has a Facebook page. You can search for: USC Concert Orchestra. Listed there is the name of the conductor, his e-mail address and a list of the concerts held. The next one will be in late April.</p>
<p>Also listed is the program for the April concert and the locations where the concerts are held on campus.</p>
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