Like so many of my fellow juniors, I’ve been college hunting as of late. Though everyone takes different paths through college, I’ve been doing some thinking on how I will proceed as a musician. Obviously, a pretty straightforward way to continue to grow as a musician is to go to a conservatory of some sort or study music as a major at a college or university, but let’s be honest: not all of us are really that invested. However, our presence in choir should at the very least indicate that we have some interest in music. Personally, I’m mostly interested in maintaining it as a hobby, but striking that balance can be trickier than it may seem at first glance.
Obviously, vocal music is important to me, but perhaps more importantly I would like to continue to play cello, which I have played for almost nine years now. Once I’ve overcome the hurdle that is transporting a child-sized instrument (seriously, you have to buy a separate airplane seat for this thing), I hope to be able to not only take private lessons at the college of my choice but also join in ensembles and groups. This is where it gets a little complicated, because different colleges have different rules regarding who can and can’t join certain groups, and some will be much more difficult to participate in if you’re not a major or minor. Generally speaking, you can find a lot of schools that are enthusiastic to have non-major or minor students, but it’s a good question to ask during college tours and the like.
Something I’ve found that’s pretty interesting is that at some small liberal arts colleges that also have conservatories, you can take very cheap lessons from conservatory students and have a lot of access to ensembles and the like, simply because the campus culture is so steeped in music. Some random example of schools like this are Oberlin (Ohio), Bard (New York), and Lawrence University (Wisconsin). These just happen to be some of the schools I'm looking at, but there are lots more!
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