I am a junior from NJ who plays the violin. I would consider myself a fairly advanced player (I’m playing Mendelssohn right now), and I really want to continue playing in college. I have mostly been looking at small liberal arts colleges in the northeast, but I have found that many of them have small orchestras and overall weak music programs, which I guess isn’t that surprising since they have such small student bodies. Does anyone have any suggestions of places to look into? Ideally, the college would be within a 6 hour radius of NJ and have less than 6000 students. Also, I want to study history and do not plan on majoring in music, so I am not particularly interested in a conservatory.
Thank you for your help!
By the way, I am a white female with an SAT score of 2300 and a top 5 class rank, if that helps at all.
You should definitely look at Williams. Excellent music performance opportunities, even for non-majors. Very selective, but you seem to be in the ball park.
Oberlin does not have good opportunities for non-music majors. Few non-music majors are able to land spots in most of the ensembles/groups. I think Bard comes up pretty often in the Northeast. Outside that area (and really outside your geographic range), Lawrence and St. Olaf are a couple more.
One of our neighbors’ kids got into college partly because he played a woodwind instrument that was needed in the college orchestras that particular year. He was not a music major. I think he was admitted to Williams, Georgetown and Harvard so worth looking at those. If you are willing to look at schools with up to 6000 students, I think Dartmouth is in that range. Barnard/Columbia have lots of musical performance groups too.
I’ve heard good things about Vassar and Smith; Bowdoin seems interested in attracting musicians. Smith has good chamber music and you can play in the 5 college orchestra. I have friends whose daughters were strong string players (but not music majors) at Smith and they were very happy. Wellesley and Brandeis are worth a look for chamber music.
UPenn and Columbia are both possibilities but Columbia’s orchestra is very hard to get into for non majors. Last fall a friend’s daughter (not a music major but still a good violinist at Barnard) said they only had openings for 5 freshman violins.
You might check into a large university, they typically have many more opportunities than smaller to mid sized universities. Penn State comes to mind. They have three orchestras a Philharmonic, a Chamber Orchestra and the Campus Orchestra. The Chamber and Philharmonic are by audition only. Because there are so many students the top orchestras typically play at a very high level. D plays viola in the Purdue Philharmonic. They are going to Spain to perform over spring break. Good luck.
I realize my second suggestion doesn’t fit your criteria either, however, Case Western Reserve is an excellent school for those who play in orchestras. It’s private, about 4200 undergraduate students and has good financial aid for someone with you stats. Within the university circle is the Cleveland Symphony. It’s outside of your six hour radius but otherwise fits well.
I also thought of Penn State, but came to the same conclusion. I wanted to play in a community orchestra when I moved here but the orchestral groups here are either limited to undergrads (which won’t matter to the OP lol) or seem geared towards music students and more professional players. (I’m returning to flute after taking it for 10 years in school but then forgetting about it for 10 more years, lol).
Columbia’s orchestra may be pretty difficult to get into for non-majors but they have other musical offerings both at the university and in the city. For example, one of my students (a French major) was in the flute choir. There are 20 different student chamber groups in the music performance program; you should check it out! There are also tons and tons and tons of community orchestras and ensembles in New York - for people of all levels, from professional-level players who chose other careers to people who just started or are just returning and want to play in a group.
TCNJ has an orchestra - not sure what the level of competition is to get into it. Temple has several different musical ensembles - their symphony orchestra might be difficult/competitive because of their school of music, but they also have a chamber orchestra, an opera orchestra, a contemporary ensemble and a bunch of ad hoc ensembles they form every semester.
It is located just outside of Boston (about 5.5 hrs from NJ).
It has about 5000 students and music is an integral part of the culture (about 2000 students are involved in music programs/classes each year and the new performance hall was voted the best in the Boston area).
It also has joint degree as well as cross enrollment programs with the New England Conservatory in Boston whose chamber orchestra holds performances at Tufts.
Boston is very accessible via public transportation and has a lot to offer the classical music lover.
Lawrence and St Olaf have stellar music programs that include non-majors but, as mentioned upthread, they’re out of your preferred area. Still, if you want strong academics and strong opportunities for music, those two should be at least considered. Perhaps fill out the “request info” form and see what comes in the mail.
Vassar and Yale are good for music; I’d imagine Barnard would have opportunities with Columbia and NYC. Overall, I’d avoid a large school with a Music school or conservatory since these tend to restrict their opportunities to music majors.
Oh, and yes, Bard is a good choice, and for ensembles, so are Vassar, Williams, Wesleyan, Skidmore, Hamilton, Brandeis, Holy Cross, Swarthmore. Larger schools already mentioned - Yale, Princeton, Tufts, Brandeis.
I’m in a similar situation since I’m looking for small-ish northeast schools that are academically rigorous, but would also allow me to continue piano and have pretty good music programs in general. So far I’ve heard the best things about Williams, Vassar, Yale, Brandeis and Tufts. Also Swarthmore and Wesleyan but to a lesser extent. Obviously Oberlin is a great music school, but like intparent said, I’ve heard that there are not a lot of opportunities for non-conservatory students. Hope that helps!
We have lots of experience with the Vassar orchestra. Eduardo Navega the conductor is just awesome and both S1 and S2 have had excellent experiences with the orchestra. The music is at or close to conservatory level. S1 turned down a conservatory to attend Vassar so he could double major. Please visit Vassar and the other schools on your list (lalalemma and SpiritManager gave a great listing above) when their orchestra is in rehearsal or performing so you can ‘hear’ for yourself. You will know immediately if it is the school you want to attend. S1 knew in less than 5 minutes while listening to the orchestra rehearsal. A good friend also really enjoyed her experiences with the Swarthmore orchestra during her four years there. Additionally, Cornell (yes - we did not know this) has an excellent orchestra with only 5 music majors - they performed Mahler’s Fifth twice - once last fall and once in their winter break trip to Ireland. I think you should visit by and hear them sometime if you want a larger school.