<p>I think the fundamental question you should be asking yourself is this: What kind of musician are you? This is important because Eastman (a conservatory experience) and Wesleyan (a music culture experience) offer two very different paths of life for an aspiring musician.</p>
<p>I play electric and upright bass, and I am currently choosing between Wes, Rochester (not eastman) and Tufts. I have always known I wouldn’t want to be at a conservatory because I was never an elite orchestra kind of kid. The conservatory experience is rigorous and all encompassing. You breath, sleep and eat music. </p>
<p>The majority of my musical education has been from playing in about every show my school puts on, playing in the Jazz band, and playing in tons of my own bands. My musical education is an amalgamation of the culture I live in, the friends I have, and the shows I have worked on. Wesleyan is often regarded as the best “non-conservatory” music experience; not because it is any less rigorous, but because it is a fundamentally different approach. Of every school I visited, Wesleyan students created the most. They run their own theatre companies and sound crews or invite student bands to play somewhere almost every night. The people who come out of Wes don’t play in [Blahtown] Symphonic Orchestra, but write musicals or form a band or write scores. There is a creative energy that is strictly organic, and it is an environment I don’t think exists anywhere else.</p>
<p>That being said, if you want to play in the Boston Symphony Orchestra or be a performing classical musician, I would strongly advise that you attend Eastman.</p>