Need a "safety" choice -- accomplished with the oboe

thumper1
Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:48:06 +0000

CCM is Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and while it is part of the University of Cincinnati, it has very separate admission competitiveness. The conservatory is quite good and attracts high level performers. I’m not sure if students from U of Cincinnati can study with the faculty of the conservatory, but I seriously doubt it. I would guess that spots in the CCM studios (private study teachers) are limited to the music conservatory students. Admission to the conservatory is primarily by audition and is very competitive.

I’m not sure how your student’s overall academic credentials look, but if they are competitive for admission to the Claremont Colleges, they also have ensembles for non-majors. I know you want to leave the northeast, but the college consortium in Philadelphia also has an orchestra program and attracts students who are not music majors. Many smaller colleges have programs for non-majors…Lafayette, and Drew are two we know about (although Drew does not have an orchestra). If your oboe player wants to play in an orchestra in college as a non-major, the search may be more difficult as many smaller schools simply do not have string program instructors…therefore no orchestra. If you are interested in a wind ensemble, the programs are more open. We found it very easy to find out what was up on most college campuses via their music department websites. If we had a question, we simply called. I will tell you…we were surprised at how many schools had NO music programs at all…or programs that were open to majors only. Re: Santa Clara…it’s perfect for my daughter who truthfully wants to continue playing for her own enjoyment of the instrument. But she has been told that the college orchestra repertoire may not be particularly challenging.