talented musician etc. at wash u

vbball90
Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:02:45 +0000

The amount of people who actually major in Music is really small (i don’t know the exact count, but i heard it was around 30 per year). There is also a Bachelor’s of Music, which is the professional music bachelor’s degree that goes above and beyond the basic major. You can also have a minor in music or a minor in jazz.

I think the main strength of the department is that you don’t need to major in music to take classes, lessons, or try out for any of the groups. Apparently this is pretty unique as far as music departments go across the country.

There are a lot of student performing groups, and events on campus (like Jazz at Holmes). The St Louis Symphony Orchestra is amazing… I went there last year with people in my res college and was REALLY impressed.

So, it’s like you’ll find the professors/classes/resources if you’re really dedicated to music, but Wash U is by no means a music conservatory. The quality is probably good, but I don’t think it’s going to be dazzling.

I guess it depends on what your daughter is looking for. If she wants to do music and something else, then I think Wash U is probably a wonderful place to come. If she wants to ONLY focus on music, then she’ll find a solid program, but I don’t think the aim of the music department is to be a conservatory-style program for the extremely dedicated musician. I don’t think many people choose to come to Wash U to study music… it’s the kind of place where you’ll come to Wash U for other reasons (nice campus, the people, other really strong majors, good city, etc) and we also have a music department if you want to do that and the other things.

PS – the music library is awesome, though. It has great hours and has thousands and thousands of works and books.