Where to continue playing euphonium?

classicalsaxmom
Sun, 01 May 2016 13:49:19 +0000

@morningstar03 - Many colleges with music programs livestream their concerts via Internet, too. It might be worth “Liking” the Facebook pages for target colleges and their music departments (if they have a page) and get on mailing lists for music schools/departments, because they often tell you when an upcoming concert will be livestreamed. Lawrence Conservatory definitely does - Google “Lawrence Conservatory webcasts” and you can sign up for email updates. I’m not sure if that is as common with schools that don’t have music performance programs but it’s worth looking into. My son is trying to narrow down his list of schools and we have listened to a number of wind ensemble and studio concerts via internet in the last few months. There may not be any concerts left this school year, but it could help you narrow your choices next school year. Some schools have performances archived on Youtube, as well, so it’s worth a search. Facebook pages and webcast pages and music department calendar web pages sometimes post the concert programs or repertoire list, too, and the chosen repertoire might give you a better idea of the level of playing, even if you can’t listen to the concert.

Based on your post, I think you are wise to do this research. We streamed one public university’s concert that featured two wind ensembles - one for music majors and the one that was open to anyone. The ensemble that was open to everyone was only about as good as the third band at my son’s high school. The difference between that ensemble and the one open only to music majors was enormous.

Obviously the ideal scenario is to find schools with good music programs with all ensembles open to anyone. Beyond that, you may also find that the ensembles at colleges with good academic reputations but which do not offer bachelor of music (BM) degrees are better than the ones open to non music majors at colleges with good music schools. There are a lot of HS all-state and all-district musicians like you who do not go on to study music, but who continue playing in an ensemble. In my son’s all-state section, he was the only one of the four planning to study music in college. If you are Facebook friends with some of your all-state euphonium colleagues who are older than you, you might find out where they went or are going and once they are in college ask them if they continued with music and how the ensembles/teachers are. You could do the same with other good musicians from your HS or extracurricular ensemble (if applicable) who do not continue with music. You should be able to get a pretty good idea of the in-state options, at least. Talk to your private teacher for advice, as well. Good luck!