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Seriously? Because I'm torn between TCU and UTA.

 

I'm planning on majoring in Business Advertising (I was accepted as a BS Bio major at TCU, that's gonna change).

 

But, I'm most definitely going to continue playing percussion. It would be cool to be a double major. But who knows?

 

Haven't turned in my app for UTA. A couple things are keeping me away from UTA; population, the vast size, various black holes scattered across campus, the parties, and rabid, wild cattle.

Umm we don't have rabid, wild cattle here, It's the middle of Arlington not the country. UTA has a very good accounting program, plus it's much cheaper than TCU, but TCU does have an amazing band program. And I know UTA's population is smaller than TCU.

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Umm we don't have rabid, wild cattle here, It's the middle of Arlington not the country. UTA has a very good accounting program, plus it's much cheaper than TCU, but TCU does have an amazing band program. And I know UTA's population is smaller than TCU.

Oops, I meant University of Texas at Austin.

But I'm sure UTA would have a smaller population than UT Austin.

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Yeah, me too, and I want to be. But a huge dream of mine has been to add more importance to orchestra in our education system. I'm not talking string orchestra either. Playing french horn in both the SFA orchestra and the Virtuosi Youth Orchestra, were probably the single greatest things in making me a better player. Not only do you become much more aware of your sound as you are the only one on an exposed part, but your level of personal accountability is raised 300%. Every note you play as a member of an orchestral wind section is a solo.

 

The reason I haven't been nervous for an audition or performance in the past 2 years? Orchestra. In 2005 I played a solo in youth orchestra that was 2 lines long, at a banquet, for a huge crowd of people. I had no choice but to suck it up and play it the best I could, and in doing so, I mostly overcame the fear of messing up. It instilled in me a confidence I didn't have before, as "hiding" yourself in concert band is a relatively easy thing to do, espeically with doubled or tripled parts.

 

 

Honestly, I want to make full orchestra something that isn't considered an afterthought or something to do on the side, which I experienced my last year of high school. Ultimately, I'd love to have it as a class period, and rather than kids being in the "top band," the best players would be in the orchestra. This is also a huge benefit to string players as it opens up repertoire possibilities immensely. Believe me, playing string orchestra piece after string orchestra gets very tedious. At least for me it did. And so many great works that some orchestras are capable of playing, get left unplayed because there isn't a readily avaliable wind section to rehearse every day.

 

Just an idea I've been messing with for the past year.

That's amazing! I never thought of things like that!

 

I played in an orchestra this past summer for five weeks. Two and half hour rehearsals everyday. I know what you're saying about the level of accountability being raised. I knew that I wanted to do something in music. I wasn't swinging towards mainly playing, but composing or maybe teaching. I also because of that experience, fell in love with orchestral music.

 

You shed some more light on my situation. Thanks!

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I'm a psychology major at UT Austin. Although I planned to continue doing music in college, I found out the hard way that getting in a music class when you're not a music student can be more difficult than one would expect.

 

I didn't join the marching band because they didn't have a pit and there was no way I'd play a battery instrument. Instead, I was going to take a private lessons class and then try out for the concert band in the spring. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the lessons class, and now I can't try out for the concert band because I can't practice (only people currently in a music class can use the practice rooms).

 

There is a bright side: I recently found out about a local percussion group and have been going to their camps, so I still get to play music after all! (Even though they keep putting me on bass drum because I'm the only pit person there <_< .)

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I was a participant (as a percussionist) at the International Festival Institute at Roundtop for two summers. Those summers gave me some of the best memories of my life so far, right up there with my summer of drum corps. I learned a whole lot from Tony Edwards and Tom Burritt, and the orchestra is absolutely top notch. The audition is very competitive, and they dont take anybody under 18. I say go for it, the audition rep list is basic, but at the same time very comprehensive. The audition for Roundtop is much more competitive than the Aspen audition, because Roundtop usually only takes 5 percussion players, as opposed to the 20 or so needed to staff all the orchestras at Aspen. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

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