But faculty and administrators insist that performing must remain secondary to academic study within Harvard's Music Department.

"The route into musical understanding is most often through performance," says Professor of Music Kay Kaufman Shelemay, the department chair. "But we have to balance that with the mission of the university."

Harvard has increased its support for artistic endeavors with more creative writing courses, dramatic arts courses and studio courses in VES, according to Lawrence Buell, dean of undergraduate education.

"At the same time, it will never be in the character of Harvard for its Music Department to evolve into a mini-conservatory," the dean says.

Harvard or a Conservatory?

For talented musicians, coming to Harvard often means turning down a conservatory.

There is an inevitable tradeoff in the decision; a conservatory can give many performers the experience and contacts they need, but requires students to sacrifice other interests.

Students at Julliard, Curtis and other conservatories often lead monastic lives, practicing for seven or eight hours each day.

"There's the tradeoff of diversity [at a conservatory]," says pianist Sophia S. Chen '97, who attended the Julliard Preparatory School for three years during high school. "I came here because I wanted to be more than one-dimensional."

Senior admissions officer David Illingworth '71 says that most students applying to Harvard are well aware that they won't receive a conservatory-style experience from the Music Department, and those seeking more rigorous instruction screen themselves out.

But students may not always know what they are getting into.

"A lot of performers come here and are often very disappointed," one musician says.

"[Harvard] recruits such fabulously virtuosic musicians and they have nowhere to practice their crafts," adds vocalist Amy B. Brown '97, a music and religion concentrator.

Struggling Artists

Still, other schools comparable to Harvard have incorporated aspects of the conservatory experience into their musical scenes. While Yale's undergraduate music department is primarily theory oriented, students can also benefit from the Graduate School of Music.