"What are you doing at Harvard?"

If someone asks you this question, you're either a) an engineering sciences concentrator or b) a serious classical musician.

The former has the good fortune of possessing the "I'm cross-enrolling at MIT" outlet, but how is the latter supposed to argue the terms of his or her existence at an institution that wields a decidedly lesser amount of musical clout than it does academically? Perhaps a better question would concern whether these individuals of unusual talent and artistry should be forced to defend themselves in the first place.

Perhaps this is simply a sign of the times.

The classical music world continues to recede from the reaches of public attention, collapsing from lack of support beyond that of the silver-haired concertgoers who routinely fill Boston's Symphony and Jordan Halls. Even world-renowned orchestras from London and Berlin find themselves playing to the same sterling sea--all too often, the modern citizen instinctively sets aside any abiding appreciation for classical music, saving it for the Sunday matinees of his or her golden years. The names Yo-Yo and Itzhak ring bells for many Americans, but few would immediately recognize the virtues of pianist Max Levinson '93 or cellist Matt Haimovitz '96, both of fairly recent recording fame. It is no wonder that performing artists of a classical bent at Harvard find them-selves on the defensive more often than not.

Making the decision to come to Harvard, as opposed to studying at a conservatory and obtaining any possible leading musical edge in times such as these, is difficult enough in itself. Repeatedly justifying such a decision requires even more strength and self-confidence. Twelve students-a small sample among many others of current and bygone years-provide a wide range of reasons for circumventing the conservatory. What remains unquestionable is their right to choose an institution where their artistic and academic efforts are welcomed, encouraged and appreciated.

A Dream Deterred?

For most of these students, their musical careers were initiated at an age where other children were just striving to color within the lines.

Some discovered music on their own, while others received encouragement from parents; in either case, it was the student's own momentum that propelled them through many years of hard practice. Although an established legacy of musical performance and/or over a decade's dedication to practice would definitely seem to favor conservatory attendance on the instrumentalist's part, the decision to come to Harvard was not without sacrifice.

One major consideration is the prospect of concentrating solely on music. It is undoubtedly easier to put in three to six hours of practice per day without the additional concerns of papers to write, problem sets to complete and sections to attend. Violinist Jennifer Caine '01 notes that outside of taking classes like Music 180 at Harvard, most performing must "be done on the side, as extracurricular activities. I try to do a lot of catching up in the summer to make up for lack of practice during the school year."

Unfortunately, some musicians find that no amount of catching up can remedy the absence of a sharply-focused, easily-implemented program of practice at Harvard, where academic distractions and a theory-heavy music curriculum detract from the student's ability to perfect the art of performance. "The tragedy is that while Harvard can easily become the place where you decide music is the love of your life, you may reach this epiphany at a point in your life when it really is too late for that decision," admits senior Akiko Tarumoto '98, a violinist of 16 years' experience and member of the Ehrkern String Quartet. "People who have most of their technical faculties in place, but still need some fine-tuning...should undoubtedly go to a music school where they can practice for hours and hours and become fantastic musicians. [For] the ones without super-human musical abilities, the decision is that much harder to make."

In spite of the risk of finding one's true love for music while entrenched in the world of academia, these twelve students, including Tarumoto, still cite the "Harvard experience" as one of the greatest sources of the college's magnetism. "It was painful saying good-bye to the opportunity to focus on piano intensively for four crucial years," says Albert Kim '98. "Even more painful when I heard someone [say] during my freshman year', You gave up Curtis and Juilliard for here? Are you crazy?" says Albert Kim '99. Crazy enough to be drawn by the Harvard name and "all those glorious things we as pre-frosh believe it will deliver," Kim, who is preparing for a European tour and has definite intentions to study at a conservatory after graduating, proves that the non-conservatory detour can be taken in stride.

Music Boxes

"Smothering," "stifling," a land of "mindless, slave-driven automatons"-these descriptors jump to the forefront of the stereotypical conservatory image. Obviously a bit distorted in their portrayal of the purely music-oriented education, these are the stereotypes that institutions like The Juilliard School seeks to dispel, and that prospective students must battle when weighing college against conservatory. A past enrollee in Juilliard's Pre-College Division, Tarumoto speaks from experience when she says, "All are true and untrue depending on what you are looking for in your education. Having an identity shaped almost solely by how good you are at this one thing can be suffocating, frustrating and bad for your self-esteem."

It comes as no surprise that a description of student life at The Juilliard School emphasizes the variety of student activities outside of practice and performance. The summary reads, "Juilliard students are not typical college students. They are passionate and dedicated about preparing for [the future]. They are used to long hours of lessons, practice and rehearsals. Yet, with all their commitments, Juilliard students find the time to socialize, participate in organized activities, attend cultural events, and, most importantly, enlist their talents in a broad range of community service." Students at Juilliard can even cross-enroll at Columbia University to take classes in the humanities. Aside from being accustomed to long hours of practice and rehearsals, the typical conservatory student bears a marked resemblance to many members of Harvard's student body. Even so, they aren't perfectly inter-changeable.