Musical Studies

Engaged Musical Studies

Engaged Musical Studies takes what you’re learning in your courses and puts it into practice through internships, research, study away, winter term, career exploration, and beyond.

Here’s a sampling of recent projects, field experiences, and post-graduate destinations for musical studies majors.

RISE at Oberlin
Research. Internships. Study Away. Experiential Learning.

Ways Musical Studies Majors Rise

Research

  • The Sounds of Objects In Spaces: Sound Sculpture as a Compositional Medium
  • Memories of Silence: Music and Privilege in Communist Czechoslovakia
  • General Music Classrooms: Where Neurodiversity Meets Neurotypicality
  • Rhyme Scheme in Musical Theater and Its Relation to Phrase Structure
  • Examining the Current Realities of Indie Music Distribution in Cape Town, South Africa
  • The Recording Studio as an Instrument

Internships

  • Nashville Symphony, Tenn.
  • Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, Brooklyn, N.Y.
  • TrustNavigator, Cleveland
  • Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, NYC
  • Music director, Dream Arts Company, Birmingham, Mich.
  • New Music School, Chicago
  • Son et musique à l’image, Montreal, Canada
  • Formosa Group, Los Angeles
  • The Sound Lab at Technicolor; Stewart Levin Productions; Blue Bonsai Music, Los Angeles
  • Music teacher at Prospect Elementary, Oberlin, Ohio
  • Oberlin Artist Recital Series intern, Oberlin, Ohio

Study Away

  • Advanced Liberal Arts, Seville, Spain
  • IES Abroad Vienna Music Program, Austria
  • Institute for Study Abroad, Butler University in Havana, Cuba
  • Bard Program, Quito, Ecuador
  • Exchange student at Morehouse College, Atlanta
  • French intensive in Rouen, France

Experiential Learning

  • Students participate in several Oberlin ensembles including the Oberlin Orchestra, the Oberlin Arts & Sciences Orchestra, Mozart Players, Musical Union, Jazz Combo, Performance & Improvisation Ensemble, Oberlin College Choir, Collegium, Oberlin Singers, Oberlin Wind Ensemble, Javanese Gamelan, Talempong Ensemble, Brazilian Ensemble, Mandinka Ensemble, or the Contemporary Chamber Music Ensemble.
  • Students direct, conduct, or perform in unique musical events including with the Oberlin Musical Theater Association, the theater department, and for independent events on campus and beyond.
  • Students participate in workshops and conferences including the Palomar Film Scoring Workshop, Midwestern Chapter for the Society for Ethnomusicology, and NYU ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop.

First Destinations of Recent Musical Studies Majors

  • Graduate Schools:
    • Yale Divinity School
    • Master’s of Music in popular music, University of London
    • Master’s of Music, Boston University
    • Master of Arts in Religion and Cultures, Black Religion in the African Diaspora, Yale University
    • Vandercook College of Music
    • Musicology, Stanford University
  • Positions:
    • Teacher, Noble Network Charter Schools
    • Circulation supervisor, University of Washington
    • Shansi Fellow, Indonesia
    • Intern, Grand Street Recording, N.Y.
    • Music teacher, Bach to Rock America’s Music School, N.Y.
    • English teacher, Versailles, France
    • Sound engineers, Cleveland and Los Angeles
    • Writing Associate Fellow, Oberlin College