First-Year Students

BONUS: If you complete the assignment before 8:00 AM (EST) Tuesday, August 28 you will be entered into a drawing for assorted prizes.

If you are interested in playing in the orchestra or singing in a choir, you need to read this information and complete the Musical Interest Survey found at blogs.haverford.edu/forms/view.php?id=103 by August 1, 2012.

THE HAVERFORD BRYN MAWR ORCHESTRA
As an instrumentalist there are many opportunities to perform both in the orchestra and in chamber music.  The orchestra rehearses once a week, Thursday evenings from 7 to 9:30, with one to two performances each semester.  Sectionals are also on Thursday evenings and run by top professional musicians from the Philadelphia area, including some members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

CHAMBER MUSIC
The chamber music program is exciting and open to all instrumentalists.  The program reflects a wide range of instrumental styles and instrumentation including a brass quintet, percussion ensemble, piano four-hand, woodwind duos and trios, and flute choir. Every year chamber music ensembles have the opportunity to perform in master classes given by internationally renowned artists.

CHORAL MUSIC AT HAVERFORD AND BRYN MAWR The bi-college community is home to an unusually large variety of faculty-led and student-led singing groups embracing a wide range of musical styles.

The Chamber Singers are a select mixed chamber choir of 34 voices who perform a challenging and varied repertoire ranging from works of the classical masters, to international folk-based styles, to the close harmony of vocal jazz. There are frequent solo opportunities for members of Chamber Singers, both with Chamber Singers and in major works with the Chorale.   Rehearsals for Chamber Singers are Monday and Tuesday afternoons in MacCrate Hall (Haverford) and Thursday afternoons in the Music Room at Goodhart Hall (Bryn Mawr) from 4:30-5:45.

Many of the students who sing in Chamber Singers are also leaders or members of one of the many student a cappella groups.  Announcements for auditions for these groups will be posted during the first week of classes.  We also work closely with the athletic department to try to enable singer/athletes to be able to take advantage of both sports and music opportunities as much as possible.

Wednesday night is Chorale night in the bi-college community!  As many as 140 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members look forward to a mid-week break singing the great masterworks of the oratorio repertoire in performances with full orchestra made up of advanced players from the bi-co orchestra supplemented by professional music students from Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music.

For any questions about the bi-college choral program check out our website at www.haverford.edu/music/choral/choralpro.php or email director Thomas Lloyd at tlloyd@haverford.edu or call him at (610) 896-1006.

AUDITIONS

Auditions for the Orchestra, Chamber Singers and Chorale, will be held during Customs Week and the first weeks of classes.

More information on Auditions for instrumental music can be found at: www.haverford.edu/music/appliedmusic/instrumentalAdmissions.php

More information on Auditions for singers can be found at:
www.haverford.edu/musc/choral/csingers/auditions.html

CREDIT

Once accepted into any of the above ensembles, you have the option of registering for 1/2 unit credit (pass/fail) (registration for credit is required for Chamber Singers or Chorale).  Graded credit is also awarded for private study.

PRIVATE STUDY

Partially subsidized lessons with a broad range of some of the fine professional musicians in the Philadelphia area are also available to students at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges.  If you are interested in private lessons for credit and/or subsidy, just indicate this at the time of your audition.  Lists of teachers will be made available during the first week of classes.

See www.haverford.edu/music/choral/privatestudy.php for more information about our voice teachers and registering for voice lessons.

For further information about music at Haverford, go to www.haverford.edu/music/

At this point in the summer I want to give you some idea of how to prepare for the academic challenges ahead as well as make a request for some personal information so we can be better prepared to work with you in this important transition.

You can look forward to working with two members of the Haverford community who are specifically concerned with providing you with the guidance necessary for the development of your academic program.  You will be paired with a Faculty Adviser, who is a full-time member of the Haverford faculty, and an Upper Class Adviser, or UCA, a junior or senior student who has been extensively trained to help acquaint you with your academic options.  The UCA will be a part of your customs group so there is easy access to good academic advice.  She/he can also help you make sense of the Tri-College Course Guide ( www.trico.haverford.edu/cgi-bin/courseguide/cgi-bin/search.cgi ) and Catalog www.haverford.edu/catalog/ both of which you can access on line during the summer

Time will be provided during Customs Week for you to meet with your Faculty Adviser and UCA to discuss your academic program and put you in a position to begin classes on September 4th .  You will continue to meet with your faculty adviser and UCA during the first week of classes to finalize your program for the first semester.  You should always feel free to consult with your faculty adviser and UCA regarding academic and other matters throughout your first year at Haverford.

In order to start the process of communication, please take a moment to answer a short survey that will help your faculty adviser have a better idea about your plans while at Haverford.  You will need to take a look through the course guide and pick some courses you might want to pursue.   I hope you have fun completing the survey.  I know the faculty members look forward to getting to know their students through the summer communications.

We need to receive the survey by June 29, 2012  Your Faculty Adviser will have access to it as soon as the assignment of advisers is completed. You can access the survey at: www.admin.haverford.edu/servlet/reality/hcadmin/introletter

Our faculty strongly recommends that first year students take no more than one course in any department in either semester of the first year.  The idea here is that you should be exposed to areas of knowledge and ways of thinking which may be new and which may radically change your ideas about eventual specialization.  You and your adviser will select a program of courses for the first semester during the Customs period.  The courses open to first year students are generally numbered below 200, but if qualified, a first year student may be permitted by the Department concerned to take more advanced courses.  More information on how we view the Liberal Arts Education as well as the Degree Requirements can be found in the Haverford Catalog (www.haverford.edu/catalog/catalogmain.htm).

In addition to the Freshman Writing Seminar, all students must take six quarters of physical education during their first two years. Only one course is mandatory for all, Introduction to Fitness, and that quarter must be taken in one’s first year at Haverford. Students should register for PE courses immediately after they have completed their academic schedules.  The Athletic Department will provide students with schedules and information on registration this summer. To earn credits students must register for courses (including varsity teams) with the Athletic Department.  Simply attending an activity or joining a team does not substitute for registration and does not itself carry credit.  For more information go to:  www.haverford.edu/athletics/PhysicalEducation/index.htm. There are alternatives to fulfilling this requirement that do not require athletic participation.  Make sure you explore the possibilities with the Athletic department staff.

Welcome, first year students!  The Writing Program placement on our website (www.haverford.edu/writingprogram/)  is now active at the link “Placement in Seminars”.  You’ll find there the list of seminars from which you will be choosing, as well as instructions for the essay that you’re being asked to write.  Preferences and your own essay are due July 15, 2012.Following the links in turn should take you through the placement process with relatively little difficulty.  Any questions?  Let me know– All best, Debora Sherman, Director of College Writing (dsherman@haverford.edu)