 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-04-18 03:38
I am writing a paper and am looking to musicians (in college or graduated) who were in a fraternity/sorority. It's more for survey purposes but, hey, go for it if you got a story; I'm sure we'd love to hear. I am a brother of Kappa Sigma and it is interesting to me (being at a liberal arts school with a very strong music department) that more arts students don't join Greek life. Food for thought and hopefully a little help towards my paper too! Thanks!
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-04-18 04:06
I know you weren't asking me, but here's my input, for what it's worth.
I'm not in a fraternity, and declined to attend meetings to start a chapter of one (perhaps Kappa Sigma?) this year. For me, it wasn't so much a matter of not wanting to do the whole Greek thing. I know the people involved, and they're cool; not your standard "booze and party" fraternity guys. Rather, there are two reasons I didn't care to join:
1) We have quite a few friendly social groups, formal and informal, of composers, wind people, clarinets, etc., who do things together. A fraternity is great for meeting people and establishing a sense of community, but with ensembles and such it isn't as necessary to "get people out" as it would be in, say, a business department. The practice rooms are, in effect, my fraternity.
2) Time commitment. This is more of a personal issue than #1. If I join an organization, I can't help myself from volunteering heavily. With the ensembles and organizations I'm in currently, and with no pressing social need, I declined on practical reasons of time management.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: luckyclarinettoenla
Date: 2005-04-18 12:51
I joined a fraternity my freshman year of college and it definitely is one of the decisions that I look back on and am thankful for making. The bond that I forged with my brothers is in a sense unbreakable. They were at all of my concerts, all of my recitals, and they would even join me to go out to other arts events. These guys really took an interest in me and what I was doing. I found time to be a part of everything; I was on the crew team, I was in the orchestra, wind ensemble, woodwind quintet, clarinet quartet, and did gigs every other Sunday at a local church. I still had time to live in the fraternity house, be a part of RUSH, go to parties, participate in Pledge Education, and serve on the house's executive board. I graduated a few years ago and moved across the country. Still I talk to and visit my fraternity brothers frequently. I do find it perplexing that more musicians find it difficult to join a greek organization. However, I find it more upsetting that it's more of an attitude of stereotypes that perpetuate this behavior, thus causing the rift between the boozing greeks and the gdis (gosh darned independents-- c'mon this is a family site) :-)
Lucky
Never fool yourself into believing that today's 'good enough' will do tomorrow!
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Author: Brandon
Date: 2005-04-18 12:57
I was a brother in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. If you contact me with something specific, I will do my best to answer. Just drop an email.
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-04-18 13:16
Does Kappa Kappa Psi count? I pledged KKY as a freshman music major. Did all the wacky pledge stuff, made active, then never came back. Even then I could tell being a music major wasn't a great fit for me, so I felt like a bit of an outsider (I must stress nobody made me feel that way -- it was all me). Changed my major the following year. So like anything else, it mainly depends on how well you click with the other members to determine how useful or rewarding it is for you.
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: Anon
Date: 2005-04-18 13:19
I joined a non-music sorority and it was one of the best decisions I made during college. It gave me access to friends who weren't musicians and a place to be when I couldn't even consider practicing anymore.
Many of the women I met there are still my best friends and most supportive audience members today!
The one thing I had to learn while living in the house (and I think this could apply to many majors, not just music) was that I couldn't actually return home to the house unless I was done studying/practicing for the night. There was just always a lot of action there and it wasn't really conducive to studying (at least not in my case)
Just like with anything else, it's all about time management whether it's balancing practicing with Greek activities or practicing with sports, etc.
All in all, I think being well-rounded is important to musical development and personal satisfaction. Just my 2 cents.
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