Music for the masses at Peabody Conservatory

A short shuttle ride from the Homewood Campus, the Peabody Institute, a division of Johns Hopkins and one of the world's premier music conservatories, lies nestled in the historic Mt. Vernon section of Baltimore.

Peabody offers both a degree-granting conservatory for aspiring music professionals and a preparatory school for lovers of the arts of any age or skill level. Degrees awarded at Peabody include a bachelor's and master's in music, and a doctorate in musical arts.

The bachelor's track is a four-year program and participating students may major in keyboard and orchestral instruments, guitar, voice, jazz and composition.

In addition to the intense daily practice associated with the majors, the Conservatory's over 600 students are required to take liberal arts courses emphasizing music, art and culture.

Peabody students can also receive a Performer's Certificate, which is similar to the bachelor's program, but is a three-year program without the liberal arts component.

Students at Peabody may cross-register for courses at the Homewood campus and Hopkins students, so long as they sufficiently audition, may take courses at the Conservatory.

Additionally, students can enroll in a double-degree program and be considered full-time students at both schools . This is a demanding program that averages only five students per year.

Typical students in the double-degree program take 30 credits a semester (compared to the average of 15 at the School of Arts and Sciences) and manage a solo repertoire. Though it takes some effort to balance coursework at both schools, it helps that some requirements at Peabody double as requirements at Homewood and vice versa.

While professors at Homewood receive countless awards and recognition from the academic community, most students don't read of their groundbreaking achievements unless they want extra credit. This is a sharp contrast to Peabody, where most students own their professors' CDs.

Name-dropping of Peabody faculty includes Leon Fleischer, Manuel Barueco, John Shirley Quirk and Phyllis Bryn Julsen. These professors are on the radio, and they eat lunch in the Peabody cafeteria.

The experience of a Peabody student and a Hopkins undergraduate are very different, but they need not be exclusive of each other.

Diversity of interest is never a bad thing, especially if it means adding a bit of musical flavor to your Hopkins experience.