Experiences & Opportunities

Here are three examples of the experiences and opportunities you have as a music major or minor

1. You can combine two seemingly disparate subjects. Like Einar Pieler '21, who combined music and anthropology in his College Honors project.

2. You can write your own composition and perform it. Like Edward Davis who wrote a mass for six voices for his College Honors project.

3. You can intern at a fine arts camp. Like Linda Sanabria who worked at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan between her sophomore and junior year.

In each case, students get to apply what they learn in class (or in rehearsal) to the so-called real world. Here's how we do it:

Performance Opportunities

If you enjoyed music in high school or always wished you'd given it a try, there's a place for you in music at Knox College. Students from any major, with any level of music background – or even no previous musical study at all –can build their own rewarding experience here. We have over twenty ensembles, both choral and instrumental, from jazz to classical to rock, and nearly everything in between. Check out our YouTube Channel!

Click for the description of each ensemble

Choral Ensembles

• Knox College Choir
• Chamber Singers
• Enharmonic Fire
• TriTones

Jazz and Popular Music Ensembles

• Knox Jazz Ensemble
• Cherry Street Combo
• Jazz Combos
• Vocal Jazz Combo
• Knox Rocks (multiple Rock, Funk, Punk, Folk and New Orleans Style Brass Bands)

Chamber Ensembles

• Knox-Galesburg Chamber Wind Ensemble
• Knox-Galesburg Chamber Brass Ensemble
• Knox String Ensemble
• Flute Choir
• Guitar Ensembles

Community Ensembles

• Knox Galesburg Symphony
• Nova Singers
• Galesburg Community Chorus

Our faculty also provide private music lessons to students in the areas of: classical piano, strings and voice; all jazz instruments; jazz voice, improvisation, and composition/arranging; and all concert instruments. Read more about private music lessons (PDF). 
Want to have a free sample music lesson? We'd like to offer interested high school seniors a chance to learn from a faculty member who specializes in your instrument/voice. Take advantage of this opportunity by reaching out to our Fine Arts Admissions Counselor at jlam@knox.edu!

Research & Creative Work

Many of our majors—and minors—pursue College Honors or other research and creative projects. Some even present or perform their work at national and international conferences. Recent projects include:

• Casey Foubert '24: Honors in Music "All is Moved by Love," a song cycle inspired by student poetry from the Knox College Archives dating back to 1855.
• Einar Pieler, '21: Honors in Music and Anthropology/Sociology “What Makes a ‘Music Maker’?: Exploring the Personal and Social Narratives of Musicianship on a Liberal Art College Campus.”
• Zachary Cirone '20: Honors in Music “Schubert’s Piano Sonata Developments and Early Romantic Form.”
• Mara Lane '18: Honors in Music and Art History. “Imperfect Machines.”
• Cherry Street Jazz Combo, professional CD, Patchwork (Fall 2019)

Internships

There's no better way to explore the possibilities of life after Knox than internships:

• Hali Engleman '13 was involved in production, developing media content, fundraising, and working with volunteers at All Classical Radio in Portland, Oregon.
• Stephanie Hawes '15 helped organize logistics for semester education programs at the Austin Chamber Music Centre  in Austin, Texas.
• Sam Waldner '16 gained the technical skills needed to create and edit multimedia projects at Dailey & Associates, an ad agency, in Los Angeles, California.

Off-Campus Study

Our students take advantage of the more than two dozen study abroad and off-campus programs. Recent destinations for music students have included:

• Italy
• Austria
• Great Britain
• Morocco
• South Africa
• Ecuador