Deepening a Relationship With Music

Arts Honours: Music with an Intensive Music Specialization

Freedom, family, happiness—music means all this and more to Sarah. She was drawn to Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo because she wished to surround herself with music and embrace her passion wholeheartedly. Not only did the Honours Music program do just that, but Grebel offered a variety of ensembles and musical leadership opportunities for Sarah to take advantage of. Throughout her degree, she participated in the Chamber Choir, led as the student ambassador to the 2018 Grebel Sings initiative, worked as an Arts ambassador for the Music Department, and as student outreach at university fairs.

Before deciding to fully pursue music, Sarah started out in acting and stage fighting. She always enjoyed performing in front of others, sharing her wide range of talents with excited audiences. In Sarah’s final year of high school, one of her long-term castmates bet that Sarah would not be able to join her choir. Sarah took this as a challenge, auditioned successfully, and soon found herself in a new world of possibilities. “I found out really quickly that I loved choir as a performance method far more than anything I had done before,” Sarah said, “and am immensely thankful for my younger, more spontaneous self for trying new things.” From that moment, Sarah knew that she wanted to pursue music—to continue to sing and perform.

Sarah benefitted from the expansive Music course options offered by Grebel. “I came to the realization that there is nothing else I would rather be doing than fully immersing myself in the academic challenge that Music provides, so I have done my best to completely fill my schedule with everything there is to offer.” As a result of her hard work and determination, Sarah achieved an Intensive Music specialization—a plan-level that requires a high Music major average and successful completion of four additional Music courses at the 300-level or above.

In the future, Sarah plans on going into a performance career—“either choral or solo, it does not really matter as long as I am singing,” she said. She found that spending extra time in music classes to attain the Intensive Music specialization helped her form a better conceptualization of her potential career. “Elective courses like Art Song or Opera have really helped me figure out what repertoire I am most interested in while broadening my horizons for music I hadn’t quite considered!”

With the supportive Music Department faculty and staff, numerous course options, and the valuable Intensive Music specialization, Grebel has helped make Sarah’s dream of pursuing music as a career become a true possibility. Along the way, she has made many friends, and added that “Grebel makes going to school feel like home.”