Saira Arora ’26
From an early age, learning different instruments shaped the way I understood music. I began piano lessons at age 5, where I first learned how melody and harmony could work together to create expression. At 8, I started playing the clarinet and was introduced to the collaborative experience of ensemble performance and competitions. When I picked up the oboe at 12, I found the instrument that would become central to my musical identity.
Studying music at Pomona has allowed me to build on these early experiences by exploring theory, history and analysis, deepening my understanding of how music functions as a technical craft and form of storytelling.
Performing as an oboist in the Pomona College Orchestra for the last four years has been one of the most meaningful opportunities here at Pomona. One of my favorite memories was performing the first oboe part in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in fall 2024. Because the oboe carries several prominent solo passages that help shape the narrative character, preparing the role required a high level of musical expression and technical precision through hours of practice. Experiences like this have also strengthened my confidence as a composer, encouraging me to explore different instrumentations and orchestral colors in my own work. I am constantly inspired by the ranges, timbres and expressive possibilities of different instruments, and how those elements shape the ways musicians listen and respond to one another in ensemble settings.
The Pomona Music Department is sending me off with a lifelong portfolio of memories, and I cannot be more grateful for my professors and peers throughout the years.
Jacqueline Cordes ’25
As synesthete, I experience colors when listening to music, which only fuels my interest in it more. It wasn’t until high school that I became obsessed with learning how to play classical piano pieces. However, I was terrible at reading music, and had to learn pieces with a program called Synthesia (not to be confused with synesthesia). As a result, coming to Pomona and diving into the structured world of music theory was initially intimidating. Additionally, I was worried that learning exactly how music worked would limit my creativity, making my compositions more conventional. Fortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong.
Music theory and music history classes didn't put up walls around my creativity—it broke them down. The more I learned, the more I realized that understanding music theory was like adding more colors to my synesthetic palette. Classes involving everything from counterpoint to sonata form all opened my eyes. I could upgrade old compositions and add depth and dimensions I didn't know were missing. Even seemingly dry topics, such as how transposing instruments work, have proven to be useful. I couldn’t be happier with the music department, and I’m grateful for gaining a greater picture of what music can be.
As for my music reading, even though it was like deciphering a foreign language at first, now it's like a second language I'm getting more and more conversational in.