Matthew Brown has some sage advice for current music majors at Southwestern: "Practice more, study more, listen more, perform as much as possible. There is an insanely competitive world out there awaiting the aspiring professional musician." And luckily for Brown, he's thriving in it. 

Brown recently began his first year of a two-year master of music program in orchestral conducting at the Peabody Conservatory at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. In addition to course work, the program consists primarily of working twice a week with a full practice orchestra under the tutelage of world-renowned conducting teacher Gustav Meier. He also received a graduate assistantship in opera conducting.

"I lead frequent piano/vocal rehearsals with the opera cast, and otherwise just stay ready in case the principal conductor gets food poisoning." One of the premiere conducting programs in the country, Brown was one of only four students accepted from a pool of 100 applicants.

Growing up in Waco, Brown admits that he never really had much interest in music. He played some guitar in high school, rock mostly. "I went to Southwestern without the faintest idea of what I wanted to do with my life. My first semester, I took David Asbury's intro to music as a POK credit. He played classical guitar for us one day in class. It was the first time I had ever heard anyone play the guitar like that. I told him after class that I wanted to do what he did."

As a guitar major, Brown began reading music for the first time and practiced himself into chronic tendonitis in both wrists. His music history courses with Professor Emeritus of Music Ellsworth Peterson sparked his passion for orchestral music, and a conducting class with Professor of Music Kenny Sheppard cinched his career choice. He took private lessons with Associate Professor of Music Lois Ferrari that enabled him to conduct university ensembles.

"I received an unbelievable amount of individual attention from the faculty. All I had to do was take the initiative to approach them with an interest and desire to learn about something that was not covered in the regular course offerings."

Brown says that getting a good conducting job can be even more competitive than getting into the Peabody conducting program, "because I'll be competing against people with a lot more experience under their belts than I have. But hopefully the intensity and reputation of the program here will give me the 'foot in the door' that I'll need upon graduating." Reflecting on his experiences at Southwestern, he has recently considered pursuing a doctorate and perhaps teaching and conducting in a university setting some day.