Students also have opportunities to work with groups outside the school such as the Midwest Composers Symposium and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony . Additional performances at Oberlin include jazz, improvisational, rock, technological, minimalist, and experimental music - often with composers as performers. The spirit of collaboration abounds at Oberlin. Composition seminars include visits from artists in the departments of dance, theater, art, and creative writing. Composition majors write incidental music for plays and film, work with choreographers and video artists, and have even produced operas and musicals.
Students are highly motivated.
Huang Ruo , for instance, recently released a CD of nine original works, which features Oberlin student performers. Ruo also teaches a popular course, Composing Music, which is open to students of all levels, from both the College and the Conservatory. Professors Tim Weiss and John Luther Adams conduct a forum for composition and performance majors. Composers will perform, and performers compose. Another course, the Craft of Composition, is designed for students not majoring in composition.