Just like Mills, Melody Ko took a music theory class during the fall of her freshman year, leading her to major in music. "I expected to be a physics and math double major, but I dropped the physics pretty quickly," she said. Ko ultimately double majored in math and music. "I spent most of my time at Amherst on music in general, particularly choir and orchestra," said Ko. She is a varied musician: she sang in Concert Choir, plays three instruments (violin, cello and piano), played violin in orchestra and also played in her own trio, the MEKO trio, along with friends Elinor Lee '05 and Jason Grossman '05.

Music at the College

Before Amherst, Ko was also very involved in music. She played in both orchestra and a select orchestra and sang in choir. She wasn't expecting to be as involved in music in college, but her interest continued to develop.

"Melody has perfect pitch, so she often gives Concert Choir the opening pitches on our songs," said Lisa Blumsack '04, who sang with Ko in Concert Choir. "She is so incredibly talented, but she is also very modest about her abilities."

Everyone who has worked with Ko has similar praise for the West Hartford, Conn. native. Her stand partner in orchestra, Albert Lee '05, praised Ko for being "always cheerful and filled with infectious energy."

Lee agreed. "It was a real treat to be in a trio with her," she said. "She's multi-talented, especially musically. It was a whole lot of fun chilling with her and playing music with her."

Ko was also involved with the Amherst Christian Fellowship (ACF) during her four years at Amherst. This past year, she has been the person in charge of writing e-mails. "I get to send happy, nice messages to everyone," laughed Ko.

Easy friendships

Those who met Ko through ACF have been friends with her ever since. Eunice Koo '04, who first met Ko at an ACF gathering during their first year, said she will always remember her first impression of Ko. "She promptly came up and said, 'Hi, your last name is Koo! And mine is Ko! Isn't that cute?' and she had such a sunny smile, that memory has just stuck."

Paul Whiting '04, who also met Ko through ACF, said, "From the first day I met Melody, I truly was amazed by her enthusiasm. She was an awesome worship leader, and she was a wonderful person to work with on the leadership team."

Aside from being a good friend, Whiting added that Ko was also the "resident mom" of the all-male floor of North during their freshman year. "She would always come upstairs every night to give good-night hugs to everyone on the floor," he said. "I'll always remember the night when Melody and a few of the guys on the floor decided randomly to write sonnets at one in the morning. It was hilarious."

A professional thesis

Before she decided to do a piano thesis, Ko laughingly pondered an unusual option. Violin, cello and piano-the three instruments Ko plays-are also the instruments that make up a trio. "Melody used to joke about having, for the finale of her thesis performance, a recording of herself playing two of the trio instruments while she played the third live on stage, but alas, it never came to pass," Blumsack explained.

For her piano performance thesis, Ko started deciding which pieces to play during the spring of her junior year so that she could practice over the summer. "I didn't practice that much until second semester this year," she said. "Then it hit me, and I started practicing like crazy."

Assistant Professor of Music David Schneider praised Ko's thesis as "the type of program one would expect of someone graduating from a music conservatory." Her performance music included "an impressive variety of different styles from three centuries," he said.

In addition to a difficult repertoire, "Melody showed how accomplished a musician she is by learning [her final solo piece] just 24 hours before her thesis," Schneider added.

Next year, Ko is looking forward to her work as the graduate associate for the orchestra. Along with activities such as organizing orchestra and chamber music classes, teaching ear training and music theory and singing in choir, Ko is excited to help plan the orchestra tour for next year.

"I'm also excited because I might get to play the triangle in orchestra. It's my life-long dream," she laughed.

Mark Swanson, the director of the orchestra, has nothing but admiration for Ko. "I'm exceptionally lucky to have Melody as my assistant next year," he said. "Even more than her obvious talents, Melody is a generous, fun, kind, non-judgmental, supportive, always cheerful friend to everyone in the music department-faculty, staff and student alike." He can't wait to start working with Ko. "Everyone was so excited she decided to stick around next year."

Though Ko loves music and is incredibly talented, she plans to work as an actuary in Hartford after next year. She is happy to have another year with intensive music involvement before moving further away from music and Amherst. Right now, she is studying for her next actuary test and excited to be living in "a real house!" next year.