Sam Weiser hopes to take advantage of the music-tech boom

Sam Weiser is a rare breed at Tufts: a computer science-savvy violinist who considers arts and academics equal opportunities. In fact, he’s one of only 12 remaining five year, dual degree students enrolled in both Tufts and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. For Weiser, a junior, choosing one path over the other was simply not an option.

“I wanted to give myself choices,” he said. “And I just really love the program. The diversity of what it brings to the table, with the people you meet and the flexibility of what you can study, is all just so awesome.”

Weiser joined the Conservatory after nearly 17 years of playing the violin, which he picked up -- he insisted -- the moment he was born.

“I’ve been playing forever," he said. "It’s like a part of me. Plus, my mom told me I couldn’t play the tuba until I was at least as big as the instrument. My babysitter was cute and she played the violin, so why not?”

Since then, Weiser has taken advantage of both the Conservatory and the music scene here at Tufts --  from the Symphony Orchestra to the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble to his own band, Thoroughfare, which dissolved last semester.

Although he won't graduate for several years, Weiser is already planning to utilize his musical side as a postgraduate, preferably in combination with his love of technology.

“Part of this whole boom is explosion of the tech subset of the music world,” he said. “Everyone’s coming out with a new instrument, new recording technology. I want to get more into that.”