Signing day for high school seniors at Whitefield Academy, like schools around the South, is a big day. Burly football players gather as camera flashes pop, grinning as they ink their deals to play college ball.

This year at Whitefield, a private Christian school in Mableton, there was an unexpected face at the table with the jocks.

Pouya Dianat/AJC (ENLARGE)

Whitefield Academy senior Brittany Stokes received a scholarship from Furman University in South Carolina for her harp-playing ability.

Pouya Dianat/AJC (ENLARGE)

Brittany Strokes' parents started her on the violin at a young age and she quickly chose to master the harp.

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Brittany Stokes, a slender, soft-spoken teenager, waited her turn amid the purple and yellow balloons to pose for a picture and sign her deal with Furman University in South Carolina. Sports weren't in the equation.

Stokes is a classical harpist, a talented musician who first picked up an instrument when she was 19 months old. This fall, she'll attend Furman, with an average annual price tag of about $40,000, on a generous scholarship from the school's College of Music. Harp playing is a coveted position in college orchestras and one music schools prize.

"I fell in love with Furman as soon as I stepped on the campus," Stokes said. "I certainly think that playing the harp helped me get in."

All across the country each spring, local newspapers buzz with excitement when Johnny Quarterback decides where he'll suit up. But the tuba and trombone players, violin and viola lovers, merit a mention.

College scholarships in music are big business, said Stokes' mother, Carol, herself an accomplished violinist. Carol Stokes runs a Suzuki method music school teaching dozens of pint-sized Bachs and Beethovens. Over the years, she's sent several off to college with sizable scholarships, rewards for those countless hours of practicing.

Many don't make music a career. Among Carol Stokes' former students is a violinist who went on to law school and recently beat Stokes' husband, McNiell, a well-known Atlanta attorney, in the courtroom.

The four Stokes children, encouraged by their musical mom, all picked up violins as toddlers. Older sister Heather now plays the viola, younger brother McNeill chose bass and electric guitar and Tinsley, the youngest, has followed Brittany with the harp and the piano.

Brittany says harp playing has helped her make friends — and extra cash. She has played at weddings, fancy receptions and even law firm openings. She rarely battles stage fright, but admits her audition at Furman, with thousands of dollars and acceptance to the school at stake, was enough to get her rattled. But her fingers gracefully plucked out her place in the Furman freshman class.

Music schools usually hold auditions for high school seniors on Saturdays during the winter. Competition to get the best talent can be fierce.

High school musicians often split between those looking for a traditional college experience and those who aspire to attend music schools, like the New England Conservatory. Some public colleges, Florida State, Arizona State and Michigan State universities among them, have built profiles as go-to colleges for the musically inclined.

Ted Stanley, director of admissions for FSU's College of Music, said that, just like athletics, musical talent can sometimes give a borderline student the leg up he or she might need to earn admission. And the choice of instrument makes a difference as well.

"I would say it might be easier for a harpist or an oboist or a violist to get a scholarship, than say a soprano or a clarinet player," he said. "Sometimes it is just the rarity of the instrument."

Stanley said about a quarter of the incoming FSU class in music receives some kind of scholarship.

Allison McDowell, a graduate of Cobb County's Pebblebrook High School, which has a magnet program for students in the arts, had her pick of scholarships — $44,000 at Brenau University, $6,800 from FSU, $20,000 from Indiana, a full $78,800 at Webster University and a slew of others.

Overall, her performing arts classmates at Pebblebrook earned more than $2 million in scholarships in 2007.

In the end, McDowell, a singer and dancer, chose the University of Michigan, receiving an $80,000 merit scholarship following her auditions. A 4.0 student in high school, McDowell said she was drawn to Michigan for both its academic and musical strength.

The savings will likely come in handy when she graduates. The Marietta native plans to move to New York City, start auditioning and "give it a go."

"Who knows where I'll end up?"