A raft of recent music education research advocates fostering social awareness and engagement among tertiary music students. The evidence is compelling: a socially engaged tertiary education prepares students to play meaningful social roles, while also better meeting the aspirations and needs of music institutions, universities and society at large. As tertiary music institutions explore ways to increase the social orientation of their curricula, it is important that the student voice be present in research and scholarship. How do students themselves conceive of the notion of a ‘socially engaged’ musician? What social roles do they see for themselves as musicians? Exploring these questions, this article draws on qualitative survey and focus group data from a small-scale study at one Australian tertiary music institution. Findings indicate that students envisage their social roles as musicians in a gamut of ways, from believing it is ‘wrong’ for musicians to engage with contemporary social issues, to holding a sense of moral responsibility to act as social change agents. An understanding of the diverse ways in which students envisage their social roles and potential as musicians provides a necessary foundation for expanding relevant, effective, and targeted teaching and learning initiatives that develop social consciousness in students.