<p>My daughter spent her last two years of high school at Interlochen- talk about a well-oiled application machine! I never even SAW an application (I DO have an extremely competent daughter). Interlochen handled everything with the kids. The music teachers were key in keeping the kids realistic about where they might get in. Even at a school containing many of the most talented young artists in the country, Julliard and Curtis are considerred a reach for everyone. The teachers at Interlochen recommend specific teachers at the different colleges and conservatories (many of whom they personally know) and help the kids line up lessons and meetings. My daughter wouldn't have looked at Rice for ANYTHING ("I will NEVER come back to Texas for college!") Her voice teacher at Interlochen (who ranks right up there just below God as far as she is concerned) asked her to go to Rice the summer after her junior year and meet a certain teacher and have a short lesson. This woman spent an HOUR talking to my daughter, husband and me and gave us candid information about many of the programs D was considering (the teacher had attended or taught at most of them). It was the most worthwhile thing that happened in the entire application process. D applied and auditioned at most of the top voice programs and is a happy junior at Rice.</p>
<p>Here is the help my D got from others:
Wonderful letters of recommendation from her teacher; however, her teacher would not let her start audition prep until it was almost too late. She had some philosophy about learning to play, rather than prepping for auditions.</p>
<p>No encouragement at school. The band teacher was more into jazz and did not support my D's classical interests. She got comments when she practiced for auditions, but not for school.</p>
<p>Manhattan School of Musc prep did not make it easy. They told the kids that if they missed more than twice, they would not "graduate." One orchestra conductor was particularly nasty and seemed to be concerned only with having a good year-end concert. I told my D to forget the graduation, but she honored her commitment and ended up taking off more weekdays.</p>
<p>School GC did not provide any direct help but did support my D in arranging extra time off.</p>
<p>MomOf3Stars: Hang in there! We live in a small town, too, and my son essentially outgrew the local youth orchestra and teachers by around 9th grade. Yes, it is very difficult for us non-musical parents to figure out how to get our kids what they need, but it really can be done and you have found a great place for accurate information. You have already received lots of good advice, but I just have 2 other suggestions:</p>
<p>Is there any other student(s) in your town who might be accepted into the youth orchestra your daughter wants to audition for? If so, have her get some others interested in auditioning, and you will have a carpool. During my son's soph. and junior years, there were 3-4 kids from our town who carpooled 100 miles each way to youth orchestra rehearsals in the nearest big city. We also managed to schedule private lessons with a teacher in the same city during the hour before youth orchestra rehearsal; however, this probably only worked well because teacher's studio and orchestra rehearsal were in the same location at state flagship U.</p>
<p>My other suggestion is to start really early (now) to research and plan for a high-level camp experience next summer. This will give your daughter the experience of life as a music major and also give you a realistic picture of how she compares to the same group of kids with whom she will be competing for top college/conservatory admissions. There is significant financial aid available for some big summer programs like Tanglewood, Interlochen, and Brevard. We treated the summer camp applications similiarly to college apps, and son applied to 3 or 4 different ones each year. Most applications include some questions regarding why you want to send your child to this program, and you should focus your answers on the lack of resources in your geographic region to meet your daughter's needs. It worked for us, and we are not really poor, just middle-middle class - my son received full or almost full scholarships to Interlochen one summer and Tanglewood the next, and turned down substantial financial aid from Brevard one year, too. </p>
<p>Good luck and keep us posted on your daughter's progress!</p>
<p>I never let my parents see my application, essays, etc., nor did I showed my essays etc. to my teachers and guidance counselor except my very first one - which later I decide not to use. </p>
<p>My parent do handle the financial aid part, which I'm completely out of their way, since they seem not willing to let me know about the exact financial circumstances of the family. As for travels, I fortunately don't need to travel much, but the few trips we gone out for auditions, interviews, etc. my mother basically planned those. But I think she enjoyed that part because she likes to travel and planned a lot of activities and sightseeing (even on the trips for audition - I was a little bit annoyed and afraid that I might get distracted!)</p>
<p>I'm not much involved in my school musical activities since I don't play any orchestra instruments beside playing the piano. I do accompany the chorus, and the choral director of my high school wrote some recommendations for me. The other music teachers are very supportive (if it is the word) and generous with words of encouragement. But my high school did not produce good pianists regularly, so...</p>
<p>My private teacher gave a lots of help. He arranged quite some performance opportunities for me to prepare for auditions and meetings with his formers students who are now in conservatories. I completely rely on him for what studio teacher to pick (in fact next year I'm going to study with one of his former teachers!) He however said that he would not encourage me to go ONLY into piano performance - but that perhaps is because he knows my too-diverse interests.</p>
<p>thzxcyl: it sounds like you have had the kind of help you have needed and that you have very successfully navigated the rest of your preparation and navagation process. The main thing is that you are resourceful, hence you mining the depths of wisdom to be found at CC! Knowing what and who to ask and being willing to ask are key. You are especially fortunate that your teacher has mentored you well. Good luck!</p>
<p>BassDad - That spreadsheet outline will be a huge help. I think I can handle it now. I never would have thought of all of those categories!! Project management is definitely your thing!</p>
<p>Mommab - Glad to see we are in similar situations. Unfortunately there is no one and I mean no one in my immediate town that could car pool. I know for a fact that there are no other students in her HS that are seriously looking at music colleges. (This is fairly obvious when you hear that her music theory class is basically an independent study class made up of 3 students). I actually just found out from the private teacher I had contacted regarding lessons that you do have to have a private instructor in order to qualify to audition for the youth symphony. However, maybe if she does make it into a chair there I will be able to find some people who may want to car pool. I hope so, it would be a gigantic load off!!</p>
<p>As a side note, I have a friend who was telling me once that when she was a teenager she would actually ride the Greyhound bus to Ohio every weekend just to be in a certain Drum Corp. That is dedication!!</p>
<p>My daughter's orchestra teacher who lived in upstate NY says that he used to do a 3-hour train ride to Montreal for violin lessons as a youngster.</p>
<p>I am very impressed by the persistence of your daughter. I know that this type of negative attitude would get to me, no matter how hard I try to ignore it. I don't know why someone with that type of negativity would ever want to be a music teacher. </p>
<p>And I"m sure your daughter will learn from this, and never forget it, and it will make her all the better if she does decide to become a music teacher herself. She'll have the positive, encouraging attitude that will help her students to become great:)</p>