<p>I posted this in response to an issue in the MT division, but soon realized that it is probably more important for music majors. The subject is payment for accompanists and the differing policies at various schools. Check it out in making the final decision. </p>
<p>Original post at MT topic:</p>
<p>I did hear of a singer who was required to send $ for an accompanist before his audition at Ithaca. It is possible that I misunderstood and the fee was for the audition, but his mother was pretty definite about it. My thinking was that it augured poorly for future extra expenses for any student who would go there.</p>
<p>That is a major issue, which is not often considered by singers in making the decision where to attend. In many schools, the collaborative pianist is provided as part of the lessons, work study pianists for beginning singers, graduate students for upper division repertory, and staff pianists for graduate students. At other schools the student is required to either hire or coerce a pianist to accompany at lessons and in rehearsal. This results in no small expense. Unsympathetic administrators have "explained" it to me as the balancing issue for singers who do not have to buy instruments. Little do they know or realize all the extras singers get stuck paying.</p>
<p>If the school has a degree in collaborative piano, i.e. accompanying, like Michigan, there will be a good supply of pianist required to put in studio time as part of their education. Generally a school with a good sized graduate program will use this service as assistantship opportunity. Check into the issue when making the final choice, especially as a financial issue. If all else fails, take up with a pianist romantically, and do not have a fight right before exams, juries, and auditions!</p>
<p>I posted an affirmation on the MT thread, but thought I'd post a comment here also. Some schools do require voice and MT students to pay for an accompanist. My D has paid around $250.00 per semester for the accompanists who have worked with her at lessons, twice weekly practice sessions, and juries. Yes, it is an extra, perhaps "hidden" fee. However, when I take into consideration how low her school's tuition rate is compared to many schools, we still come out quite a bit ahead financially! I agree that it is good to be aware that paying for a pianist is an expense that you may be shouldering in addition to tuition, fees, books, music, housing, meals, transportation, oh my! </p>
<p>So there is no confusion, FSU does not charge an accompanist fee for students auditioning for the school.</p>
<p>My friend's D was scheduled to audition at Ithaca for vocal performance several years ago. After paying the fee for a student accompanist to the school her D received a letter stating that she had not gained admission to the College (academic) and therefore don't bother to show up for your audition (paraphrasing ofc). Anyway, my friend tried in vain to get the accompanist fee back but the school refused. She is still quite bitter toward Ithaca to this day about it.</p>
<p>That's a tough one, MomOf3Stars. From the singer's point of view, she was required to pay for a service that was not rendered. From the accompanist's point of view, he or she probably had to put in a fair amount of practice time for 10-15 minutes of playing that, through no fault of theirs, never happened. I think the accompanist still deserves to be paid in that situation as long as it is not some sort of degree requirement for them. The school would probably do better not to break that out as a separate line item from the general application fee, because it is certainly understandable that someone would want their money back in that situation. Either way, they should have been very clear up front concerning the conditions under which fees would or would not be refunded.</p>
<p>BassDad you make a good point about indcluding that fee in the app fee. I think the main beef my friend had was that (and this is her story) her D was required to use the school's accompanist. She said she would have preferred to have the option of bringing her D's regular accompanist. I also think she was just irate that her D was rejected before the audition as well, so that did not help matters.</p>
<p>This also goes for other fees, too.
We are still in the research phase, but it is stunning to us how many colleges look good to us in terms of tuition and room and board -- but then "nickel and dime" you to death in terms of fees charged for things like library time, stage time, activity fees, etc.
It pays to look into that stuff in detail before you think a school is a great value.</p>
<p>Many of the colleges we applied to charge lesson fees every semester.</p>
<p>I will have to look into those extra fees you guys are talking about. I never imagined there would be fees over and above what you see on the initial COA. Well, those darn parking fees if your child brings a car can be costly. Those I knew about.</p>
<p>D's first school was a small LAC and all collaborative piano expenses, for lessons, juries, some practice and even competitions were inclusive. She is
now at a music school at a large university and has discovered a few ways of dealing with accompanist fees. The school has a large pool of graduate student collaborative piano majors and they have a pool you can apply to at the beginning of the semester. If a pianist wants to work with you, you are assigned their services at no charge. She also goes out of her way to assist
collaborative pianists in their studios by accepting offers to work with them gratis. Its really worthwhile networking in the piano studios! She hasnt tried
aquiring the pianist/boyfriend......YET.</p>
<p>DD has all of it included in her fees. Not sure how the assignment of accompianist is done, but her voice professor did not like the first one's work with DD, so had it changed for the second semester. She felt the first one did not have enough experience to help DD along, so her new one is much more experienced and they are doing fine. Time with accompianist includes lesson time, one other rehersal a week and juries. </p>
<p>So since it varies by school it is worth checking.</p>
<p>As dlbarber mentions, some schools do charge a fee for private lessons each semester. I recall saying that two or three years ago on this forum and had quite a few posters jump down my throat. The school I attended as an undergraduate music major charged a private lesson surcharge. Students paid for a two or three hour course plus a private instruction surcharge. Most of the music majors had their tuition waived by participating in orchestra, band, choir, or for the keyboard players, by accompanying. Our expenses were pretty minimal because of that. However, private lesson fees could not be waived. They were above and beyond the tuition. The university felt that charging for lessons was fair because the performance teachers at the school had a much smaller student load (typically no more than 20 students) than teachers in other disciplines.</p>
<p>My D's school does not have a surcharge for private lessons. Students pay the normal fee for a two or three hour course.</p>
<p>Otterbein has an extra fee for voice lessons. I believe Westminster Choir has an accompanist fee over and above tuition but I could be wrong there. There are very often extra fees in a music program.</p>
<p>Good question so I just called Northwestern to ask them. Thank Goodness lessons are included with the price of the BM degree. Yeah!!!</p>
<p>D had remembered to ask about voice lessons, but had forgotten about accompanists so she's going back to schools to check on this. She found out from a school yesterday that they also do the thing with the collaborative piano program where the voice students go to them at the beginning of the year to make arrangements - the problem being that you don't know what quality accompaniment you will get. If you want to assure getting a great accompanist, you may have to seek one out and pay. My D has one remaining sample lesson and then time will run out and she will be forced to make a decision. Then we may see a period of PDD - Post Decision Depression - and PDSG - Post Decision Second Guessing.</p>
<p>Cartera,</p>
<p>Are you over your PAD? Post audition depression? Glad to see you are moving on!</p>
<p>Now I need to call back and ask about the accompaniment...we are a little bit slow!</p>
<p>Linnlew - had a relapse since we had to schedule one last sample lesson at the dark horse school that is gaining on the leaders. That means another road trip, complete with cheesy hotel stay - yay!</p>
<p>I also emailed one of D's school (probable final decision) and was told there is an extra $225 music fee per semester. That is a bargain though as it is a state school anyway and parking and laundry are free so it balances out in the end.</p>