another peabody v. indiana choice

College Majors Music Major
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<p>IU is certainly the best example of a public university producing a great music school but it is far from the only one. While none of them are as good across the board as IU, many other public schools have individual departments that may be as good as or better than the corresponding ones at IU. I have in mind places like Arizona State, Temple, University of Cincinnati CCM, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan, and University of North Texas. I'm sure there are a few others that I am forgetting.</p>

<p>I am fairly confident that my daughter could have been accepted at IU had she applied. She was accepted at NEC, Peabody and Oberlin, and was certainly in the same league as a couple of her friends who were accepted at IU on double bass that year. She chose not to apply there because she just did not like large schools and she knew the faculty better at the places where she did apply. Like ImperialZeppelin, we were also turned off by what we had heard about their teacher selection process.</p>

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<p>That's interesting what you say about the teacher selection process. It was not that way in my son's case. His teacher was the one who called to let him know he was accepted, so my son knew immediately who his teacher was. The teacher was very welcoming and even called again after my son had visited to find out if he would be going to IU. Perhaps this depends upon the instrument?</p>

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<p>I would guess that IU operates on the assumption that what happened with Susantm's son will happen. But across the board, they don't officially announce studio assignments upon acceptance. Assignments are based in large part on student-teacher negotiations, as I understand it.</p>

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<p>I was told that in the case of IU, I should email the teacher I prefer to request to be in his studio.</p>

<p>However, I'm not sure which teacher I'd prefer. My teacher recommended that I not choose one of them and just have one of the other two, but I'm not really sure how I'd go about requesting to not have a teacher. I mean, I wouldn't do such a thing. In the case of percussion, I think we end up switching teachers throughout our time at IU anyway, so I'll get to study with all three and maybe even the drumset teacher as well.</p>

<p>Hm. I personally would love to vent about the anti-marching band sentiment that I see at so many music schools. It drives me insane. I truly believe that schools with marching bands produce some of the best, most hard-working, dedicated musicians. (High schools, I mean.) And, though it is a huge time commitment in college, marching band is such a fun thing to do. A way to play music in a different setting, to meet people who aren't just over-serious music majors but still have musical talent. To realize that just because you got into a big music school doesn't mean you're necessarily more musical than all the engineering and business and other random majors.</p>

<p>Obviously, it makes sense for marching band to be required for music ed. This was definitely a plus for me. At a school like Peabody, I wouldn't get the marching experience that I would need if I'm going to teach m.b. at a high school. I wouldn't have the respect for the kids I'm teaching that I will after doing it in college. Even if I weren't a music ed major, I would DEFINITELY opt for the school with marching band. What an amazing experience. It's one of the things I'm most excited for at iu.</p>

<p>Anyway, in response to question # 2:
YOUR college experience is what YOU make it. nothing less, nothing more. just like anything in life:)</p>

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<p>I am so jealous- when I was at IU and started as a music major (clarinet) the marching band was ALL MEN!!! Boo...</p>

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<p>Now my son is glad NOT to be in marching band. While he did it a couple of times in high school, before his high school stopped having a marching band, he did not really like it. But then he's more into classical music. To each his or her own. </p>

<p>I enjoy watching marching bands, but my instrument was piano--so I never participated myself. :)</p>

27

<p>Thanks for all the replies, its been great.</p>

<p>But how does the remote location of Indiana compare to being in LA, NY, Boston Area.</p>

<p>Are there less jobs available, less connections to be made to get into the world of music, less internships and outside performance oppourtunities?</p>

<p>Would it better to attend a less reputed school in LA, or NY area's...a music hub and make connections than attend Indiana which is in a remote location.</p>

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<p>Yes, it is remote. Bloomington is an hour from Indianapolis and 4 hours from Chicago, IF the traffic Gods are good to you and right now there is multi-year construction going on on each access road to the Chicago area... </p>

<p>You cannot compare the opportunities to LA, NY or Boston. Those are the facts and this makes easy interaction with major non-campus cultural events difficult. The recent tragedy of those IU Grad students was because they flew to West Lafayette to play in a regional orchestra instead of driving the 2+ hours one way...</p>

<p>The choice is kind of up to you. If you feel that you'll want to get gigs and oppportunities during college, then IU may be limiting than a place like NYU...</p>

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<p>Lemonrock,</p>

<p>You seem to be very interested in a school's reputation and how one school is viewed against another. I think you would do better to focus on the individual teacher than the school. While it is true that the top schools often attract top teachers, you cannot take for granted that you will get the best teacher, or even a teacher who would be good for you by going to the school with the best reputation. Sometimes a mediocre school will have an outstanding department in a particular instrument, and sometimes a great school will have a slightly disappointing one.</p>

<p>To get back to your questions, of course there are more opportunities for gigs , internships and connections in cities with big cultural scenes. There are also a lot more people with whom you will compete to get them. A lot depends on how good you are, how driven you are and what you expect to get out of the opportunities. </p>

<p>Some schools insist that you obtain the permission of your teacher before pursuing any such activities outside the school. That permission may not be forthcoming if the teacher feels that you are not ready or if they think there is a more deserving upperclassman. These are the kind of things you need to check out on a school-by-school and a teacher-by-teacher basis, so it is difficult to give a simple answer to your other question. Some students might actually be better off starting in a backwater and then going to the big city for graduate work. Others need the full immersion experience from the start.</p>

<p>If you are looking for some gigs to pay part of the bills while in college, there are going to be church jobs, weddings, funerals, mall openings and the like just about everywhere. They generally pay better in and around cities, but the cost of living in those areas is relatively higher as well.</p>

<p>If you are looking for opportunities to make connections, your best resource once again will be your teacher. Ask potential teachers what sort of opportunities they can help you find and where their recent students have wound up. If they cannot give you examples that meet your expectations, it may be time to consider other teachers. (Or perhaps it might be time to examine those expectations.) Your questions prove that you realize the value of networking in the classical music world. Part of what you are paying for over the next several years, both in money and the effort you put in, is access to the people who can jumpstart your career. Your job is to find the ones who can help you the most then work with them to the best of your ability. Good luck and best wishes!</p>

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<p>The other to remember is that while IU is out of the way, some of the teachers there are among the best in the world. Being able to say that you studied with such a teacher will open many doors for those students.</p>

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<p>I know I'm a bit late getting in here...but I also applied to, auditioned at, and was accepted to IU (percussion performance).</p>

<p>"1) how is it that a state university has developed such a prestigous music department, it seems to be the only state university to have a music department on par with the top private schools and consevatories. how is that?"</p>

<p>They've developed the whole music school based around their extremely prestigious opera program. When you think about it, a lot of a music school stems from opera...the voice majors, all the people who play in the pit orchestra, the conducting majors...pretty much all instruments with the exception of some jazz instruments. So they developed this big rad opera program and all of the instrumental parts of this program became highly developed along with the big picture (if you get what I mean).</p>

<p>"2) do the music students at IU feel part of the big school life, parties, sports and all or is it just music 24/7."</p>

<p>I can't really answer to this question as I don't go there.</p>

<p>"3) if you or your chlid was accepted to IU, what would be your reasons other than financially for your child to NOT attend IU."</p>

<p>I'm not attending for a couple reasons. The main reason is practice time. At IU...there's a bajillion performance ensembles, which is great, don't get me wrong, but if you're performing ALL the time, even though you're getting lots of performance experience, you're missing out on time to practice, which can hurt you in the long run. Also, there's some 48 percussion students there...and I don't think there's more than 10 practice rooms. Now, obviously, it's going to be tough to get a lot of practice in. At Cleveland Institute of Music (the school that I am attending), there are 6 practice rooms for 12 percussion students. The second reason is private teaching. The teacher I REALLY would want to study with at IU is Gerald Carlyss...and he's retiring in a year. At CIM...no one has plans to retire (well, there's rumors about Richard Weiner, but I don't think it'll be in one year or anything), so I'll be with a teacher. The final reason was access to top performance ensembles. With 48 students and 5 or 6 orchestras at IU...would I ever get to play in the top orchestra and get the absolute best playing experience possible? No guarantees. At CIM I'll definetly get to play with the best orchestra.</p>

<p>I guess it just comes down to what you want. I know another percussion performance who is finishing up his sophomore year at IU right now and loves it. However, it just ended up that CIM was a better fit for me.</p>