<p>Hi all--</p>
<p>This is my first post. My dd is still a few years out from college (9th) grade, but is making noises about being a Horn major. I actually was a Music major (vocal ed), but have NO experience with brass stuff--not to mention that back in the dark ages when I went to school, it was a no brainer for me to attend my state school.</p>
<p>ANYWAY :) I'd appreciate any feedback.</p>
<p>Thank,</p>
<p>Azcat</p>
<p>I’m the parent of a horn player. I’d be happy to answer questions, if you care to post anything specific. You might also browse previous threads. Violadad is our master linker, but if I may tread on his territory for a bit, I’ll post a few. He may come along to clean up my mess…</p>
<p>Start here, if you haven’t already read this:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html</a></p>
<p>Questions from another horn parent:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/531161-do-you-have-map.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/531161-do-you-have-map.html?</a></p>
<p>Discussion about conservatory or not:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/721734-how-do-you-figure-out-whether-conservatory-right-you.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/721734-how-do-you-figure-out-whether-conservatory-right-you.html?</a></p>
<p>You may want to look up previous posts from other horn parents (some of whom don’t post much anymore), including: teammom, Washdad, Momof3stars, operahorn (who is a hornplayer herself rather than parent of one), dlbarber, hornmom, and perhaps others that I’m not seeing right now.</p>
<p>In addition, you’ll find a variety of music parents and kids here anticipating the process, going through the process, or already through the process.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response–</p>
<p>I guess I’m kind of looking for places that are known for having a good horn program. DD’s teacher has a BM from WVU and a MM from Dusquene. My degree is from AZ, many moons ago.</p>
<p>Truthfully, I think she’s a decent player–has consistently made all regional and all county bands, et al, and she likes to play, but she’s a bit like my 4th and 5th grade recorder students who want the good recorder fairly to swoop down and bop them on the head so that the will magically be the recorder equivalent of Dennis Brain! In other words, I’m not sure she has the work ethic necessary to be a top level musician.</p>
<p>OTOH, perhaps looking at some school requirements would be motivating for her.</p>
<p>Anyway, we live in NoVA and are looking for some direction…</p>
<p>Thanks for the links. I’d read some of them but not all.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for the response.</p>
<p>When we were looking for horn teachers and schools (6 years ago now) we were looking for conservatory level programs, so I’m hoping someone else will speak up, both with more recent experience and with non-conservatory programs.</p>
<p>Since your D is still young enough, you have a couple summers to pursue a summer program or two over the next couple of years. As people here will attest, they are effective at lighting fires under kids (and conversely, putting fires out - in that some kids find out that this is NOT what they want to do 24/7). Summer programs also help your D experience other teachers, and discuss with both teachers and other students what kinds of programs they might want to look at, based on learning styles, ability/achievement, and goals.</p>
<p>Depending on the resources where you live, you might find a college-run summer camp nearby to start with, maybe just a week or two long, to get your feet wet. Then branch out to a longer program, further away. We learned a lot about colleges through summer programs where they had college fairs. The feedback you get from the teachers there really helps to know what direction to steer your kid, too. </p>
<p>Since you are thinking that your D might not be appropriate for a very high level program, you might want to concentrate on colleges and universities, rather than conservatories. Academics will matter more in that situation, so it would help to know approximately where you see her fitting.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, Indiana U and Michigan, for example, have excellent horn programs. Many schools in Ohio have great horn programs, from conservatories on down. I know a great player from University of Akron, for example. University of Iowa has Jeffrey Agrell as a teacher. </p>
<p>You might want to bookmark this horn site: <a href=“http://www.hornsociety.org/[/url]”>http://www.hornsociety.org/</a> </p>
<p>[Kendall</a> Betts Horn Camp](<a href=“http://www.horncamp.org/]Kendall”>http://www.horncamp.org/) is a great horn camp worth having on your radar. Even if your D never attends, take a look at their faculty here, and check out where some of them are teaching during the school year.</p>
<p>Welcome Azcatz,</p>
<p>Binx is THE HORN PARENT expert and knows so much about this process; my advisor the whole way through. Read all those threads, paying particular attention to BassDad’s experience at looking at schools</p>
<p>As has Binx, I’ve gone through the conservatory/music school/college decision with two kids, one of which was horn, so my words will ring familiar.</p>
<p>Does dd have a great teacher? In high school, mine studied with a horn player from the Met Opera, Binx’s studied with one from Atlanta Symphony…a good teacher is the greatest gift you can give your musician…for high school and college. </p>
<p>Sometimes those teachers came in conjunction with a high school orchestra and pre-college. All conservatories and most music schools have them. Are you Virginia or Arizona? Don’t know too much about the latter, but Peabody is an option in the DC area.</p>
<p>If she’s making noises about perhaps playing horn for a career, or at least for a major, it’s time to start playing nationwide with others her age during the summers to gauge how she stacks up and be inspired (or not) to achieve as much as she can. Those auditions for summer programs have past for the upcoming summer, so concentrate on a more local program for this summer, but be prepared early for next summer. 1-2 week workshops, like Kendell Betts, are a great option</p>
<p>You really don’t need to think about colleges yet, until she has an idea of how horn fits into the scheme of things. Again at the college level, it is best to go for the teachers you want, and have the school fit in around it. For a mixed academic/music world, options run the gamut from a LAC with a good orchestra, to USC/IU/U Michigan, to Northwestern/Rice type of schools. But again, dd needs to know more about where she fits and what she wants.</p>
<p>glad to have you here</p>
<p>Hello Mr/Mrs Binx. I understand that your son is a Horn major at Julliard. My daughter would like to apply/audition there. Can I PM you to get some info of the preparation process, audition, openings, studios etc?
Any info would be welcome.
Thanks
Rammnam</p>
<p>Rammnam, you are welcome to PM me. However, I encourage you to ask as many questions as possible here, because my info is getting old and others have been through the process more recently. Collective experience is a better bet than just mine.</p>
<p>My S graduated from Juilliard in 08, and finished his masters there this year. So I went through this application process with him nearly 7 years ago now. (He did all the grad school stuff without my help.) Most of what we have experienced has been posted already. In fact, I would probably have to dig up those old posts just to remind myself what happened.</p>
<p>But if you think there is something specific I can help you with, I’d be glad to try.</p>
<p>(and it’s Mrs. Binx. 
)</p>