<p>I've been posting recently about taking my D to have sample lessons with faculty on campuses at which she plans to audition as a music performance major. Two CCers have PM'd me to ask how we arranged the lessons, so I thought copying one of my responses in a thread might be helpful to others on the Parents' Forum.</p>
<p>Faculty on each campus are happy to conduct sample lessons, and I'd highly recommend it. In addition to "trying one another out," it could provide
your student a friendly face at audition time. What's more, a faculty member we visited gave some feedback that helped us to confirm that D was competitive for admission to that program and that another program she was considering might serve as an audition "safety" - that information was very useful. I contacted the chairs of the particular departments to arrange the visits; at larger programs, they generally refer you to someone in the department who makes arrangements for prospective students visits. They usually want you to contact faculty about lessons on your own however. I've used CC contacts to learn which faculty to contact, or I've looked for current students to make referrals (at one campus I e-mailed a student officer in a music departmental organization to ask to be put in contact with a major in my D's area of specialization). At larger programs, there will usually be an admissions officer in the School of Music as well, and you'll want to meet with that person. Both these meetings should be available during summers, but you'll likely find the supply of available faculty limited during that time.</p>
<p>So, in short, if you plan to spend a lot of time and money taking your student to audition for expensive training in a high-risk career, you should spend even more time, money and effort to duplicate that audition itinerary in advance. But that's a topic for another thread. :-)</p>
<p>Gadad, thanks for your post. Our experience has been that the faculty have been very willing to spend the time and provide feedback. Before we ever scheduled a lesson, we were told (by music teachers in our area) to be prepared to pay for the lesson (which I would gladly do). We've not been asked to pay for a lesson yet, but I was wondering what your experience has been.</p>
<p>My daughter (a vocal student) has also learned to bring a LOT of her music with her. Before the first lesson she ever took, I was urging her to just bring 3-4 pieces that she was working on, but instead she just grabbed her bookbag of music. It was a good thing she did. It gave the professor a chance to look over the range of music she'd been working on, and the prof plucked some pieces out of the mix to get a sense of where she was at with sight-singing and languages. My daughter learned a great deal from that experience, and now drags the whole bag with her every time.</p>
<p>No one has ever mentioned payment to me for these sessions. My assumption is that the teachers want to attract the best students as much as the students want to find the best teacher, so it should be a win-win experience.</p>
<p>My son had sample lessons at the schools that accepted him, to help him decide which to attend. At only one of them did the teacher expect to be paid. However, as it turned out, the teacher had forgotten to mention that to my son in their phone conversations arranging the lesson, so he ended up not charging him anyway. Lucked out that time!</p>
<p>Gadad, thank you for posting this valuable information. My son is entering the ring again, this time as a transfer for Fall 2006. I don't think we were thorough enough in finding the right teacher and "culture" the first time around. Since you brought it up, I have a few more questions about how to go about making contact and maybe this will help other parents of potential music majors: (IF other veteran parents feel they could add additional advice, I'd be greatful for your input.
Were there schools where it seemed that they would prefer some sort of introduction from your Daughter's private teacher before she made contact? </p>
<p>When you made the rounds, how many professors would your daughter meet with on a visit? </p>
<p>Also, would she ask in her introductory email how much the prof. charges? </p>
<p>Did she maintain email contact after the sample lesson?</p>
<p>In the sample lesson did your daughter always work on polished repertoire or did she ask to see how the teacher would present new material or troubleshoot a work spot? </p>
<p>I am also wondering if "those who have been through this" could shed some light on specific areas, buildings, people we should include on our visits to the following schools:
(Undergrad Piano Performance/English)</p>
<p>Eastman/U of Rochester
U of Michigan
CIM/ CWRU
U of Wisc Madison
NYU Steinhardt
U of Texas Austin</p>
<p>The information I've already gleaned from CC has been invaluable. Thank you in advance for your generocity in sharing information.
Chris</p>
<p>It is a great idea to schedule a lesson with teachers at schools of interest. While admissions directors for music schools can help with contact information, they will not involve themselves with recommendations, because teachers are quite competitive with each other for access to the best students, and no administrator wants to interfere with those choices. Most teachers will not charge, though some will, and unless it is arranged prior to the lesson, some might be less likely to charge if they really want the student; some will not teach, only listen and assess; some are not available without a contact and/or introduction. Because many have their own professional activities in the summer, if contact is made prior to the end of the semester, you might find the teacher of interest will be closer in proximity during the summer. I think the best approach about the payment issue is to say that you are more than willing to pay for the lesson, but they must tell you if there is a charge and how much it will be. Most high school students, if the parents are not along, are not prepared to whip out the check book, so this needs to be clarified prior to the lesson/audition. </p>
<p>It gets a bit more complicated for a singer, because it is hard to present oneself without a collaborative pianist. If the teacher is asked, they might be able to arrange something or offer to play themselves. While it is nice to have a teacher who can accompanist, my major professor made the observation that those who can accompany often do not listen to the singer as carefully, and they are not as good technical pedagogues. It is true that a pianistically skilled voice teacher will necessarily be distracted by what they are doing.</p>
<p>We had a slightly different experience visiting schools. My S (instrumentalist) scheduled lessons at 4 different schools, and paid for two of them. (He already knew other teachers from camps and such, which helped limit the need at other schools.) </p>
<p>S emailed each teacher, or called him (all males, as it happened). It usually took several calls to coordinate a visit with the school at a time the teacher was available. Several times the teacher he wanted a lesson with wasn't available at all, so he took a second choice, or skipped it altogether. And yes, he did ask in advance what the fee would be, so there were no surprises. The fees varied widely. </p>
<p>It was important to us that he have a "real" lesson -- a full hour of instruction, comments, criticisms, feedback -- not just a "this is how I play, nice to meet you". It was valuable to us, and helped S rank the schools according to how well he felt he would learn from each teacher. He crossed one good school off his list because he didn't "click" with the teacher. (Ironically, it was the teacher who charged us the most.)</p>
<p>One thing that really sold us (the parents) on Rice was the amount of time the voice teacher spent with D AND us. D had a lesson, and then the teacher called us in and went over all the schools D was considering and shared information from her experiences (she had attended or taught at a number of the major conservatories/music schools). She was SO helpful and warm. She told us what she believed were the strong points at Rice. D's teacher at Interlochen had recommended Rice and this particular teacher, which admittedly helped. When D went back for the official audition, she felt comfortable.</p>
<p>When we went through the process, my son, a instrumentalist, had lessons with 7 or 8 teachers at different schools. We were never charged for lessons. It was somewhat difficult to schedule with some teachers and easier with others. My son never had any letter of intro or anything else. We would just call and say he was a prospective student wanting to schedule a lesson if possible. The teachers were all unfailingly gracious. Some spent more time with him than others. We had difficulty connecting with one teacher my son was very interested in. When the teacher came to perform in a city fairly close to us, we were able to arrange for my son to visit him in his hotel room! Not the ideal situation but valuable nonetheless. </p>
<p>My son always played something pretty polished but also had something with him that he was working on as well. He wanted to know what kind of feedback he would get in different kinds of situations. I very strongly recommend that performance majors do the sample lessons. Another great way to become acquainted with teachers is through summer music programs. My son is hoping to get lessons with 2 potential grad school teachers at his summer program this year. And finally, you don't have to wait until junior or senior year to do this. My son had his first sample lesson during spring of his freshman year. That is the teacher he eventually ended up with for undergrad. </p>
<p>Pianomom - Myt son goes to Eastman and we live in Madison, so I can probably answer questions about either school. At Eastman, you will want to visit both campuses. It is difficult to do a double degree, but doable. UW is very different, much bigger and the double degree is easier. The piano faculty at Eastman is top notch, but there are a couple of excellent pianists at UW as well.</p>
<p>Our experience was similar to others posted. DS had lessons with faculty at every school to which he applied, and several times at a couple. In some cases he (we) paid for the lessons and in some cases we did not. One thing to consider is the timing of these lessons. Some faculty only give lessons during certain times of the year. For example, at one school DS found out that lessons were not scheduled between November and March (audition season) so he went at an alternate time. At a couple of other schools he actually HAD his lessons the weekend of his auditions...so it varies. At one school, the faculty even invited DS to a lesson the day before his audition to listen and give last minute suggestions (and yes, this teacher was on the audition committee). DS did as Shennie's did....had one prepared piece and one piece that needed work. To be honest, the faculty DS saw listened to part of the prepared piece but were very interested in the less prepared one. In many ways THEY were evaluating the lesson also...seeing if they could make a change in DS's playing in a short time. I will say that for my kiddo, he liked all of the private teachers...but he also likes to have lessons with a variety of people. I would strongly suggest that anyone planning to do private lessons contact the schools NOW to find out how to arrange this.</p>
<p>D is considering schools with music programs and performance majors by audition as well as some colleges that don't have the major, but some of which are partnered with conservatories. What are your students' experiences at schools without a performance major? In visiting an LAC that has an excellent music program without a performance major, can lessons still be scheduled? Also, with colleges that are coupled with conservatories (as with Hopkins/Peabody) will the conservatories do sample lessons? What about a huge university like Berkeley where, if it didn't work out on campus, the lessons could always be pursued privately off campus? </p>
<p>My son did not look at any schools that didn't have a performance major, so I don't know how teachers at those schools do things, but at everywhere that had a performance major we had little difficulty in scheduling lessons with whomever he was interested in. As stated above, timing can be an issue. We discovered that it is best to make lesson arrangements before doing anything else. Once the lesson has been scheduled, then make appointments with admissions, travel arrangements, etc. The thing to keep in mind is that many of the teachers out there are also active performing musicians themselves who travel and are not always in town. They are often extremely tightly scheduled people. We found them very willing to accomodate potential students, but you need to be flexible and work with them to find a time that works for everyone. </p>
<p>Schools where my son had lessons included Rice, Eastman, NEC, CIM, BU, and Michigan if that helps at all.</p>
<p>We looked extensively at creating something like an "Independent Study" in voice out of a B.A. at a selective LAC, augmented by applied lessons and performance under the direction of a faculty mentor. It was clear that our student's self-motivation would have been more than sufficient, and we identified an Artist Associate on the school's faculty who was eager to work with D. We visited and D had a lesson with the teacher; it would have probably worked out well enough to prepare D for a M.M. while giving her the full academic experience at the LAC.</p>
<p>But ultimately my D decided that participation in a cohort of musical peers with similar passions and ambitions was essential for her, both from the social standpoint as well as for the influence they'd have in pushing her to be her best. She's since focused on programs in prominent schools of music at academically strong universities. At the last one she visited, the faculty member with whom she worked urged her to focus on larger programs which would have the resources and connections she'd need to realize her goals. Obviously, that would be lacking in the self-arranged degree approach as well.</p>
<p>Of course, Yo-Yo Ma got a B.A. from Harvard. But one would guess that he was certain by age 18 that he was destined to be among the world's great cellists. For any one out of the world's glut of teenaged sopranos, the future's harder to predict.</p>
<p>Don't forget the resource of the music schools director's (or deans) secretary.We found them to be fonts of useful information as to teachers schedules, availabilities,etc.
D (instumentalist at first) was warned that she might have to pay but was never charged.One person turned her down flat (and the only instructor at that school on her instrument) stating she didnt do "evaluative lessons".D later auditioned for this woman and found they didnt get along and since learned others dont like her either.
While D brought mmusic she had been working on, teachers would also pull out other things (or their own pile) and ask her to play something "cold".I guess its to see how you react under pressure?</p>
<p>Our son also only auditioned for programs that had music performance majors. He had "sample lessons" at New England Conservatory, Peabody (actually had two lessons there), U of North Texas, Duquesne (with two different faculty members), and U of Maryland. He was studying with the teacher at the Hartt School, and had spent two summers with the teacher at BU so he didn't need lessons at those two schools.</p>
<p>DD wants to play and study oboe but NOT as a performance major. We are finding that scheduling lessons with the teachers is not as easy if you don't plan to major in music.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great information everyone. I'm going to spice it up a bit and ask if anyone has ever hired an audition coach or placement consultant in addition to the student's private music teacher?
If so, what was your experience and how did you locate this person?
Did they help you make contacts with potential teachers?</p>
<p>We did not hire an audition coach. However, DS's private teacher did extra lessons working on audition repertoire and preparation. However, we have heard of hs students who have AGENTS (no kidding) who are marketing them for acceptances to highly regarded programs. A friend knew of specific instances where this was the case at Eastman, Curtis and Juilliard.</p>
<p>At this point our son is a college student who is hoping to transfer to a larger program after two years. The teacher as advocate isn't an option for us. He will provide a recommendation, but we really don't feel we can expect more. That's why we're trying to consider many different options.</p>
<p>I, too, have never heard of an audition coach. My son's private teacher was not well known and actually moved out of the area between my son's junior and senior year. He had a new teacher who was young and not influential. My son didn't need any of that to get accepted to performance programs. Ultimately, your son will either be accepted or not based on his audition. A coach may be helpful if your son has difficulty in audition situations. However, if he has difficulty at this point auditioning or performing on demand, then performance is probably not the profession for him. </p>
<p>People talk all the time on this board about how unfair admissions are. I think that music performance is really about as fair as it gets. There are no legacy admissions, or URM or athletic scholarships. Its not about knowing someone or influence. Students prepare to the highest level they can, audition, and are accepted or rejected based on how they perform at the audition. If they have a bad day, they won't be accepted and that is the really difficult part about the whole process, because you essentially have a 20 minute shot to show what you can do. Numbers also play a role in it. My son got waitlisted at the program he most wanted because the teacher was only accepting 1 undergrad that year. Another teacher he really wanted didn't accept ANY undergrads the year he applied. Coaching will not help with that. I think you need to do your research, have personal contact with teachers, schedule lessons with those you are most interested in, and prepare to play your best. I think that most parents who have been through this process would agree with me.</p>