<p>Stringfollies,</p>
<p>Do you mind telling me who is your s's first pick teacher? And how did he decide on that teacher as first pick? IU has so many good ones. My violinist d is a junior--we are starting to try to sort out teachers and schools--a daunting task.</p>
<p>stringfollies, I made a mistake--my son is going to Figaro tomorrow (Sat) so he may not be snoring. All I got from him regarding his audition today was, "Fine, I guess! I guess I'll find out." (Text message. Man of many words. He did call earlier to say he bought a sweater on sale at the Detroit airport.)</p>
<p>wow neumes! that sounds like my son. he is busy shopping for shoes on the internet tonight! he didn't want to go to the opera and it really was his choice, so we're in for the count. fingers crossed for tomorrow for them both.</p>
<p>bluepearl - i will answer your post in a general way when i get home (probably on sunday). I'll pm you about the specific teacher choice though.</p>
<p>Thanks, stringfollies. We haven't been to visit IU yet, but we certainly will. We have no personal knowledge or experience with any of the teachers there and just starting to research.</p>
<p>I wondered whether anyone had been, in the past or recently, to a piano audition at Indiana U. Either just as a music major or piano performance major? What was it like, including the atmosphere? Is it difficult to get admitted to these programs?</p>
<p>bluepearl </p>
<p>teacher selection is the trickiest thing about the music school application routine. you don't want to go to a school without having a good sense that there is someone there with whom you would like to study, yet it is hard to figure out who that person might be! my son switched teachers in september. the teacher he had previously is extremely well-known and has mostly very good, very advanced students many of whom get accepted at top schools. yet it clearly wasn't working for my son. the new teacher is a great and well-known musician, but almost unknown as a teacher. he has turned out to have the magic formula for bringing my son through the hurdles which exist between rough and polished advanced playing. After 6 months he sounds like a completely different player and we are hopeful that he is going to be admitted into one or more of the top schools.</p>
<p>For this reason, we are especially sensitive to the issue of the next teacher. There is obviously a style of teaching which works for my son and another which doesn't at all. If he went back to a more formulaic teacher (many of whom are very successful with great students), it would mess him up again. He's a very natural player with huge hands which are sometimes hard to manoever on the violin. He needs to find his own way of balancing his instrument/bow/finger movements, etc. There is no formula for him. This is what we have learned.</p>
<p>The CW is that you should take spring break and more to go to visit music schools and take lessons with teachers you are interested in. We did this last spring, but as it turned out, this was premature for my son. The teachers he met were interested, but only a little. I'm sure they thought he was very talented (everyone seems to think this), but wasn't nearly ready - they were right. We got the names of the teachers to meet through his private teacher who knows a lot of people and knows names. He also asked kids he has met in summer programs who are already in music school and other parents, etc. He is not now trying to study with any of those people.</p>
<p>We have ended up with a fairly unorthodox approach actually (by necessity). He applied to a lot of schools without any sense of certainty about his chances of admission. He scheduled auditions. In the meantime, we've done more research and talked a lot with his current teacher and identified one teacher at each school that might be good for him. Before his first audition at a "safety" school, he sent an email to the only teacher there whom he would go there for and asked if it was possible to meet the day before the audition. We thought it was a gamble and that it might be unethical for the man to see him so close to the audition, but on the contrary he agreed to meet my son and fully expected to hear him play. It was very successful. The teacher said that he would love to teach him and that he would likely have a successful audition - which he did. He has been accepted there. </p>
<p>He has now done the same thing with the other schools he's applied to. Not all the teachers were able to meet him, but in every case it has been successful - they think he'll get in and they want to teach him. Will this result in his acceptance? We don't know yet, but it has given my son a sense of the teachers (one of whom he didn't like at all) and a lot more confidence going into the audition room. It is also less expensive than travelling to all these schools twice. You know you'll have to go for the audition. It would have been safer to make these visits earlier, but my son was too busy trying to get to the place where he could audition well (not to mention doing senior year of hs) to take the time for extra travelling.</p>
<p>So, the first thing to do is start asking your child's teacher. We put together lists of violin faculty with bios from the websites and took them to the teacher to discuss the various people and their backgrounds and came up with one or more choices for each school. </p>
<p>I will pm you about the things I know about Indiana faculty.</p>
<p>Mark Kaplan is a super great teacher if you're not the one who likes typical violin training. He has a really philosophical approach to teaching. He gave some masterclasses in new york a while ago and we all liked him.</p>
<p>Jaime Laredo also brings something unique, but he's pretty much never there and you might get as little as 1 lesson every 2 weeks. That's not enough for an undergrad.</p>
<p>Alex Kerr is great.</p>
<p>Guys like Henryk Kowalsky and Mauricio ***s (this word is censored... his last name is F - U - K - S) are more formulaic in teaching, and it's very effective as they produce a lot of great players. That's not for everyone though.</p>
<p>Wow, stringfollies, your post about the readiness to search for teachers should be required reading for music applicants!</p>
<p>This is the conundrum--a student may not be ready to look for teachers before applying to schools. It's a complicated process and I really admire your collective diligence, and your willingness to describe your son's story. Thanks.</p>
<p>My son has not had trial lessons due to severe time constraints--just couldn't travel twice and none of us knew enough early on--and not from ignorance really but because he just didn't know exactly where his voice and interests lay one year ago.</p>
<p>His voice teacher insists, of course, that he must have trial lessons before enrolling in a BM program and he must feel comfortable with the teacher. (His BA schools are all close enough for him to take periodic lessons with his present teacher but still have applied performance lessons at the schools, but all 3 of his BA schools are super reaches. Sigh.) So S may well be doing a gap year, although in his case it's because he may have a compelling gap position.</p>
<p>I should add that S had a good time at Indiana (one good friend there plus one good friend visiting--I'm thankful he was able to wake up at 8 am each morning!). Had one 7-minute audition (10 faculty observing) for Voice, 2 songs, no questions--this on Friday. On Saturday he took the 1-hour musicianship test (pretty easy, he says), then auditioned for Early Music Voice, with several faculty present (and a crackerjack accompanist, he says). Did 3 songs and answered questions about where he sees himself in 5 years (or so). Then the Early music staff, applicants, and some EM students attended a short reception, which was really quite nice--he talked with faculty and students (mostly grad). That evening he saw Jacobs' Le Nozze di Figaro with his friends and thought it was extremely well done. So, back home and back to his schoolwork plus singing/theater ECs--a good way to keep a senior busy.</p>
<p>Wow - 10 faculty! My son had 3 in his violin audition. It was in a rather large recital hall which was darkened with stage lights. No other auditions have been so formal. He couldn't really see the faculty at all. Played for approx 8-10 minutes, no questions. This was Saturday early afternoon. He took the musicianship test on Sat. morning (agrees that it was easy). The organization was good and the parent q & a was very friendly and quite informative. We love Bloomington. Now he's home and in exams. He's got one more on Friday (Oberlin) which feels like one too many. Wish we would hear from some of them.....</p>
<p>Well, he said ten, but maybe he was rounding off! Darn, I would like to have attended the parent q&a, and I'm happy to hear you had a good impression.</p>
<p>Sounds as if you are piling up the frequent flyer miles. Part of a musician's life, I guess. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Hi all, I tried posting this before, no responses yet. Wondered if anyone out there has auditioned at Indiana U. for piano performance, or just plain Bachelors of Music, and what was your experience, the atmosphere etc? I'm a parent BTW.</p>
<p>My D auditioned there for piano performance last year. It took place in the dept. chair's office but she was not present. There are two Steinway B's and a couch in the (big) room. Five faculty members were present. A younger faculty is conducting the audition. As usual, the student picked first piece. PM me if you would like to know who were present. It seemed that they all read the application before hand. Although D was not asked any question, her friend was. One of the faculty members seemed to know D's flute teacher (the information was on the application) and told D to say hi to her flute teacher when D was on her way out.</p>
<p>It was D's first audition and she was nervous. But they were nice and the atmosphere seemed pretty casual. The admission was posted on her online account within 10 days. D received academic scholarship before her audition but her music scholarship came later.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from them regarding talent award money and/or financial aid package yet?</p>
<p>I haven't....and I was wondering the same thing... I was kind surprised when they sent me a letter requiring an answer of if I am there w/o getting info about how much $$$ they were going to offer me. So I decided to hold off on the response until I receive info regarding financial aid. Indiana as you know is a very expensive school, and I need to know if they will give me any type of scholarship money to offset the total cost. I was too afraid to sign the letter only to find out they will not be offering any $$$ and I will be giving up my rights to go other universities.</p>
<p>Last year my son got a snail mail letter dated March 22 that told him he was being offered a Music Faculty Award. You have a little while to wait, but not an impossibly long time. Good luck, Linnlew & Daughter & anyone else who is waiting!</p>
<p>Thanks! We are waiting but not patiently!</p>
<p>We will not answer anything either until we have any scholarship offer in hand!</p>
<p>Linnlew and Dablest, I am almost sure you are not required to answer until May 1st. I believe it is an agreed upon date by most music schools. Any one of the regular posters can second that, I believe. My own son waited until May 1st.</p>
<p>IU is accredited by NASM (National Association of Schools of Music). All NASM accredited schools agree to give non-ED applicants until May 1 to decide. Check out Article III, Sections 3 and 4 in their Code of ethics at <a href="http://www.niu.edu/Music/documents/NASM%20Code%20of%20Ethics%2007-08.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.niu.edu/Music/documents/NASM%20Code%20of%20Ethics%2007-08.pdf</a></p>
<p>Note that they are allowed to ask for a response before May 1, but they are supposed to tell you that any acceptance of financial aid or a letter of intent is not binding before that date, so you may accept their offer and still be able to change your mind up until April 30 if you get a better offer elsewhere.</p>