Hello, my violin daughter will be attending Bowdoin this summer (she’s currently a first-year majoring in music performance) for one 3-week session. She’s very excited, has been dreaming of going to Bowdoin for years. On the enrollment form she was asked if she’d like to be in one or two chamber groups, and if she wants to play works written by festival composers. She said two chamber groups, and yes to the composers’ works. Now we’re wondering if two chamber groups will be too much, especially since she will not be given the music in advance and will need to learn it right away, plus 2 coachings/week for each group, and rehearsals. She wants lots of personal practice time to prepare for her studio lessons so she can move forward with her solo playing, and there are so many other things to partake of at the festival, such as concerts, masterclasses, etc. Please let me know if you have any advice on this, and what you or your child’s experiences were like at Bowdoin. Thanks in advance!
Hi, my child went to Bowdoin a few summers ago as a senior in high school, and then again one summer during undergrad. She signed up for two chamber groups both times. Because of her inexperience the first time she attended, she found it a bit overwhelming to be in two groups; the second time she attended it was just par for the course, and she was more mature and better able to juggle all the issues with scheduling rehearsals and coachings, planning her personal practice time, etc.
Because it was intense didn’t mean it was something not to repeat; in fact, she formed some super important connections by being in more groups each summer she was at Bowdoin. If part of the purpose of being at a festival is connecting with coaches and more players, and learning more rep, then more chamber groups is better. Your daughter is smart to be thinking about time management at any festival, and to think about claiming practice time for her lessons. I will say that many festivals will overwork their participants, and hand injuries are a very real thing, so pacing and awareness of this issue is super important.
Hope she enjoys her time up there!
@HappyCello thank you so much for your helpful response and positive feedback! She has decided to play in one chamber group at Bowdoin this summer, in addition to any work she does with composers, in order to get the most out of her lessons. I’m very happy with this plan because I was concerned about too many playing-hours. She’s also planning to go to Kinhaven Young Artist Seminar, which is an intense chamber music experience, so hopefully she’ll have the balance she is seeking. Do you happen to know if they tend to study complete chamber works at Bowdoin?
It seems like over the last couple of years, Bowdoin leadership at the festival has changed, and the festival has grown much larger, and they have a structure in place that’s much more rigorous than it used to be. All of the student concerts are livestreamed, which is great for parents and family who aren’t nearby! So almost from the beginning of each session, student concerts happen. This includes chamber ensembles and students performing individually. As you can imagine, time is tight for chamber groups to learn entire multi-movement works, although it does happen. In my daughter’s experience, they performed what was the most prepared. So it might not be entire works, although that might have been the goal, at the outset.
@HappyCello, I knew the leadership recently changed, but you’re giving me some important perspective on how that might affect her experience. I’ll advise her to be very very careful. My impression was that there would be room, and independence, to shape one’s experience and focus…do you think that has changed, in terms of the structure that is being put into place?
Hmmm. The answer to that is probably student-specific. There are trade-offs with everything; when a festival grows in size (in terms of invited participants, number of concerts, etc) the faculty also grows. So in theory, student participants have the chance to benefit from that growth – being able to attend more master classes, because they may schedule more than they had in previous summers, and students may be able to interact with more faculty members, some of whom are terrific teachers, leaders in their instruments. Larger may also means a certain intimacy is lost, but again, that feeling might be student-specific. One thing I remember that was reported: Bowdoin doesn’t have a lot of events that “unite” the students. You have your individual lessons and chamber rehearsals, but there aren’t too many events that all the students participate in. While the meals are shared at the dining hall by both participants and faculty, times are staggered, based on everyone’s schedules, so chances for group interactions were infrequent. Older students are housed in apartments, in a different location from the dorms. I don’t report these observations as negatives, really rather just so you can hear about what the circumstances might be, and how to plan for them.
Also this is from a couple of summers ago, so I imagine things continue to change there.
It sounds like there will be so much wonderful stuff to choose from and appreciate. She’s very independent, and this will give her space to make choices, meet new faculty and hear lots of music. It sounds great, and I’m excited for her! She’s especially looking forward to the chamber music and to the time with her teacher, and is open to trying to prepare a solo piece for performance, if she’s lucky enough to be able to do that.
@HappyCello thank you so much for your comments today, this discussion has been so helpful!!
Hope it’s a great time for her. FYI the food at Bowdoin is really good! Summer festivals never have good food, except for this one! 
Mundane question, in view of all the incoming news about colleges, but here goes: It says that at Bowdoin the students (except, of course, for pianists, composers, double bass, harp, and percussion players) practice in their dorm rooms, but also that the rooms are double or triple occupancy. I’m curious if anybody knows how that works out. Thanks!
SuzeVioin, My kid, also a violinist went past 2 years to Bowdoin. The double room has a living area and another sleeping area. They just each picked a practice space and it was fine.
@cellocompmom thank you!!!
In our experience, the dorm rooms are very generous, and were all set up in suite-fashion. I am pretty sure that each had her own bedroom, and then common shared space in the suite. Each year my daughter was there she had a private bedroom, but it was called a shared room. Never tripled. You might want to check with the festival for current info, as mine is a bit outdated.
Thanks @HappyCello ! It sounds like she will be living in luxury for those 3 weeks!