Can Anyone Help With This Decision?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm a first time visitor here who needs some advice from any of you more experienced MT parents...</p>

<p>My 16 year old daughter was originally waitlisted on her Interlochen MT application. I flew into action to get her into somewhere else and we luckily ended up getting into a 6 week program at French Woods (a camp I've heard great things about, but didn't know that much about before...)</p>

<p>The day after we get everything set up for French Woods, we hear from Interlochen that she got into the 3 week MT workshop.</p>

<p>I think French Woods sounds amazing, but my d's voice teacher is shocked that we're not dropping it for what she thinks is the more strenuous Interlochen. Quite frankly, I'm also swayed by the fact that she would have 6 weeks of camp and get to work on 2 shows at French Woods instead of just 1 at Interlochen (this is a girl who needs structure so the six weeks is really appealing to me too...) Also, we need all the help we can get on a college app, as her grades aren't stellar. Does one camp over another when they both seem great really make a difference?</p>

<p>It seems like we have 2 wonderful choices and it's hard to pick, so any advice would be very welcome. Also, I think here in Chicago, more people are familiar with Interlochen and don't know that much about French Woods...</p>

<p>Thanks very much for any help! We need to decide fast!</p>

2

<p>Wow -- it must be nice to have that sort of a choice! I attended Interlochen for the summer -- many years ago -- and my daughter attended French Woods. They are both wonderful programs. It probably is true that Interlochen is more "strenuous" and more prestigious. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's better, though. (Personally, I would prefer a 6-week program over a 3-week program.) Either program would be a nice addition to your daughter's resume. Colleges will take note of what training she has received, but when the time comes for college auditions, the most important issue will be the audition itself. The choice of a summer camp really won't make that much difference.</p>

3

<p>I recently researched Frenchwoods, and was REALLY impressed. The person in the winter office responded to my e-mails quickly and had a long discussion with my daughter about training options there. Both my daughter and I fell in love with it!</p>

<p>Note that my daughter is interested in gymnastics and circus skills, not (primarily) MT. However, soozievt, who posts on CC a lot, has a bunch of first-hand knowledge about Frenchwoods from her kids' experiences.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input! Actually, I should have made clear that my daughter is not necessarily headed down the MT path--she actually is thinking of a career in music education. But as I said, her grades aren't the best and I was thinking of this summer's activities as perhaps a little cushion (which I could be placing too much emphasis on too, I know...) </p>

<p>I have to agree with Letsfigure it out that I was SO impressed with how lovely the Frenchwoods staff was when I called...</p>

<p>(All of this is SUCH a far cry from my sixteenth summer---I worked at a nearby horse stables cleaning out stalls and my mother dropped me off at 7 in the morning with a bag lunch, 50 cents for a bottle of a pop and I earned 14.00 a day which I thought was a fortune!)</p>

<p>Thanks again...</p>

5

<p>I don't think one camp or the other will make a substantial difference on a kid's college resume, even a kid bound for MT! A friend's D attended French Woods and absolutely loved it. She did musical theater there but loved that it also provided opportunities to do regular summer camp things, like swim, do crafts, waterski and more. She came home bubbling over with excitement about both the training and the program there.</p>

6

<p>Interlochen is a magical place. You can feel it just walking around the grounds.</p>

7

<p>Having attended both Frenchwoods and Interlochen, I would say Interlochen without a doubt. I did MT at Frenchwoods for one year, and I felt very lost in the crowd. I did not enjoy my summer at all. Since their theatre program is so huge, I don't feel like my skills improved much at all because there was little personal attention. This was also, I think, due to the fact that there were no classes, just rehearsals. During time that could have been spent taking an acting technique or music class, we were required to take classes outside our major - "normal" camp stuff, which your D might enjoy. However, with summer camp being so expensive, I (and my parents) would have rather spent my time training. I also found that the kids were not very welcoming and there was no sense of community throughout the camp.</p>

<p>I have attended Interlochen for the past 4 years, as an MT major. Each year changed my life, and each year my skills improved exponentially. I found that when I came home, I was miles ahead of my peers when it came time to audition for shows at home, and I know I can attribute that directly to Interlochen. Also, because the program is so small - probably around 25 kids in the workshop - there is a great amount of personal attention. The faculty is really on your side and wants you to become the best you can be. Also, the facilities are incredible!! You also have to take other training classes within your major, and a huge aspect of the classes that the faculty stresses is being able to take what you learn in your classes and apply it towards your rehearsals, which is an extremely important skill to learn and why I think it's important take these instead of "normal camp" classes. It's obviously very intensive, but if you are committed, you will never want to stop working, and the payoff will be huge.</p>

<p>On the college front - yes, the name might not make a difference, but your training will. If you have good training, it will shine through in your auditions. From our group last year, we have people going to CCM, Michigan, BOCO, Syracuse, UArts, Emerson, Webster...the list goes on. I know your did may not go to school for MT, but this definitely also applies for Music Education. Training is important!</p>

<p>So I think I've made my opinion clear! I truly believe I learned more in one week of Interlochen than I did during my entire summer at Frenchwoods. Go to Interlochen, your D won't regret it! Feel free to PM me with any questions.</p>

<p>P.S. I know people who did 2 sessions of the 3-week workshop. You might want to check out that option.</p>

8

<p>My D did interlochen as an intermediate, not in the HS program so it may be somewhat different. But the MT workshop does not do a production, they put together a review sometimes with a theme, sometimes not. What D did like was that she could take serious ballet classes with real ballet teachers. As for atmosphere Interlochen is amazing with kids who love the arts and want to be there with others who love the arts.</p>

9

<p>Something else you may want to consider is that the week before Interlochen's MT workshop is a week long Audition Intensive with the director of the High School Musical Theatre Production program. He is beyond fabulous and I credit him with my daughter's success this year in her high school auditions. That way, the summer at Interlochen was extended into four weeks. I know very little about French Woods, but Interlochen is very near and dear to my daughter. We are actually sorry that she isn't going back this summer before heading off to college!</p>

10

<p>I attended Frenchwoods for 2 years. Never been to Interlochen, but hear it's really intense. My opinion is if she definitely wants to do MT and just Musical Theatre then go to Interlochen. But if she wants to do MT with anything else from Classical Music, Be in a Rock Band/ Record CDs, Horse Back, Circus, Sports, Water Sports, Dance, Fencing, etc. I feel that the Dance classes are very very good. Frenchwoods gives her opportunities to be in many performance opportunities, whether a band show, MT Performance, one acts, Circus, Dance, etc. For me Frenchwoods opened doors for me for new things I love to do like Dance and trapeze. I took a few Acting classes, which I feel Interlochen will have more advance training in classes. As far as getting into college. I don't think having Interlochen or Frenchwood would make any difference at all. They seem to care only about the product/audition you give plus your academic/extra curricular stuff.
I'll be attending BOCO for MT and Frenchwoods helped me by their dance program. (I was predominately Majoring in Dance courses, Circus with flexibilty/Strength)</p>

11

<p>Interlochen!</p>