Another experience with sample lessons…
For undergrad, my D didn’t do it; and it made no difference. So is it necessary? Absolutely not. Note that she is a vocalist.
For grad, she definitely did sample lessons. She wanted a certain type of teacher; and that relationship was the most important consideration for her. She also knew what type of personality worked best for her.
My D has had parents or high school students ask how you know which teacher is right. My D has said it’s hard to know until you work with a few different teachers. She didn’t have enough experience in high school to even know what she was looking for. I think this may be more common with vocalist who have only been singing for at most 4 years (in my D’s case 3 years and I know some guys had only done 2 years). An instrumentalist could be playing for 10 years with multiple teachers.
Still I know kids who have gone to large grad programs for voice not knowing a teacher and have done great. Some of that may be an easy-going personality (not always found in musicians lol). So everyone is different…
One of the things my D (a vocalist) did as she narrowed down schools and studios was to listen to recordings of the teacher and their students to see whether she liked their sound. Seems obvious, but she was amazed how many studios with great reputatios produced singers who were pushing, or had major tension issues (which she already deals with).
@songbirdmama:
That is a great idea! Some people will focus on with a teacher things like winning competitions and the like, results, but I think it is very valuable to listen to the sound of the students they produce, because there could be tip offs there that they won’t work for the student. My son had some teachers recommended to him, that he was able to find performances of their students, both in school and out, that he listened to them for 5 minutes and realized he would have a big problem with the teachers (the teachers were great at teaching technique, but musically the kids were all cookie cutter,played the same, there was no variation in how they played, for a kid with his own musical ideas that kind of teacher is suicide).
The other side of sample lessons. My daughter (a vocalist) did some sample lessons at various schools during a spring break trip in her junior year - when we basically knew “not much” about this whole process.
In the end, the voice professor my daughter ranked the highest at the school she is now attending (and who also ranked my daughter highly/highest) was NOT the voice professor she had a sample lesson with as a junior. Although we had multiple contacts with the original professor, a lot had changed in a year and my daughter knew more about what she was looking for. Can be awkward.
Some teachers prefer that prospective students sit in on lessons with current students so that the prospective can observe teaching methods, sounds, etc. There is a lot to be learned by this and something that might be easier to arrange.
@Mezzo’sMama :
Good point, my son sat in on a studio class at one of the schools he is applying to for grad school and seeing the students gave him a lot of insight into the teacher, both good and bad, and that is important.
Agreed! My son sat in on a studio class and after the class was even more impressed with the prof than he had been previously. The studio members were very friendly as well, asking him questions and answering his. It was clear that studio has a very collegial/familial atmosphere, which is what DS prefers.
My D ( VP) took some lessons in her juniour year which actually helped us rule out programs and teachers. She audited studio classes and really chose her top teachers/programs from those experiences. She had a phenomenal pre college teacher who was essential in training her to look for students voices in other studios. After acceptances were in my D took lessons at her top two choices and met with both BM & MM studio students after observing their studio class performances.