<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>I'm a high school sophomore who has recently got accepted into Eastern Music Festival for piano. I am extremely excited and am wondering if anybody here could possibly relate their experience there to me. </p>
<p>Any information is welcomed! However, I am particularly interested in knowing the level of playing, age demographics, camp lifestyle, and overall learning experience from faculty and student body.</p>
<p>Thank you all very much in advance!
fievproko</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior & just got accepted to the Eastern Music Festival for piano as well! I’ve never been before but my friend has (for piano) and really enjoyed it. Can’t wait for this summer! Message me if you want to talk. </p>
<p>Both of my children went to EMF for two years and loved it (violin and double bass). The piano program has some great players-quite a few students from China who were very good. EMF has a low faculty to student ratio and there is a lot of good access to the faculty. The pianists played in chamber groups with the other musicians in addition to their general piano studies. There are more college students than high school overall. Each group has their own dorm; both groups eat, play and do other activities together (though the high school students have a curfew and more interaction with the residential staff).</p>
<p>hornet: Thank you very much for the wonderful description!
prestofaust: That’s so awesome!!! Super excited to meet you</p>
<p>My D attended as a pianist a couple of years ago. She really enjoyed the chamber music experience, and the opportunity to perform with the orchestra. The pianists were mostly college-age, but that varies from year to year. There is a piano competition too, and the top three got to play at the Kennedy Center! Now that is a great opportunity. </p>
<p>Thank you very much lastbird! Could you possibly relate to me how difficult it is to place in the piano competition/ For example, how many people usually enter and how does the caliber of those student’s playing compare on any scale? </p>
<p>Fievproko, I think the level varies from year to year. For example, a person who places one year may not make it to the finals next year. It all depends, as these things do, on how well each person plays at that moment.
To hear past winners, google the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage archives. Eastern Music festival has a slot in July that they send their three winners to – go back several years to hear the different winners and you’ll get an idea. Given 20 or so piano players at the festival and three that end up winning, why not enter? Those are pretty good odds, compared to a lot of competitions! And getting to perform at the Kennedy Center is pretty special!</p>
<p>I’ve also been accepted to Eastern for piano, so I’ve looked into it a bit - I have a few questions. First, on the ratio of college students to high school students, is there an imbalance of attention? In other words, is there less focus on the high school students? Are they compared to the college students with respect to the level of playing?</p>
<p>Also, @hornet, you say there is a ‘low faculty to student ratio’. When was this? I checked the website, and there are only 3 piano faculty listed.</p>
<p>Hi Elpiano,
My reference to ratios has to do with the orchestra. My children are string players. I would not be a reference for the piano program other than to say that what I heard appeared good (chamber groups, performers with the orchestra). Sorry if it appeared that I was addressing the piano program.</p>
<p>At least for the orchestra, the attention is just as strong for the high school players. Many of the high school instrumental players were much better than what I have seen in some programs that focus exclusively on high school or that separate the two groups. You can probably pull up some you tube videos online and make your own assessment about the playing.</p>
<p>For piano: my D’s experience a couple of years ago was that the attention given to the high school students was exactly the same as that given to the college students. They were just one large group during the day - at night the dorms are separate. There was a variety of levels – some of the high schoolers were better players than some of the college players, and some of them weren’t. Also, there were about 8 high schoolers and 12 college-age pianists if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>Thank you, hornet and lastbird!</p>