Hey guys,
I’ve been accepted to the Eastman Music Horizons program as a student conductor.
Does anyone know about this program? Anything good? Bad? What I’ll experience there?
Thanks,
Michael
My daughter attended last year in piano and loved it. It is a very intense program. You alternate between Theory/Music History and Musicianship/Elective. Theory was not only college level (she was in the advanced group), but advanced college level (5th species counterpoint was required . They worked on analysis of songs. Papers are required in both Theory and Music History. Musicianship involved sight-singing Bach Chorales. Chamber was very good (a Beethoven Trio), but the pieces are not given in advance. The elective for you would have to be improv. The final concert was very impressive.o Lessons were quite good (twice a week), but are not given by Eastman faculty. All students also sing in a chorus. There is very little free time, but there is a YMCA for exercise purposes. The dorms are not great, but most students get singles.
I can’t tell you much about conducting since there did not seem to be anyone in conducting last year. My daughter did conducting as an elective and really enjoyed it. She thought it was a great preview of college life as a music major. She is not going back this year (going to Tanglewood instead), but plans to return next year.
Hope this was helpful.
Thank you! Does everyone have to sing? I do sing sometimes but I’m not much of a choir person lol…
Everyone sings in the chorus (every other day) and they put on a concert at the end. Don’t worry, not everyone is a great singer but the group still sounds great. You will also have to sing during musicianship (especially the upper levels). Again, don’t worry, you won’t be judged on singing ability. What is important is sightreading ability.
Ok.
I checked their schedule and they have a detailed schedule of Monday - Saturday, but not Sunday. Do you just chill during those times or are there outings?
I think they had an outing to a park. Mostly it is the one time you have to practice, exercise (you get a membership to the YMCA attached to the dorm) and do homework. Days are VERY busy and nights usually have a concert
My daughter was there last year for flute, and LOVED it! Yes, everyone sings, and yes, it’s a lot of work. Sundays were free days for homework, YMCA, practice, laundry, etc. They did have a park outing. She absolutely loved the conducting instructor…enough that she’s considering conduction for grad work later.
They do keep the kids pretty restricted geographically - you’re essentially only allowed to go between the dorm and the block with the music school. But there’s a good coffee shop there and a sandwich shop, plus the music library and bookstore.
Daughter is still friends with several of the people she attended with last year (possibly even your daughter, PAPDAD!). It was a very supportive environment to be around a whole bunch of seriously talented and disciplined musicians for three weeks.
One thing to note - they do NOT appear to have much medical coverage for the students. There supposedly is a “nurse” on duty, but he/she is actually a student and can’t really do much except maybe hand you a bandaid. My daughter had an allergic reaction (to eggs, we think…didn’t know she was sensitive) and they couldn’t even give her benadryl. My daughter had to find her way to the bookstore, where luckily someone was working even though it wasn’t technically open. Worker let my daughter in, got her the benadryl and stayed with her to make sure she was OK. Daughter ended up missing a day and a half of classes between the allergic reaction and the drowsiness from the benadryl, but essentially had to deal with that episode on her own.
Oh, and they record the final recitals…but it’s just an audio recording. They SAY you aren’t allowed to record it yourself, but if you want video…I saw a lot of people with video cameras and no one got bothered. I which I had videoed my daughter’s recital, but I followed the rules.
Thank you guys 
If I’m conducting, what would I do for the recital? Would I conduct the ensemble?
My D says you don’t conduct for any recital, it’s just a class.
As I mentioned earlier, I do not think there were any students in conduction last year (as opposed to students in the conducting elective). Therefore, I do not know what you would do at the recital. There was nothing in either recital (Chamber or solo) that required a conductor. The only performance that used a conductor was chorus. If this is a concern, I suggest you call them. They are very responsive to questions.
FYI - I have been in the music field for my entire life and never heard “conducting” referred to as “conduction”. You study conducting, one is a conductor, you hold a degree in conducting, etc.
I could be wrong and if so, would appreciate the correction and a link to the “conduction” reference, but I’m posting this comment because I suspect if you talk to a musician or music school and say you are interested in “conduction” you will get a very funny look.
I paused over that word, too. Perhaps it was a typo and then too late to edit?
It popped up in two different posts by two different users - 6 & 10 above. It was so odd sounding to my ear that I thought it was worth mentioning - didn’t want to get a new non-standard usage started thanks to CC.
oops…it was definitely a typo in my post (#6). Conduction in my line of work relates to heat transfer…perhaps my fingers just spelled it out of muscle memory! In this case, I definitely meant “conducting!”
Haha, that makes sensation. (I mean sense!)