<p>One of the things I have learned about this whole process, from what others have written and in what I am seeing with my own child, is that doing research is absolutely critical when it comes to music, that conventional wisdom on a subject, perceptions, and even the ‘knowledge’ of so called professionals like music teachers and guidance counselors don’t necessarily mean anything, and if trusting the judgement of someone it is pretty important to research them to see what they know or don’t know. </p>
<p>Want some classic things that when researched can come up short</p>
<p>-“Music teachers are the best source of information”… Well, yes, a knowledgeable music teacher is a very good source, but that is the key, knowledgeable. Not all music teachers are knowledgeable about the broader music world, it is quite possible to be a music teacher, even one that is a respectable professional, and find out they only know their little niche and really don’t know what the score is in terms of what schools are good on an instrument, levels, etc. One teacher my child had had gone to a pretty high level conservatory, was a principal member of a respected orchestra, and yet looking back didn’t really have a clue as to what was going on these days (and it wasn’t like they were 80 years old), they had very little contact with ‘the real world’ of music and didn’t know or understood what it took… You need to look at where they are and what they are doing, are they active in the music community, have they actually had students go into music/high level conservatory programs and so forth. </p>
<p>-“The Best music schools are X, Y and Z” (conventional wisdom)…as has been said on this board time and again, that statement has little meaning. First of all, going to a top level school doesn’t guarantee all that much, so such rankings or whatever are suspect, but even more so, it is all situational. If you are a bass trombonist the ‘best’ school on that list might not have a good program on the instrument, for example. More importantly, school X might have that great reputation because it has teachers who were famous performers but may not be able to teach their way out of a paper box, or might have a bunch of teachers in the department who once were great, but today live on reputation, etc. Or you may find the teachers in your program at school X push a style or technique that clashes with your own individual style/method…</p>
<p>The old saying about an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure, and the same is true with music/music programs/etc. You have to do the research and also have to be careful about what people say or write (including on here), because a lot of it is based in their own experiences that may be unique. Someone might say “My son had teacher Z, and they were great, he adored them” and someone else will say “Z is a fraud, who spent time in lessons with my daughter smoking and whistling to himself”…it takes a lot of sifting to figure out what is relevant and what isn’t, to look at the alternatives and figure out what works:)</p>