Fall 2008 Updates

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi all. I thought it'd be fun to hear updates on all the kids in their various music schools/conservatories/universities.</p>

<p>I'll get things started:</p>

<p>DS is in his second month at Tufts/NEC. His official major at NEC is composition but he recently auditioned for Nicholas Kitchen and will be joining his violin studio. We're debating whether he'll add another official major at NEC or simply do private lessons. I suspect he'll just do private lessons this year and then decide how to proceed from there. He is studying composition with Kati Agocs and is really enjoying her teaching and his first formal studies of music composition. He's also participating in NEC's mentorship program and has been paired with a wonderful mentor, Thomas Oboe Lee. They've taken in several concerts together and are getting together periodically to share a meal and talk music. Overall, we're very pleased with what NEC has to offer him musically. He likes all of his teachers and feels like he's learning a lot.</p>

<p>He's also happy on the Tufts side of things. He's taking 4 courses at Tufts and two at NEC plus the private lessons. He says the commute between schools really is no problem. He generally takes the shuttle but can easily take the T if he doesn't feel like waiting around for the shuttle. He has classes at NEC three days a week and classes at Tufts all five days. He claims that the work load is noticeably lighter than either of his last two years in high school. </p>

<p>All in all, he is one very happy camper. I'll be heading up for parent's weekend in a couple of weeks to see him in action. I'll let you know how things look from a parent's point of view.</p>

2

<p>Nice update. It sounds like a ton of work, so it's good to know that your son is finding it manageable. What's his major at Tufts?</p>

3

<p>As a freshman, he hasn't declared yet but he plans to major in environmental studies or possibly political science. Philosophy is another possible contender.</p>

<p>What's happening in your musician's life, or your life as the case may be?</p>

4

<p>Life in the NEC jazz department sounds like a happy thing coming from our son. He is filled with nothing but enthusiasm for all his teachers. He responds to the work load with "it's hard but it's good" (He's a guy of few words!) The jazz students travel in a pack, get shout outs from the performers at the clubs they visit, free admission to the late set when their teachers are on stage. He had a two-day masterclass with an avant garde guitarist/composer, Elliot Sharp, which sounded great.
He likes to describe the personalities of his teachers, who all sound unique and inspiring to him. He also sounds like he has made interesting friends and has an endless rotation of people to play with and just hang with. Not one complaint has passed his lips. I think his life sounds really wonderful so far. We'll see him at home in a couple days and get an up-close interview!</p>

5

<p>Sounds like NEC is a great fit for your son as well, Jazzzmomm. I'm so glad he's enjoying it. The late night sets and Elliot sharp masterclass sound great.</p>

6

<p>Daughter is in her senior year at Oberlin. We expect that she will graduate in May with a BM in performance on double bass and a minor in ethnomusicology. Plans past that are still up in the air, but she seems most interested in trying her hand at freelancing, perhaps some teaching and possibly putting a band together to take on the road. She knows that is not an easy way to earn a living, but we have a few good friends who have been doing just that for the last thirty years, so we'll see what happens.</p>

<p>She plays with the ensemble Oberlin 21 on the recording "Air" (Telarc CD-80694), to be released on October 28. It features harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and flutist Joshua Smith playing music of Debussy and Takemitsu. She will be touring the west coast in January 2009 with the Oberlin Orchestra. They are performing Mahler 1 among other things, so I am sure she will be shooting for the bass solo. I think Disney Hall in LA is one of their stops, plus at least two other venues from among those in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.</p>

7

<p>Congrats BassDad! I hope you get to see her play during her tour!</p>

8

<p>Looked at my Disney Hall schedule, and looks like Jan 25(?). Lots of young musicians in town that weekend for the USC and UCLA auditions, as well as several other regional auditions coming into town. She will love the Hall.</p>

9

<p>Oh, BassDad, keep me posted on the concert in Portland--we'd love to see her/them!</p>

10

<p>More congrats, BassDad, for your daughter. I hope that the CD sells a ton, that she lands the solo in Mahler 1 and that she has a fabulous time on tour. Such fun!</p>

11

<p>I looked around a bit and the schedule is 1/24/09 at the Disney Hall in Los Angeles, 1/25/09 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and 1/27/09 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The other piece on the program is the Beethoven Piano Concerto #4 in G Major, with Angela Cheng as the soloist. It looks like they are not going to be in Portland or Vancouver after all. Sorry, SJTH.</p>

12

<p>I'll second rlmcmillan - post #10 -- Sounds like a great opportunity and a lot of fun to boot!</p>

<p>Re: my D -
Miami U has a new music building, and D's string quartet has performed/will perform at a couple "grand opening" events. She is waffling over her non-music focus - is currently a double major with German, but not especially liking it (boring - she is already fluent, and studied most of the literature more thoroughly in her German HS), but it will be hard to fit in another major at this point. She may minor in German and also in Chinese. But still not sure what she "wants to be when she grows up." We have encouraged her to stick with the violin performance major, since she really enjoys it. Be interesting to see how it serves her when it comes time for grad school, though. (Since grad school will probably be something completely non-musical.)</p>

<p>My S2, a first year grad student, is subbing with New World Symphony in a couple weeks, which he is excited about.</p>

13

<p>Any more updates out there? How's everyone doing in their various programs? Let's give the prospective music majors a little window into what may await them.</p>

14

<p>rlm - sorry to be slow - we've been worried sick about the economy and the election, but i'm delighted to share good news. seems like i've posted much of this elsewhere, but it's nice to have everyone's stories in one place.</p>

<p>My son began his freshman year as a violin performance major at IU Jacobs. He is just as happy as he could be. He has a single dorm room - I'm not sure how he got so lucky, but he thinks IU takes special care of dorm placements for music students because they're very proud of their music school. It's a huge room on a high floor with a view over the whole campus. We got some cheap furniture at Target (couch, ottoman, etc) and it really came out looking very cozy and nice. He has not always made friends easily, but he is like a pea in a pod there and has made a bunch of friends who like to hang out in his big room. </p>

<p>He misses his incredible teacher from home, but he likes his new teacher who has been giving him 2-3 lessons/week - my son thinks the teacher does this with his freshmen. His teacher is pushing him to learn new pieces fast and he's getting something new at every lesson - this is a challenge for him.He says he's working very hard (5 hrs/day practise) and just loving it ("it doesn't feel like work"). </p>

<p>He has so many IB credits from high school that he doesn't need to take academics. This is a welcome change for him as he really had to work exceptionally hard last year to get through auditions only to then be faced with a full battery of 6 IB exams in May. He is enjoying just being a music student, but if he decides to, he is free to take other classes offered in the University - the best of both worlds as I see it. </p>

<p>Apparently he had a pretty good orchestra audition because he got placed in the back of the second section of the top orchestra. There are 5 orchestras and only 4 freshmen in the top one. This has given him a nice burst of confidence which he sorely needed. The old members of this site will remember that we were concerned at this time last year that he wouldn't even get into music school and he had a very low estimation of his capacity on the violin. He has made tremendous progress since then and has entered the process full of confidence. He has found a friend who sight-reads well on the piano and they are playing together. He is playing in a pick-up string quartet to perform another friend's composition for his composition class. He will play in his first studio class at the end of the month. He was disappointed not to have placed out of more theory, but actually, I'm glad that he is finding theory incredibly easy and getting A's. He will no doubt find it harder when he hits stuff he hasn't already learned, but it's very nice to have an easy time of it in the first year. He's also in piano class and finding that quite easy.</p>

<p>The orchestra played the first concert of the season (IU has orchestra concerts every week!) and they were conducted by Leonard Slatkin and Joshua Bell played solo to an audience of 3500. This was a big thrill for him. This concert coincided with "Freshman Parents' Weekend" so I went out to see it and was very proud. I miss him terribly as he was my "baby" and we now have an empty nest, but I'm so grateful that he has had a safe landing in such a welcoming environment. I know there will be stumbles along the way, but it's great to get a trouble-free start.</p>

<p>For anyone considering IU Jacobs, it is definitely my son's experience that, while it is larger than some of the schools and it is in a huge university, he has found a smaller niche there - all of his friends are music students and are either in his dorm, his theory class, his orchestra and/or his studio. So the world there narrows down pretty quickly and the size is not overwhelming. Bloomington is a lovely medium-sized college town which my son really enjoys - he has a bike and can get around pretty easily.</p>

15

<p>Great update, Stringfollies! I am delighted that your son is doing so well at IU and loving it. The Joshua Bell/ Leornard Slatkin concert sounds heavenly. What a treat that you were able to be there. </p>

<p>I do recall reading your posts last year after your son had changed teachers. We too wondered whether our son would be admitted to any conservatory let alone a top notch program. It's so hard to predict given the variability in auditions and competition. Although we had some indicators that he had a pretty good shot, he had not followed the customary path of pre-college and elite summer programs, so it was, for us, a bit of a nail biter. In the end, he got into to his top choice musically and was only rejected from one music venue. That rejection was, in fact, a blessing in disguise as it made his decision so much easier. Once he knew he was in at NEC, he never looked back. His dad and I didn't fully relax until we saw the Tufts financial aid package. We lucked out there too, in that it was the best FA package he was offered out of a total of 9 schools/programs.</p>

<p>So take heart all you 09 applicants and parents. If you've assembled a good list of schools, things will likely work out. Your kids will find a place where they can study, play and enjoy music. Even in years when the demographics are against you.</p>

16

<p>Indeed. IU was my son's first choice, the teacher he has was his first choice and he got a very nice merit award at a state school to top it all off. All was a very pleasant surprise. Part of the reason it worked, though, is that he wanted it very badly and really worked for it. Some very few kids can slide in without working hard, but he's not one of them! I'm glad things worked out so well for your son too, rlm.</p>

17

<p>D is a junior at Lawrence Univ with a double major in vocal performance and instrumental/choral/general music ed. She will be there another 2 years finishing the 2 majors. Her schedule is intense balancing both orchestra and vocal ensemble commitments but she is doing well and loves the program. She was recently cast as the fairy godmother (it is double-cast so she is one of two) in their upcoming production of Cinderella and we're all excited about that. She loves the education major as much as the performing and she plans to work as a music educator in a high school for a few years before heading back to graduate school.</p>