Finding Schools for Viola

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>My best friend wants to be a symphony violist, but she is discouraged by her perception that she has only two options: conservatory or local college.</p>

<p>She's convinced that the two schools she wants to audition for, NEC and CIM, are too much of a reach and that her <em>only</em> other option is her local university. I would like to show her that there are places she could go to study music that might not be as competitive, but will still be much better than the school next door. It wouldn't be bad for her, necessarily, but I think she should atleast explore more options.
Note** the "X State University" and "University of X" schools are both kind of eh (she's met the professors at both), so while they would offer in state tuition, they aren't great options.</p>

<p>She has pretty good grades so most schools shouldn't be a problem in terms of academic admissions and she's done some of the big summer music programs. She should be at least competitive for a lot of schools, though I can't pretend to evaluate her ability. </p>

<p>The only other thing to consider is that she doesn't like heat all that much? She outright banned Texas when I mentioned Rice...</p>

<p>State-wise it would be nice to aim for California, Massachusetts, and New York...but any recommendations would be great.</p>

<p>Thanks in advanced for your help, I've been trying to help her look and she's sort of given up on me. Hopefully someone has some recommendations we haven't seen yet.</p>

<hr>

<p>Addition:
She wants to find a good teacher above (almost) everything else. Academics, college size etc are considerably less important.</p>

2

<p>Is she a senior? How much time does she have to figure this out?</p>

<p>Her perspective is simply not realistic. She needs to compile a LONG list of the finest viola teachers, and THEN start in on the issue of which schools are viable possibilities. At the low-sounding stage of understanding of the process she’s at right now, discussing weather shouldn’t even be on the table. She just needs to get a grasp on what – and who – is out there.</p>

<p>A small list of thoughts, just a beginning: Ramsey/Irvine/Vernon (CIM), Vamos (Northwestern), Avshamalov (MSM), Castleman (Juilliard), Rodland (Eastman), Kashkashian/Tapping (NEC), Callus (UC Santa Barbara), Schotten (Michigan), Dunham/van der Werff (Rice), Murdock (Maryland), Carroll (CCM), Ansell (BU).</p>

<p>It sounds like an awkward situation with her current teacher, but one that could be ameliorated by direct and honest communication. Try to make the teacher an ally, and not an obstacle, in this search.</p>

3

<p>I would invite your friend to consider the Longy School of Music. We are a conservatory in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. Our viola faculty includes Dimitri Murrath, an amazing young violist who is also on the faculty at NEC, Mark Lakirovich, Laura Bossert, and Paula Majerfeld. Our smaller size means that all students have frequent opportunities for performance and are able to work closely with faculty mentors.</p>

<p>Please have your friend visit the Longy website to learn more ([Longy</a> School of Music](<a href=“http://www.longy.edu%5DLongy”>http://www.longy.edu)) and contact me directly with any questions.</p>

<p>Best,
Alex Powell
Director of Admissions and Student Services
<a href=“mailto:alex.powell@longy.edu”>alex.powell@longy.edu</a></p>

4

<p>Victoria Chiang (Peabody), Peter Slowik (Oberlin) and Rita Porfiris (Hartt) were all at the top of D3’s list, in addition to some of those mentioned already by fiddlefrog. My daughter ended up at Hartt, which has a strong program but doesn’t get the love that some of the other schools get in terms of reputation (possibly due to its association with the otherwise undistinguished University of Hartford).</p>

<p>Rita’s viola studio is very strong, she’s an amazing teacher and performer. Hartt is generous with merit money for musicians and is worth a look, in my opinion.</p>

5

<p>Peter Slowik at Oberlin is a great teacher. My D graduated from Oberlin in May. Can’t say enough good things about the school or the studio. I can’t imagine a better undergrad experience. (D is now at Juilliard studying with Heidi Castleman and Robert Vernon.)</p>

<p>Another teacher not mentioned above is Erika Eckert at CU Boulder. Have heard good things about her teaching. Boulder also has the Tak</p>

6

<p>Also consider Andre Roy at McGill. He is an excellent viola teacher and admission to the Schulich School for viola is probably less competitive than many of the above-mentioned places.</p>

7

<p>@Fiddlefrog
She is and I don’t know; how much time does she have?</p>

<p>I’m aware, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to mention a few things in terms of finding lesser known teachers she should be considering. </p>

<p>I’ll forward to her the list you have, I found Callus and thought that would be an interesting position to be in, personally, I’ll see what she thinks (there seems to be a lack of music schools in California). Thanks for including Murdock and Ansell as well, I don’t think she or myself have heard of them. </p>

<p>Hopefully that’s what happens, but that’s not really anything I can help with at the moment, I’ll just hope she works it out with her teacher. </p>

<p>@Longyadmissions
I have never heard of your school, but I will be sure to forward her the info. From what I have seen though, your school is incredibly tiny and I would think admissions would be rather competitive due to the size of the school…</p>

<p>@stradmom
Peabody is in Hopkins…right? I think that might be a bit of a stretch since Hopkins alone is very rigorous, but I’ll pass it along. I’ve heard good things about Oberlin and she had a teacher at a camp from Oberlin, but I think she had a reason for not wanting to apply there. I haven’t really heard of Hartt and I’ll be sure to let her know. This is what we’re looking for, really, the less recognized teachers. For example, her teacher this summer ( Brevard) works at Bowling Green State. You might not have ever heard of the school, but he’s an excellent teacher. </p>

<p>@tomdug
Will look into CU Boulder and pass that on to her, thanks! </p>

<p>@violindad
Her parents would never let her audition in Canada, sadly. I was actually considering McGill myself since it’s an excellent school (especially for the value).</p>

<p>How many schools is reasonable to narrow it down to once she has a broader list? Her parents aren’t going to let her fly to very many places and she can’t drive. I have offered to help her with the cost of flying to auditions (my family has loads of frequent flyer miles) but her family would rather her not audition than accept help. </p>

<p>She’s hoping to audition for maybe three schools, but I’m not really sure that’s enough at this point since auditions are so competitive and even great players get no’s back from schools. </p>

<p>Thanks for all your help! I’ll see if I can get her reaction to your info and perhaps give you something more to go on with it.</p>

8

<p>Three schools, as you suggest, is not very many. Most performance majors that are looking at competitive schools (and that need some financial aid) tend to look at 5 or 6 auditions (and there are the extraordinary who apply to over 10, but I think that many of the auditions may be recordings in those cases).</p>

<p>Just curious: why would the parents forbid an audition in Canada (especially when she doesn’t like hot places!)? Is it too safe? Too close to NY and Massachusetts (two of the three states she’s interested in)? Too cheap? Too clean? Too democratic and egalatarian? Or do the diversity and freedom scare them?</p>

9

<p>@violindad
They wouldn’t pay for the plane cost. She’s having to bend over backwards to get her new viola, she’s playing a $800-1000 instrument at the moment (she’s done very well with it so far though). They don’t really support her goal to become a musician, honestly.</p>

<p>*** I should note, we’re in the South which is why flying might be a little costly.</p>

10

<p>Not sure where she lives, but Montreal isn’t that far from Boston or upstate NY. It is a short flight from NYC (about an hour). Certainly much closer than California for east coast or midwest residents.</p>

11

<p>@violindad the idealness of Boston and New York (and California oddly enough) has to do with location of relatives and in the end, it will be a big factor (in the end) due to cost concerns, which kind of sucks.</p>

12

<p>Another teacher she might want to consider is Sally Chisholm at UW-Madison. Sally is an excellent teacher and has a strong studio.</p>

13

<p>Your friend needs to get moving fast if she wants to apply to additional schools. The application deadline for many music schools is Dec 1.</p>

14

<p>@BassDad
We’ve looked over the information here and she’s deciding and sending the paper portion of the applications this weekend.</p>

15

<p>Consider Vicky Chiang or Li Quo Chang (Peabody’s new teacher) who is in Chicago Symphony. Also James Dunham or Ivo Van der Werff at Rice, Atar Arad at IU…?? Peter Slowik is a very successful teacher and produces some great students.</p>