Flute School Predicament

College Majors Music Major
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<p>I think it’s unwise to choose your undergraduate school because of a single faculty member, however important you think that person will be for your future. Individual faculty members move, go on sabbatical, retire, die, etc. Institutions change much more slowly.</p>

<p>I also think that if you’re absolutely positive that you want to do flute, it might be a good idea to go to a place big enough to have more than one teacher. At best, this would allow you to experience different perspectives. At worst, it would allow you to escape if for some reason your relationship with your original teacher went sour.</p>

<p>I emphatically agree with the posters who assert that the peer group is very important. This is probably always true but especially so in a highly collaborative field like music performance.</p>

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<p>Like many, I would consider the teacher of high importance in school selection, but the impact and import of the quality of peers of like mind and ability is a close second. It may be a chicken and egg argument, but my personal observations are that the higher the level of a student, the narrower the line becomes between the importance of mentor/teacher and the presence of professional level peers.</p>

<p>Just a food for thought thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/390796-does-phenomenal-applied-teacher-really-trump-everything.html?highlight=teacher[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/390796-does-phenomenal-applied-teacher-really-trump-everything.html?highlight=teacher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have you had trial/exploratory lessons with any of your choices, or previous experience through festivals summer programs? Additionally, while timing may be tight it would be well worth sitting in or observing a studio session and/or an orchestral rehearsal.</p>

<p>If you take a look through the previous master lists, you’ll find a number of flutists with some experiences and insights at a number of your options.<br>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html[/url][url]http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.htmlhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>From what I know from my daughter’s visit to Carnegie-Mellon this fall, Alberto Almarza is now teaching all the new undergrads at Carnegie-Mellon. Jeannie Baxtressor is still co-teaching the studio class but will be part time faculty in 2011. Almarza seems wonderful, and they even have a dedicated accompanist for the studio.</p>

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<p>My input is to consider adding schools/teachers and also to research a lot more in depth.</p>

<p>In our experience some flute auditions are surprisingly long (be rested, have your stamina up, even if you traveled) and are sometimes conducted like personal interviews with the prospective studio prof - having a lot more knowledge and clarity (on the school, the teacher, the studio, maybe even the ensembles, your future goals, etc.) may assist you to some extent. Yes, I know how you play the rep is critical, but these other aspects may be a factor - prof will assess “fit.” Have your up-to-date resume and rep list ready at hand in case requested, written to the specifications/form of the particular school/flute prof (it varies). </p>

<p>I strongly recommend searching on flute on CC for more info., even “historical” info is useful.
It’s a complex subject.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

25

<p>One quick word of advice: make sure when putting together your prescreening CD’s that you only put the required works a school specifies on a CD. If you have too many pieces that are not required that’s almost like asking to be rejected because it shows you cannot follow their directions.</p>

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<p>I am a senior flute performance major at a in state university in pennsylvania. My teacher is an incredible player and teacher and I’m really glad that I’ve had the opportunity to study with her and I’ve learned so much from her over the past 4 years. Solo playing wise, I know she’s definitely done her part to give me a proper education that will hopefully get me into some graduate programs.</p>

<p>HOWEVER… our orchestra is really crappy, providing me with little to no playing experience. I couldn’t even play in a decent quintet because by the time it got around to putting one together for me, two (arguably) slightly better flute players already got all the other good wind players in the building into their quintets, leaving me with people who were clearly under my level. Such is the trade off if you forgo a conservatory for a cheaper state school with a great teacher.</p>

<p>Given my level of playing graduating high school, I know i wouldn’t have been able to get into a conservatory when I was getting ready for my undergrad. I’m glad I made the decision that I did, and now I’m confident that I can go to a major conservatory for my graduate work, and do what I didn’t have the opportunity to do during my undergrad because I just wasn’t ready yet.</p>

<p>I find issue with your reasoning that if you go to a state school, you can double major. this is coming from someone who used to be a music ed and performance major at the same time. Just don’t do it. Seriously. If you want to perform, then perform, but teaching in a school setting just isn’t a great idea for anyone who wants to go to grad school after finishing their undergrad. Education degrees are nothing to sneeze at. You are required to write chapter summaries of everything you read, spend a good portion of your week observing at a field placement, writing about that, learning how to play every instrument (and if you’re serious about teaching children, it’s important to do this well), and the further you progress into the program, the more work you get. More reflection journals more field logs, and then the lesson plans start. </p>

<p>At these state schools, there are usually large numbers of education majors, meaning your student teaching placement may be up to 2 hours away. You’d have to wake up at 4 AM, drive two hours, you’ll teach kids all day, come home at 6, write lesson plans, and then eventually pass out of mere exhaustion. I’m not exaggerating. The last thing you’ll want to do at the end of that day is practice, let me tell you. I have many friends who were on track for grad school, gave great senior recitals the semester before, and then did not get in anywhere for graduate school because they were just too involved in teaching to get their proper rest or practice they needed. </p>

<p>I wish I could say I was exaggerating, but I’m not. As i slowly watched my boyfriend and best friends physically and emotionally fade as they went through the teaching sequence of classes at my college, I knew that if I was to have any chance of getting into a conservatory, I’d have to forgo a teaching degree and really concentrate on playing. I know I’m coming off as mean, but I honestly wish someone had told me this before I had gone off to college (which is why I’m saying this all to you), because then I wouldn’t have wasted the time doing both if I knew I wanted to perform. I would probably be graduating on time, and I’d probably be doing my graduate work right now, but instead I’m graduating late (an extra $5,000, which doesn’t seem like much, but money’s money these days, you know?) And you can always go back if it doesn’t work out, and you feel that your heart is in teaching. One of the must education professors at my college started graduated as a performance major from undergrad, but then decided she wanted to teach so she went back and got a masters in education. now she has a doctorate and is teaching at my college, which has one of the best and affordable music education programs in the northeast.</p>

<p>So unless you have a constitution of steel and are really determined to have both degrees, or you’re not a big fan of ever sleeping, then by all means, don’t let anything I say stop you, but for me, it was a choice between being a good teacher and a subpar performer, or being a good performer and a mediocre teacher. The choice is yours, but there’s my completely honest 2 cents. Sorry for sounding mean- but this entire subject is something I’m very passionate about.</p>

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<p>Oh, and while the area immediately surrounding Temple University is “unsafe”, the campus is probably the safest campus in the country. There are so many cops there that it’s ridiculous. And center city, which is the nice section of philly and relatively safe, is just a short subway ride away. I know plenty of people (including my own sister) who go there who have yet to be mugged or shot, and they seem to like it a lot. I wouldn’t forgo applying there on account of safety- it’s a great school and extremely safe.</p>

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<p>Thanks Meowmix, what you said is very enlightening. I heard Rowan’s orchestra and wind ensembles etc and they sounded pretty good (hopefully the recordings were recent). I’m glad you told me about your experience of double majoring in performance and education. I guess it would probably be best to save music education as a back up if I can not find work with my music performance training. Thank you for taking the time to tell me your story. It gave me a lot to think about when it comes to double majoring.</p>

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<p>Meowmix, If I could ask you a more personal question (and feel free not to answer) who are you studying with at Temple? I know the flute professor I want to study with at Rowan also teaches at Temple so I was just curious.</p>

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<p>I actually don’t go to temple- wish i did. Their orchestra is fantastic and they have lots of good players. if you’d like to know more about the school I did to go, however, PM me, and we’ll talk details, lol.</p>

<p>My teacher went to temple, starting in the early 80s, and has all three degrees from there. She studied with David Cramer (who’s really quite amazing) and also studied piccolo with Takito.</p>

<p>as far as I know… Montclair seems to be Thomasone’s main area of operation. Don’t quote me on that, though.</p>

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<p>I think the biggest question you need to answer is about what other flutists who have received Rowan undergraduate degrees as students of your teacher have subsequently accomplished. If there aren’t at least one or two doing good professional work, and a few more who went to good graduate schools, then you should probably cross it off. If it has been an effective springboard for at least a couple of other people, then you’re back on the terrain of personal judgment.
It’s actually pretty hard to assess a teacher and figure out what they’ll be like and do with you over an extended period, even if you do already know the person well. Outcomes are a meaningful source of information; take a good look.</p>

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<p>You should definitely take a look at Joshua Smith at CIM, he’s phenomenal and with the Cleveland Orchestra now ranked as one of the top three orchestras in the world, it doesn’t get any better than that!</p>

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<p>CMU- excellent school, one of the best for flute, but I do not think Baxtresser teaches undergrad students
UMich- another excellent flute school, Amy Porter is one of the best flute teachers around
I looked at Temple, and yes, Philadelphia is edgy. But with your grades, you would get a huge amount of $$$. Temple has very good security. I have friends there, they say it is safe as long as you know where to go and not to go. Their music program is very well respected and all of the flute teachers are fabulous.
Bart Feller does not teach undergrad students. Also, Rutgers is huge, very hard to get ensemble placement.
IU- same problem as Rutgers, it is so big, it is extremely difficult to get ensemble placement
nyu seems very different from your other schools. yes, it is a great music program, but a very different atmosphere from the other schools. all of the flute teachers here are wonderful though, and being in the city does provide with you a lot of opportunities.
yes, oberlin is a very isolated town. also, debost is retiring at the end of this year-there was an ad in the december flute talk magazine.</p>

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<p>PS- i second the person who said do NOT go to a school only for the teacher. out of my top choices at the end, 4 of the teachers have now gone on sabbatical, 2 (including my teacher) are retiring, and one passed away. Make sure you like the school and the music program and well as the teacher.</p>