<p>Hi, I'm a junior looking at some places with strong academic AND music programs. I was wondering if any of you knew a particularly outstanding place that also has a good flute professor (who is open to undergrads, hahah). </p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the help! :D</p>
<p>Oberlin has Michel Debost, Kathleen Chastain and Michael Lynn. The program is almost entirely undergrad. It is extremely competitive for flute. About a quarter of the conservatory students are also pursuing a non-music degree in the college.</p>
<p>You might also check out Rice and Carnegie Mellon, both of which have very well known flute teachers (Leone Buyse and Jeanne Baxstresser, respectively) and top academic programs. The problem there is that I hear it can be very difficult to combine a non-musical academic major with a performance major. You may also run into the problem that the top teachers do not take many (or any) undergrads. If you just want to be able to take a few classes, they may be of interest.</p>
<p>Northwestern also comes to mind, but I do not know whether Kujala is taking many students these days. They also have Richard Graef.</p>
<p>I have also heard of people attending U Chicago for the academics while studying with the music faculty across town at Roosevelt U (Don Peck).</p>
<p>Both of my teachers have actualy studied with Leone Buyse, and my current teacher actually went to Oberlin for undergrad. I was actually looking at Northwestern and Carnegie Mellon as a possibility. (I knew Northwestern had a good music program but I did not know they had a great flute program too ; ) heheh) </p>
<p>Do you happen to know any stats for chances at all? applied vs accepted type deal? Thanks!!</p>
<p>I do not have numbers specifically for flutes. It tends to be among the most competetive of all instruments, right up there with soprano vocalists. I am sure that the acceptance rate is in the low single digits for the very top studios, but I could not say whether we are talking 2% or 5%.</p>
<p>Jayn Rosenfeld at Princeton has an impressive bio, but I have never heard her play or known anyone who studied with her.</p>
<p>o_O! Whoaokay...So about 5 times harder than any ivy (going by the 2%) Yikes! I guses I'll see if I'll apply after I see how this summer goes with the competition and such. Man, that seems reallly really hard. I have newfound respect for my teachers. : )</p>
<p>CMU is EXTREMELY competitive to get into the flute program. They are one of the most selective studios and probably one of the most sought after with Jean Baxtresser. Northwestern is another top notch program. NYU has great instructors...Suzanne Gilchrist is wonderful!</p>
<p>Mihan: We are one year ahead of you and auditioned at 9 places this year for flute. If you would like to PM me, I would be happy to share info with you. That said, we are accepted at Hartt, Ithaca, and waitlisted at Northwestern (one of two). We were rejected at Oberlin, CIM, Eastman, BoCo and UMich. Still waiting to hear back from Peabody Conservatory. I could talk about each of these programs with you.</p>
<p>The program that combines studies at Case Western and CIM may also be of interest. Frances Blaisdell is at Stanford, but they have several other flute teachers that I do not know, so your chances at getting her studio as an undergrad may not be great.</p>
<p>Yes, check out UChicago. You can study with a CSO member, or someone at Northwestern, DePaul, or Roosevelt.</p>
<p>You may want to check out Case Western, but I'm not sure if Joshua Smith (CIM) teaches the Case students. My daughter had a great experience at the ARIA summer program where she worked with top notch faculty and that gave her some direction where she wanted to apply for auditions. Don't forget Bonita Boyd at Eastman where you can also apply to the University of Rochester, and Brad Garner at University of Cincinnati. A program which may not be on everyone's radar screen is Baldwin-Wallace with George Pope. And even though we won't be headed that way, the program at Ithaca with Wendy Mehne may be a possibility. We loved the program and teacher at UMich (Amy Porter), but unfortunately did not get an acceptance letter from there. Good luck in your research!</p>
<p>I don't know how he is as a teacher, but I like Bart Feller's playing. He is at Rutgers, which may or may not suit what you are looking for academically.</p>
<p>How do you know who good professors are? My daughter plays the flute as her 3rd instrument, but it's clarinet professors that we want to check out.</p>
<p>Combination of resume, resumes of former students, professional ensemble memberships, word of mouth from former students and whether or not there's a mutual respect/connection between prof and your child.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this isn't "Rateyourprofessor.com"</p>
<p>clarinetmom, there a couple of teacher selection threads here</p>
<p>if you are open to the Southwest, check out Liz Buck's flute studio at Arizona State U. You can combine this top music school experience...top but consistently underrated here at CC with the Barrett Honors College there and have a great experience(as my D did).Also take a look at Indiana U's studio, where an academic/music gifted student can formulate the same experience.
For what its worth, the year D was applying,Rice's flute studio took no undergrads except for a national level competition winner.Depending on your needs/wants you might want to check out the ages/reps of some of the studio teachers people are mentioning here.Some are orchestral players who will be away from the studio for stretches of time and have assistants teach, or compress their lessons into shorter time frames. Some are, to put it delicately, elderly and their temperments might not fit with yours.</p>
<p>Cathymee has some good advice - check to make sure you get the real deal and are studying with the professor you anticipated and not a graduate student. That said, everywhere we went we were assured that grad students were not responsible for lessons.</p>
<p>Last summer my daughter worked with Kujala (who is at Northwestern) and is to put it bluntly, elderly, but is a superb teacher nonetheless. Sometimes age (and experience) can be a plus. She's hoping to study with him this fall if she can get off the waitlist.</p>
<p>Kujala and Debost are getting up in years but, by all accounts that I have heard in the last few years, they still are great teachers and have scaled down their concertizing somewhat in deference to age. I have not heard much about some of the others recently, so cathymee has very good advice about determining whether or not they are a good fit.</p>
<p>D's bigger concern than the "elderly factor" when searching for a studio teacher was the fact that the so called "stars" would compress their lessons into timeframes that fit their concertizing needs. They may tell you they don't use grad students but then they would be absent for weeks at a time and your lessons would be compressed into the time periods they were present on campus.You might get a more rounded experience if Grad Students are present to cover .
Please do yourself a favor and look a little past the "name" factor and look at the studio/degree experience as a whole, as well as the experience and surroundings that are the best fit for you,academically,socially,financially.
For example, D found,through attending a summer program at a conservatory,that yes,a music major was right for her but that the conservatory setting just wasn't right (for her..not extrapolating her experience to anyone else). To her surprise, she decided she wanted to live and mingle with non music majors and have a big campus,rounded experience.She also happily found a program that awarded her financially for her academic achievements,allowed her to persue her music and trot off to honors summer-abroad programs because she didnt have to worry about earning $$ for the following years tuition.Moral of the story...research research and keep an open mind.
What a flute strudent /parent also must be aware of is the absolute enormity of the competition and the scarcity of spots in studios.I'm not sure if its worse than for sopranos but its surely just as bad.</p>
<p>Older d is attending a conservatory mt/opera. Her vocal instructor is a performer, but it really does not affect d's schedule. HOWEVER, he only takes a few students into his studio.<br>
While it is probably helpful to have some "names" on a resume, I completely agree with cathyme in the case that the studio as a whole should be looked at. If you go to a school with the idea you will be able to study with the "star", well, that may not happen.<br>
As far as the competition...it is frightening. Older d is a soprano who already went through this and now d2 is a flute who will be going through the audition process next year...personally, I fear more for my flute! I am hoping that we learned a few things by going through the process with older d. We have sent flute d to intensive flute programs, workshops, and camps with flautist from around the world. She knows what the competition is like outside her backdoor, and it is incredible. That is what keeps pushing her to do better.</p>