How do you survive?

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi,
I'm a flute player of four years by self-study, took private lessons for less than a year, bought my own silver flute for about a year, and i would like nothing more than to major in flute performance in the very threateningly close future.
Due to my (highly) informal education in flute-playing (i played piano before that, so i wasnt a COMplete musical idiot), I have several doubts of my ability. Currently i'm preparing Doppler's Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise for an youth orchestra rehearsal, and is burning through Anderson Op.33, and me who for 4 years is certainly better than a lot whom began at AGE 4. I realize the highly competitive nature of the flute community (understatement) and have no illusions about my own flute-playing, but i still think i could be able to handle a music school/conservatory education. A flute professor once spoke that prospective students are not judged on their ability, but by whether they can learn all that the professor has to teach.
And i learn quickly.
The biggest obstacle to the first step (gaining confidence) is finance. The sole reason i didnt take private lessons early on or buy a flute early is the $$$ ($80 for an hour of lessons and music teaching is still supposed to be the lowest paying job?!).
I'm still highly perplexed to why most youth orchestras, besides the very best(like SFSYO), charges the MUSICIANS to play, to WORK for the organization.
Both my parents are engineer types and i can actually see them not allowing me to even apply for a music major and forcing me to get a science degree or engineering degree. They're right about these subjects being easier to get a decent job, and i do have nightmares about playing in a park to beg for money (i would play in a park for free if i could cuz that's cool).</p>

<p>I would really appreciate some help to solve my dilemma and would love some input about how you guys (parents and other students) really made (severely) limited financial resources work and support music playing.</p>

<p>Thanks (for reading my grievances)</p>

2

<p>If you plan to major in music education or performance, you will have to audition at most schools. This means your ability to play the audition pieces will be the single most important part of your application process. An audition is typically very short and offers enough time for the person to play PART of the prepared pieces, orchestral excerpts and do some sight reading (sometimes). This really doesn’t give most the opportunity to demonstrate what their potential…but rather their current abilities. Sometimes students are not even playing their audition for all of the applied faculty…it is taped for others to view at a later time. </p>

<p>So…you will need to prepare to audition. For flute, many places do a prescreen via CD or DVD due to the large number of applicants on the instrument. So…you would likely need to prepare that as well. You should look on the websites of some schools to see the flute audition repertoire and buy or borrow some of those pieces. Work on them and see how they go.</p>

<p>Do you currently play in a school ensemble? Perhaps your teacher can give you some guidance.</p>

<p>If you are considering music education, there is often an interview as well. This does not include a time for assessing your potential as a flute player, however.</p>

<p>Re: youth orchestras that charge…these are educational groups. The students are NOT “working” for the youth orchestra. They are paying for the educational benefit of playing in a select youth ensemble.</p>

3

<p>FluteBegger,</p>

<p>I’m going to be a Junior in a Music Education program with a concentration in flute so I understand how intimidating the flute world can be. You are right in saying that teachers are looking for potential in college auditions, it is great that you are a fast learner, teachers are looking for players that listen and absorb what they teach. I had professors at some auditions ask me to change the way I was playing a phrase or had me play different sections over after giving advice to see how well I listened and learned from them. </p>

<p>However, as thumper1 said, the rep. you are going to be asked to play is just as important. You will most likely have to play at least one Mozart concerto (G or D is standard), a Bach sonata, something 20th century (Hindemith, Cantabile…etc). If you’ve mastered the Doppler these are certainly well within your ability, but they must be polished enough for an audition…My best advice is to try to get a few private lessons if at all possible. You may be able to teach yourself the required pieces, but there are different “traditional” type things that you won’t be able to capture without a private teacher’s help (I mean, different composers from different time periods require different tone and inflection in the way you play their works). Also, make sure you have a cadenza prepared for your Mozart concerto if there is one marked! </p>

<p>If you live near a college or university that has a respected music program, go talk to some of the college level flute players and ask if they teach private lessons! I teach privately, but at lower prices than someone who already has a degree would. </p>

<p>If this is really what you want, don’t give up! Talk to your parents, explain to them the type of job you want to get and why. There are lots of opportunites to work in music aside from performance, research different programs and present them with a solid idea of what you want to do and that will help ease their fears. Also find out if there is a program you like that offers a music minor or a double degree (it’s hard, but def. possible).</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Feel free to PM if you have any other questions about flute auditions/ professors/ programs etc!</p>

4

<p>Every music program is different, and there are examples where professors look for ability to learn and potential, but from my angle, in auditioned music programs a lot of it is the ability to play the repertoire, admission seems to be based mostly on how you do there. The flute is a pretty competitive instrument, and there are a lot of really talented kids out there who have been studying with high level teachers and putting in a lot of practice and performance time for years, and many of them are playing at a level that not many years ago kids would graduate from conservatory playing like. </p>

<p>Is it possible that someone self taught can get admitted to a good flute performance program? Possible, yes, but to see how possible you will need an outside evaluation IMO, I don’t think you can avoid that. Speaking as someone who knew little about this world only a few years ago, I would have thought it was more possible then I do now, seeing just how exacting getting into high level programs is. I have heard students play who I thought sounded lovely, and someone I was with, who knew the instrument, said the person was playing in a way no music school would accept them. A lot of what auditioners are looking for has little or nothing to do with how it ‘sounds’ in a way most people think; the difference between getting accepted and not are often small differences in technique/intonation/what have you, and unless you know what to look for, you may not even realize what they are picking up (kind of direct analogy: think of the olympics, where you watch a gymnast and say “wow”, then the commentators pick them apart for technique that you can’t even begin to see the difference:). </p>

<p>I can’t speak about music education, perhaps there there is more a look at the ‘whole student’, but in performance admissions, the audition is it for the most part, and in competitive schools you have to be playing at a near perfect level to get in IMO. </p>

<p>If you want to realistically see if you have a shot, I would seek out maybe a professor at a school of music or a high level teacher, to get an evaluation of where you are, what your strong points are, and what you are missing, and ask them point blank if they think you have a chance of realistically cleaning it up in time for auditions. It will probably cost some money to do this evaluation, maybe a couple of hundred bucks, but believe me you will be saving yourself a lot of pain, money and time if you find out that your skills aren’t there before trying to audition. </p>

<p>As far as your question about Youth Orchestras and having to pay to be in them, that is a function of who is running them. The reason the top youth orchestras are often tuition free is they have a strong fund raising organization, in a place where there are a lot of well heeled donors willing to support the group through the endownment and yearly giving. It takes a lot of effort to raise the kind of money to keep a program like that going, the standard number I hear is a seat in a group like that is like a 5 or 6k scholarship. Many youth orchestra programs simply don’t have that kind of backing or a willingness to do that kind of fund raising, so they charge the students a lot more to play in those groups (though I know of few where tuition pays the whole freight, most still have to do some fundraising to make it somewhat affordable). The tuition free kind is sort of rare, and like any tuition free program, the competition to get into those programs is usually pretty fierce (kind of like, in the conservatory world, trying to get into Curtis or Colburn).</p>

5

<p>Every music program is different, and there are examples where professors look for ability to learn and potential, but from my angle, in auditioned music programs a lot of it is the ability to play the repertoire, admission seems to be based mostly on how you do there. The flute is a pretty competitive instrument, and there are a lot of really talented kids out there who have been studying with high level teachers and putting in a lot of practice and performance time for years, and many of them are playing at a level that not many years ago kids would graduate from conservatory playing like. </p>

<p>Is it possible that someone self taught can get admitted to a good flute performance program? Possible, yes, but to see how possible you will need an outside evaluation IMO, I don’t think you can avoid that. Speaking as someone who knew little about this world only a few years ago, I would have thought it was more possible then I do now, seeing just how exacting getting into high level programs is. I have heard students play who I thought sounded lovely, and someone I was with, who knew the instrument, said the person was playing in a way no music school would accept them. A lot of what auditioners are looking for has little or nothing to do with how it ‘sounds’ in a way most people think; the difference between getting accepted and not are often small differences in technique/intonation/what have you, and unless you know what to look for, you may not even realize what they are picking up (kind of direct analogy: think of the olympics, where you watch a gymnast and say “wow”, then the commentators pick them apart for technique that you can’t even begin to see the difference:). </p>

<p>I can’t speak about music education, perhaps there there is more a look at the ‘whole student’, but in performance admissions, the audition is it for the most part, and in competitive schools you have to be playing at a near perfect level to get in IMO. </p>

<p>If you want to realistically see if you have a shot, I would seek out maybe a professor at a school of music or a high level teacher, to get an evaluation of where you are, what your strong points are, and what you are missing, and ask them point blank if they think you have a chance of realistically cleaning it up in time for auditions. It will probably cost some money to do this evaluation, maybe a couple of hundred bucks, but believe me you will be saving yourself a lot of pain, money and time if you find out that your skills aren’t there before trying to audition. </p>

<p>As far as your question about Youth Orchestras and having to pay to be in them, that is a function of who is running them. The reason the top youth orchestras are often tuition free is they have a strong fund raising organization, in a place where there are a lot of well heeled donors willing to support the group through the endownment and yearly giving. It takes a lot of effort to raise the kind of money to keep a program like that going, the standard number I hear is a seat in a group like that is like a 5 or 6k scholarship. Many youth orchestra programs simply don’t have that kind of backing or a willingness to do that kind of fund raising, so they charge the students a lot more to play in those groups (though I know of few where tuition pays the whole freight, most still have to do some fundraising to make it somewhat affordable). The tuition free kind is sort of rare, and like any tuition free program, the competition to get into those programs is usually pretty fierce (kind of like, in the conservatory world, trying to get into Curtis or Colburn).</p>

6

<p>Just as an example for the costs of one high-level youth orchestra, my daughter’s charges about $500 a year for tuition. Of their total budget, about half comes from their endowment and fundraising (they have a very large endowment, no doubt in part because they’ve been in operation for 86 years), a quarter from ticket sales (they have 4 major concerts a year, and about half-fill a nearly 3000-seat concert hall (plus some other, smaller concerts)). The tuition covers the other quarter of their annual costs.</p>

<p>This orchestra is run by a (small) professional, paid staff (the previous artistic director and conductor is now the conductor and music director for the Memphis Symphony).</p>

7

<p>It’s time to be creative if Flute speaks to you. Flute is very competitive. You need someone to help you. You are self-motivated, which is great, too. You need playing time under your belt and a rep. With Flute, you likely need to submit a resume as well as pre-screened CDs – at the top places, the rep is not easy. I would network to the best of your ability in your region - go beyond the immediate area. Make friends and associates. Get to know local music programs in JC, state univ, colleges, conservatories - whatever you have access to. In our area, at times there have been very top music contacts at our local state university – this would not be generally known to the public, but there they were. I think you should be able to get flute lessons at lower cost. Observing professional orchestras and college ensembles, etc. helps. I do not recommend regional youth orchestras for flute - tend to be overloaded with flutes leading to too many flutes, difficulty deciding chairs, unprofessional conduct and behavior. Find other means of learning, playing, performing. I know it is possible to perform in a small ensemble at many (if not all) nursing homes and retirement centers - great way to set a goal (4 duets, say and 2 solos) and get them performed up to a reasonable standard. Maybe you have a friend who can get you a volunteer spot or gig playing in a church or special event or hospital or restaurant. If you can get a scholarship to summer programs, I highly recommend those - they are all over the place. one argument that might work with your parents to support your Flute focus, is that flutists pretty much have to be perfectionist, hardworking, many are intelligent with top grades, and these traits will do well if you end up doing something else like applying to med school eventually! Meantime, pursuing Flute competitively/seriously shows some guts in that it for sure is a challenge.</p>

8

<p>All of the advice you’ve received so far is very good.</p>

<p>I would add that you might investigate your local community orchestras. Community orchestras generally will not require you to pay tuition or to audition, and the musicians you will meet can be very supportive and helpful. They may be able to help you find a teacher who is less expensive than what you indicate. Also, do investigate your local community music schools and programs. There are some community music schools with subsidies for musical studies, even instruments to loan! You seem to be very resourceful (getting the silver flute, scoping out the repertoire requirements) and determined to investigate your options so take it to the next level, and best wishes to you.</p>