HS Sophomore year - what to focus on?

College Majors Music Major
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<p>My daughter has been playing cello for about 4 years, and last year decided that she wanted to study music, specifically cello performance, in college. This past year she joined a youth orchestra (in addition to orchestra at school - she attends an "arts" school and has been in the orchestra program since middle school), and will attend two one-week chamber music camps (her teacher suggested these over more orchestra-focused camps since she gets a lot of orchestra work during the year).</p>

<p>From reading many posts here, it sounds like the general consensus is that sample lessons, campus visits, etc should be happening in her junior year. So aside from what she is already involved with, is there anything she should be focusing on in her sophomore year? Is it too early to start sample lessons with potential college teachers, at least the more local ones?</p>

<p>We do plan to have a discussion with her private teacher this summer about her goals and plans (he is also a college cello teacher, performer, and pretty well connected). He really hasn't had the chance to focus on all the things he's wanted to with her yet (she started with him last summer) because they've been working on prep for various auditions, solo competitions pieces, etc.</p>

<p>My daughter of course thinks that college is a long way off. I, on the other hand, am starting to get a little panicky, since this is all very new to me :-).</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>I started touring conservatories my sophomore year casually (I officially decided that was my goal freshman year). It’s not a bad idea to get a sense of what her goals are, what kind of schools she would be interested in attending, etc. I found that very helpful. I visited a bunch of different types of schools as a sophomore (everything from Yale to Bard to MSM), and it helped me make a decision when applying. However, it’s still pretty early in the game, so don’t stress yourself out! There is a lot of time to figure everything out, and it seems like your daughter is doing all the right things.</p>

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<p>I agree with lastroseofsummer, particularly on the sample lessons junior year, which had a HUGE impact on where D was accepted. At the end of her sophomore year, she had an opportunity to tour Brazil with her youth orchestra. It was wildly expensive and she was very young, but we knew that if she was serious about music as a career, she would have to go and find out what it’s like to live out of a suitcase, in different hotels every night, and be on a bus for hours on end. Oh, the romantic life of a professional orchestra musician! In any case, she went, she saw, she played, she survived. And yes, this was still the life she wanted. The other prep we did was music camp every summer, where she met different teachers and her peers from around the country. A lot of money, a lot of sacrifice on our part, but she practiced hard, worked her buns off and gave up a lot of “normal” high school life for her dream. And right now, all we fill out the forms for next year, we know it was all worth it!</p>

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<p>Good theory background is also a big help. Most schools have theory tests as part of the audition process. Your cellist may already be getting that in lessons but its really helpful to have a solid background. There are theory, sight reading, sight singing tests at most auditions. Most schools do not expect you to be an expert and they don’t weigh them as heavily as the actual performance of course but they do want to see a good solid base and if your D is confident in that area it will help tremendously with nerves on the big day.</p>

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<p>If she isn’t already taking piano lessons, I would suggest you have her do so (unless she is already an accomplished pianist). This was recommended at EVERY school we visited…conservatories and universities. DS was already taking piano in addition to his primary instrument. He says (and DD agrees) that piano made theory ever so much easier to understand.</p>

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<p>She should also check out the audition requirements NOW at any schools she might be interested in. There’s probably some overlap and she may as well start choosing pieces based on those requirements. Many of the schools require you to make a CD or DVD and send it by December usually (it’s called prescreening) and then they let you know if they want her to come in for a live audition. Also try to get an honest assessment of her ability. That can be tough to do. Our son, the jazz and classical bassist, was always fawned over locally, but we had no idea that he was at the top of the heap until he attended Eastman’s summer jazz camp, where they basically told him he was and told us that he would be in demand, and then was selected for the Grammy jazz Ensembles, which is a huge deal for jazz kids. Winning some competitions in the classical world helps, too, I’d imagine. It all goes on that musical resume she’ll have to submit…</p>

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<p>cellopop, beyond what’s already been stated, the links in the thread here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/674345-cello-player-what-do.html?highlight=cello[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/674345-cello-player-what-do.html?highlight=cello&lt;/a&gt; may be useful.</p>

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<p>I think that the advice given here has been pretty good. If her teacher is high level as you said, then I would recommend making sure that they know your daughter has gotten serious, so they can look at her with that view. Someone who is teaching, who has connections, should know the ropes and can be invaluable in helping guide your daughter, and if anyone you should be asking this question of him. </p>

<p>I also agree that learning piano could be valuable (from what I have seen and heard, primary teachers recommend that, not just because of music theory, but also because it helps focus on the learning process among other things) and music theory won’t hurt. I wouldn’t freak out if by the time she auditions she isn’t at a high level, since my take is that when they give those exams at music schools they are more for placement then as part of the entrance criteria (it could be some schools use them, some don’t), but the overwhelming part of entrance is the audition).</p>

<p>If you get the chance to visit music schools, one of the more valuable things we have found would be to sit in on student recitals and performances, especially if you can see students relatively early (like freshman, if they do recitals, some schools may not have first years doing it), to see what the level is really like, to blow away some of the myths (as an example, you may hear that at school X all the cellists are way out there, that there is no way your D could make it there…and then find out that was someone’s perception, that there are kids there who aren’t all that far from your D’s level). Also, of course, listening to music, going to performances and so forth;).</p>

<p>Now comes the kicker of them all, practicing. If I had one thing to say, it would be that she needs to block out time for some serious practicing, that if she is still practicing let’s say an hour a day 4 days a week, that it isn’t going to be enough (that is simply an example, it is going to vary from student to student, instrument to instrument). If she is going to commit to trying to go the music route and wants to get into a high level program, that is probably the single biggest thing I can think of towards trying to get to where she wants to go. Plus quite frankly it is a test for the haul that going into music takes, if with everything in her life she can make the commitment to test the several hours a day of focused practice it seems to take. More importantly, I would suggest having her talk to her teacher about effective practice techniques, about how to use the time she has to the most effect, and it is often kind of trial and error. For example, someone might do well with 1 hour of scales and etudes, and hour playing the bach cello suites, and hour on a concerto, someone else might have a different mix. One suggestion I have, if she needs to bump up her routine (maybe she is already doing this…) would be to make sure to add in rest time, that many seem to find, including my S, that 20 minutes of playing followed by 5 or 10 minutes of rest, seems to help ward off armstrain and such and allow them to get to the practice time they need. As part of this, she may want to look at what her school schedule is, after school activities, etc for a given week during the school year, and figure out how she is going to block in practice time. It also may mean giving up some activities she normally does to free up time for practicing, one thing about getting serious with music is that it often requires sacrificing other things IME (on the other hand, there are super kids who seem to be able to do it all:).</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply (and thanks in advance for any future replies)!</p>

<p>She has been thinking about either piano or voice lessons over the summer. She played piano for several years before starting cello, so that seems like an easy addition. This summer would be the best to do that, because her youth orchestra may have a tour to Europe (Italy and France) next summer. It should have been this summer, but they couldn’t get enough parent support with the recession.</p>

<p>Practice time has been hard for her to come by, and I think she feels that the 5-6 hours a week of youth orchestra and 4-6 hours a week in school are part of that. I’ll prompt her teacher to bring that topic up. He seems generally happy with her progress each week, though as someone said, if he doesn’t know her target, he might not be using the same critical eye (ear?).</p>

<p>We do have some colleges with reasonable music programs fairly close by, so we can check out performances there. Her advocate at school has also told her to start looking at schools, as much to define what she doesn’t want as what she does at this point. We’ve visited a few schools on my son’s college search (junior this year), so at least she has had some exposure. She was very unimpressed with the facilities as the University of Washington! Unfortunately, the nearest “conservatory” is San Francisco, which means a plane trip (or a 10-12 hour drive each way). Which we could do, but it would be nice to know if that was realistic, and the kind of experience she was interested in.</p>

<p>The material she’s been working on in the last year or two seems in line with many of the audition requirements (Bach Cello Suites, Saint Saens Cello Concerto, Lalo, etc), so hopefully not too many surprises there.</p>

<p>Again, I appreciate all of the advice. This forum is an invaluable resource - I can’t imagine having to navigate without it, and really appreciate the time that others have taken to document their experiences!</p>

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<p>It can be helpful to start making recordings in sophomore year, even if you end up not using them. Becoming competent at the process of getting the pieces up and recorded and having some of the repertoire on file can reduce some of the stress later on. A friend’s daughter (vocal perf) gave us this recommendation. In her case, she had planned to make a new recording for applications but had a bad case of pneumonia and was very happy she had older recordings to fall back on.</p>

<p>Can I weigh in on the question of practice hours? Playing in orchestra rehearsals is really not the same thing as practicing! Most instrumentalists heading for conservatory consider three hours of daily practice a minimum on top of orch and other rehearsal time. In conservatory, most students will be expected to practice 5 hours daily (again, in addition to their orchestra and ensemble rehearsals). If your daughter isn’t accustomed to this type of regimen or finds it not to her liking, she might want to re-evaluate her plans, and/or give it a try to see how it suits her.</p>