<p>So I am a rising senior mezzo soprano just back from Tanglewood looking for some help. I am looking at both conservatory's and schools of music and I was wondering how do I go about asking for lessons with teachers. Should I just email admissions, or even the faculty and ask, or is there some preset measure for going about this. Thanks a ton! =]</p>
<p>Perhaps emailing the faculty chair of the department is your best bet. Check your schools' websites.</p>
<p>Not sure how it is for voice, but my son (trombone) would email both the music admissions office and the teacher he was interested in. With the exception of 1 teacher, they were all happy to work with him directly. And when he met up with the lone hold out during a campus visit, the teacher was more than happy to make time for him, he just was not responsive to emails. Many teachers charge for lessons, so be prepared to pay.</p>
<p>My D, a soprano vocal performance major, emailed the teachers directly to set up sample lessons. We did tons of research in order to choose the teacher. Her private teacher, a mezzo, said that she thought she might like to have a soprano as a teacher so we first looked at the sopranos. At least that way we could narrow it down a bit. Then she just emailed saying she wanted to take a sample lesson. She asked about availability - some don't teach every day for example. She did two over spring break her junior year and then 2 more in the fall. Her first choice ended up being the only school where she did not do a sample lesson - of course - so she did a sample lesson there in April right before she made her decision. She started research by just googling teachers and she emailed former students or current students. She read as many forums as she could and emailed people who seemed to be knowledgeable. She ended up with a teacher at each school that she would have been comfortable with. She had to be pretty persistent with some who were not as good as others about answering emails.</p>
<p>My son's experience was quite similar to cartera's daughter. He is going into violin performance. He found most of the teachers by doing research, asking others, asking his teacher, etc. The websites have emails for many teachers right there, but otherwise, he would call the admissions office and they would give him the email. These practise lessons are very standard fare. When he had picked one (he only did one per school), he would email and they were all quite responsive. They definitely are interested in the kids coming through and try to find time to see them. At a couple of schools, he was also able to sit in on studio classes which he found quite valuable as well. He ran out of time, however, to see all the people he wanted to see. As time went on, his search/sights changed a lot and the list of possible schools went through many permutations during the course of his junior year through his live auditions in senior year. Other CC'ers are familiar with his unusual journey! It turned out to even be possible to take sample lessons the day before his audition at a few schools which he had not had time to visit previously. This turned out to be very fortuitous because all the teachers he did this for were very positive about his prospects and encouraging and they also helped him with some pointers for the audition at their particular schools. It helped him to feel much more comfortable in the auditions at those schools. One of these teachers he will study with next year. </p>
<p>I encourage you not to be shy about this process because it is essential for you to find a teacher you are excited about studying with and we found all of them to be very kind and encouraging. One did not use email very much. My son at first took this as a rejection, but when he phoned, he got a positive response. So if you don't hear back by email, be persistent. Good luck!</p>
<p>DD decided very late to major in VP and we did not get a chance to do this kind of research with lessons before applications and auditions. She took the private lessons with her 3 top choices after she was accepted and made her decision after that. Fortunately she had found several good matches by research and recommendatons first and also used the auditions and tours to form impressions. Doing it ahead of time would most likely have eliminated some applications and auditons but not many.</p>
<p>We thought the visits beforehand were great, primarily because the lesson helped weed out the list. There was one school that <em>I</em> really liked, but he didn't mesh with the teacher, so we dumped it. He opted against having a lesson at audition time of the two schools where he had not already met the teachers, because it seemed hectic and like it would be distracting to employ new ideas right before an audition. Interesting that it worked for other kids For the school he is attending, he went back on his own and had lessons, after he had been accepted. In all cases, teachers were fantastic and accommodating. We did have to pay for most lessons though, and apparently, some people at other schools had no lesson fee, so it must vary widely.</p>
<p>Contacting the professor directly by email and then following up with a phone call (if there is no response to email, which seems to happen a lot with music professors!), is a good way to go.</p>
<p>Actually, the teachers who met with my son before auditions were very sensitive to the need not to introduce too much at that sensitive moment and they instead played the role of audition coach. They also told him not to try to do some of the things they were showing him during the audition. It was really very helpful to him! We wouldn't have thought to do this, but were mindful of the expense of having to return later to meet teachers, etc. It was a very pleasant surprise that it paid off so nicely. Put him more at ease the next day knowing one teacher liked his playing, helped him to better prepare his audition pieces and helped him to get to know the schools better. I don't recommend this if you have the time and resources to visit all the schools you're interested in ahead of time, but if you run out of time and/or money, know that it worked really well for at least my son.</p>
<p>There was a thread on this topic last year with some suggestions:</p>