<p>Hi everyone! I'm new here, just discovered this forum and am very excited about all the great information I've found so far. So, thanks!</p>
<p>Here's my question: my son is a rising senior percussionist. Not conservatory bound, but a pretty good player when he works at it. He hasn't done any big music programs, just at his school and in the community. He'd like something to do this summer for a few weeks, but I know we've missed the deadlines for the big prestigious summer programs. I'm now looking at NYSMF and Kinhaven, maybe others that don't have early deadlines. Would he feel too old at one of these, as a 17 yr old senior? What about the one-week workshops in percussion, like at Indiana, Oberlin, Berklee? Has anyone found these useful?</p>
<p>It might give you a few places to consider (or see past experiences). There are some active percussion folks on the forum. Hopefully they can provide specifics.</p>
<p>My son attended the college audition prep camp at IU last year and it was great. He just returned from auditioning there and the instruction and exposure was very helpful.</p>
<p>If he's looking for a music camp experience...New England Music Camp might be an option. I don't know their current status, but the last year my kids went there, they seemed to be short on percussion players. A rising senior would be one of the oldest there...but probably not the only one. Last year DD was there, one of her roommates was a first timer and a rising senior and she was a honey.</p>
<p>We're looking into Interlochen; will contact the office on Monday to see if they still have openings for percussion. It says in their audition material that players can substitute something of comparable difficulty to the pieces they list. I think given the shortage of time he'd have to do that rather than learn something new. Does anyone know if that would hurt his chances?</p>
<p>Some of these places seem a little advanced for him. Juilliard for instance requires audition on four-mallet keyboard, which he just doesn't have down yet. So maybe a lower level program is better for him. He may try for it though, so thanks for the info Linde!</p>
<p>VicAria, are there plenty of older kids at NYSMF? I know he'd feel very awkward being one of a handful of seniors+. It looks like a nice program.</p>
<p>And I'm still hoping for a review of any of the all-percussion one-week workshops (Oberlin, IU, Berklee, maybe others?). They don't tend to require auditions for admission and I get a feeling they're more about master classes and presentations than actual playing, so I wonder if they'd be rewarding.</p>
<p>I can say as far as IU is concerned, there will be plenty of time to practice and play based on my son's experience there last year. They will post a daily schedule well in advance of the sign-up deadline. You could also email John Tafoya for more details. He is a very friendly guy and I'm sure you could ask him anything.</p>
<p>My D's will be in between her junior and senior year (HS) this summer, and I think her age group is the norm there. She has lots of friends there who are returning, who are a year or two older than she is. There will be younger kids there, and some older, but it is geared mostly to high school age musicians. We've been very happy with our D's experience there (she's vocal). What's great about NYSMF is there aren't favorites who play wehile everybopdy else sits on the bench. Every camper has multiple performance opportunities. They also have a strong jazz component, with performance opps for a full range of abilities.</p>
<p>You should check out the 5 week program at Berklee. They don't require an audition and the application deadline hasn't passed yet. Also, the sort you into groups according to skill when you get there, so he's bound to be with a great group!</p>