<p>This is so embarassing, sorry everyone. I actually posted the last message. My friend wanted me to see something using his username on cc (ricemanowl)</p>
<p>It's the FALL auditions that trouble me. At every other school, you know who your teacher would be before you decide whether or not to enroll, almost without exception! I know Yale isn't a conservatory, but it still seems like a silly policy considering the huge number of undergraduate musicians there.
gadad, if you contact anyone, make sure it's an individual faculty member. I tried the music administration first, which was most thoroughly unhelpful. Best of luck, gadad's daughter and amypianist!</p>
<p>Hello! I just came back from a Yale visitation and had a lesson with Mr. Blocker in the music school (piano depart.). It's interesting, seems like NO undergrads can study with the grad music teachers there! I talked to one undergrad pianist and he was pretty unhappy with the two piano teachers they assign for undergrads. It's such a gamble to wait so long to see if any of the grad teachers have an opening in their studio, like Claude Frank or Boris Berman (again piano)! Are any other musicians having similar doubts?</p>
<p>Hi Amypianist, my son hasn't gotten in, deferred EA, but he has been concerned with the same thing. He's also a pianist and he'd like to have a good teacher in college--very important to him. There are other schools where you can get funding and support for an instructor outside of the school so that may end up being a deciding factor for him.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son, andi! I'm just wondering, does he do a lot of national/international competitions or music festivals? Also, does anyone know how many undergrads are currently studying with a Yale grad faculty (particularly for piano?). I've also heard that they are gaining a new piano teacher in the music school, which will be nice!</p>
<p>I heard that they recently lost Melvin Chen.</p>
<p>amypianist, what music awards have you won?</p>
<p>I have a couple of friends who are taking "lessons for credit" courses, and they're studying with faculty from the School of Music. My piano playing isn't proficient enough for this arrangement, so I've never looked into the exact details. </p>
<p>However, to my knowledge, there is no "performance" track to the undergraduate music major, so it's primarily focused on theory, composition, and history. Thus, undergraduate majors don't necessarily have to take lessons with Music School faculty. However, since the posters on this thread are definitely interested in lessons, I've emailed one of my suitemates who is a music major, and he'll hopefully come clear some of this up :).</p>
<p>thesmartazz, that would be TERRIFIC if you can ask your friend about the music major issue. I would really love to study with Claude Frank or Boris Berman, but I have heard their studios are extremely difficult to get into. Do you have any friends who are undergrads studying with them? Or when the audition process might be to take such lessons?</p>
<p>Janerdoo, yeah that's what I heard, but he mainly taught undergrads, right? Robert Blocker told me they were gaining a new faculty member this year! Yay, more chances for us....</p>
<p>I haven't competed too much nationally, unfortunately. 3rd place MTNA Yamaha Comp, won many state competitions (OMEA, Northwest MetroArts comp), finalist at Music Academy of the West concerto comp. I'm going to international Kingsville this year. Other stuff include attending Aspen, Music Academy in Santa Barbara, solo with six symphonies, performance in Russia. </p>
<p>Any chance to get into a grad piano studio you think? What music awards have you won?</p>
<p>Yeah, I talked with a music student recentyl. He said that Elizabeth Parisot is really good, and she teaches a few qualified undergrad pianists.
I used to compete a lot, and now I just do service things with music. NW alternate winner of National Chopin Foundation competition, won some state titles,a few composition awards, SYAMF concerto finalist, ABRSM diploma distinction, etc.
Let's hope for the best! i'm also waiting on other schools though. where else have you applied?</p>
<p>Hi Janerdoo! I'm glad your friend likes Elizabeth Parisot. When I visited Yale, I spoke to another undergrad pianist who is quite good, and he was very disappointed with Mrs. Parisot (his teacher) and the other undergrad faculty. I've been wondering if that is just his opinion. Anyhow, he wasn't accepted into a graduate studio, which is why I'm distressed!<br>
Yes, let's hope for the best! I've applied to 10+ schools actually, have heard positively back from a few, but I am anxious to hear from JHU/Peabody, Harvard, and Juilliard/Columbia. Did you audition at Juilliard or Curtis?<br>
Would you care to chat on AIM? Are we allowed to give out our sn on this discussion board?</p>
<p>amypianist, I don't want to spread false rumors, but I would be careful joining Claude Frank's studio. From what I understand, he is in very ill health. I'd look in to it, if I were you, just in case, though this is on rather fuzzy authority.
where else did you apply?
(also, what about Emmanuel Ax?! lol)</p>
<p>Hi fiddlefrog. Oh, I didn't know about Mr. Frank's health! I spoke with two of his students (one from Yale, another from Curtis) recently, and they were pretty happy with him, it seems (no mention of his health). I guess he would be very busy though. Hmm I saw Mr. Emmanuel Ax when I was auditioning at Juilliard. I suppose he'd be much too busy with performing to teach too much.<br>
I applied to some other backup schools, which did you apply to?<br>
Are you also applying to undergrad music studies at Yale?</p>
<p>If his students didn't mention it, then he's probably fine. My knowledge is through untraceable gossip. Don't worry about it...
I did apply to Yale, for u-g music. I was deferred EA. It is no longer high on my list, though. I've decided that I really need a more intense music school. I've been accepted to Indiana and Vanderbilt, and rejected from the conservatory at Bard. Still to come are NEC/Harvard (individually and jointly), BU, CIM, and Yale's RD decision. Where else did you apply?</p>
<p>considering a double english/music major but i guess i'm quite ignorant about this, can you not pursue a music major within the college? i have keen interest in music composition and music history (!) and look forward to performing lots of music -- i play the cello and hope to sing some too :)</p>
<p>IF i get in that is...</p>
<p>fiddlefrog, I personally think the Yale music school is very intense, more so than another university because it is strictly a professional school. An undergrad who is accepted to the double degree program is expected to play at a grad level. Good luck on RD! Other than the schools I mentioned above, I also applied to Rice, USC, Eastman/Rochester, I can't remember the others. They're totally not "backup" level schools, but they are my second choices. Do you also play piano? Who teaches at CIM? Would you study with Pressler at Indiana?
Are you competing at Kingsville in 2 weeks? Just wondering :)</p>
<p>Hi there,
As my username might indicate, I'm a violinist, though I do play piano some. What concerns me about Yale isn't the undergraduate level of playing-- it's the practice time available. I'm just not sure it's worthwhile to sign up for five academic classes a semester when I know that my main priority will be to practice 5 hours a day. It would probably be better to do justice to two classes a semester than to flub through five, which I'm afraid might happen if I went to Yale. Either that, or I wouldn't practice enough because I would get caught up in the excitement of my academics, and wouldn't be allowed to continue in the music school. I'm a good violinist, in my own estimation, but not soloist material by a long shot, and I'm afraid that may be the most suitable type for Yale.
Good luck at Kingsville! Did you know Thomas Landschoot at Music Academy of the West? I forget which year he taught cello there. Interesting man...</p>
<p>That is one of my concerns as well, not having enought time to practice. I am quite interested in a double major, however, and my interest in Yale is that I think it should be easier to accomplish there than Juilliard/Columbia, for instance. Yale encourages double majors, while at a conservatory/university arrangement, each school will demand the student to make them the priority. However, in prefering music to be your main focus, then maybe the academic load at Yale is too demanding. Good luck with that! Hmm, I'm not familiar with the name Thomas Landschoot. He must have taught at MAW several years ago. Did you apply to go there this summer? It's a wonderful festival!</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I'm the suitemate that thesmartazz referred to a while ago. I'm a sophomore at Yale and a music major. I'll give you a brief run-down of my performance study at Yale and tell you what I think about the system. (Apologies for the long post!)</p>
<p>When I came to Yale, I felt 90% sure that I was going to get piano lessons for credit. I had been accepted to Indiana and Michigan university music schools (though not Oberlin); one of the Yale School of Music professors I spoke with thought that I would most likely qualify for lessons. I auditioned at the beginning of freshman year but was assigned to a graduate student. I was also assigned to a grad student at the beginning of this year.</p>
<p>The graduate students I've studied with have all been competent teachers, but certainly not as effective as a professor would be. I took a a few lessons with college professors in high school, and it's very, very different. Practice time can be a problem sometimes, but a bigger problem for me is getting motivated to practice when I'm doing 5 classes and various extracurriculars. </p>
<p>So, for me at any rate, Yale's system of undergraduate lessons just plain sucks. If you are confident that you would be admitted to somewhere like Juilliard, you shouldn't have as much of a problem.</p>
<p>From what I've seen and experienced, your best bet might be to do the following BEFORE making your decision to come to Yale:</p>
<p>1) Arrange to play for one of the School of Music faculty, ideally one you're specifically interested in studying with. Even if they don't feel you're ready for credit lessons, you'll have a connection with someone in the music school who might be able to help you later.
2) Talk to the music department or an SoM professor about getting credit for lessons with a graduate student. This is not officially an option, but I know of one case where a professor arranged for a student to do this with the understanding that the student would study with him the following year.</p>
<p>One other thing: while the undergraduate lessons system is not so good, the overall musical environment at Yale is amazing. If you're just interested in "keeping up your skills," there are plenty of opportunities to play.</p>
<p>hey fishyfriend..</p>
<p>do you happen to know a timo andres? he's a pianist and composer and a sophomore at yale.</p>
<p>I don't personally know him but I have a few friends who do and from them I've heard alot of nice things about the Yale music commmunity.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, fishyfriend, for your very useful-- if very disillusioning-- post. I wish someone had told me that 7 months ago when I decided to apply EA. I'm glad I was deferred. An immediate acceptance might have been sufficiently flattering that I would have gone there, and found myself unhappy.</p>