<p>Please share what your beginning days/weeks were like, so future music majors and music parents get an idea!</p>
<p>Is your beginning experience what you dreamed it would be?
What are/were some difficult things? What are/were the best parts?
Is it like the immersion at your summer orchestral music programs?
Any advice for choosing the right school or advice in general?
Thanks!!!</p>
<p>This is a post on that you might find helpful:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html?highlight=so+you+want+to+be+a+music+major[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html?highlight=so+you+want+to+be+a+music+major</a></p>
<p>My son is a sophomore and so far our son is very happy with his decision to attend conservatory and in particular his conservatory (NEC). The most challenging part for me was missing hearing him practice and the time I spent driving him to lessons. Our dog became obsessed with hearing Ellla Fitzgerald play “Autumn in New York” that fall and would only settle at night after I played it multiple times. So I guess the dog missed hearing our son practice as well.</p>
<p>My son did the prep program at NEC so he was familiar with the area, but being a college student was a whole new challenge. The hardest thing was dealing with dining and food and getting the right nutrition. The best part for our son was getting to know a wide variety of very dedicated musicians and the opportunity to collaborate with them outside of class. Our son was fortunate to meet people who he gelled with musically and socially. </p>
<p>The best part for us was going to performances and recitals. That is one advantage of living near where he is going to school.</p>
<p>I initially was unsure about my son’s choice of conservatory. But as he has matured and I see what areas interest him and the decisions he is making about his music I totally understand why he made the decision he did and I could not imagine him at any other conservatory.</p>
<p>I am speaking for my son, who would roll his eyes probably at me responding. but here goes with what I think he has learned/experienced (given that communications is a text here or there:). </p>
<p>It is interesting, my S was in a top level pre college program for several years, which people who went from it to college said was pretty much the same thing, except you live it 7 days a week. On his instrument in that program, there were a lot of stunningly high achieving kids, who had already soloed with orchestras, won major competitions, etc…well, now in conservatory, he is seeing the difference.</p>
<p>-The work load is a lot higher than I think he expected, even in the classes he is taking. He had theory and such, for example, all the time he was there, but at his school it is a lot more workload</p>
<p>-He already had his moments of feeling out of place, self conscious about his playing, etc at the pre college level, but here what he sees everyone has it. One of the friends he has made is at the point where he is getting close to getting artists management, has won major competitions internationally, yet feels self conscious about practicing in his room, cause other kids in the studio live on that floor…When you get into music school, especially if it is a ‘top tier’ program, the level is uniformly relatively high (there are variations, of course, it does range, even in top programs some studios are blockbusters, others have more of a range, etc), it is very different.</p>
<p>-the time to prepare is less. In orchestra, for example, they started working on the program and had a couple of weeks to prepare, before college that would be several months. You are expected to work on the pieces, and those who don’t are going to show, whereas in pre college there wasn’t really that kind of mentality…and not being prepared for orchestra can get the student into trouble, no matter how good they are.</p>
<p>-same with ensemble playing, in pre college he was lucky to have mostly great chamber and sonata partners, who really cared, but you could get stuck with someone who basically didn’t care, and there wasn’t much you could do. At the college level you can still get stuck with clunkers, kids who don’t care, or don’t try (not talking about kids with limited experience), but again, depending on the program, there may be no hiding (sadly, some programs still treat chamber as some sort of weird EC, and don’t put much weight on it, don’t ask me why), where my son is they put emphasis on it, and they don’t play games. He is being coached by a pretty well known chamber musician, and the guy doesn’t pull any punches, and if my S isn’t prepared, his whole group will look like crap, and they won’t be happy (for the record, my S got in with a group of really talented kids, and loves it, and they are friends, go to dinner together, etc). </p>
<p>-Living in a dorm, I think he most misses privacy, where at home he had his own room he could crawl into after a long day, and do his thing, he has a roommate, who in his case spends a lot of time there. With eating, for some reason while living at home he really learned to eat well and has been okay with that, he actually tends to do better on his own (part of it was with his crazy schedule, we spent a lot of time taking him places, etc, and ate a lot of takeout chinese and pizza as was as sandwiches on the road, etc). </p>
<p>-Some kids have trouble with losing the routine imposed on them by parents and school, my S seems to thrive on the freedom. Instead of saying “I am in a great city, with all these things to do” and dropping off with school,it seems to do the opposite,ie it is like "wow, I can go an practice for 2 hours, and do it for myself’ or whatever.</p>
<p>-I think the biggest change he is feeling is how much he has to do and so little time. He experienced some of that when he went to school before homeschooling and practice time was hurt by the other demands, but here he is seeing the real workload. If you looked at his schedule, you would say “sounds like he has a lot of free time”, but the thing is, most of the time is unscheduled. Sure, you have orchestra for x hours a week, but then you have %x working on the pieces for that; you have chamber coaching/rehearsal X, but you have %x of that practicing, plus you have individual and studio class for Y, with nY practicing for those, and you have theory and aural training, and work for those…in other words, becoming an adult.</p>
<p>-One thing he has said is that he has learned how much the teacher counts. I think at first he wasn’t sure about going to the school he is, the facilities aren’t as good as the school he originally was heading for, not in the same kind of city, etc, but what got him there was the teacher, and he still says that is most important, that while he could hope for better facilities, more practice rooms, etc, that they do pale in comparison. He is happy the program has a great chamber program and they emphasize it, and that is important, and he likes the people running the orchestra program, said as good conductors as he has had, they have turned out to be the best, but in the end he said the biggest weight has to be the teacher. He had choices between schools, his favorite among them, but when it turned out to be his current teacher and the school he is out, versus a nebulous choice of studio at his preferred school, he chose this school, and doesn’t have regrets about that at all (and said on hindsight, the teacher he likely would have gotten at his referred school, whom he was aiming for, might not have been as good). </p>
<p>Obviously, your experience is going to vary, if you have had limited time being away from home , if you have always been the best student, have never really lived music 24/7, it will be different, and keep that in mind when things seem down or not great, you are adjusting to it when it happens. On the other hand, if you truly love music, that will probably take over from the down feelings, too:).</p>
<p>I would echo what musicprnt just said. Spoke to my son last evening at 6pm. He had to play with a woodwind quintet in the afternoon and had an ensemble rehearsal in the morning. He had rehearsal again at 9 pm and again this morning at 8am. That is what his weekends are like. He said he’s still learning to do this college thing. He is also at a conservatory and the demands on their playing level are quite high. He sounded exhausted but he’s extremely happy.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to respond!! …StacJip, glad to hear that your son is happy! Your story about your dog missing your son’s practicing is very sweet. I absolutely know I will miss my D’s practicing. You and other parents that are close enough to go to concerts are very lucky. I think my D will end up too far away, and missing her concerts will be the most difficult thing for me. I already suggested to her ahead of time, to try to become good friends with someone willing to video everything and send it to me; I would love that! I believe some schools stream the performances, but who knows if her school will? I also wonder how not having her family in the audience will affect her?</p>
<p>A lot of schools will stream performances these days, either themselves or through things like instant encore, one of the things to do is look at the schools they are auditioning at and see if they routinely do this:). Among other things, schools love to promote their programs, no better way than that!</p>
<p>My pianist D is a freshman at a university with a school of music. She says her experience is intense, and everything is interesting to her. She is excited about going to concerts as many times a week as she likes, taking music all day every day, and participating in a small ensemble that will play new music by a student composer. In the beginning I got phone calls from her, exclaiming about how great a certain class was and how participating in choir was making her appreciate intervals! Honestly, I think she was and is half amazed that she can finally study what she loves. Music is officially no longer an extra-curricular activity!</p>
<p>I can see how if a student loves to play his or her instrument but isn’t into all of the other supporting coursework (choir, aural theory, written theory, history, etc.) then studying music might be disappointing. But D is energized by the environment and loves nearly every class. She was really excited to learn something at theory…and then the subject is brought up in Musicology…and then it comes up at her lesson. It is very clear to her that each class supports the others, and supports her growth as a musician.</p>
<p>I think the difficult thing might be adjusting to dorm life – but that is the exciting thing too, because the dorm is so close to the music school and you live in a community of people all the same age! It is exhilarating and exhausting at times, just like it is for every other new student on campus, no matter what their major is.</p>
<p>My D does go to school far away, as you said your D might. A lifesaver for me has been DropBox, which is a free program available on the web. It makes it possible to share files that are too large to email. Every once in a while she will record one of her pieces, upload the recording to her computer, and then send me a link to her folder, and voila! I can listen to it on my computer. It is a wonderful gift and makes her feel not quite so far away. And I really recommend Skype, too! :)</p>