Music School Suggestions

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I originally posted this elsewhere, but someone suggested I post this in the Music Major secition:</p>

<p>Hi! I am a caucasian male sophomore in a private high school that has an academic emphasis, as opposed to a musical atmosphere. Although I do pretty well academically (As in all honors and AP classes except for French, which is a standard class), my favorite thing in the world is music. I play classical piano and really want to work at it seriously and pursue a career in music.</p>

<p>I would consider my level of talent above average, but not outstanding. I have perfect pitch and have good technique considering the minimal amount of practice I put in (I do as much as I can, but I know it's not nearly enough: average of around 30-45 min/day freshman year and 2 hrs/day this year and plan on 6hrs/day over the summer), but my technique is probably only average or slightly above average when compared to the people I'll be competing against for slots in colleges. I think my musicality is my strong point though, because I consider myself pretty creative in that sense. I win some competitions, too, including a small international one a couple months ago, but I'd probably get my butt kicked in bigger competitions.</p>

<p>I can play somewhat advanced pieces, such as La Campanella, with some ease and musicality, but my repertoire isn't huge and I have not learned any piano concertos. Does this hurt my chances of getting into a music school?</p>

<p>I understand that I probably am not good enough to get into prestigious music colleges such as Oberlin and Eastman, so I was really hoping you guys could name some second and third-tier music schools for me to look into.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Hi moustache. Welcome to the music forum. This may be a place you to start. It is pinned to the top of the first page. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/6280-suggestions-colleges-music-majors.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/6280-suggestions-colleges-music-majors.html&lt;/a&gt; There are a lot of options. I’ll let someone with more piano experience answer your piano questions.</p>

3

<p>@singersmom07
Thanks for the speedy reply. I’ll definitely check that out.</p>

4

<p>Piano is incredibly competitive, as I suspect you are aware, so it really is important to get some idea of where you stand. I think before even starting to look at programs, there are some things you may want to consider:</p>

<p>-I don’t know who your music teacher currently is but you may want to try and get an evaluation from a well respected piano teacher (it could be your current teacher is that, but I have no way of knowing). There are a ton of piano and other instrumental teachers out there at the local level, who parents send their kids to, who are okay teaching kids doing it as a hobby or whatever but who aren’t necessarily knowledgeable about what kind of standards are out there. One general suggestion would be someone who teaches at a decent music school, more then likely at the college level or at a high level pre college program.</p>

<p>The reason is both to see where you are with your technique and ability now and also an evaluation about what kind of path you can/should take going forward. Even if you aren’t talking ‘high level’ music programs, even decent programs can be pretty competitive, and you probably will need a roadmap to figure out realistically how to get to any particular program. </p>

<p>-You also may want to think about if your current teacher has the ‘horsepower’ to get you into a halfway decent program. Have they ever had students who got into a decent or better level program? Have they ever guided someone doing that? Again, I don’t know your current teacher but music teachers are not generic; the fact that you have gotten away with relatively little practice could be a sign that your current teacher may not be up to that level (I say may, it could also be they will push the students who have drive but don’t push the ones who don’t seem interested, it is possible; in general, though, the kind of teachers I am talking about if they have students who aren’t practicing, will give them a hard time or drop them even…). </p>

<p>You are going to need a tough teacher, among other things…</p>

<p>-To get you to practice more and better. If you want to get into a decent piano program, in performance, collaborative piano or even more contemporary performance, you are going to need to do a lot of work. 1-2 hours on Piano is not a lot, especially if you feel you are where you are, and I would be saying that even if you didn’t feel you were behind or above average or whatever. From what I have seen of serious music students, even those who are at the higher level, they tend to practice many more hours then that, 4, 5,6 hours are not out of the realm of what kids do. I realize that is tough sledding in an academically rigorous program (It is why many young music students homeschool or go to alternative schools that allow them the time and freedom to practice), but it is a reality if you really think you want to try this at any kind of decent level. One thing about top teachers, they generally are not afraid to give their students what for for not practicing enough or working:).</p>

<p>I wish you luck, hopefully this helped.</p>

5

<p>Musicprnt’s fourth paragraph is especially important. I’m my piano teacher’s first student to go on to become a music major and although he went to MSM and knows what it’s all about it had been a few years for him so I found myself receiving way more guidance in which schools to pick from my high school orchestra teacher. However, he did help me out in terms of my playing and I improved a lot with him over the past year or so, so I recommend you either find a teacher who can help on both ends or go for a great piano instructor and someone who’s actively helpful/knowledgeable about music schools as a resource; this forum was definitely a great place to start.</p>