Music School Visits

College Majors Music Major
281

<p>Daughter auditioned at Hartt this past weekend. It’s a long, highly organized day. There’s a parent/student presentation at 10 (during which D had a music aptitude test). Began with a junior music mgmt major singing 2 pieces: <em>wonderful</em> voice. This was followed by a financial aid presentation. It’s interesting that the Hartt school has the highest combined SAT scores, the highest retention rate, and the highest GPA of all the schools that make up the University of Hartford. </p>

<p>What I heard: Hartt offers lots of talent scholarships ranging from $7K/year to full tuition. Apply dual major. That way, if the kid decides they actually want a dual major and they are awarded a scholarship, it will be good for all 5 years. (Otherwise, it’s only for 4 years.) The “full tuition” scholarship is really a specific $ scholarship which covers full tuition the first year. After that, if there’s a tuition hike, you pay the difference. If you’re applying to Hartt, you will not be offered any kind of academic merit scholarship. Your admittance and any scholarship are based entirely on your audition and interview.</p>

<p>The audition day activities are all pretty well described on the Hartt web site, so I won’t repeat that info here.</p>

<p>We did manage to eat lunch, but it was a quick bite caught on the run. Didn’t have a chance to take the tour. We attended the evening’s “Collage Concert”. This is a must-see if you’re there for it. The concept is brilliant, the talent level is jaw-droppingly awesome, and the execution is superb. We arrived that evening thinking we’d made a mistake trying to fit too much in one day and left re-invigorated and amazed. Very, very highly recommended…</p>

<p>Stayed at a hotel in Windsor which gave us a lovely ride into campus avoiding an “urban jungle” section of Hartford that all the GPS and internet driving directions would normally send us through. </p>

<p>We ended up running into several people that we knew, which was kinda neat. And one lovely young lady from Ithaca College who was auditioning for Hartt’s grad program overheard us talking about upcoming Ithaca auditions and joined our conversation. The atmosphere was very friendly. A grad student we met up with (whom I know from community band at home) said he loved the collaborative, friendly nature of students at Hartt.</p>

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<p>Daughter just auditioned at Ithaca this past weekend. <em>Very</em> friendly, warm experience. Started off at 8:30 am with registration, food & drink. Music faculty circulated introducing themselves to prospective students. A jazz studies guy started off in our group, and pointed out a voice faculty member to my daughter. We made our way over to him and he chatted with us a bit, took a look at her audition sheet and introduced D to one of the two faculty members who would be at her audition. Next up was a set of performances and a kind of intro session to the school. Next we attended a session which included all the voice faculty. The points that I recall:</p>

<ul>
<li>they <em>really</em> want the kid to do well at their audition and encouraged them to select the piece they were most comfortable with as their initial piece</li>
<li>voice majors, music ed majors, physics majors taking voice lessons – they don’t care who you are or what your major is, the faculty is there to make you the best musician you’re capable of being</li>
<li>they have a 100% placement rate from their music ed program as long as graduates are willing to go where the jobs are (They did mention they had one graduate this past year who <em>really</em> wanted a job in one specific area of New York state. When that didn’t work out, she expanded her region of interest to all of New York, and finally to the US, but too late for the market.)</li>
<li>if you’re accepted, they offer a means of visiting the campus, shadowing a student, staying overnight in a dorm, and potentially setting up a sample lesson or two so that you can decide if the fit is good</li>
<li>I’ve forgotten the numbers, but their retention rate is outstanding.</li>
</ul>

<p>D <em>loved</em> the place. And interestingly enough, during one of the sessions, the faculty member started talking about why kids choose Ithaca and he almost quoted my daughter for the reasons she wants to leave her current school: “You don’t want to be the best kid at your school. You want to be surrounded by the level of talent you’ve just seen performing here so that you will be challenged.”</p>

<p>While waiting for her audition, I heard a wonderful tenor audition and two other sopranos, one of whom was clearly outstanding. D felt her audition went well, and mentioned that it was a <em>huge</em> help to have already chatted with one of her auditioners prior to the audition itself. Ithaca has a policy of not providing feedback, but her faculty accompanist said “Nice job!” when D had finished and then seemed to catch herself and remember that she wasn’t supposed to be commenting. It made D feel good. I realize that she may just have been one of those nurturing souls who always makes an encouraging remark, but I’m happy that it made my D feel good.</p>

<p>There were kids selling snacks (like banana, granola bars) and water as a fund-raiser for something music-related.</p>

<p>D also had a brief sight-singing exam in there somewhere. Practice rooms were not assigned, but there were plenty of empty ones when she needed one.</p>

<p>There was a financial aid session, but we missed it in an effort to get D some food before her 2 pm audition. </p>

<p>When we left, D had decided this was her #1 choice. Now, we just wait for the decisions to come in…</p>

283

<p>For anyone interested in Capital, I am a freshman as a jazz studies major (guitar) and am more than happy to help out with any questions, information, advice etc., whether general or specific, that you may ask! Or for any questions regarding this crazy college process, it’s a hectic time but you’ll all get though it!</p>

284

<p>Helpful hint with CIM: Bring quarters.</p>

285

<p>18karat, you may want to start a new thread with your offer to answer Q’s on Capital.</p>

<p>I hope things are going well for you in your studies.</p>

286

<p>We went to an accepted student overnight at College of St. Rose. The facilities there are beautiful. Everything seems brand new. This is definitely a program in its building phase. My son is very passionate about jazz, and despite my screen name, in the last year has transitioned to playing mostly upright bass. He felt that he would not be challenged there by being with other musicians who were significantly better than he is. </p>

<p>There was a lot going on in contemporary music at this school.</p>

<p>He did enjoy his lesson with the bass professor, but in the end, decided that this is not the school for him.</p>

287

<p>I have an audition in Potsdam, New York at Crane School of Music this weekend. I hope it goes well.</p>

288

<p>S (Percussion) visited Lawrence, Indiana and University of Illinois recently. Lawrence is quite small compared to the other two but you can tell that your child would definitely get individualized attention with small classes across the board. IU percussion faculty is hard to beat as it has four really laid back but still intense (if that makes sense?) percussion teachers. New music building being built across the street at Indiana but apparently this has been ongoing for years and not sure when it will be done. All facilities at the schools were OK. Not really impressed by any as they were all older but Lawrence was a bit more run down than the others. All three campuses put out the red carpet for visits but visited IU and U of I in the spring and summer and they were beautiful. I think my son is leaning toward a more traditional larger college over Lawrence. We have Kentucky and Florida State next for auditions so will update later!</p>

289

<p>University of Redlands</p>

<p>We “visit” every Tuesday as my S attends youth symphony there.
Beautiful campus and the city of Redlands offers the old mansions of the midwest without the snow damage. Some crime, but what CA city doesn’t have, but safe campus because of security.</p>

<p>Lessons learned - make sure the college has a good or full time teacher! The double bass has to drive himself to LA for a good teacher. The flute teacher is so busy with outside obligations that sometimes lessons have to be re-scheduled. It was very enlightening to attend a masterclass at the college to see what the college teacher was lacking in teaching her students.</p>

<p>Practice rooms - WAY too few. Even saying that, on a Tuesday night it has only been this semester in 4 years that they were all full! So ask the professor how many hours they like their students to play and how many they actually do. This might show you the committment of the students attending. Students are friendly.</p>

<p>Something that instrumentalists may be forgetting - accompaniment. Does the college offer enough pianists? We are sensitive to this because without the U of Redlands, we wouldn’t have a pianist! They have an outstanding collaborator teacher and performer before she tore her tendon. Parents - hidden costs - do you have to pay for the pianists for each recital, or are they included. Something to ask to be prepared.</p>

<p>Dorms - well my pet peeve is that the fire marshal isn’t following the rules enforced at the Cal State colleges. Which is no bed against the window. The window must be free of obstruction as it is a last resort escape route. I see a lot of fans and open windows in the fall because of the one month of heat.</p>

<p>Redlands has stated in the past no financial aid for room and board. Their endowment is small.</p>

290

<p>University of San Diego, a Catholic University</p>

<p>The most beautiful campus. 180 degree views of San Diego. Beautiful students too (S’s shared opinion). The students are friendly.</p>

<p>S attends the chamber winterfest and summer chamber music camp. No audition required.
[Chamber</a> Music Festival](<a href=“http://gsdmusicoterie.org/Chamber_Music_Festival.php]Chamber”>http://gsdmusicoterie.org/Chamber_Music_Festival.php)</p>

<p>Performance locations - French parlor, you feel like Mozart will walk in. Shiley theatre, a large old theatre like a church.</p>

<p>No visitor parking on campus during the week - they have shuttle buses. I think this is a plus in a big city, keeping crime lower and unwanted out.</p>

291

<p>San Diego State University</p>

<p>We attend flute festivals and their free audition clinic.</p>

<p>The campus is beautiful, Spanish style buildings and of course the weather - perfect. The halls are the typical ugly institutional building. Their instrument lockers had a warning sign that they had been broken into!</p>

<p>The weekend - the dorms had the guys hanging over the balconies partying hard.</p>

<p>I’m an alumni (business) and I quizzed the last unsuspecting student calling for contributions and he said the freshman classes were 100-200. The music classes are not this way. So if you want to put up with huge general education classes while you have outstanding music professors, then you might want to consider it.</p>

<p>SDSU is difficult to get into with a low acceptance rate because of how many apply. I’m sure out of state would be easier becuase they like you paying the out of state tuition.</p>

<p>A state university - you have to be on the ball to make sure you get the classes you need to graduate. There isn’t the care that a small private college has to make sure you graduate.</p>

292

<p>Thinking about NEC for violin, but wondering if anyone knows what the dorms/dining halls are like there? I have dietary restrictions (gluten free/nut allergy…) and asthma, so I’m curious about whether those things can be accommodated in residence or whether I would need to live off-campus!</p>

293

<p>musicnerd073-
NEC is very small. And the proportion of students who live in the single dorm is even smaller. NEC contracts out the dining to a major contractor that handles a huge number of colleges in the Boston/MA area called Aramark. We dealt with Aramark and food intolerances with another child and a different school. They were willing to meet with us and the chef was quite willing to work with us, so as a company Aramark is very cooperative and aware of dietary restrictions. </p>

<p>The way it works at NEC is that students get penguin dollars that they spend in the Bistro. A student who stays in the dorm (and I believe all Freshman are required…unless they are commuting or have a good reason not to…to stay in the dorm) has a minimum amount of penguin dollars they need to spend for dining. For a teen boy that amount does not cover their food for the whole semester. My son and his friends definitely spent money buying food in the area. The staff at Bistro are nice and there is a kitchen on the top floor of the dorm. When my son complained about the prepared food the student services person told me that many graduate students will ask for a piece of chicken and some cut up vegetables and go upstairs and stir fry it themselves. </p>

<p>There is a Whole Foods and a Trader Joes in the area so finding food to supplement the dining hall will be easy. Also many Boston restaurants have GF menus including some pizza and burrito places. </p>

<p>As for the dorms. The Dorms are dorms. They are not particularly nice. They are in desperate need of remodeling (and NEC has plans to build a new building in the not so distant future). But the dorms are directly across the street from Jordon Hall and so you can basically roll out of bed and into class or the practice room, which many students like. And as a freshman staying in the dorms is a great way to get to know other musicians in different disciplines. </p>

<p>Most students move off campus eventually. There are many options for living off campus and even a house that is almost all NEC graduate and undergraduate students that is a bit of a distance from NEC but is very affordable.</p>

294

<p>We are trying to plan a week of visits in march…oberlin, case western, CIM, northwestern, university of michigan and maybe carnegie mellon. Coming from the NYC area. Anyone put together this itinerary before? Looking for suggestions on traveling between schools, time to spend in each place etc.</p>

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<p>My only suggestion would be to make sure that none of the schools are on spring break when you visit. Are you driving from NY or flying out and renting a car?</p>

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<p>countertenormom, We did almost the exact same trip from New York State a couple of years ago. We drove over spring break and it was a lot of driving. We did Oberlin and CIM on a different trip I think. We went in late April and we ran into a bad snow storm at Univ. of Michigan and they seemed to think it was the norm for April. We also looked at Lawrence and Indiana on that LONG trip. I think we did Carnegie Mellon on another trip. If you are driving Carnegie Mellon and Cleveland area the roads can be a mess if the weather is not good as least from where we are in New York State. Oberlin and CIM can be done within a day of each other. We ended up staying in Chicago with friends. It was pretty exhausting and we had younger kid in tow who may now be looking at those same schools. There is a really nice hotel on edge of CIM campus that they suggest which I do not remember the name of it but it is right on the edge of campus. If we were going to do it again and I had a choice I would do less schools in one trip so we had more time to process.</p>

297

<p>My daughter and I drove from Long Island to Oberlin then up to Fredonia and then over to Ithaca and then home. We didn’t rush it and I made sure we had some time off in between. I would suggest not driving at night and staying at a hotel that has breakfast. I think it was 7 days and 6 nights . We also ran into some snow but because I figured in some down time we were able to wait it out, It can be tiring though.While we were at Fredonia it was practically a blizzard by Long Island standards. Every one was walking around like nothing was going on . I would suggest trying to make into a little bit of a vacation and find hotels that have a pool and hot tub so it doesn’t seem like a job. Make sure to do the college tour and not your own. It takes your mind out of it for awhile and the best sales people are the students. Last November we visited Ole Miss and Mississippi state.We drove there from Nashville after my daughter performed at All National. Both very large schools that we both loved. We stayed at each school for 3 days which included visiting one day, auditioning the next and another nt. to relax and then travel. I learned from the first trip to take it slow, do the tour ,meet some professors, eat in town and even at the school cafeterias. It was just myself and my daughter ,my wife and son did not go. It uncomplicated the trip quite a bit and I really think it helped my daughter at audition time. Good luck!</p>

298

<p>We are contemplating a visit to New School and William Paterson on a budget from the west coast. Any advice on where to stay and how to get around would be very welcome.</p>

299

<p>saintfan-If you are coming all the way from the west coast and, as I think you indicated on another thread, your son is a jazz drummer, you should consider adding Manhattan School of Music and SUNY, Purchase to your New York itinerary. I’d avoid visiting during audition season. When you go through that next year, you’ll understand why.</p>

300

<p>Thanks! So after March then or wait until next fall? Summer seems like it would be kind of a dead zone with both students and instructors away.</p>