<p>Regarding those charges for sample lessons, let's compute what lessons in college cost. Figure $30K per year in tuition charges, the applied lesson generally accounts for 20 to 25 percent of a semester's credit hours and there are typically 12 or 13 lessons in a semester.</p>
<p>That works out to between $230 and $312 per one hour lesson for those paying full freight. Ouch.</p>
<p>We were lucky to be in a rural area where lessons were reasonable, although parents of S's friends thought we were paying an outrageous amount. We considered it an investment. But you might want to think of it this way: if you made a one-hour or even half-hour apt. with a physician or lawyer or architect, you would not think $150-200 was out of line. The music faculty at the top-level schools are the artistic equivalent of these professionals. Plus, to make time for a sample lesson, which is really a courtesy to an interested student who may or may not attend the school, he/she must fit it in around other professional and personal obligations.</p>
<p>Paying for lessons is just a part of our life. Both of our ds has taken a variety of lessons. Seems the bigger the name, the higher the price in any type of lesson! Any golfers out there? Equestrians? Swimmers? Yep, we all pay to get the experience of working with one of the greats. (and afterall the name does get on the resume, doesn't it?) These instructors have made a name for themselves. Just as Tango14 pointed out, we pay that for lawyers and doctors! I won't even bring up what we (meaning all music parents) have paid for summer music programs, pre college programs, youth orchestras...not to mention INSTRUMENTS! No wonder we (meaning my husband and I) do not have that beach house in Hawaii!! :D We would not change a thing.<br>
Thanks for the suggestions. I have e mails out to the schools to see what they say.</p>
<p>Re Trial Lesson fees:</p>
<p>I gave my daughter a check with the amount left blank to take with her to sample lessons. Interestingly enough, the teachers she liked the most and connected with the best refused payment. The final score from her spring rounds was 3 free, 2 pay (about $100 each, if memory serves).</p>
<p>notfromme, if you are going to be in NY Monday, 11/3, you may want to catch the Mannes Orchestra's performance at Carnegie Hall at 8:00 pm. Works by Messiaen and Mendelssohn. Free admission to a great venue. </p>
<p>I sent you a message with some info on Mannes, check your mailbox.</p>
<p>We had the plan to schedule trial lessons once the acceptances were in since we did not get to all schools early enough to do them before applying. Just thought I would mention that as an option. I guess for my son the jazz programs themselves and the reputations of the teachers were enough to seal his decision to apply in the first place, but a trial lesson would help with final decisions.</p>
<p>As far as auditioning at Mannes, when my son did his master's auditions in spring of 2007, Juilliard and Mannes both scheduled their auditions the same week. He was able to make one trip to audition at both schools although he had to find a place to stay while he was out there. He managed to spend a night with a friend from undergrad and the rest of the time with a family friend in NJ. </p>
<p>Overall, he has mixed feelings about Mannes as a grad school. However, he thinks his teacher is a genius and is very glad he has the opportunity to work with him. And he loves living in NYC with all the professional contacts it is providing him. I am not sure I would have been happy to have him there as an undergrad, but who knows?</p>
<p>We went to USC yesterday. My S had arranged weeks ago to meet with the head of the composition department and we had arranged the trip around his availability, even though my S had to miss school to do it.</p>
<p>First response my S had was how much happier the students looked than the ones on the East Coast - smiling, walking in groups, lounging around on the grass.</p>
<p>He looked through the class schedule and picked a class to attend - showed up a few minutes early and asked the Prof if he could sit in - which he did. Never figured out if it was a grad level course or just upper division. My S absolutely loved it. He'd attended classes at Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Princeton - and thought this was the best class he'd had. (It was an Analysis of Post Tonal Music in the 20th Century.) He wanted to go to other classes, but to his dismay, I had scheduled him for the official tour. In hindsight, it was probably a waste of time - except for the third part of it which was meeting with Music Admissions.</p>
<p>Then it was on to his meeting with the professor - they discussed scores, talked music/influences/background, listened to some of my S's music. Talked about the program. In all it was a very positive meeting and my S came out stating that he would be happy there.</p>
<p>While he was doing these various things, since I had time to kill I wandered around. The practice rooms are great - tons of them, most with pianos, and a few not occupied. The funny thing is at USC the practice bldg (they have their own building) is next to the athletic track. A gym for Performance Jocks. My favorite thing, however, and so Southern California, was outside the practice rooms was a sidewalk corridor lined with park benches. And to each bench was fastened a music stand!</p>
<p>The Music School is big - and eclectic. Lots of jazz students to mix with the classical. The area the school is located in is a conclave with Cinema Studies and Theater creating a lovely performing arts court. It's an idyllic little area with people strumming on instruments outdoors, chatting, hanging out.</p>
<p>All in all, he's definitely applying.</p>
<p>Re NYC conservatory admissions, I wanted to mention this as it might help someone plan or consider their audition choices. Contact the schools to check my info if concerned:</p>
<p>Unless they change this year, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music and Mannes all schedule auditions in the same week. This can be convenient for out of towners, but doing multple conservatories, expecially if Mannes still has 2 days - 1 for audition, 1 for theory - can run into many days in town. The schools do (or have in the past) recommend hotels with special rates, but these are still definitely NYC prices!</p>
<p>Also historically, all have required instrumentalists to audition with accompanists. The schools will supply contact name(s) for auditioners. It is up to the auditioner to make arrangements to rehearse and pay for the rehearsal(!) with the pianist. In the past, the schools have paid the accompanist for the actual audition. These collaborative pianists are excellent and know the literature of the instrument they are accompanying well. Students may be asked to provide music for anything unusual literature-wise in advance. You may be able to bring your own accompanists as well.</p>
<p>I knew one student who some how missed that Juilliard requires an accompanied audition and discovered the requirement only minutes before the audition. (Don't know how the kid missed it, the website was clear, but the fact was missed.) Student was told the audition panel wouldn't hear the audition without piano. Kid went ahead with piano, no rehearsal, but wasn't admitted. Don't know the nerve factor effect in this situation!</p>
<p>Carole Haber was our teacher. She had been recommended by our currect teacher because they had worked together before.</p>
<p>I have talked with a teacher who won't even give a lesson the same year of the audition and I have talked with teachers who say to take a lesson when they come for the audition. It varies by teacher, even within the school. We are leaving for Eastman tomorrow and I found that same policy. Some teachers won't give us a lesson because she is still a junior in HS, too. All you can do is ask.</p>
<p>We took our D to visit Susquehanna on their Arts Action Day. This program is similar to to a regular open house, but features masterclasses for potential visual arts, theater, and music students.</p>
<p>Susquehanna has a respectable reputation around here. A number of very good musician friends of my D's have gone here and it boasts alumni such as James Jordan from Westminster Choir College.</p>
<p>While Selinsgrove, PA is fairly far off the beaten path, the school is a lovely epitome of a classic college campus. With a student population of around 2000, a student certainly won't get lost in the crowd there and boasts about its study-abroad requirement.</p>
<p>In musical terms, we were less than impressed. The initial presentations we viewed were strictly general open house stuff. Even the overseas study portion was not especially geared to the arts students that had been invited there that day.</p>
<p>The problems, at least in our terms were only heightened when our D went to her master class. She learned that there are only two female voice instructors on the department's staff, neither of which were mezzo-sopranos. While not having an instructor in her voice range is not a deal-breaker for my D, she'd greatly prefer one. She found the critiquing of her singing and that of others to be quite basic. Essentially, she saw nothing today that made the school seem like more than a pleasant liberal arts school with a decent music program, nothing more.</p>
<p>She was somewhat disappointed overall, but it clarified her choices for potential schools.</p>
<p>We visited Peabody last fall just as classes were back in session. It was high on our list until I saw it. It's not so much the small size as the location. There is just something very bleak about it. I have heard a rumor that the campus was being relocated? Is there any truth to that?</p>
<p>I live near Baltimore and have not heard anything about Peabody relocating. I happen to really like the location but I can understand that, without knowing what the area offers, others might disagree. My daughter was a member of the Peabody Childrens' Chorus for years and did many concerts in those halls - I think they are lovely. I always loved dropping her off for rehearsals and visiting the shops and galleries nearby while she was there.</p>
<p>Peabody just finished a few years ago a building project at the current Peabody campus. They did some building AND some renovation. I can't imagine they would move the place when they have done so much to improve the facility. To be honest, we thought it was just a great place...very compact and "homey"...everything so accessible for the students. We also liked the location in that nice historic area of Baltimore (ok...so one side wasn't such a nice neighborhood). But the campus of Peabody was very appealing to DS and to us. The facilities there were nice compared to what we saw at many other schools. And we were there during a very bad snowstorm...30 inches.</p>
<p>Why did you find it bleak?</p>
<p>I absolutely loved the Peabody location, and thought the whole area around the area was very charming. We found a great lunch and museum to visit that was walking distance from the school.</p>
<p>It didn't turn out to be a place that interested my son, and he never even applied. But I would have been very comfortable with him there, location-wise.</p>
<p>My son went to Peabody Prep for several years. Since it is over an hour from home, we all ended up spending many hours there. It's a beautiful facility. The old parts have a lot of charm and they've updated the halls, the practise rooms and the main performance spaces. If you're a pianist, they really have good pianos in the practise rooms. I've never seen the dorms, but I thought it seemed like a very nice place to go to school. One downside: terrible food services.</p>
<p>The immediate neighborhood is very charming with a number of good ethnic restaurants, shops, etc. Baltimore, generally, is a wonderfully eclectic city with a great seaport. Unfortunately the city is not that safe and Peabody is not far from some ghetto-like areas so it pays to be careful. Having said that, Eastman is in a worse city and worse neighborhood.</p>
<p>Eastman was definitely bleak, in my opinion. There was nothing to do in the immediate vicinity (and we really searched): no restaurants, except the little coffee joint next door, no bookstores (save the teeny Eastman bookstore), clothing stores, museums, clubs or any evidence of the fun parts of urban life.</p>
<p>I need to speak up in defense of Eastman! DS and I have made two trips there. The first time we stayed at a B&B a bit east (? not far from the Eastman museum) and just loved the area. Good food was very inexpensive, the houses were charming and well kept, people were really nice, etc. The second time we stayed at a hotel near the river. Both times we enjoyed thoroughly our meals at the Dinosaur Bar BQ, which is on the river. In fact, food-wise, I have to say we did extremely well, and that says something as we are both foodies. </p>
<p>Second, Rochester seemed to us to really support music as a community. We had a wonderful afternoon at the museum, and were able to listen to the restored organ (human power pumps the bellows!) and enjoy some fabulous exhibits. We also have watched with interest the progress of the organ at the church near the School.</p>
<p>Now, I admit that much of downtown Rochester near Eastman is a bit of a pit. Business apparently has left for the suburbs and that is unfortunate. However, I walked several times from the hotel to the school, and felt comfortable. (I should admit that I lived for fourteen years in Washington DC on Capitol Hill, so I am somewhat more used to this environment than others might be.) But generally, it seemed fine. One should just take normal precautions of city walking. </p>
<p>Finally, I think that the first year and maybe all undergrad kids just don't leave the universe of the dorm and school all that much. If and when they do live off campus, the advantage of Rochester is that housing is inexpensive and very pleasant.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago we visited Mannes College in New York...and loved it. The people are wonderful and very supportive. My daughter loved the location and the school itself. It is a definate on her list. We loved the area...literally a block away from central park! The down side is also the location. Very expensive to try to rent around there, which will need to be considered since housing is limited. But, the good out weighed the bad and my d has her application in.
We just returned from Cleveland to see Case Western and Cleveland Institute. We all loved these campuses too. Well, it is actually one campus since CIM is a building on Case's campus. They have joint programs that are very appealing to us. The reason for our trip was d had her Case audition. The people were very helpful, friendly and supportive. Case actually offers an early action audition, which is why we were there then. Academics are top, music is top...seemed like the best of both worlds. Downside? The weather! Very gray, which they say is typical for the winter months. But it was unusually warm! Weather really does not play much of a factor for my d even though she does hate the cold. All in all, the campus was nice. Lots of construction going on. The Cleveland Ochestra performs on the campus, which is where Case performances are! Beautiful space. CIM has an incredible building with a new recital hall that my d would love to perform in. Appeared to have PLENTY of practice rooms. Very nice.
Three school, two completely different settings. My d can see herself at both.</p>