<p>As I watch all of this year's students making their final selections, I was wondering how last year's graduates were faring. </p>
<p>DD has been thrilled. Great combination of university with residential college system and conservatory. Just suited her perfectly. She has been learning a lot, growing, developing, connects well with her voice professor. Studio has been good for her. Having a mezzo met winner in studio has been inspiring and shows her where she can go. Not bumping up too much against grad students yet. Has had a number of recitals and performances in classes. Downside - a little unhappy with the Chorale. It takes anyone who registers and community members which makes for a little unevenness she is not accustomed to dealing with. She would like to do some of the things that are in the opera workshop before junior year, impatient. She is moving off campus next year to get a little more quiet and cleanliness. But on the whole it has been great. </p>
<p>Any other reports? Are yours staying in music? Are they getting what they hoped for out of the school they chose?</p>
<p>Singersmom07, I too have wondered the same. Excluding binx, shennie and thumper, a few from the list below have popped in from time to time to offer advice or pose a query. </p>
<p>From last year's Master Acceptance thread:
[quote]
Quite a list. Congratulations to all.</p>
<p><em>simplywicked - Berklee College of Music (vocal performance)
bassmom2's D - Oberlin Conservatory (double bass performance/psychology-neuroscience)
binx's D - Miami University of Ohio (violin performance)
coloratura</em>as - Oberlin Conservatory of Music (vocal performance)
daveydee - Carnegie Mellon University (piano and possibly composition in the future)
euphgal - State University of New York at Potsdam (performace/music ed)
FiddleMom's D - Bowling Green State University (violin/pre-World Music)
foglikely's D - Illinois Wesleyan University (vocal performance)
Gagliano - Yale University (Viola Performance)
gchornet's S - Ohio University (Trombone Performance) 110 Marching Band !!
hkstrpd's D - New York University Steinhardt School (violin performance)
juniorbill's D - University of Minnesota (clarinet performance)
lgreen's D - Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music (harp)
maxtexada - New York University, Steinhardt (grad piano performance)
mom55's S - University of Michigan (sax, jazz)
musikchik - Carnegie Mellon University (vocal performance)
NewToMusic's S - The Colburn School Conservatory of Music (tuba)
Piano/MT Mom's S - Ithaca College School of Music (piano/theatre)
Pianoman1189 - Oberlin Conservatory (piano performance)
pianomanmom's S - Manhattan School of Music (jazz piano)
RedHerring's D - Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music Viola performance)
seahills' D - The Peabody Institute (cello performance)
Shennie's S - Mannes College (MM cello performance)
Singersmom07's D - Rice University (vocal performance)
StringMom's D - Hartt School (violin performance)
Thumper's S - North Carolina School of the Arts (MM-performance)
tomdug's D - Oberlin Conservatory (viola performance)
TrumpetGuy - Yale University (MM Trumpet Performance)
violamandad's S - Manhattan School of Music (viola performance)
voicestudent - University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (vocal performance)
wharfrat2's D - University of Tennessee (Knoxville)-music education (flute)
<p>Oberlin double degree program has been great -- good lessons, lots of chamber music, with terrific coaches (this is something Juilliard does not offer in the first year, and was one of Oberlin's big appeals), master classes, top performers coming through; less enthusiasm for the theory courses. The college courses have been terrific; the most memorable comments so far were "I can't imagine anyone not loving Oberlin; the quality of life here is great"; "students here are so creative and smart"; "the college courses make me feel like a kid in a candy store." But also, "I didn't know that winter lasts more than 3 months."</p>
<p>I'll second mamenyu's sentiments about Oberlin. While it is more like three years later for my daughter, she is no longer in the double degree program having decided to go with the four year BM in performance. She has had the opportunity to record on a major classical music label backing up members of the Cleveland Orchestra, to sit principal chair in one of the school orchestras for three semesters running, to play for an off-off-Broadway musical that had a run of one whole week, to spend most of a summer in Italy playing for a couple of operas and taking language classes, to be part of an award-winning jam band that played at several colleges and at venues like The Knitting Factory in NYC, to supervise the preparation of vegan meals for 80-100 fellow students on a weekly basis, to play in all sorts of world music ensembles including African Mandinka, Balinese Gamelan and Klezmer, to learn to play viola da gamba and to continue her interests in folk and jazz styles in addition to classical. She still has no idea of what she wants to do after graduation in about another year, but she will be well prepared to go in any of a number of directions.</p>
<p>Just as my son is thinking seriously about turning Oberlin down, I am happy to send him your descriptions. I don't know that he will be influenced, but this is the kind of unfiltered information that makes CC such a great resource. Thank you!</p>
<p>PS: Mamenyu, we learned about the beastly winter there first hand as we wrecklessly drove to auditions in their record March blizzard!</p>
<p>I'm sure you've considered, but can your son get back to Oberlin for a trial lesson or two if he hasn't met with faculty already? Can he attend the accepted students week?</p>
<p>I wanted to let you know that you are a true hero in my book for the support you've given him - especially that drive in Ohio's March snowstorm! Congrats to you both!!!!</p>
<p>You are so nice! I am not a hero. I just love my son and strongly believe in his musical gift - and I do think parents can tell about gift - who hears them all the time even when they're not under pressure? In fact, I am skeptical of the notion that you can gauge potential from competitions, admission to allstate, etc since he has done little of this and has not been particularly successful when he has. Each child has their own developmental rhythm and it is the job of the parent to understand this. He wants to be a musician and he has the talent. It has taken him a little longer to develop, but it was always there. He has his own learning style in everything he does - it's a good one, but different. He's slow to move forward, absorbing and thinking about things. Then suddenly he progresses at rapid fire because it all comes together for him. I've seen this in his academic development as well. I knew this even when others were doubting him. It is very satisfying now to see him recognized, but I must say it does give me some doubt about the clairvoyancy that is implied by schools like Peabody (re: their famous rejection letter) to know which students will "make it" in their program. They should be a little more humble in my opinion. I think the music teaching world is overprogrammed. It never hurts to step back and look beyond the common wisdom (e.g., musicians don't take "gap years") to find the best answer to a particular problem. Even with all his success, we are still thinking about that gap year! I peronally think that conservatory education is overrated, but it seems to be a necessary credential to obtain. So the better the school, the better the credential.</p>
<p>And yes, we are hoping to go to Oberlin for him to take a lesson with one of the teachers there that interests him. They met last spring, but he has come such a long, long way since then.....</p>
<p>Son is finishing up his freshman year at U Michigan, Jazz Studies, sax. He chose UM because he wanted the whole university experience. He also wanted a place that allowed him to explore music beyond jazz. He is very happy with the program. He likes his private instructor, and feels he has grown as a musician this year. The top jazz ensemble, of which he is a member, just returned from the Next Generation Jazz Festival in Monterey. He loved playing on Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf and doing jazz clinics at 4 high schools between SF and Monterey. (It was his first time in CA!) Michigan won second place in the competition and he was proud to be part of it. He is also in a popular UM rock/blues band, Great Divide, and has played in many Michigan venues, as well as in Chicago. There is beauty in a small program (45 in jazz studies) in a relatively small School of Music, Theatre and Dance (1,000 total) in a large university with a great college town. The weather was pretty tough but he bought a down jacket and good boots and seemed fine. Next year he is living off campus with two non-musician friends he met in his dorm.</p>
<p>You hear about DS, but let me talk a little about DD. She is in the third quarter of her sophomore year and while she is an engineering major, she does continue to play the oboe and English Horn, and is in the orchestra. She is very happy with her music studies there. The private teacher (who actually used to post on CC...Hautbois...anyone remember her?) is absolutely fabulous and DD's playing has grown and changed. Plus this teacher accepts that music is not DD's whole life, but something that she does enjoy. The plus is that she has received a small music scholarship each quarter for her participation on the orchestra. This year, she also played in the small orchestra for the school opera. She is still trying to work out the logisitics of a music minor, but with an engineering major, that may not be possible...but she's still trying.</p>
<p>DD is finishing her freshman year at Illinois Wesleyan in vocal performance. She loves her voice teacher, loves her choirs, loves the campus, and is happy as a clam. She did switch from a double major to a BM in performance with a minor in Spanish, and is excited about the upcoming tour in Spain. I'm glad she was able to find a program and teacher that are a good combination of nurture and challenge.</p>
<p>Mamenyu, What was the problem with the theory courses? Is it just that your student does not really want to do a lot of theory, or was the quality of the courses themselves poor? </p>
<p>We are trying to decide whether to drive out again to Oberlin, from Massachusetts. We went for the audition weekend. Our daughter has good options close to home but is still inclined to go out again. She is a composer, so theory classes are very central to her education.</p>
<p>No, not the quality; just that he wanted to take more courses in the college and the 2 years of theory take up a lot of space in his courseload -- he also thought the first course could have gone faster. He concedes that the courses are useful. There is a large theory department at Oberlin and it takes the theory curriculum seriously -- perhaps moreso that at some other strict conservatories, probably because of the size of the tenured faculty and the fact that some students major in theory (or composition). If she's still interested in Oberlin and has the time, she should visit and attend some classes.</p>
<p>DD is having a great time at Hartt. Loves her teacher, has made alot of friends and has really settled in. Interestingly, she spends most of her time with non-music students. One of her hesitations last year about continuing to pursue music was that everything she's ever done has been somehow tied to playing violin (including all of her friends) and she really wanted to see what else was out there. Hartt seems to have provided a good mix of both worlds.</p>
<p>My D is wrapping up her first year at Oberlin and is very happy with her decision. She was considering the double degree program, but at this point is thinking that she will do music only. She loves her teacher and is surrounded by some great players. She loves the school, the town and the culture of Oberlin. The weather was not even that big of a deal for our Arizona girl. She's had great playing opportunities. Her sextet was supposed to perform in DC at some festival but both cellists got hurt. She was bummed. I'm not an authority, but I'd be happy to field questions about our experience. She will be participating in Oberlin in Italy this summer.</p>
<p>We have a dear friend who graduated from Oberlin in 02, went from there to Curtis and is now singing with the Chicago Lyric Opera. How's that for a successful path?</p>
<p>lorelei- one was clearly a playing injury, a young man who thought it would be a good idea to triple his practice time or some such thing, and one was an old snowboarding injury that was aggravated by playing. </p>
<p>nycm-our D is really excited about Italy as well. What's your D's instrument? Clarinet? Which housing option she pick for Italy? Our D requested the apartment option, thinking (hoping) the extra cost to get a kitchen will be offset by not eating out every meal. We'll see.</p>
<p>jazzmomm-keep those good Oberlin stories coming!</p>