<p>Just curious as to everyone's experience/opinions about the place of performing high schools like Walnut Hill/Interlochen and the acceptance to top tier vocal performance programs for college.</p>
<p>My D is a junior and after a summer program at BoCo is wanting to attend Walnut Hill. Is this worth it? Its really expensive and I just don't know.</p>
<p>Any information at all would be so appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Whether or not it is worth it depends on the alternatives: is there a good youth orchestra program in your area? Does she already have a good private teacher? If you live in a remote location without access to these, then a performing arts school may very well be worth it. If you already have these, then the value is not as great.</p>
<p>Sorry, missed the fact that your daughter was vocal performance (so ignore the youth orchestra comments). The value of the performing arts high school will depend somewhat more heavily on your daughter’s private teacher in the case of a vocalist. </p>
<p>Does the teacher have other advanced students that you daughter gets to hear regularly? Or, at least, does your daughter have many performing opportunities now? Does the present teacher conduct any studio classes/master classes? Does your daughter have access to high quality instruction in music theory, keyboard/piano, and aural musicianship? Does the present teacher regularly have students that get accepted to top programs? Does the current teacher conduct mock auditions for seniors prior to their auditions? Does your daughter have access to an excellent accompanist? As well, does your daughter have the opportunity to participate in an excellent choral program (I don’t think this is as important for a singer as a top youth orchestra program is for an instrumentalist–in fact, an intense choral program with too much rehearsal per week can be detrimental to a young voice).</p>
<p>While I can’t speak specifically about vocalists’ probabilities of admission following a performaning arts school, I know that the vast majority of instrumentalists that are admitted to the very best programs (Curtis, Colburn, Juilliard, CIM) did not attend a performing arts high school. Of course, that does not mean that there is no advantage to attending a PA high school; rather, it is clearly not necessary to attend one in the instrumental world. Vocal experts, is it any different for singers?</p>
<p>Another thing to consider if admission to a top tier program is the motivation for dropping the big bucks: I assume that you are considering the PA high school for senior year which means that your D will have just a few weeks there before she records her prescreen (which I believe almost all the top schools require for female vocalists). </p>
<p>The prescreen for female vocalists is a large hurdle–there are just tons of girls that apply for vocal performance, so an excellent prescreen is necessary. A few weeks of PA high school is not going to make a huge difference in vocal technique (it could make a big difference in language accuracy and stylistic issues, but so could a few intense weeks with a good private teacher for a fraction of the cost!). </p>
<p>Your D will have finished her auditions by about the first week of March (so about 6 months into the school year meaning that only 6/10 of the expenses for the year have an impact on the audition). </p>
<p>A big value of a year at a PA high school is that the student gets a fairly good feel of what a music-intense education is like (and therefore has a better idea as to whether they want to attend a conservatory and will also probably make an easier transition into their conservatory/music school).</p>
<p>I think going to Interlochen made a big difference for my D, now at Eastman. I sent you a PM with details.</p>
<p>Worth it? No guarantees, but D’s Eastman scholarship “paid” for Interlochen several times over. And this quote is absolutely right on:</p>
<p>A big value of a year at a PA high school is that the student gets a fairly good feel of what a music-intense education is like (and therefore has a better idea as to whether they want to attend a conservatory and will also probably make an easier transition into their conservatory/music school).</p>
<p>My S attends a conservatory-based high school for the arts, and has since freshman year. His school does not accept students past the beginning of their junior year, partly because they feel they can best help a student to hone their talents with more than one year to work with, and partly, I think, because they don’t want to be used as “resume padding” for arts students looking for an edge with conservatory college programs. </p>
<p>Since it’s a very small school I don’t know how representative their “pool” is, but I do know that one of their VP majors got into several voice programs and ultimately decided on NEC, and another was accepted several places but (I think) went to Luther in MN (the classical voice teacher’s alma mater). </p>
<p>From our perspective the PA high school decision was the right one, whether DS gets into a top conservatory program or not (the jury is still out on whether or not this is what he wants to do). There have been some trade-offs, but overall the opportunity to learn music in a focused way has been very good for him.</p>
<p>I think for voice, it really comes down to the teacher. If you already have an excellent teacher at home, I wouldn’t look any further. For instrumentalists, the case is a little different for two reasons: One, a PA high school provides a high level of ensemble experience, and two, a PA high school lets students to create schedules that allow for sufficient practice time, perhaps more than they would get at home in a regular high school. I don’t see either of these as pertaining to vocalists, as ensemble experience isn’t of utmost importance for singers, and vocalists usually don’t practice for more than a couple hours a day, due to the physical limitations of their instrument. Granted, a PA high school offer could offer language and diction courses, but hopefully your D has already acquired much of this knowledge from her teacher.</p>
<p>To me it comes down to a cost/benefit basis. The question here is does the PA school offer something the student doesn’t have where they live? If a student is involved in high level programs, has a high level teacher, is already pretty well immersed in music, then attending a PA school might not bring much benefit, especially given the cost of many of those programs.A program like that also might bring exposure to high level teachers at music programs they might wish to apply to, if they do master classes and the like, which can be a help in the search and admittance. The other thing to keep in mind is that like college programs, PA schools are not all at the same level, and within them, the level on each instrument or area can vary. A PA school might have great strings department, but not be as strong on Brass, and so forth, so that would need to be factored in.</p>
<p>I think it often happens that the magic of being with other young musicians “full time” in the summer makes attending a PA high school seem especially appealing, but if a student is already in her junior year, it seems like a stretch to transfer for senior year (or was she planning to go to Walnut Hill immediately?) UNLESS there really are no other good options for teachers and training. Not knowing where Ivautour lives, it’s hard to make suggestions, but I know that there are many excellent pre-college programs that could help prepare a young singer without necessarily switching schools. The precollege programs at Mannes, Manhattan School and of course Juilliard here in NYC draw from a very wide geographic area.</p>
<p>Quote: “seems like a stretch to transfer for senior year”
On the surface that seems true, but keep in mind that fully half of the students at Interlochen are one-year seniors. For singers, the opera workshop program there is really superb. D also enjoyed being around student musicians from all over the world. Certainly there is excellent training available in many locations, particularly in big cities like NY, Boston, etc., yet there is truly something special about Interlochen–and perhaps the others boarding PA schools as well. Had we had the option of a fine pre-college program we might have gone that route. Our experience has been that the kids we know from Interlochen ended up at top conservatories and music programs with substantial merit.</p>
<p>I actually completely agree with sopranomom about Interlochen; and I think Idyllwild is quite similar, and both are quite international; I’m not sure whether Walnut Hill also includes many one-year seniors. Maybe some other poster will chime in?</p>
<p>I can vouch for Walnut Hill…My DD attended there her senior year. She was in a class of about 8 I believe. Of the 8, 3 (including DD) were granted auditions at Juilliard and 1 was accepted. DD had run out of options vocally from where we are from and learned about the performing high schools…She auditioned at Interlochen and Walnut Hill and was accepted at both. She chose Walnut Hill because she fell in love with Boston as soon as she stepped off of the plane. She was super impressed with both schools so it depends on if you want the beauty of the woods or access to Boston.</p>
<p>While at Walnut Hill DD sang in the select NEC youth choir and had a solo at about every concert…At the end of the year she was required to give a senior recital (45 minutes) which was an invaluable learning tool as most vocalist don’t have that opportunity to give a concert like that until their Junior or Senior year of college…There was an opera scenes performance toward the end of the year…she was in two scenes…every year it alternates between opera scenes or a fully staged opera…this year should be opera scenes again…so next year will be a staged opera. They had weekly master classes with Benjamin Zanders (interesting fellow…famous conductor)…DD I think got so much from that class by listening to the other vocalist and instrumentalist. </p>
<p>She spent her first year away from home under watchful eyes and she learned some very good time management skills…Therefore, when she went on to the Conservatory she was well prepared. </p>
<p>It was like attending a conservatory. She had music theory, music history, stage movement, piano (well maybe that part wasn’t so good…the Russian teacher had her in tears most days)…a private coaching and vocal lesson weekly (the coach was tremendous!) </p>
<p>For us the prescreening was a breeze…Some of the songs my DD already knew were perfected and then a few new ones were thrown in…the school brought in someone to record the prescreens and they were given to the student who then burned them onto cd’s (we did this over Thanksgiving break)…(there was a fee for having it recorded…but what a relief…the quality was good enough to get her through prescreenings)</p>
<p>You’re right about it being expensive…we could have paid our house down…or we could send her…we have never regretted the decision we made…However, what was right for us may not be right for you.</p>
<p>If your daughter is a soprano then scholarships can be hard to come by…Our daughter ultimately accepted SanFrancisco Conservatory of Music…and with a scholarship that paid for her year at Walnut Hill…(some of the other schools weren’t so generous so it is no guarantee)</p>
<p>So back to the question…is it worth it…will it help her get in to the top schools…I can’t answer that for you…for us, yes I believe on both counts…she wasn’t getting what she needed at home. I don’t know what you have access to…</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have any questions</p>
<p>Yes, for Voice the teacher is crucial. Check carefully. We highly recommend Interlochen for Voice. Good luck.</p>