<p>I am the parent of a high school student who has studied classical piano for many years and is currently preparing audition repertoire for application to music programs next year as a piano performance major. I have looked carefully at this site for posts having to do with piano, and over the past two years at least, the number of prospective/accepted piano performance majors, and even the number of threads about piano study appears small in relation to how many students actually apply for this major in university/college music schools and conservatories. As an example, in this year's list of acceptances on this site, there are close to 30 students listed as accepted into vocal performance, and if I counted correctly, only 2 students listed as accepted in classical piano performance and a couple more students with stated focus on jazz piano. This does not appear to be a fluke, as the results were not much different last year, and even on the list of summer festivals/acceptances, there have been relatively few piano students (or programs) listed compared to the actual number of serious piano students out there. Of course there have been many discussions here that have been useful to all or many prospective music majors, and I appreciate the information provided here. But still I am curious why there is such an underrepresentation of piano students in the CC Music Major discussion. If there is some other web site elsewhere that has more discussion of topics relevant to prospective piano performance majors, I would appreciate hearing about it.</p>
<p>Rigaudon, I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>Piano parents are sensitive souls, and when the viola versus violin wars break out it is just too much for them:).</p>
<p>Seriously, I don’t know why. Perhaps piano students have a different track, where they are more guided by teachers and such on how/where to apply to music school. There are certainly enough students studying the piano to make up more then a few threads on here.</p>
<p>I have to agree with musicprnt about the guidance from teachers. Also, there are many competitions for piano students and they are able to gauge their proficiency against others of their age/grade more often.The playing field for keyboard is more level than those for VP majors- not as much gender bias, because both sexes play the same rep and it doesn’t matter if a program has more females than males, because they don’t have to worry if roles in a production can be filled. I’m not saying that pianists have it easier, just that their path may be better defined for them. As to the seemingly disproportionate number of Vocal Performance majors…well, you see, VP parents are hyper-sensitive. When someone criticizes our kids in any way, we take it even more personally because there is nothing “in between” to cushion the blow! We can’t say that “The instrument needed tuning”, " The new bow didn’t arrive on time" or " We’re going to move her/him up to a better instrument"- it’s a voice and it comes from our child. It’s personal because there is no degree of separation and there is still that invisible cord that connects us. I was the daughter of a singer, was an instrumental major myself and my daughter is a VP major- this isn’t easy for any of us, and we’ve just come off of a “Hell Week” which has lasted since last fall! I’ve noticed that piano majors post when applications begin and before auditions start, but seem to vanish thereafter. I’d really like to know what goes on in their quest for admissions too. Hopefully, your post will encourage others to stick around and fill in the blanks. I noticed that it was your first post, rigaudon, Welcome aboard!</p>
<p>I’ve got a piano playing daughter, and will be around exploring this list for quite a few years! Please post about your search this next year! It will help all of us with future piano performance majors in the future!</p>
<p>I’m sure that if you posted a specific question regarding a school or teacher, etc., a number of people here on CC would have some input. Even though there may not be alot of piano performance majors here, many of us probably know some current or past students and might be able to help.</p>
<p>If you aren’t already familiar with the Piano Forums at pianoworld.com, I suggest you check that out – the pianist corner is specifically for classical pianists and there have been numerous threads re: universities and conservatories.</p>
<p>There are also many fewer string players represented than vocalists on this forum. I have sometimes wondered why since there are so many string players also applying. Perhaps it’s just a word-of-mouth thing. This forum is growing by leaps and bounds and I expect that many new souls will hop on board as this continues to be such a wealthy source of information for all prospective musicians. It would be useful “lurkers” on underrepresented instruments to post at least their final destinations so that future applicants might PM them about their experiences.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments here and messages I received. I appreciate the welcomes and remarks and I am sure I will post again about the process of preparing, applying and auditioning to piano performance programs or anything else for which I have something useful to say. I think the CC Music Major site is a great source of information and it is clear that posts concerning all types of instruments and areas of musical study are welcome and responded to in thoughtful/helpful ways. And I hope others reading the posts here who are involved with a musical area that appears “underrepresented” will feel free to ask a question also.</p>
<p>One reason why there are so many voice majors (and parents) on here is that the CC site is always current and updates occur almost in real time ( special “thanks” go out to violadad and BassDad!). I was nosing around on ClassicalSinger and many of their threads haven’t been updated since 2003!</p>
<p>You know, I should mention that over the years we have hosted piano majors from Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne University at our home, twice having piano majors living in our basement. So I do have insight into both schools for piano if that is helpful. We also hang out frequently at both schools, where dd is in competitions and recitals, etc… so if CMU or Duquesne are of interest, let me know!</p>
<p>I think piano is as represented as any instrument besides voice. And with voice, it seems that a few souls spoke up, and attracted more. It helps that we have some voice major parents on the board, who can give excellent advice.</p>
<p>I am a piano teacher without a music degree - one of those little old ladies who teach in the neighborhood (and despised by many “real” teachers, but I can live with that.) I find pianoworld.com to be an excellent resource, although I don’t know how much college help they have; I haven’t explored that part of the site. But I also think that if you start posting specific questions here, you’ll find more help than you expected. If you build it, they will come.</p>