<p>Could anyone speak on the subject of studying piano at Columbia? My daughter applied to the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange program. If she gets in (difficult) are piano practice rooms readily available on the Columbia campus? I'm concerned because they don't have an official performing arts building!</p>
<p>As far as I know (and I may very well be wrong), the music department at Columbia is much more geared towards the fields of composition, musicology, theory, and electronic music (Especially since Tristan Murail is probably the single most influential figure in the field of electroacoustic music still alive in America!) than it is towards performance. This is the usual case with music departments at Ivy league level institutions, i.e. very esteemed and well-regarded in the academic fields of music but a small population of instrumental and vocal performance majors. Yale grad school might be an exception.</p>
<p>Therefore, it is my assumption that maintaining plentiful and high quality piano practice rooms may not be of highest priority at Columbia. Your daughter will probably be best suited to try to put in most of her practice at Juilliard, even if rooms are extremely busy at the most popular times of the day and week.</p>
<p>From CC's Columbia subforum:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/324769-music-performance.html?highlight=practice+rooms%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/324769-music-performance.html?highlight=practice+rooms</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/472472-pianos.html?highlight=practice+rooms%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/472472-pianos.html?highlight=practice+rooms</a></p>
<p>and from "the horse's mouth" so to speak:
Practice</a> Room Policies for 2008-9 | The Department of Music at Columbia University</p>
<p>this is an article about a Columbia-Juilliard student and practice rooms; perhaps the situation has improved.
Blue Notes
As I'm walking into the Wallach lounge after class, the euphony of Chopin's 4th Ballade spills through the door. Larry Weng, C'09, is at the piano, where he consistently practices on Mondays and Wednesdays around noon.
Weng, a student in the Columbia-Juilliard exchange program, plays throughout our conversation, pausing for the occasional page turn. The highly selective program allows students to complete a Bachelor of Arts at Columbia and Masters of Music at Juilliard within five years. But it is not without its pitfalls
Administrative communication is muddled, scheduling is difficult, and admissions have historically been a mess. "We can't expect the same level of support from both schools that exclusive students would," says Weng, who has adapted to the frustrations. "But all in all, it's a great option for musicians...who aren't quite ready yet to confine themselves to the practice room."
For others, the exchange is not the only off-campus route. A handful of students participate in lessons and chamber music through agreements with Juilliard; others, such as such as Michael Szeto C'10, opt to study with conservatory faculty through private arrangements.
Szeto is content playing chamber music and serving as concertmaster of the University Orchestra. "If I were in a dual-degree program, I'm positive things would be much harder," he says. "[It] would involve practicing three to seven hours a day. There wouldn't be a lot of time for non-school/violin related activities."
For Weng, practicing a minimum of three hours a day and balancing an Economics major is especially complicated, thanks to his troubled search for a decent piano. "[It's like] a homeless man looking through a dumpster," he says. But the Wallach lounge has been good to him, even if the piano is long overdue for a tune-up.</p>