Please suggest schools worth looking at for strings (likes classical, viola)

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>My daughter is already in love with Rice, so that one is on the list for sure. If she were guaranteed admission there, (I know they don't do that, but in the case of a fantasy world) she would not apply anywhere else.</p>

<p>She has a teacher who went to Oberlin and keeps telling her to go there. She is not thrilled about Oberlin because she is quite conservative herself. She used to like Eastman, but her viola teacher (who is very very good) does not like the current viola teacher at Eastman. We live near UNT, but everyone we know who goes there, does it for teaching. Oh, and we don't like Denton, at all. (please don't explain to us how wrong we are, we used to live there, now we live near there, we are jaded, sorry). But, I am a little open to UNT if my daughter is that serious about music. It seems to be that UT Austin only accepts a small margin of students, all top 8%, etc, and she would probably do better at a smaller school anyway. </p>

<p>She was considering St. Olaf, but in the faculty list, it listed no dedicated viola instructors. The only viola instructors were also violin teachers. We were already told that was not a good thing. She maybe could be interested in Carnegie Mellon, but again, smaller schools would be better. And I am not even sure if Carnegie Mellon is good for classical strings performance.</p>

<p>She needs some safeties too. Her music teacher now taught at Baylor University for a year and highly recommends it. Her music teacher went to Cleveland and then Juilliard for grad. She went to Interlochen for high school.</p>

2

<p>What about New England Conservatory? It is very small and the string department is excellent. </p>

<p>Also Manhattan School of Music.</p>

3

<p>My son had a friend in high school who as a violist ended up at UT Arlington with Catherine Forbes. His friend was accepted at Baylor, but they did not provide enough money. At the high end, NEC has an outstanding viola faculty.</p>

4

<p>My daughter auditioned for viola at Carnegie Mellon last week. The day before she had a lesson with the new viola professor, David Harding. She thought he was great. High energy and very excited about teaching. We also got to speak with a viola student who spoke so highly of him. He’s only been there a year but the students seem to love him.</p>

5

<p>Southern Methodist University is a university with a very strong music program. The school seems to be often overlooked in the discussion of music schools. Many of the instrument teachers are members of the Dallas Symphony. The orchestra director is also highly regarded. To top it off for you, the school is listed as one of the 10 most conservative schools in the country.</p>

6

<p>Rita Porfiris at Hartt is a fantastic violist and teacher.</p>

7

<p>NEC is great for strings. Lawrence has both college and conservatory and is small.</p>

8

<p>I can vouch for what compdad said about UT Arlington- I currently study with Cathy Forbes and she is a fantastic teacher. I don’t like Denton that much either, but Susan Dubois is a great teacher, so it might be worth at least taking a lesson from her. There is also another viola professor at UNT who was just recently hired, Daphne Gerling, who also has a great reputation. She and Dubois combine their studio class, so there is truly a feeling of community among all of the violists. Also, some students study with both of them, and the ones who do seem to really like the “team teaching” approach.</p>

9

<p>I would reconsider a rejection of Oberlin because your D is conservative. </p>

<p>My D studied with Peter Slowik at Oberlin and it was a great experience. Oberlin has a reputation of being a pretty liberal place, but in all of our visits there it never really seemed much different from most other campuses. My daughter had liberal friends and conservative friends at Oberlin. In general, I think most people would would say the conservatory, which is like a school within a school at Oberlin, is less liberal than the place as a whole. Students in the Con, in general, are a really hard-working lot. I do not recall my D ever saying anyone’s political orientation was an issue. </p>

<p>Oberlin is a lovely town. Cleveland – and the Cleveland Orchestra – is close. The Cleveland Orchestra plays frequently in Oberlin. The Oberlin orchestra travels: our daughter played Walt Disney Concert Hall and they toured China during her senior year.</p>

<p>Mr. Slowik was a great teacher for my D. He was demanding when he needed to be. He was nurturing when he needed to be. Our D grew as a player and a person while at Oberlin. (D is finishing her MM at Juilliard this semester.)</p>

<p>I can’t say enough good things about the place.</p>

10

<p>I agree with everything Tomdug has said about Oberlin. That being said, a campus visit during school is the best way to get a feel for the place and its culture. Conservatory students tend to hang with other Conservatory students but they are intermingled within the residence hall and dining life of the college. Some students will love this, others not so much. It’s should be experienced. Oberlin Conservatory offers its students so much including a great record with grad programs. The Cleveland Symphony is playing at Oberlin on 2/8.</p>

11

<p>I would agree about Oberlin, I would be very careful about limiting school choices that easily. I realize people have different comfort levels and I can respect that, there are people who won’t go to X school because it is located in Y place and they feel it wouldn’t be a fit, and I can understand that.</p>

<p>However, with music, there also is the factor that the quality of teaching is critical, and you might find that a school that is more politically or socially or location wise is a better fit, might not be as good a fit musically and could hurt her chances of making it in music as a result. A school might be a better fit socially, politically, whatever, have a decent school of music, but not have a good faculty on her instrument, it is why people are careful when talking about schools to talk about a lot of factors. Oberlin is generally considered a pretty good music school, and their string department from what I know is well respected. </p>

<p>If fitting in is a concern, if your family is conservative, keep in mind that images of colleges often don’t meet reality. Put it this way, Juilliard is in NYC, probably would be considered a ‘liberal’ school, but they have students there whom your D would probably find a lot in common with I am pretty certain, music schools IME tend to have ‘clusters’ of kids who find each other sympatico. One friend of the family had several kids go to different music schools, and they said it was interesting, their kid went there, afraid they would be alone, whether feeling like the ugly duckling among stellar swans in terms of capability, or socially or whatever, and our friend laughed, and said that within a short period their kids found their ‘pod’. </p>

<p>The other thing to consider is that if your D wants to go into music, she is going to meet people from all over the place, the world literally, all with very different backgrounds and outlooks and such, it is the way music works (especially, but not limited to, classical music), so the experience in college can be really helpful.</p>

<p>Obviously comfort level is important and it is a factor, but I also would hesitate ruling out schools that potentially might be better choices musically. Not talking the specific colleges mentioned, just in general.</p>

12

<p>Since you are from Texas, I would second SMU and maybe look into Baylor. I really don’t know your daughter’s playing, so it’s hard to make a recommendation beyond geography. As for liberal/conservative-- there are lot of ultra conservative kids in music conservatories (maybe that’s why they call it “conservatory”-- haha, pun.) I’ve always thought of the arts as a liberal stronghold, but my daughter and I have been surprised (we are liberals) at the number of extremely politically conservative students she’s met along the way, at all of the conservatories. One of the most conservative persons I know is a grad of Oberlin. I really would not worry too much about her finding a political/social comfort spot.</p>

13

<p>You also might want to check out Cleveland Institute of Music and Peabody. Both have strong string programs although I don’t know specifically about viola.</p>

14

<p>Do look at CIM. Robert Vernon is the head of the Viola Dept and is first chair with the Cleveland Orchestra. His stand-mate is Lynne Ramsay and her students adore her. Also on faculty are Mark Jacobs, Stanley Konopka and Jeffrey Irvine (all CO members) and Kirsten Doctor ( terrific with chamber music). You couldn’t go wrong with any of them and exceptional viola students have been known to fill in with the Cleveland Orchestra when a chair is empty due to maternity leave, etc. The contacts can be very valuable.</p>

15

<p>add University of Michigan to your list. GREAT school, very good strings and lots of options (but the weather is not as nice as in Texas!)</p>

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<p>It’s all in how you look at things nycm! Extreme heat vs cold and snow… Thankfully, there are proponents of both so things don’t get overcrowded!</p>

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<p>There are two viola teachers at Oberlin and both are excellent. My D is auditioning at several of the places you listed and the one thing we have learned for sure during this stage is to take a practice lesson at every single place you are planning to apply to. You only have ten minutes at an audition but an hour with a teacher lets both the student and the teacher begin to get a handle on the strengths and weaknesses of the other. </p>

<p>To add to your list: U of C at Boulder - Erika Eckhart and U of WI Madison -Sally Chisholm.</p>

18

<p>My daughter goes to Blair (brass) at Vanderbilt, and they have a very strong string program there. It’s a smaller school, but only undergraduates so there are many more rotations into the Symphony. Nashville is a good music town with its own symphony and students also have opportunity to play outside of school. Although the music school is small, they are very supportive and thorough about strong musical training. Also, Vanderbilt meets 100% of financial need with no loans. I was extremely impressed by the quality of a student string ensemble when we visited.</p>

<p>Nashville is a little too conservative for my very liberal daughter, so I don’t think that will be an issue for yours. Students live on campus all four years. The Blair students tend to socialize within their own group to a large degree. There are quite a few students from Texas at Blair and Vanderbilt. It’s worth considering!</p>