I want to amplify MezzoMama’s point that it’t not always advisable to mention teachers, or even institutions by name. The music world is very small.
But I also want to make the point that what seem like important amenities right now may not turn out to be critically important to a student’s future as a professional. For example, my daughter went to Conservatory X (if you want to know the name of the school, PM me.) Going down the list:
–Environment was competitive, cliquish, even cold, if you want to be honest. Even her beloved teacher confessed to having struggled socially during her own undergrad years there.
–Performance opportunities as part of the program were scarce. Yes, there were orchestra cycles with required performances, and performance classes (generally not open to the public), and a senior recital, but recitals for the other three years were by lottery due to lack of space and my daughter never got to give a recital during those years. At the time, this seemed like problem. To be honest, I was pretty upset. But now I understand otherwise. There were (for her instrument at least) many gigging opportunities, and some performance fellowships that could be earned by a competitive audition.
–Practice rooms were super-competitive, just like everything else. Most students moved off-campus early and could practice in their apartments, if they were lucky. My daughter lived with friends on the top floor of a walk-up building filled with elderly, hard-of-hearing neighbors, so they lucked out.
–Faculty is world-class, but as for style and accessibility, that depends completely on the teacher.
–Academics were light; there was a potential to take academics outside at a nearby university, but scheduling was extremely difficult.
–The food is awful. I have four kids, all of whom attended their first choice institution (college/university/art school/conservatory) and the food is always awful.
–What is this thing, “social life”? Oh yes, it’s what brings dread and anxiety when we look at other people’s Instagrams. But seriously, there was a time when she’d visit high school friends who were at regular universities and she thought that maybe she’d made a mistake–she could have gone to a place where people had fun, where they partied on weekends and had time to just hang out. It was a valid feeling, and important to question the decision she’d made almost without any thought, pursuing a career she picked when she was ten. As a kid (and now) she’s fun-loving, so being in a place like that was hard.
–COA. The pleasant surprise was that fellowships and other institutional and extracurricular work opportunities were well-funded, making it much easier than one would imagine to meet living expenses. Of course, “work” is the key word here; the parents of students who didn’t or couldn’t take on extra work would shoulder more debt.
–Happiness. My kid was unhappy during much of her BA, and for many reasons, but mostly frustration with her progress (which led to her working hard and progressing a lot) and frustration with a competitive and often cruel (from her perspective) social world. And yet, there was no other place she wanted to be. She stayed there for MM where the social issues seemed less problematic, likely since she and her peers were older. She grew a lot as a musician and took on even more outside work and responsibility. Despite what sometimes seemed like daily misery, this was the place where she grew phenomenally as a musician, thinker, and human being. She made indelible, deep connections that have absolutely informed and progressed her career.
Am I saying your student should pick the school where they think they will mostly likely progress technically and musically without regard for their other needs? Of course not–each student is different, and when making educational decisions it’s important to address the whole person, not just one aspect of that person. But I wanted to point out that what can feel like suffering and discomfort can lead to personal development. Dealing with crazy, often frenetic schedules; dealing with less-than-ideal environments for practice and study; dealing gracefully with people who are not easy to get along with or to please–these are great skills for a professional musician. The lack of performance opportunities that concerned me so much as a parent-- that turned out to be of no consequence, as now my daughter is performing almost constantly. I now realize that the student recitals are often more of a vanity project to please parents. The senior recital represents a milestone and is in a way a kind of exam; more important were the extracurricular performances (both school-related and outside) and the summer festival performances; these are the career-builders.
My other point is, we want our kids to be happy and to flourish. And it’s painful when they’re unhappy, but sometimes we (and they) can’t know when unhappiness is transient, and when conditions that may seem even insupportable are actually transient, or even a pathway to progress.