Salzburg Mozarteum Sommerakademie

College Majors Music Major
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<p>It's my turn to try to supply some information in return for all the incredible helpful and generous members of this forum.</p>

<p>My D attended the third session of the Masterclasses last month. She is a singer, aged 17. We live in Europe and she has studied music (violin) since she was 4, singing since she was 11.</p>

<p>I was interested in a highly-regarded summer program here in Europe, in order for her to be able to truly evaluate her talent and drive, in comparison with other young singers, presumably from around the world.</p>

<p>I contacted the Sommerakademie staff prior to her enrollment, to confirm that participation of a 17-year old singer was appropriate. They always replied promptly and were quite clear that musicians of all ages come to Salzburg for the Sommerakademie, but that the final say as to whether a student partcipates or sits and listens (active vs. passive participant) is made by the Masterclass instructor.</p>

<p>Naive as we were, we signed her up and off she went, accompanied by her teacher, a young professional herself.</p>

<p>The reality was a bit different that she expected, though I must say they never misrepresented (most of) the truth. Welcome to the world of music, as described by many posters elsewhere in this forum.</p>

<p>Upon arrival, D was informed that the audition would be in 2 hours, not the first day of class as had been communicated previously. The instructor, a world-famous soprano--all the instructors are (or were) world famous, though many no longer perform--chose only 8 among the 40+ students as active students. This provoked a free-for-all among the remaining students to nab a free place in one of the other masterclasses.</p>

<p>The other teachers were astounded to find 30+ students begging to be considered when they had not chosen those professors at the outset. My daughter was one of the lucky ones. She was later selected to sing at the public concert at the end of the class.</p>

<p>She thinks she was chosen over the others because of her age. She was one of 2 students under 20. The great majority were over 25 and many were over 30. They came from around the world to study in Salzburg. The residences were clean and comfortable, though basic.</p>

<p>I have since learned that many of these instructors, at least in voice, while famous for their stage roles while performing and recording, are not considered in pedagological circles to be "good teachers" today.</p>

<p>Which prompts me to ask the question, why is this program considered to be so prestigious? Is this program any different from the other program mentioned in this forum?</p>

<p>Thanks again to all the other posters for their invaluable assistance through this forum.</p>

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<p>Interesting. Thanks for posting. I’ve been thinking about sending my daughter (10th grader) to Europe for a music institute, but I’ve no way to judge how good they are or not. I think that often, just because one program has been around for many years and people talk about it, it becomes “prestigious”. We made that mistake with one U.S. summer institute last summer and were very disappointed with it. it’s good to share experiences.</p>

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<p>Many programs list past attendants. Whenever D has attended or considered attending a program, she has contacted recent students to get their input.(thankyou facebook!) Prestige irrelevant if your student isn’t learning anything.</p>

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<p>OP asks, “Is this program any different from the other program mentioned in this forum?”</p>

<p>Yes, this program is different from most North American programs. In most North American programs, a student either auditions or sends in a recording and if the student is accepted, then the student is guaranteed regular private lessons or masterclass performing time or both. Normally the program schedules the student. For some programs, the studio teacher hears the recordings to determine if they want the student in their masterclass.</p>

<p>My son has attended seven different programs (including one European one) and in 6 of these he had private lessons (and in addition, played in masterclasses and/or performances in all 6). In the 7th program, he played at least three times per week in the daily masterclass. In the European program, my son had 3 or 4 private lessons per week (2 with his major teacher and 1 or 2 with visiting teachers who were there for just a week at a time), and he played in a masterclass once a week.</p>

<p>European programs tend to be somewhat less structured than North American ones(although the one that my son attended in Europe was very structured, but it was organized by North Americans with a combination of North American, Asian, and European instructors). The greater freedom in the European programs allows participants to select what they believe they will benefit from which is, of course, similar to European post-secondary education.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. To add one last comment, D did feel that she learned a great deal and was very, very happy at the Mozarteum and in Salzburg! Her Masterclass instructor and the accompanianist were especially kind to her and very encouraging that she continue singing. (I know for a fact that they also gave advice to change professions to a few other participants.) I was only repeating a comment from a voice professional regarding the caliber of instruction and in turn asking for the reflections of participants in this forum regarding these summer programs in general. I am just a mom and have no other way to judge.</p>

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<p>Mom5kids-</p>

<p>Welcome to the world of music, where things are not always as advertised, where like in certain bits of ethnic humor if you ask 10 people their opinion, you will get 20 different answers, and the fog is quite thick:)</p>

<p>Summer music institutes and programs reflect very much the world of music that I have experienced as a whole, there is a lot of confusion as to what constitutes “good”, there are what I consider to be, if not fraud, bending the truth, and also of course what is good for one student is not good for another. There are a ton of music festivals out there and it is hard to figure things out, what the reality is.</p>

<p>Some programs are quite honest, they are more like summer camp for kids who also happen to like music, and they aren’t out to create the next big violin player or necessarily be for serious music students, others advertise themselves as top level programs and follow through, with top notch instruction and are very difficult to get into. Others IME quite frankly try to advertise themselves as being for serious music students, and in reality don’t attract top students, they basically admit almost anyone, and the level isn’t particularly high with the faculty.</p>

<p>Even with the ‘serious programs’, like Aspen, which is generally considered a top notch program, might not work for some students because if what I have heard is true, it puts a lot more weight on the student in terms of what they get out of it, whereas a program like Meadowmount (again, from what I hear) is a lot more structured and might suit some students more then others. Both are reputed to be great programs, but they may not work for all students. </p>

<p>From what I can tell, this is true all over. European programs (least in my view) have a cachet to them, with all the historical associations with music, and anything associated with Vienna, Salzburg, Rome, Paris, etc because of those can seem to be better then it is (note, I am not talking about any specific festival here, and especially not the OP’s mentioned festival, which I know only by name, can’t comment on it). There are great programs in places like that, and there are also programs that use the location to sell themselves as great but IMO are not…</p>

<p>Quite honestly, given the number of music festivals out there both in the US and abroad, it isn’t possible for all of them to be ‘at the highest level’, logistically and otherwise. Even leaving out the ones that don’t pretend to be the training ground for the next generation of Divas and virtuosi, there are a ton of festivals and such out there, much more then could all be ‘great’ like that.</p>

<p>As far as quality of teaching goes, what the OP was told about the teachers at the festival having been great performers but not great teachers, that is not uncommon. Part of the problem is that ‘great’ performers don’t necessarily know why they are great, part of what they do is transcendent, and how can something like that be taught? Plus teaching takes patience and such that a great performer may not have. There is also the obverse case, I wonder about teachers who never really performed, who don’t still perform on some level, I have spoken to musicians who had teachers who never even picked up an instrument in the lesson to demonstrate technique, and to me that seems kind of dicey…
Basically, as others have written on here, it is wise to see what their students have done, and I would be particularly interested to see if their students ended up performing or otherwise doing something:)</p>

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<p>My 18 year old daughter also spent two weeks doing a voice master class at the Mozarteum this summer (she was there for the middle two weeks). Her experience was similar to that of the OP’s daughter: she was the youngest in her class by 5 years. She knew she would have to audition for the master classes, and she did get in to her first choice. (Her current voice teacher trained in Europe and was able to recommend some teachers over others. Very helpful.) She also felt that being young helped her – the master class teacher turned down other more experienced students, sometimes telling them that he would need more time to work on certain issues with them. My daughter also took classes in Alexander technique and Italian diction. It was a great experience living alone in a foreign country. She felt that the teacher did not work on her technique very much, however, I doubt any teacher would attempt to change a young singer’s technique in two weeks. Overall, I would not recommend it to a youngish singer who is looking to make huge strides over the summer – for that you need a longer, more intensive program – but it was a great way to have a taste of the European music world. She hopes to go back to Europe for longer programs in the future.</p>

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<p>I have grave concerns about singers, especially, flopping around from teacher to teacher during short spurts, especially without direct communication between the regular (school year) teacher and the summer teacher. Techniques build, there are no magic buttons to push. It may be different for instrumentalists, but singer’s voices are a work in progress, and nothing will be established in a short series of lessons. It is similarly problematic when singers have multiple trial lessons, too much information from various sources using different vocabulary is likely to be confusing rather than helpful. </p>

<p>What is inspirational about summer programs is the chance to meet singers from other schools and programs, hear concerts and recitals nightly, observe master classes, work on languages, expand knowledge of repertory and style. All of these things are the primary value of summer programs for singers.</p>

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<p>I am glad that other readers of this forum have found this posting interesting. It is very helpful to me to read their reflections/comments.</p>

<p>I would like to re-emphasize that for my D, two-weeks in Salzburg was a fabulous experience–practicing her German daily, learning both from teachers as well as the life experiences of other students, very interesting new repertoire. I would add that my D used different words than musicprnt to describe the same feeling. Her masterclass instructor spent a lot of time on delivery, interpretation, acting on stage, if you will. The flourishes that made her a star in her day. Certainly there was time spent on technique, but the instructor was not teaching a singing class, per se. Students arrived with a very high level or did not participate. Clearly a “high level” for a 17-year old is different from that of a 30-year old, but I must emphasize that the instructor was quite encouraging to my D, while at times harsh with many older students. </p>

<p>Speaking to Lorelei’s point, this is exactly my concern. Lots of mixed messages for a young singer. As her own teacher was there participating as well, in a different masterclass, but attending many of D’s lessons, my hope is that together they will progress in a renewed spirit, building on the best of what they learned this summer.</p>

<p>In sum, before she returns to another summer institute, I will conduct far more due diligence, BUT it was a confirmation that she has the goods. In fact she was encouraged to apply to Juilliard for undergraduate Voice. (Eek!) We have contacted a faculty member and are in the process of arranging a sample lesson in NYC to further confirm the appropriateness of such an application.</p>