Sample/Consultation Lesson

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>My D is a junior in high school, wanting to major in music performance. On the advice of her current teacher, she contacted a teacher at one of the conservatories that she plans to apply to and asked for a lesson (we are going to be in that city for another reason next month). Teacher wrote back with a lovely note offering a time that works for us, so the lesson is set up.</p>

<p>My questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>As this is a lesson with a potential college teacher, would it be inappropriate for me to sit in the corner and observe, as I have done for sample lessons in the past?</p></li>
<li><p>Current teacher suggested that D ask at the end of the lesson if teacher could advise on D's chances at acceptance at that conservatory. Has anyone else done this and if so what experiences/responses can you share?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>I never sat in on these lessons with potential teachers – and made myself pretty scarce by not even going to or waiting outside the room. I don’t think it’s a crazy idea to sit in, and I’ll bet some parents do it, but like the request for the lesson itself, I think it’s just better at the college level if it’s driven by the prospective student. Also my daughter, in her process, never asked that question about her chances for acceptance; she wasn’t comfortable doing that. Most teachers didn’t address the subject directly, except for one (famous) teacher who did say she would be accepted, and said he only felt comfortable saying it because he was in charge of the selection process. (Actually, he was unusually nice and helpful – volunteering information about where she would fit within his studio and the school. He eventually helped her with the whole process, discussing in a remarkably candid way his personal opinions of her available options once she had received all her resuts.) </p>

<p>Others may well have different experiences and opinions, and I’m curious to hear what they have to say. </p>

3

<p>I sat in on one, the wife on a second and a third was on his own. Just ask the professor when you get there if you can watch. When the lesson is over the question we used was " Will he be competitive for a spot in this program?"</p>

4

<p>I would definitely advise against a parent sitting in on a prospective college lesson-- even if you are invited, you should politely decline. And I would also advise against directly asking about chances for admission. The teacher knows why your student is there. If s/he feels moved to give this information (and it will always come with a caveat) then s/he will. </p>

5

<p>I haven’t learned the knack of searching on this new format - it used to be much easier. There are many many threads concerning the subject of sample lessons. I just tried search Music Major Forum, the word Lesson in the title field, unchecked he box for comments, asked for archived threads - and dozens popped up. It’s hard to know from the search format, though, which are the most thorough. However, here’s one: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1283011-what-is-parent-s-role-at-trial-lesson.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1283011-what-is-parent-s-role-at-trial-lesson.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>@spiritmanager, I’m also having problems with searching in this new format. Even when results come up, the links are somehow not clickable. I’m ending up going straight to Google. :(</p>

7

<p>Thank you everyone. This is really helpful.</p>

8

<p>My wife was actually invited into the room for the lesson by the professor. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking if your child will be competitive for a program. Be honest be upfront. You want to know. You don’t want to waste time or money if your child isn’t going to be competitive for a program. All three professors we dealt with were extremely honest. Two of the schools are top conservatories and you needed to be invited to audition. My son attends one of them and has been told by the professor of the other he may contact him whenever he wishes for a lesson. </p>

9

<p>I disagree-- the parent should be in the background, if not invisible. The only case where this is not true is if the parent has some kind of connection to the teacher (e.g., if they have met before) and needs to say hello. Then the parent should vamoose. College professors do not deal with parents and want students mature enough to speak for themselves. </p>

<p>As for asking if your student should apply–the only person who could ask this question is the student, and generally the handwriting is on the wall. Most teachers will broach the subject, either directly or tangentially without being prompted.</p>

<p>Here’s an example: a parent told me a story of her daughter who went for a lesson with a well-known pedagogue. It seemed to go well, and afterwards the pedagogue encouraged her to apply to the school, but made no mention of her own studio. The girl’s friend also had a lesson and was encouraged to apply to the school. And the teacher said she would love to have her in the studio. Two messages, both clear but oblique.</p>

<p>It may be different in the classical instrumental/string world than it is in the jazz/band world, but I stick with my advice.</p>

10

<p>We also took the background approach. We did not ask to observe, nor did any of the professors invite us to do so. This was fine with us because we expect our D to make the college decisions, and felt she was better than us to judge the teacher’s style/methods and their rapport. Most professors did introduce themselves to us before or after the lesson and asked if we had any questions.
Our D did not ask about competitiveness, but she received feedback from all that she felt was indicative - ranged from “you have a shot here if you work on what I told you” to “you play extremely well and are a good fit here; I really encourage you to apply.”</p>

11

<p>I agree with GH, I would tell parents to stay out of the sample lessons. From experience, more then a few teachers are sensitized to parents being in the room, in part (at least in the world my S is in), there are more than a few pushy parents who with kids entering college, are still tied up in everything the kid does, they sit in on lessons, they argue with teachers and teachers have told me outright it isn’t welcomed. If the professor invites you in you can always politely decline, I think it is best that the teacher get an idea of the student, and vice versa, without a parent there. </p>

<p>As far as asking the teacher about chances of getting in, I would leave that up to the teacher if they want to broach that with you. It is perfectly fine to ask for feedback, but I would let the teacher say it in their own way. To be honest, if they felt you weren’t a good candidate, they kind of do let you know, as GH said. My S did a sample lesson with a teacher and the teacher at the end said it would be fun to work with him, was chatty. With another student, he simply said thank you for seeing me…not hard to tell what he was thinking. I suspect with most teachers, if they felt the student wasn’t ready, they would tell you by the feedback they gave, if they are pointing out major issues with intonation or rhythm or whatever, that is prob a sign they think you aren’t ready. No guarantees, a teacher who hears you play and says little could be thinking “oye, forget this one”, you don’t know. </p>

<p>The other factor hear that is difficult is in a school where they have a lot of faculty (let’s say strings at a big school), the teacher giving the sample lesson cannot really say how a student will fare, because it all depends on the panel and if anyone wants to teach you. Let’s say said teacher isn’t interested, he/she cannot know what the other teachers will think, so can’t really say much about that end…</p>

<p>In the end, I would ask for feedback on my playing, and let the tone of the feedback guide me on what he/she is thinking. If they say something like “I think I could work with you” or “it would be fun to work with you”, that is probably a really good sign, it means that they think you have a decent chance of getting accepted, and that if they have space, they would be likely to offer it to you. On the other hand, if they don’t mention themselves, and talk about serious flaws, that is probably an indication they don’t think you are ready.</p>