My son is applying as a cellist to a mix of conservatories, double-degree programs, and LACs with strong music departments. When he contacted the admissions office at Colby about sample lessons, they sounded confused. Has anyone had sample lessons there? He is only applying to programs where he thinks there is a good match between him and the cello faculty. Do LACs only sometimes let their faculty do sample lessons? We live far from Maine, so an in-person visit to tour/meet is out of the question.
We just emailed the music department at Vassar and they are happy to arrange a tour for S24 who is a flutist. He first reached out to the admissions office who suggested contacting the music department. He was going to reach out to the teacher directly about a lesson. Some schools seem to encourage it and want to arrange it for you such as Williams. I dont have any experience with Colby.
My LAC students was looking to continue his instrument, here is what we did – when we were scheduling visits, my kid emailed the Admin Asst for the Music Dept to ask about possibility of meeting with the faculty member for his instrument. That generally led to individual tours of the music facilities and individual meetings with the professor in his instrument, though no one suggested a sample lesson.
Our cellist S23 son is doing that right now as well. First is Saturday AM, in fact. So far, professors (or their minders) are responding pretty quickly. Funny how the women (I noted) were quick to respond and no mention of $$ vs the men, thus far, all say $150 via venmo/zelle. Ok then. Just interesting to observe. I keep pushing to get the essays finished - as I am sure many of us are. Good luck to all.
Agree that you should reach out to the music department directly. It’s important to you, and you should seek out the information you need to establish fit, especially at rural schools where bopping into the nearby city for a lesson from a symphony member isn’t an option.
But I also wouldn’t discount a school where admissions can’t make that connection for you. While not a perfect parallel, it’d be like wanting admissions to connect an athlete who hopes to be recruited to the coach when in fact, it goes the other way. This is in your court.
I recall that lessons at Colby are free with some stipulations about participation in something. (And years ago, our tour guide was a very serious cellist - a fact remembered because of conversation about air travel with his instrument!) Good luck to you in your search!
We waited until acceptances to visit music departments. Some schools did not have performance faculty and either wanted my kid to find their own, or they would help find one. Once accepted, access definitely increases.
A BA program is going to have 3/4 classes non-music so there are a lot of things to check out. Instrumental lessons may be for credit but performance tends to be extracurricular. What are your kid’s other criteria for choosing?
My child is at Colby and plays two instruments. Since we applied during Covid, it never occurred to us to ask about sample lessons (hadn’t actually heard of that).
In our experience, there is substantial year to year turnover in instrument specialist teachers. Augusta and Colby seems to draw people to the area for 1-2 years, and then they move on. Everyone he has worked with has been great. But it has been different people this year versus last year. He doesn’t mind and we’ve been happy. But I don’t think you should necessarily be weighting THAT specific person too heavily.
My son has had one sample lesson with a woman and one with a man, both at conservatories attached to LACs. Both were great people and neither wanted money.
If the cello teacher is not a good fit for my son, that school comes off the application list. So given that the schools have individual requirements, etc., it’s easier to know before spending the time and money to apply. Yes, faculty can change over the course of a student’s tenure, but why start somewhere you know won’t be a good match?
Other requirements? Close and collegial faculty-student interactions. Teaching quality. Small classes. Ability to have lots of musical experiences, either on campus or locally if the school is in more of an urban environment. Pretty is a plus. Collaborative environment in general but that doesn’t mean there’s no space for anything competitive(e.g. sports, music competitions, etc) - just that learning should be more collaborative than competitive. Cross-disciplinary collaboration. A culture that values free speech(I know Chicago is great at this, but that’s not on the list). Study abroad with appropriate musical rigor. He’s applying to a bunch of double-degree programs in addition to some LACs with strong music departments.
So far he has good lessons with Lawrence and Gettysberg/Sunderman. The cello teacher at Williams has a very good bio and has been friendly, they’re trying to get scheduled. Oberlin but no lesson yet. Colby is still on list but they still seemed thrown about scheduling a lesson. UNCG isn’t exactly a LAC, but has a fabulous music library(might be the oldest in the country). Bard- he didn’t schedule a sample lesson but already has worked with one of the faculty (performing in a masterclass summer 2021) and thinks he could be a good teacher for the longer haul. Yale and Vandy are the universities with LA focus.
Update: He liked the Williams professor, and it sounds like the department there is starting to focus more on chamber. Yale may be dropped from his list; they don’t do sample lessons and haven’t been as friendly, and they ask for certain things that other conservatories don’t require.
Is he applying for Bachelor’s or Master’s? Yale School of Music is a graduate school. There is a BA/MM program, but some professors do not accept undergraduate students in their studios.
Yale isn’t a “conservatory.” As @sillinessforBschools indicated, the School of Music is a graduate program. You would still be able to meet with someone in the music department, but that is separate from the School of Music.
Undergrads often study with grad students from the SOM< unless exceptionally talented. So the teacher is uncertain at application time. For that reason a sample lesson would be tough to arrange.
As a top level, selective undergrad college, that emphasizes academics more than most conservatory BM programs, I think it is reasonable for them to ask for “certain things.” It is a BA degree, not BM.
Excited to hear that you liked WIlliams, it is very high on S24s list and we plan on doing the same next year. Although Vassar is not as well known for music as some of the others we were very impressed by their department and when we went for a visit a professor met with us and was very engaging. They seem to have a pretty robust program including a baroque instrument collection and class.