Schools for Flute? help!

College Majors Music Major
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<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>First of all, I would just like to say that I really appreciated everyone's posts so far. All the musical input is fantastic and inspirational.</p>

<p>However, I have a dilemma. I'm a flutist going into my senior year of highschool looking to major in flute performance. Now, I understand that I play the one of the most (if not the most) competitive instruments out there and I know I'm definately not Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, Peabody, Curtis, or NEC material but I still would love some advice on schools to look into.</p>

<p>I just recently switched teachers to study with the flute professor at the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford) who is also the principal of the hartford symphony, so I'm slightly confident I could get into the school. I also just got back from the Music Horizons summer program at the Eastman School of Music. I still think I have a long way to go with the flute though...</p>

<p>I understand that any decent school of music is hard to get into for flute, but do you have any suggestions for a safety or an ideal school?</p>

<p>I'm looking into:
Hartt School of Music
Carnegie Mellon University
Eastman School of Music (my dream school... I would die to get in here)
Indiana University
University of Michigan
North Carolina School of the Arts (does anyone recommend this school, I would love to hear some input on it)
DePaul University (info on this school would be appreciated too)
Stonybrook University
University of Cincinnati </p>

<p>Any information about schools for flute or anything else flute related would be so great! Thank you so much in advance!</p>

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<p>A close friend of mine is a rising Sophomore at NCSA. She absolutely loves the teacher there. I'd be happy to give you her contact info if you'd like.</p>

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<p>disclaimer - I know nothing about flute schools. The generic advice - first, find a good teacher - still applies.</p>

<p>Some of the schools on your list, such as Eastman, Michigan, and CCM, are very competitive. If you are ruling out other conservatories because you don't think you'd be competitive there, then I think you need to consider these schools as extreme reaches as well. (I personally would think of those as at least as competitive as Manhattan or Peabody, for instance. I suppose it varies for individual instruments and teachers, though.) However, I am all in favor of having a few reach schools on your list!</p>

<p>A note about Cincinnati. The University itself is quite easy to get into. The Conservatory of Music is a completely different story. Don't mix up the two. I think that happens sometimes. In looking at "chances" be sure to find out how large the individual studio is, and how many openings they anticipate. The year my S auditioned at Juilliard, he heard they took exactly one flute. No flute player's chances are good in those situations.</p>

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<p>bsnbilly, contact information would be great if your friend wouldn't mind of course. Thanks so much!</p>

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<p>i highly suggest northwestern university. contact me for specifics.</p>

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<p>Be aware that Northwestern has two of the better-known flute teachers in the country in Walfrid Kujala and Richard Graef. Competition for spots in their studios will likely be more difficult than at Peabody, which has three very good teachers who are not quite as famous.</p>

<p>Carol Wincenc's studio at Stonybrook and Brad Garner's at Cincinnati CCM are going to be difficult admits, as will Tadeo's at NCSA.</p>

<p>Some other possibilities you may wish to think about are (all will be pretty competitive):
Mary Karen Clardy at University of North Texas,
Donald Peck at Roosevelt U. in Chicago,
Bart Feller at Rutgers,
any of the faculty at Temple,
William Montgomery at Maryland,
Chris Krueger at UMass,
Eva Amsler at Florida State.</p>

<p>You may also wish to send a PM to FluteMomLiz, who has a daughter looking at top schools but is also searching for a bunch of safety schools.</p>

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<p>Not sure I can add much</p>

<p>Kujala is retired and dont think he is taking new students.</p>

<p>Eastman has become a very hot school as two big jobs just went to Eastman flute students so that will be very difficult to get into.</p>

<p>Tadeo is good but never among the hot teachers. And NCSA has had problems and is a state school without the funds of the other big conservatories. Interesting campus on the outskirts of Salem.</p>

<p>Baxstresser teaches at CM and she is one of the very top and admissions there are very difficult</p>

<p>Michigan is not that difficult an admit and really not as high as a flute school as they are in other areas.</p>

<p>Robertello at Indiana is superb but has said often he wants to leave Bloomington, he said he hates living there and is only in town 2 days a week, not sure if that situation is the best.</p>

<p>The students Carol Wincenc has at Stonybrook are a clear step below those she has at Julliard, so if you want to study with her that would be your better chance.</p>

<p>I would suggest talking with John Wion at Hartt, since you study with one of their professors, to give you an evaluation. Unless they have told you specifically they think you will get in, dont assume because you study with a professor there means you are an automatic admit. You might be but not for that reason. But Hartt is a good place and not that difficult an admit.</p>

<p>On your list I know nothing about DePaul, but if you think you cant get into Peabody or NEC, the others on your list are as difficult or more so than those schools so you might want help clarifying your ability level and Wion can do that he is an old pro and knows the score.</p>

<p>The second tier schools on BassDad's list are a great start for you to check out. Eva Amsler at FSU is considered top ten by many, ahead of some on your top tier list but they really show a preference for Florida students. UCLA, Arizona and Rice are not mentioned on either list. Rice is tough.</p>

<p>I didnt understand from your post what you wanted to achieve from attending music school. Sad but true fact is if you have no chance at the top schools you have little chance of a paying job with an orchestra that pays you to play. The good news is there are dozens of small schools, state schools with very good music departments and flute teachers where you can become an excellent player.</p>

<p>Hope that helps a little, we are still trying to learn too.</p>

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<p>hi! fellow flutest, def applying to some of the schools on your list there...</p>

<p>i'm from pittsburgh, and have been involved in the cmu music program since i was a little kid (prepatory music school) so yeah, it IS just as intense as it seems to be. and baxtresser said apparently that she never was going to take as many flutes as she did last year, which was four or 5 i believe...she thought it was too many to have for one year... bad news for us, i guess.</p>

<p>yeah, cmu+eastman=amaaazing.</p>

<p>love em. you were at eastman this summer? what was it like?
ive done the precollege ensembles for the past two summers at cmu...theyre fantastic.</p>

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<p>FluteMomLiz,
Could you elaborate more on Michigan flute dept. and Robertello at IU? These are not D's top choice but D's can possibly get good academic scholarship. She also loves their piano faculty.</p>

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<p>Michigan is not a program we have looked deeply into. Amy Porter is a fine teacher and Michigan has an excellent reputation as a music school. I would suspect a bit easier admit than the top schools. It also has to be one of the biggest Universities in the country.</p>

<p>Robertello did an online interview early in the year saying he is not that happy working in Bloomington and only spends the minimum time he can there and commutes from that job to his home on the west coast. My daughter has met and been in class with him and she said he was very good. I would get his future cleared before I would commit there. Indiana is very good and they would likely replace him with a top professor. Kathryn Lukas also has a good reputation but have no first hand information on her.</p>

<p>It really is so dependent on what a person is looking for in school and a teacher and what other factors are involved. What is important to one person is irrelevant to another.</p>

<p>Sorry I couldnt be of more help</p>

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<p>Interesting that Flute threads draw so few responses here. Considering how popular and competitive an instrument it is. Flute players need more information and more of an edge than any others and yet almost no discussion here about it.</p>

<p>I would love to read some experiences from kids that made it into both big and secondary flute programs. Reflecting on their audtions and their experience in school compared to what they thought it would be.</p>

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<p>Does anyone have any knowledge about the flutist Curtis took this year? My daughter just heard an interest comment from her former chamber music group member who is a freshman at Curtis. Of course being 'mind your own business' kind of person, she did not bother to ask him for further information. I am just curious.</p>

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<p>How could they possiably take one flute??? How large is the music program??? Do they not want flutes, do other instruments get priority?</p>

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<p>The total number of students at Curtis is about 160. There are only enough students to form an orchestra, an opera production, and some piano, conducting and composition majors. There are only 4 flutists at Curtis since that is the number of flutists needed in an orchestra.</p>

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<p>Taking one or two flutes is not that unusual and they probably had 40 that were good enough audition.</p>

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<p>FluteMomLiz,</p>

<p>I just had an interesting thought. In one of your posts, you mentioned that "Kujala is retired and don't think he is taking new students". Robertello has moved his Gallery to Chicago. Do you think that sooner or later, Robertello may be going to NU?</p>

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<p>pointegirl</p>

<p>I have no information on that, but it certainly could make some sense. My daughter spoke to someone from admissions at Northwestern recently and they didn't indicate anything along those lines. However, admissions often doesn't even know who teaches any specific program.</p>

<p>Are you a dancer and flute player? as in on point?</p>

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<p>FluteMomLiz,</p>

<p>D was a promising ballet student before quitting at age 12 due to 'intellectual boredom' and some cruel behavior from fellow dancers. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. She was able to spend more time and found her second love in music. Deep down inside she will always be a dancer. She abandon 'pointegirl' and got a new email address related to flute. I took over the name because she is the only reason why I joined all these discussion groups.</p>

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<p>Oh, I see. I had read an article about a flute playing dancer in Nevada or somewhere and I thought it might be your daughter. Somehow I connected your name with that girl. But I believe she was only 15 or so.</p>

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<p>if 40 were good enough, what set that one flute player apart???</p>