So You Want To Be Music Major - One Family's Experience

College Majors Music Major
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<p><<within a=“” year=“” or=“” two=“” after=“” i=“” wrote=“” that,=“” he=“” earned=“” position=“” as=“” section=“” player=“” in=“” the=“” atlanta=“” symphony.=“” got=“” message=“” from=“” him=“” this=“” morning=“” saying=“” of=“” september,=“” will=“” be=“” assistant=“” principal=“” bassist=“” with=“” philadelphia=“” orchestra.=“” my=“” next=“” prediction=“” is=“” that=“” some=“” lucky=“” school=“” land=“” for=“” their=“” faculty.=“” if=“” anyone=“” area=“” looking=“” great=“” bass=“” teacher,=“” feel=“” free=“” to=“” pm=“” me=“” more=“” info.=“”>></within></p>

<p>Congrats to him, that’s awesome!</p>

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<p>Congrats !
I heard him playing Apres Un Reve. Such an inspiring bassist !</p>

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<p>Bassdad - Your information is amazing. Its been quite a process going through college applications and auditions with my son. He has already auditioned at two schools and is preparing to audition at 5 more. One of the school he auditioned at has already sent an acceptance letter with a very generous scholarship. The school is one of his top choices. The other top choice school he won’t be auditioning for till the end of the month. My question do you think it worth it to travel to the other 4 schools - even though they aren’t his top choices and audition? Even if they give him a full ride I don’t think he’d chose any one of them over the school he’s already been accepted to.</p>

<p>The auditions aren’t for another 3 weeks - is it too late to back out?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your opinion on this matter.</p>

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<p>^Congrats, Jaxxtrumpet! Bassdad may have a different take but we had a similar outcome for my son and in his case it was a done deal. There is no problem whatsoever canceling auditions/rescinding application if you’re 100% certain – it actually helps the schools with their scheduling/yield expectations/distribution of scholarship money. HOWEVER, it also robs them of the opportunity to court your son, or alternately, for your son to be exposed to other program directors/possible future mentors or possible future graduate schools (or for him to be exposed TO them ;). So it’s a function of preference/time/expense to my mind.</p>

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<p>Congrats on your son’s acceptance. If you wish we can add it here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1045522-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2011-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1045522-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2011-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>k makes excellent points, that I would agree with. Maybe cut the remaining from four to two, particularly if they may be strong options for grad school. </p>

<p>There is no issue in canceling some or all, but the sooner you do, the easier it becomes for the schools to potentially open an audition slot to another candidate.</p>

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<p>jaxxtrumpet,</p>

<p>I am happy that you found this thread helpful. I agree with what kmccrindle and violadad said. If any of the schools are of potential interest as a grad school, the trip may still be worthwhile for the reasons they cited. It may help to have a couple of more scholarship offers as well, even more so if they turn out to be full rides. Many schools say publicly that they will not compete with one another on the basis of price, but what they say is not always what they do.</p>

<p>If you are going to cancel auditions, do it now so that the school can make the best use of that time slot. It would be best if your son made the contacts rather than a parent, preferably by phone call rather than email unless the school has specified otherwise.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your insights. Thinking about grad schools wasn’t something I had thought of and it really makes sense. </p>

<p>We’re giving ourselves 24 hours to think about it - son, husband and me… My son is ready to cancel the auditions but his Dad and I want to make sure we think it through.</p>

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<p>great info, my son only wanted to go to berklee college of music and just got a denial. electric guitarist, songwriter, performer of contemporary music. berklee seemed like a great fit but now we are scrambling. any ideas? also applied to the new school for jazz and contempory music but haven’t heard.</p>

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<p>looking for strong opera programs with strong academics as well.</p>

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<p>mcandlass–you might want to post this question with a seperate thread.</p>

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<p>I agree that this question deserves its own thread. When you start it, please let us know whether you want strong academics for another degree or just to be able to take some rigorous classes as electives in the music curriculum.</p>

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<p>Thanks Bassdad good infomation again!
I will take piano live adudition in MSM and Mannes in this week,
can you give me more information about two school ?
why your daughter withdraw application from CIM?
I think CIM has very strong faculty and good facilty in piano .</p>

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<p>I do not know much about MSM or Mannes. My daughter did not want to study in Manhattan. She withdrew her CIM application because the same person taught both there and at Oberlin and, as a liberal vegan, she liked Oberlin a lot.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Bass Dad, for so selflessly sharing this information–it’s a godsend! I am a bass mom–my son is a junior–and this info is invaluable. Would you (or anyone else) also happen to have any advice regarding purchasing a bass? My son’s private teacher has shared with me that he thinks the school bass he is using now is holding him back and that he should really find a good instrument of his own. My husband is reluctant to purchase one at this point–this is S’s first year on the instrument, having played sax freshman year and tuba during sophomore year and this year, while also dabbling in some percussion groups–but he did well enough in the fall to make 4th chair in region orchestra and I’m confident he has found his instrument for college. Personally I’d like to educate myself a bit before jumping in and perhaps convince DH that we could get a good percentage of our money back on the right instrument if/when it’s time to sell it. We’re hoping to only spend $4000-$6000 for an instrument to get him through college. Maybe a higher quality Chinese bass?–that’s not an oxymoron is it?–or am I out of my mind? Sorry for rambling–I have so many questions swirling around in my brain!
Signed, No Clue :-)</p>

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<p>Mice - My son did a master’s degree in cello at Mannes. The school has an excellent reputation for piano. However, you should be aware that it has about twice as many graduate students as undergrad across all instruments. Manhattan has much more of an undergrad focus.</p>

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<p>Shennie - is that true in general of Mannes vs. Manhattan?</p>

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<p>darcy827,</p>

<p>You are welcome. Instrument selection is very personal and, if possible, should be done in consultation with his private teacher and a luthier who specializes in basses.</p>

<p>There are some very good Chinese instruments on the market in your price range and some that are not so good. It is very important to be able to check them out and play them before purchasing.</p>

<p>If you are near New York City, you will want to visit David Gage’s shop. He has lots of instruments on consignment, many more expensive that your range but also some in it. It can be instructive to play a really good instrument to see what that feels like when trying out the less expensive models and they will let you do that there. Realize that a used instrument, even if it is dinged up a little, can sound a lot better than a new one.</p>

<p>Another option you may wish to consider is renting a bass for the next year-and-a-half. Some colleges have decent to very good instruments that they are willing to lend to students who do not have a good bass of their own. Most rentals are not great instruments, but they tend to be much better than what high schools provide to beginners.</p>

<p>You did not say which schools he is looking at. At some of them, his competition in the audition process will have been playing bass anywhere from five to ten years with top teachers and some will have very nice instruments indeed. That is not to say that he has no chance, but I think he will have to be careful in choosing where to audition.</p>

<p>Feel free to ask more questions either here or via PM.</p>

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<p>Shennie,
Many thanks a lot to your valuable comments,
If you have additional information concering to merit scholarship or fellowship in MSM and Mannes?</p>

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<p>I can’t talk about Basses, I know very little about them, but I can talk about the experience of getting an instrument (violin in my son’s case) and some things I found out over the years:</p>

<p>-String instruments are very individualistic, each one has its own character/characteristics. Even instruments made by the same maker are different from each other, there are strads out there costing millions that sound like crap, there are violins from an otherwise undistinguished luthiers that are gems.</p>

<p>-The sound characteristics from everything I have discovered also depends on things like who played it before you and also how long it has been since it was played. With my son’s current instrument, which is a honey, it had a beautiful sound when we got it, but it was not particularly loud…over the years it has broken in, and today has a sweet sound and is also loud for an old lady <em>lol</em>…so if you buy a new instrument or a used one, what you hear will probably change as you use it regularly.</p>

<p>-Instruments are very personal, an instrument one person loves is one another person would not think was so great. It is why top level musicians often search for years to find the instrument that is a perfect fit…</p>

<p>-One of the biggest things to understand is that price doesn’t necessarily translate into a better instrument. Besides the personal factor I just mentioned, prices of instruments are not necessarily correlated to sound. There are expensive instruments out there that don’t have a particularly good sound, and less expensive ones that are fantastic. I have seen people come into dealers saying things like “my teacher told me not to spend any less then 10,000”, and even when the dealer explained the price thing, they insisted that 10k was the floor. (That also made me suspicious of the teacher, some teachers are notorious for kickback deals with dealers, where they send you to a particular place, the dealer jacks up the price and ‘rebates’ some percent of the price back to the teacher and in my example above, assumed that the dealer would give then a kickback…which a lot of dealers don’t do at all, but some do). </p>

<p>Also, don’t let the term ‘factory’ instrument deter you, these days, especially with Chinese instruments, the bar has been raised, some of the factory made instruments have really decent sound and playing characteristics, and you can get a lot of value with one of these if you find a good one. Some obviously are the kind of beginner instruments they have in school programs and are staples in the rental industry, but others are really decent for what you pay for them.</p>

<p>My recommendation is to take your son to dealers and figure out a price range, and try instruments up to and including that range, to get an idea of what he likes. When my son has tried instruments or bows, we generally gave them our price range and they had him try instruments without talking about the price to find the ones he liked best,and often it wasn’t the most expensive one. With violins dealers will often let you ‘take out’ an instrument to try it for a while (obviously, I can’t speak for basses), and ideally you could even test an instrument you liked from one dealer compared against another. One thing I have experienced is that testing it in the store is generally not enough, the student needs to play the instrument over a length of time to find the right one. It also should be de rigeur that any instrument your child likes, to have them play it in a lesson to get the teacher’s critique. Some teachers might be more involved in the process, might actually go with a student to a shop, and in that case, I would offer to pay them for their time (some teachers will do this for nothing, but you should always offer). </p>

<p>I wish you well. One thing as others have pointed out is if you buy something then find out it isn’t a long term instrument, many shops give full credit for instruments bought there, so if you bought a 4k bass, found out it wasn’t going to work in the long run, and then buy a 6k, you often will end up paying only the difference (obviously, varies from shop to shop, some might give you a credit for a percentage of the cost, some might not give credit at all).</p>

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<p>originally posted by srw <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1111209-voice-majors-things-consider.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1111209-voice-majors-things-consider.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;