<p>How reflective is this of my son's skills? Do they give everyone some merit money?( if you need more details you can pan me.) We do not qualify for any financial aid. Does an acceptance mean anything? I'm leaning towards declining and sending my son to smaller inexpensive camps at colleges he wants to audition at next year. He is recording again soon and has made significant improvements so he may get better merit aid from other camps.</p>
<p>Also,it seems that the sample lessons hes had so far at the local and regional colleges havent been that helpful. Theyre all quite nice and talented and hes gotten positive feedback. At least it seems more of a confidence builder if anything. And lastly. I don't think I'm telling my son about the results until after the recording. He was really hoping for the Emerson.</p>
<p>Send your son to camps at schools he is interested in. That’s the best idea. I did that. My son is a freshman with 2 other studio classmates who also did that. One friend did 3 camps back to back all at schools he was interested in. </p>
<p>The Emerson scholarship is given to one camper per state. They spread out scholarships between instruments and ethnic groups. Not getting it has no reflection on your son.</p>
<p>At this point your son is better off going to camps where he can get to know the professors he wants to study with. Short camps–one week or less–are best.</p>
<p>My son attended Interlochen 2 summers ago with no scholarship money and it was worth every penny!!! Besides the music he made some great friendships. He had one friend who had the Emerson scholarship, but I believe there are only 30 or so of those for the entire camp which is attended by at least 2,000 campers. Lots of talented kids.</p>
<p>I will do more research. It seems the shorter camps have later deadlines so yay. Weve also attended string festivals at a few colleges and that seems to give a good idea of the college experience.</p>
<p>Here’s a tip: don’t decide not to do an application if you are slightly short of repertoire. Of course, if you have the rep, by all means send a complete application. But if they hear what they like and want you, there is a good chance they will accept you even if the tape is slightly short. I have seen this happen many times.</p>
<p>Can you clarify what you mean by “helpful”? Feedback and confidence building are part off the benefit of sample lessons, as are establishing a relationship with the faculty member and seeing if there’s a good fit between musician and teacher. Were you hoping for some specific additional result?</p>
<p>Think of the sample lessons as an audition YOU are auditioning the teacher. But this is why some of us suggest studying at multiple camps with profesors you might be interested in studying with. you will learn much more about a professor from a week camp than one lesson.</p>
<p>That’s what I meant woodwinds. One lesson didn’t give my son much information about the teacher. The positive feedback was great for him and the confidence that comes with it will probably be a positive impact on his performance. And so far all the teachers were great. It’s really tough determining how much success will be gained from a teacher from one lesson. Any suggestions on what to look for?</p>
<p>This is what my daughter was looking for (classical saxophone). It may be very different on cello however:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Teacher has all requisite technical ability. My daughter listened to both old and new recordings of every teacher she considered, as well as live performances. If the teacher is older, he/she might not play like they used to. The teacher needs to be able to effectively teach the techniques, often by demonstration. My daughter found that many professors did not meet this requirement, including some at the “top” schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Teacher has the musical interpretation daughter was looking for. Some professors just didn’t sound very musical, to my daughter at least. Others preferred performing only modern music, or baroque music, or Romantic era music (saxophonists transcribe a lot of music). My daughter cut out most professors based on this requirement. She wanted someone who studied and performed violin music.</p></li>
<li><p>Personality. For my daughter, it was critical to find a professor she could relate to, get along with well, and liked. From the two professors left on her list after eliminating the rest on points 1 and 2, she was only left with one professor. Fortunately, that’s where she went.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Wow. Very well thought out. I’ll have my son read your post and make a list of what kind of sound he wants etc. Maybe that will help him narrow it down. Any yhoughts on great teachers at weaker music schools? I know my son has more affordable options with good teachers but the schools are weak for performance and one lac had pretty tough academics. I don’t want him to not have time to practice </p>
<p>The problem with a great teacher at a weaker school is that you will not be surrounded by other great players in orch, ensemble, and studio class. I’m not wild about the big-fish/small pond idea for music students.</p>