Summer festival opinions and experiences?

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>Now that some acceptances have rolled in (thankfully no rejections yet), perhaps it's time for me to ask you all for any remarks or thoughts you may have!</p>

<p>The festivals I'm considering attending are:</p>

<p>Texas State International Piano Festival (accepted) short and doesn't conflict with much, and seems excellent.</p>

<p>Southeastern Piano Festival (about to apply, probable acceptance) - similar to TX State, except perhaps better facilities and connections.</p>

<p>Indiana University Piano Academy (about to apply, probable acceptance) - heard many, many good things.</p>

<p>Eastern Music Festival (waiting for notification - feels unlikely that I'll be accepted) - tied with Adamant for my first choice.</p>

<p>Brevard Music Center (accepted, generous scholarship) - have to say yes or no by April 4th, so I'm a little concerned about making decisions!</p>

<p>Adamant Music School (about to apply - very little idea about acceptance, but could be probable) - very interesting to me in terms of free, unstressed time to practice: your get assigned your own practice studio with a Steinway or Baldwin grand, in addition to single rooming and other lovely things!</p>

<p>Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music (still not sure I'm applying for a number of reasons) - the only chamber music-based fest I'm considering: I don't know the piano practice situation, but they do have a collection of harpsichords (another interest of mine).</p>

<p>Is there anything you can tell me about the practice situation at these festivals? I have heard that is is very difficult to find an empty room at Brevard and that the mood on long hillside of practice rooms is frenetic. In addition, as a pianist, the quality of practice and performance instruments is a significant concern.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any strong feelings about any of these places in terms of atmosphere, faculty, or facilities?</p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

2

<p>D attended EMF for two years and is going to Brevard this summer (hopefully as an RA or TA-its free that way; so far has been offered a merit scholarship, waiting on the TAship). D has friends that attended Brevard and loved it. EMF is about half the size of Brevard. Both do a nice job of housing the college students and high school students in separate parts of the campus. The programs are different in how they house newly minted HS graduates. D lived in college housing at EMF the summer after she graduated HS.Brevard houses the new HS grads with the other HS students (which is why D turned down Brevard that summer-she was ready to move on to an older group). It probably was a good warm up for college. She was 18, on her own and spent much more of the free time going into the city with a group of college students. The summer she was in HS, she was supervised by the RA’s.</p>

<p>Brevard has more of a “camp” feel and is twice as big as EMF. Both programs offer great musical experiences and the kids that went came back even better musically. The lessons and chamber groups were a good experience at EMF and there was time to practice individually.</p>

3

<p>rachnroll, I don’t know how old you are, but I think that would make a difference at Brevard. My daughter was 15 last summer when she got admitted at Brevard, also with a generous scholarship. She turned it down when she learned that she was the only student on her instrument under the cutoff age (when they would let students go into town on their own), because she didn’t want to be the only one in her group left out and forced to stay on the relatively small campus while everyone else left for ice cream, or whatever. Had she been older, that may have made a difference.</p>

4

<p>Woodwinds, I will have turned sixteen by the time camp begins. Interesting - I hadn’t heard anything about age restrictions on leaving campus. Thanks for letting me know - do you know what the cutoff age is, exactly? If I may ask, where did your daughter go instead?</p>

<p>Hornet, thanks for the info about housing and supervision. It seems there are very few places willing to take the risks pertaining to less-supervised high school students. What was the practice room situation like at EMF? It seems pretty good, judging from the website - I have this feeling that practice rooms at a college will more sound insulated and in better shape than they might be at a camp-like situation like Brevard.</p>

5

<p>rachnroll, I don’t recall now what the age cutoff was, but you should ask the admissions director, and ask how many your age will be there on your instrument. I asked because my daughter had had a miserable time at another camp the year before when her age group wasn’t allowed to leave the cabin area at all without “the group”. At Brevard, she would have had a wonderful teacher, so it was a pity to turn it down. But she would have been two years younger than any of the others on her instrument, and would have been completely left out after hours. Also, the cabins are described as quite rustic, and she was more interested in a dorm-style institute.</p>

<p>My daughter loves Tanglewood and is returning for a third year.</p>

6

<p>Hi Rachnroll,
The facilities at Brevard are surprisingly good according to D. The facility was built with musicians in mind so it is not “campy” in the sense of bad practice accommodations. She reports that she always found practice rooms at EMF with no trouble. If I remember correctly, the high school students were allowed to go off campus to the shopping center across the street from the campus and hit the ice cream shop, Starbucks and restaurants. I imagine the high school students are not allowed off campus in the evening with the older students is because the college students often have cars. Too much a risk for EMF to take with those under 18 in our litigious society!</p>

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<p>My daughter did not attend Brevard, so I have no comment about the cabins or instruction. However, the rules about who stays or can leave campus vary from camp to camp. At Tanglewood, my daughter was allowed to leave campus in the afternoons and evenings, even when she was 14. The town is close enough to walk to, and she would walk with her quartet and others to get ice cream or just walk around town. The age group at that workshop was 14-20, so there were a few college students, but the majority were high school students. Some had cars but didn’t use them. Students are treated like adults. This freedom to walk around town, or go for runs in the mornings sometimes, is one of the biggest benefits of attending Tanglewood, and certainly made the entire experience very positive my for daughter. She attends a high school where students can leave campus at any time, so she finds any restrictions on movement to be very stifling and foreign.</p>