Looking for any information or opinions about summer intensives for classical percussion. Would particularly appreciate any feedback about the Julliard Summer Percussion Seminar or BUTI. D was just accepted to the Julliard percussion intensive and is waiting to find out about BUTI.
You can’t beat the location and atmosphere at BUTI and being in the middle of all the world class performances at the Shed and on the grounds. Juilliard is pretty amazing but Tanglewood in summer is something you cannot forget as a young musician.
https://www.juilliard.edu/juilliard-all/summer-programs/summer-percussion-seminar
http://www.bu.edu/cfa/tanglewood/program/percussion-workshop/
Both are two weeks and are excellent.
I would choose Juilliard for its faculty, the diversity of curriculum, and location- and the exposure to Juilliard itself for future possibilities.
Oberlin has a program for one week https://www.oberlin.edu/summer-programs/percussion-institute
(I looked up So Percussion’s program but it is for college age https://sopercussion.com/education/summer-institute/)
Your son is already in a top program, congratulations to him! You may hear from someone who has direct experience with one of these programs but without direct experience, and reading the two sites, I would choose Juilliard 
Think about exposure to schools for the future: what schools might he be most interested in?
ps Do you know how many students in each program and what the student/faculty ratio might be?
(I posted those links for others, since of course you have seen the sites!)
My son’s percussion teacher has highly recommended Sewanee. http://sewaneemusicfestival.org/
Thanks for the replies. Since last post, D has also been accepted to the BUTI percussion workshop. Either one would be really great, but since we probably have to choose , just trying to make a best guess about fit. I’ve read so many wonderful things about BUTI on CC, but I haven’t found any comments yet on the Julliard summer programs.
Can’t argue with @compmom 's point about the Julliard faculty (and the other excellent points she makes). I haven’t seen a complete list for the BUTI faculty yet, but it is led by BSO players (one of whose name is on my daughter’s timpani mallets LOL), so D would not be slumming it there. Julliard takes 16 percussionists in their program, don’t know about BUTI.
The Oberlin percussion workshop would have been attractive, but it only runs every other year–and not this year.
@missjen I took a quick look at the Sewanee website but didn’t see any percussion workshops. Do you know what your son’s percussion teacher liked about it? A good opportunity for ensemble playing?
I would just like to add that we have a nice percussion workshop locally, but D is wanting to try her wings this summer with something a little further from the nest. 
Thanks for the replies. Since last post, D has also been accepted to the BUTI percussion workshop. Either one would be really great, but since we probably have to choose :(, We’re trying to make a best guess about fit. I’ve read a lot of great things about BUTI on CC, but I haven’t been able to find any comments about Julliard summer programs yet.
I can’t argue with @compmom about the Julliard faculty (and her other excellent points). I haven’t seen a complete list of the BUTI faculty yet, but it is led by BSO percussionists (one of whose name is on the line of timpani mallets my D uses, LOL), so she wouldn’t exactly be slumming it there. Julliard takes approx. 16 percussionists. Not sure about BUTI yet.
@missjen I took a quick look at the Sewanee site, but they don’t seem to have a percussion workshop. Do you know what your son’s teacher likes about it?
I should add that we have a nice percussion workshop locally, but D is wanting to stretch her wings this summer. 
Congratulations to your daughter! She has been admitted to two top programs!
If possible, looking at faculty (at Juilliard, some may be visiting, I suppose), faculty to student ratio and the curriculum all seem to be useful. Is it mainly one genre or several and which is preferred? (I assume classical) Maybe you could get more info from each program.
Is your daughter interested in orchestral work, solo work, ensemble work?
Are they focused on training or on performance or both?
Their locations are very different of course. That could help with the decision. NYC versus Lenox.
And your daughter’s hopes for undergrad are also relevant.
Tough decision!
My D spent six weeks at Tanglewood last summer (vocalist) and absolutely loved it. If your daughter were considering the six week program I’d vote Tanglewood, it’s just a much nicer place to be in July, and the grounds pass to all those concerts is truly amazing.
That said, for two weeks in June you can’t go wrong with either. The BSO hasn’t started up their season yet in Lenox, and NYC is generally quite lovely in June. I think faculty at either will be top notch. Good luck to her!
@pdxmama she likes Sewanee for the orchestral program - she is very big on performing as part of an orchestral ensemble with advanced literature. Also, she recommended Brevard - https://www.brevardmusic.org/institute/highschool/ (directed by Keith Lockhart from the Boston Pops, also an orchestral program. Both have private lessons, studio classes and master classes as well as the ensemble.
Thanks, @missjen. Brevard seems to incorporate percussion ensemble work into its orchestral program which would make it more attractive. We didn’t know about Brevard when she sent in her applications. In any case, she was fortunate enough to be accepted into her 2 top choices, so now it’s just a matter of deciding between them.
PM ed you.
BUTI is mainly orchestral and solo work. Juilliard covers orchestral, contemporary, and world music styles. In June, I would take Lincoln Center over Lenox. I would go for Juilliard but have no direct experience with either.
Without hesitation, BUTI. It would have been ideal to do the workshop followed by the longer summer program. BUTI changed my sons life. It is a magical place in the summer.
Update: We told D to choose between BUTI and Juilliard summer percussion programs, and it was pretty tough.
D’s teacher was no help since he enthusiastically recommended doing both programs. He said that she would make great connections with outstanding faculty in each program and that they were both fantastic learning opportunities.
Other people we asked were positive about both but seemed to lean toward BUTI–although I think this was based on their experience with the BUTI ensembles rather than the percussion program.
The BUTI deadline came up, and D still didn’t know what to do. Under pressure to decide, she chose BUTI. She hasn’t decided yet where she wants to apply for college, but between Boston and NYC, she thought she would be more likely to apply to schools in Boston and thought it would be good to meet the BU/BSO faculty.
Then the Juilliard deadline came up, and what can I say, we caved. With equal measures of trepidation about the cost and anxiety about passing up the opportunity for her to study at Juilliard, we gave her the option of doing both. Yikes. She’s a kid who will make the most of the opportunity, but it’s going to take some belt tightening.
Wonderful! And this raises a point: sometimes in late high school, an investment like this in the summer can pay off in aid so that you end up better financially in the long run, despite the scary short term output! What a great summer ahead!
Our kid had a musical summer of a lifetime before senior year–3 incredible programs. He lucked into scholarships at two of the three, but with travel and all, the budget was tough all the same. Plus, he was gone pretty much all of summer (and in fact started his senior year several days late after finishing all his summer AP homework on planes in the air!), which left no time for applications or prescreen prep and made for an insanely busy fall. But it was SO worth it for the connections he made with peer, faculty, mentors, campuses and cities and, most importantly, for the tremendous growth he showed as both a musician and as a person. These things no doubt made a huge difference in his well-informed, targeted program list (there was no spray-and-pray here–he knew JUST what he was after), his application essays and prescreens/arts supplements/auditions (fodder, repertoire, mastery, performance technique and confidence), his scholarship rewards, all of it.