<p>Cosmos: I'm really glad you'll get to go to Yellow Barn Young Artists. I think the level is very high and you'll get a lot out of it.</p>
<p>Congrats Cosmos - I'm glad you are going ahead and sending it in! Go for it!!!! How about giving a recital in your area for fund raising for the program? People love to sponsor young musicians!</p>
<p>yah i really think they waitlist everyone at bowdoin. i was waitlisted there last yr...never heard back.</p>
<p>Has anyone here ever attended Bowdoin Int'l.? I have yet to meet anyone who was actually accepted and attended. It sounds like a good program but it must be pretty competitive.</p>
<p>i have a couple friends who have attended bowdoin before.
yayy i'm so happy fontainebleau france gave me $2,200 scholarship towards the $3,300 tuition and living cost. has anyone been there before??</p>
<p>Thanks, all, for the suggestions! I'll have to have a good talk with my parents later to make a decision. </p>
<p>Question - What is the protocol for asking a program if you've been accepted if you need to tell another one whether or not you'll go? I applied for another chamber music program that doesn't conflict with my summer jobs that I'd probably go to over Yellow Barn for this reason. I have to tell Yellow Barn by Monday if I can go, but the other program doesn't notify students if they're accepted until May 1 at the latest. Should I email the other program to ask if it's likely I'll be accepted? </p>
<p>Re: Bowdoin - I know two bassists and a violist who did Bowdoin last year. They all really enjoyed it! I love the bass teacher there; he's SO NICE.</p>
<p>I know you play bass but that doesn't mean it's the best summer festival in the world like you said it is. For violin it's pretty run of the mill and there's a lot better out there. It's apparently a lot of fun though. What works for you is important but when you start talking about prestige or whatever, you really should check your facts. There should be basses at Tanglewood and places like that, not to mention Aspen. Is it really that hard to find a place? It's also pretty stupid to not be able to go to a festival because of $600. Start making calls... if they only take a single bassist and you were the choice, then that is definitely leverage.</p>
<p>Is anyone going to Sarasota or Menlo this summer?</p>
<p>Rudysmom - my son went to Bowdoin during the summer of 2002. He liked it quite a bit. It is a pretty unstructured program, however. Students really need to be responsible for themselves in terms of making sure they know their own schedules, where they need to be and when, etc. Not the best run program in the world.</p>
<p>Vieuxtemps, while many of your posts have very valuable information in them, I have to say...I find the tone to be very condescending and insulting to others. You have a way of diminishing the successes of others. Some of the folks posting here are quite excited about their prospects for summer programs. Musicians have different perspectives on what is "best"...and personally I don't find it a good practice to insult someone else's successes when stating your opinions.</p>
<p>Yellow Barn is a fine program. So are lots of other summer programs. </p>
<p>I've never heard of either Sarasota or Menlo before. Perhaps they are wonderful too. I wish those who get accepted there well...as I wish well to those who get accepted to ANY program to which they apply.</p>
<p>Honestly, I hope this doesn't offend you, but your posts over the last few months with regard to summer programs, conservatories and university programs has really put a damper on the many successes we come here to celebrate.</p>
<p>sorry I just think people go off misinformation and sometimes tend to exagerate things which aren't true.</p>
<p>good luck to all of your kids in music.</p>
<p>...and this is why so many of us are merely "lurkers"! (Thanks to posters like Vieuxtemps5!) This is a highly emotional time....lets not burst any bubbles!</p>
<p>Cosmos- Congrats to you! I have been lurking and hoping that things will work out. Keep us informed!</p>
<p>It is a stressful time for musicians and parents, not knowing what the experience will be, what the possibilities are. The main thing to remember is that musicians find their level of current ability and success, the situations which are appropriate for them, and from there they can improve and rise to another level. Musicians have access to different kinds of opportunities, pedagogical situations, etc., but their success does also depend on talent, effort, and luck. We are rooting for all of our musicians to find joy and success through their art, in whatever arena they study and perform. </p>
<p>I do understand the instinct to be impatient with naive notions, but my assumption is that folks come here to seek guidance and advice, as well as share expertise. The best we can do is share personal experiences, tell about the structure of various opportunities, try to describe the level of the participants (age and where they study). If players have been guided to apply to these various summer opportunities, they have some sense of what is appropriate, guided by their teachers. </p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>
<p>I'm surprised to hear, Vieuxs, that you don't think much of the quality of players at Yellow Barn. From the website, this is a list of recent alums:</p>
<p>Yellow</a> Barn Music School & Festival</p>
<p>I have heard probably a 1/3 of these violin, viola, and cello students in live performances and can attest to the high quality of playing. I also know that several have attended Steans and Keshet Eilon that you agree are hard admits...</p>
<p>Perhaps your experience is with the Young Artist Program? I know less about those accepted to that program, but I am familiar with the playing of three high school age violin attendees in the last few years. The players I know are excellent - later accepted by schools including Juilliard and Curtis. Several had also attended Encore that I believe you respect. </p>
<p>I'm guessing that you may be familiar with the playing of some who attended who aren't as elite as the rest? This does happen at festivals as we've discussed before on these boards (teacher preference, etc). However, even if this is the case, I don't believe it detracts from the greater abilities of others.</p>
<p>There simply are not as many top opportunities for really good bassists as there are for really good violinists in summer programs. It is true that there are more violinists chasing their opportunities, but consider that the typical orchestra has six or more times as many violins as basses and that there are relatively few opportunities at all for bass players in small ensembles and as soloists. That makes it a very different world. The competition at the very top is always difficult regardless of instrument, and the best opportunities do not always go to the best players.</p>
<p>Cosmos applied to several of the best programs out there and has done very well indeed for a bass player in the first year of a college music program. I suspect she will do even better next year.</p>
<p>Best of luck to both of you this summer and in the coming years.</p>
<p>To paraphrase ..
The woods would be a silent thing
If only those who sang best would sing.</p>
<p>From what Cosmos has posted, he (she?) has an incredible future ahead of him, regardless of what happens for a few weeks this summer. I'm happy for him. I am happy for those who are going to less well known places, as well, where they hope to get the exact teaching and opportunities that are right for them. And I'm happy for those who lucked out this year and got into fabulous programs - may they make the best of them and not just rest on their laurels. It is an individual path; no one can say that there is one way that is best for all.</p>
<p>Even if we were to have someone like Joshua Bell or Itzhak Perlman giving advice - a professional with a proven track record - while I would be interested in what they have to say, and respect it, it would be foolish to think that even they as strangers could determine what is best in any one specific situation.</p>
<p>musicianmom, my friends have gone to yellowbarn (including 3 people from last year)... they all had a lot of fun but complained that the level was uneven and they weren't as productive. </p>
<p>I didn't mean to say that your accomplishment in getting into such a place is somehow small or not important. When you start saying something like it being the best festival in the world then you shouldn't be surprised to hear that you're not exactly up on the facts. Of course it could be a great place for you, but if someone came here saying that some very decent state school or mid range public school was the best of the world, I think even the nicest people would give them a dose of reality. I am just doing some chamber music and travelling this summer, so I'm really not one of those people obsessed with following Bron around Europe all summer.</p>
<p>I realize that the people here interested in music are really nice and very encouraging to each other regardless of facts or the real world, so obviously I come across as mean. I think I've spent too much time reading the other message boards (since I'm going off to a new school next year near my current teacher). I've said many times it doesn't matter where you go if you work hard, but when people start talking about wanting to be in a good program or actually wanting "prestige", then they should be realistic. I'm really sorry for comming off as mean, I'm really not a mean person at all, I always try to be as helpful and supportive of all my friends and when asked I try to give the best advice I can.</p>
<p>Have fun at yellowbarn and I hope you get a lot done.</p>
<p>Thank you, Vieuxtemps, for your gracious explanation and good wishes. You are clearly already approaching the most elite level, and your standards are high. We look forward to hearing great things about your journey and accomplishments....good luck. Where will you be traveling? Will it be for study or more to hear fine playing? Lorelei</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I realize that the people here interested in music are really nice and very encouraging to each other regardless of facts or the real world, so obviously I come across as mean. >></p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Sorry, but some of us are very well acquainted with the "facts" and the "real world". You are not being mean. To be honest, you are being a bit of a musical snob. Yes, there are programs that are considered "more elite" than others...and there are summer programs and teachers who are considered "better" or more "prestigious" than others. However, that should not diminish the accomplishments of other students who perhaps do not share your opinions or ideas...or ideals.</p>
<p>Please, you have so many good ideas to offer. You have a great perspective. You have many experiences. BUT your experiences are YOUR experiences and are not the ones that everyone else needs to share...or agree with.</p>
<p>I welcome your input and ideas here...but I truthfully do not like the way you make others feel that their accomplishments are not worthy because they don't match YOUR expectation for excellence.</p>
<p>
[quote]
When you start saying something like it being the best festival in the world then you shouldn't be surprised to hear that you're not exactly up on the facts.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't mean to belabor a point, and I also am grateful to learn that no harm was intended. But I don't see anywhere where Cosmos said it was the best. What am I missing?</p>
<p>I also appreciate your explanation, and am glad you meant well. It sounds like you have been busy determining your own non-traditional path through music, and I wish you the best! Glad there's more than one way to do it! I also look forward to hearing how it goes for you. It's a stressful path, regardless.</p>
<p>(Edit - Cross posted with Thumper. Don't mean to gang up on you at all! It's just hard on an Internet site to read intent sometimes, and I'm trying to understand what I missed.)</p>
<p>Hi, I'm a highschool violinist and I got accepted into Bowdoin. I'm trying to decide whether to go there or to go to Indiana... does anyone have any recommendations for me? I really want to improve my techinque and increase my level of playing... I know camps like Interlochen are focused on chamber and orchestra stuff, so that type of camp is not for me. It's the first time I'm going to a music summer camp, so I'm not sure which camps are worthwhile.</p>
<p>On a similar train of thought, what are the pros and cons of Bowdoin as a camp in general?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>