<p>I applied here in 2008–things have definitely changed. I know students from Hartt and Gettysburg is definitely stronger.</p>
<p>I am currently a first-year Music Education major in the Sunderman Conservatory of music, and am finding it an amazing experience. The conservatory is currently in the process of becoming NASM accredited, and has greatly increased the quality and intensity of all of its’ programs in the past few years. It’s demanding, but nurturing and supportive.The musicians here are both talented and intelligent, and the faculty is fantastic.
It’s not a well known conservatory, but it is definitely on the rise, and making a name for itself.</p>
<p>^^^Looks like someone had a school assignment today! But seriously, I’m glad y’all are enjoying your school. I hope your posts will be helpful to someone.</p>
<p>Sure, we had a “school assignment” but we also wanted to do this because we wanted future perspective students to actually see some POSITIVE comments about Sunderman Conservatory. And most of these posts are from6 years ago when the conservatory was just getting started and do not apply to the present. The conservatory is much stronger now and we want to inform the future perspective students about this amazing school.</p>
<p>Sounds as if people are very happy at Gettysburg…and well coordinated, too! Hope you all got extra credit or whatever for your posts…</p>
<p>It was not for extra credit. We may have posted them all at the same time, but we just wanted positive posts. So don’t think we were BRIBED to do this, because we weren’t. This is an old post and we wanted to update it. Simple as that.</p>
<p>Can the Gettysburg students speak to outcomes for the graduates to date? Where are people going to graduate school? How many are remaining in music post-graduation?</p>
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<p>The reason we decided to get online and post some updates was not for an assignment but because we were appalled at what people were saying about our school, so we got together in studio and decided to fix a few things. I looked at Susquehanna briefly in 2007/2008, and even then I didn’t feel their music was very strong. Gettysburg wasn’t a back-up for me either–I chose it over Johns Hopkins and Duquesne. As far as graduates, I know alum studying M.M. (or have graduated from) the NEC, the University of Rhode Island, UConn, Temple, University of Florida, Northwestern, Eastman.</p>
<p>… I know that at least for the violin department, we have had students rejected here that were accepted by Ithaca</p>
<p>I think it’s wonderful you want to share your experiences with your school with the rest of us. I hope all of you stay on College Confidential and help us answer all the questions that come in - about choosing, applying, auditioning, deciding, coping. We need all the voices we can get to help provide guidance and wisdom in navigating the world for those who’ve chosen music as their path.</p>
<p>@SpiritManager- I was saying pretty much the same thing at the exact same moment, so my post got knocked out!! Who knew that could happen?
It was great of the students to take the time to let us know that they are happy with their school and studios. Please, if you can, look into getting the figure that fiddlefrog spoke of; that’s important for prospective students. Thanks!</p>
<p>Why should it matter how many people are still in music after they graduated? When I was looking for schools, that portion didn’t matter to me. I wanted to find a great conservatory that had a welcoming community and staff that would help me grow as a violinist. Shouldn’t it be more important for the students to feel happy, confident and secure instead of going to a popular conservatory and being completely miserable in a conservatory that has better percentages? And how is Sunderman Conservatory going to grow if students do not attend because “it’s not accredited” or “does not has a top notch staff”. If you would look at our staff, I think you would be surprised. We want Sunderman to grow and get out there and have wonderful students so we can have a better name. Everyone should at least give Sunderman Conservatory a chance, by which I mean audition here. I know it may not be for everyone, but things have changed over the 6 years that this post has existed. Sometimes newer things can have a brighter future than the old traditions.</p>
<p>While I agree that you have to be careful about judging a program, especially a new one, on only 1 parameter (like what students have done), you also have to be careful because for students who want to go into music as a career, it can and does matter what students have done. Now, with a new program, there simply isn’t the track record (Juilliard has been around in 1 form or another for over 100 years for example), so it may be hard to judge that since kids aren’t out there. </p>
<p>It also depends on what someone is looking for, someone studying in the school of music may be doing so because they love music, but are planning to do something else as a career, and that can be great. On the other hand, if someone is seriously considering going into music, then it really matters because that teacher has their future in their hands, so to speak. </p>
<p>To be honest, something like 15000 students graduate each year from music schools,and there isn’t a heck of a lot of market for them out there, a lot of those kids are probably happy with where they go, think they are doing great, then get out there and find how tough it is, I have seen students at programs who loved their teachers, were happy, then hit the brick wall when they got out. When Violinia said was it better to be at a conservatory where they are miserable versus a program where they are happy, it depends on what happy and miserable mean. Someone can be happy with a program that is challenging and demanding, with a tough teacher, someone else could be miserable with that because it is hard. Someone can be happy with a program because the teacher makes them feel good, they are at the top of the pack, and not realize where they really are, it all depends (and please,I am not implying anything about Gettysburg, i know nothing about it). </p>
<p>One side note, someone mentioned that the violin teacher at Gettysburg “soloed at Carnegie Hall” . Without commenting on the teacher (whom I don’t know or know of) in question, I would be careful about statements like that. For one thing, even accomplished performers, great soloists, etc, etc, have ended up being lousy teachers. More importantly, there are a ton of teachers out there who have bios that say “they debuted at Carnegie Hall”, won this competition, that competition, and quite honestly, it may not mean much. For one thing, people who win competitions may not even end up being much of a performing artist, there are several teachers out there i know of who won big international competitions and all it seemed to have done is drawn students who think those mean something…likewise, plenty of people ‘debut at carnegie hall’, which because it is rented out to whoever has the money, means someone in their family was willing to shell out the 10 grand or whatever it costs…there is nothing wrong with that, a lot of well known performers did initial debut recitals like that, but it also doesn’t mean the person is any good as a performer, either, or more importantly, as a teacher. Lot of people solo with regional and local little orchestras who rent the hall there, and will list ‘did the Bruch concerto at Carnegie Halll as soloist’, and it turns out it was the podunk symphony or whatever…as a credential, be careful with that kind of thing, because it may not mean all that much, especially in terms of teaching ability (and again, I am not talking about the teacher in question). </p>
<p>And if Gettysburgh is building a strong program, that is great, if they are finding a unique voice or environment that can produce strong players, then that only adds to options students have, and I would be the last person to say only X schools are good enough…in the end, it is going to be what the school produces that matters.</p>
<p>There is no tangible metric of the level at which students are exiting a school; one simply has to hear alumni. I haven’t yet. If 95% of them are doing something else immediately after graduation, I may never. See what I mean?
Music training is highly specialized and pre-professional. A school that takes students’ money and encourages them to spend four years of their lives devoting themselves to music, but does not enable some sizable number of its students to pursue music professionally if they so choose, is not doing its job very well. I’m not looking for any particular figure, just for indications of what’s going on at Gettysburg. I realize that one set of alumni isn’t much information to go on. But without faculty who are known quantities outside of Gettysburg or publicly available concert or masterclass recordings, alumni outcomes are pretty much the only information available to those outside the school interested in understanding the level of training there. A good atmosphere is very important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not enough information for an outsider.</p>
<p>To clarify my interest, I frequently advise and teach high school students interested in majoring in music. Gettysburg has come up a number of times, and I’ve really not had enough information to recommend it in good conscience. This is not about snobbery; not infrequently, I recommend a less prestigious school over a big name on grounds of specific faculty or aspects of curriculum.</p>
<p>Can any Sunderman students tell me about the jazz program?</p>
<p>@funkydrummer Yes! The Jazz program here is pretty fabulous. Though, I do not know too much about the program itself, I can try to find a current student in the jazz program who can help you out. Also, you could try emailing one of the professors.</p>
<p>The teachers are extremely tough on their students. Perhaps arguing on the internet isn’t the best and you should visit the school and see how the program is yourself.</p>
<p>@violinia-I’m afraid that your latest posts may have negated the good will that you and your friends were attempting to generate and that some of us were giving you props for. It’s great to love your school but it is not OK to put other schools down or to be rude. You might not have meant it to sound that way, but I can assure that it does. No one was trying to argue with you; fiddlefrog, as a teacher, is trying to get information that might be helpful to her students who are not able to gain admission to high-level conservatories. The things that she and musicprnt have said here are legitimate and important and should be taken into consideration by every student (and their parents) preparing to select a college. For today’s professional classical musicians, graduate school is a requirement and being prepared for those auditions is the task which falls to undergraduate institutions. Plenty of kids take music lessons while pursuing another degree in college knowing that they will continue to play in community orchestras, or sing in local musical productions as they work their “day jobs” as doctors, teachers, lawyers, architects,etc. That’s fine, but a school which calls itself a “conservatory” has a responsibility to offer their students the necessary training to move them to the next level on the road to being a professional musician. They need to continue to recruit and retain the best possible faculty in order to attract high level students. A good teacher at that level isn’t measured by what they themselves did on the stage but by what their students accomplish. Applying for and gaining accreditation by the NASM or other regional group means that they are willing to adhere to standards. Accreditation is a voluntary, independent review of educational programs to determine that the education provided is of uniform and sound quality. Being awarded accreditation ensures that an institution has been evaluated and that it met set standards of quality determined by the accrediting organization granting the accreditation. A college or university’s accreditation is maintained by continued adherence to the set criteria. Proper accreditation is also important for the acceptance and transfer of college credit, and is a prerequisite for many graduate programs. Any good school keeps records relating to the number of its graduates attending grad school and those working in a field directly pertaining to their major. If they can’t/won’t produce those figures then one should be extremely suspicious and I would not suggest that a student consider such a school. You may have had parents who were able to finance your college education without being concerned as to whether or not you would be employable as a musician in the future- most students are not in that position.
I can see how you might feel that it’s “more important to feel happy, confident and secure”, and you obviously do feel that way at Sunderman but don’t assume that students going to “popular conservatories” are “completely miserable”. A great many of the students on this board have played at a very high level for years and frankly would be unhappy at a school that does not have the highest level of competition and instruction. By your own words, you were not at the level to gain admission to the other schools to which you applied, so you need to be careful how you phrase your criticisms because it is now sounding like a case of sour grapes. Those of us who advise college-bound musicians would like to have a broad range of choices to offer to students of varying levels of ability and nothing that has been asked here is out of line. If Sunderman is an up-and-coming school, and we have no reason to wish it otherwise, then the information that has been requested should reflect that. It’s to be hoped that an admissions representative from the conservatory will visit this site and offer to clarify things.</p>
<p>I second Mezzo’s Mama’s suggestion that an official Sunderman rep on this forum would be very welcome, and wish only to submit that I am male, not female (not that it matters in anonymity!), and that for whatever reason a number of schools have skipped NASM accreditation – Rice, for instance, where I did my master’s degree, is not not NASM-accredited. Curtis was unaccredited for years. I have no idea why.</p>