The road trip and sample lessons.

College Majors Music Major
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<p>It looks like we are going to that suggested road trip through East Coast (and some others) schools during the spring break. But we still have no idea which faculty to contact at each school for appoitntments, sample lessons etc. Our D’s music teachers so far weren’t much of help on that matter as it turned out they know mostly either some local teachers or some of the specific “standing-alone” conservatories teachers wich do not interest my D.</p>

<p>So if anybody here have any information on the good piano teachers at the schools, listed below (sorry, the list is long and eclectic, but right now we are not completely sure how many of those schools - and which ones exactly we’ll actually visit ;-)), we’d greatly appreciate any of that information.</p>

<p>So, here it is:</p>

<li><p>Peabody Institute (btw, there are no faculty contacts whatsoever at their web-site - anybody have any idea where to find those?).</p></li>
<li><p>Carnegie Melon University, School of Arts (Music).</p></li>
<li><p>Eastman School of Music.</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia.</p></li>
<li><p>NYU.</p></li>
<li><p>Yale.</p></li>
<li><p>MIT.</p></li>
<li><p>Brandeis.</p></li>
<li><p>BU.</p></li>
<li><p>Tufts.</p></li>
<li><p>UMich</p></li>
<li><p>Oberlin</p></li>
</ol>

<p>(we are not going to visit the last too this time, but we do hope to come up with a visit some other time). </p>

<p>If anybody have any suggestions of other colleges not named above with the good music and languages programs which are located some where around those listed above, that piece of information would also be very welcome.</p>

<p>Thanks. :-)</p>

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<p>Your daughter auditioned at 13 SCHOOLS???? Oh my, that's a LOT!</p>

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<p>No, she hadn't even visited them yet. She is a hs junior and we are planning the college visiting trip. Along the way, we'd like to meet music faculty at those schools, as, I understand, many music students do.</p>

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<p>I don't know how many days you have, but we are doing a trip in April and are seeing only two schools in three days (including flying and driving). With teacher lessons, tours, attending classes and/or listening to ensembles, orchestras, etc., I couldn't see doing less time than a day per school. We did do two schools in one day once, but S only saw a professor at one school, and walked around the other, which he wasn't interested in anyway.</p>

<p>You have a lot of colleges, even if you don't get to Oberlin and Michigan yet. I can't imagine trying to schedule eleven private lessons!</p>

<p>Well, good luck!</p>

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<p>We are not going to see more than one school a day, either. We have a week and a half and we are not sure yet which of the schools listed above we'll omit from our tentative itinerary. :)</p>

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<p>So does anybody know anything about music teachers at those schools?</p>

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<p>What instrument?</p>

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<p>woops im sorry---its piano.</p>

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<p>At Brandeis, contact Mary Ruth Ray, who's the current department chair. She's a violist with the Lydian String Quartet and has in the past been one of the coordinators of the performance program. The person who teaches piano there is Evan Hirsch. He's a part-time adjunct professor, so may not be so easy to reach directly. Don't know anything about his teaching, but he's a wonderful pianist. My son has just been accepted to Brandeis and is a pianist, so I'm about to find out all I can about the piano teaching. I do know that the Brandeis Music Department is excellent for theory/history/composition but obviously less strong in performance than some of the schools you're considering.</p>

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<p>I'll try to get back to you soon on Eastman. My daughter (violin) attends and knows pianists there. I emailed her about it and should hear back from her.</p>

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<p>Oh, thank you, seahills and Skie.</p>

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<p>Barry Snyder, Antonova, Doug Humpherys, Nelita True</p>

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<p>Thank you, seahills.</p>

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<p>re-read the post. What music students do, in general, is if interested in a school -visit the school and if possible take a private lesson with one of the teachers.
I'd consider seeing if she can do this once at a school near you. It can be a stand alone conservatory - the idea is to see what a college lesson would be like, though each are different.
does she wish to be a music major, minor or have private lessons and major in something else? It can be easy or complicated depending on the school.
Rutgers, of all places, is harder to get into music classes because the higher level ones are in a School of Music. Princeton has both it's own teachers, though not in every instrument (at least that was true in the dark ages), and also brings in teachers. I don't know if NYU is more like Rutgers or more like Princeton. Columbia has reciprocity with Juilliard and Manhattan - but you must pass the audition to do classes for credit.
Eastman is a stand alone conservatory. It is now part of U. Rochester but not on the same campus. I have no clue how many students have the time to take a class at the U.<br>
Each place is different, so it would be helpful to know what her goal is with piano before you start the adventure.</p>

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<p>Well, I can't contribute much practical information, since my daughter is a year behind yours (current high school sophomore). But, in planning this out, I think you have to make 2 lists: one is going to be places with a huge performance component, with basically audition-driven entrance, and the other list will be academic-oriented places, where your daughters musical accomplishments might be a 'hook' but are unlikely to be the prime factor in getting her admitted. Sample lessons sound like more of a possibility (and more worth doing) at the performance-oriented places -- from your list that would be Peabody, CMU, Eastman, Oberlin (conservatory applicant), U of Michigan (perf. major), BU (perf. major), maybe others I'm not so familiar with.</p>

<p>At (most of) the other schools, I don't think you can be a music performance major. It's fair to ask what performance opportunities exist for a talented musician at those schools, but I can't see a sample piano lesson at Yale, for example, making much difference either to the Yale admissions committee, or to you. Why? Because the piano professor at Yale is not likely to 'reserve' space in her studio for your daughter in preference to School of Music students (all there for grad performance degrees). Once your daughter matriculates at a school like Tufts, Princeton, Yale, etc she is likely to have chamber music opportunities, and placement will depend on audition. All the schools will offer some kind of opportunity for lessons, and basically the quality (or at least the reputation) of the teacher will depend on her performance level. The schools do vary in how they deal with lesson cost. In the scheme of $45,000 for tuition+r+b, how much difference will that make in your decision? </p>

<p>It seems to me that the bottom line is that trial lessons are very important for conservatory and performance degree programs, and almost worthless (and likely hard to arrange) at schools where there is no performance major --- although I'm sure that quality of available musical performance opportunities at those schools vary GREATLY. You might ask how many students participate in chamber music, how competitive symphony auditions are, and of course questions about private lesson funding.</p>

<p>Another thing to think about is proximity to a major city: If your school is in or close to Boston, Phila, NY, Cleveland, Baltimore, San Francisco, LA, Chicago -- you will certainly be able to find a choice of excellent teachers. My husband travelled 2 hours by train once a month for lessons from a major symphony principal during his college years at Yale.</p>