Tours and Trial Lessons...Any Questions?

As we begin exploring music schools, we’re wondering if there are any questions you find particularly enlightening to ask while on a tour, talking with current students, or following a lesson. What information helped you to narrow your list? What shed new light on a program? For those of you already enrolled, what do you WISH you had asked while visiting schools?

Oddly enough, I would say none. I think observing the statements, habits, approaches of the staff was more helpful than having a question answered by them that 90% of the time is found on the college website or could be asked outside of the tour at whatever time the question is thought of. We picked up on things like “This professor will be like a father figure - he will assign you spots and make sure you don’t get left out.” And, “This professor is great, but he’s not going to watch after you like a baby.”

We actually found the location on campus of the school and the facilities very indicative of how supportive of music the university and student body were. Obviously this would not be a huge concern with conservatories, but we were looking at universities that would give academic merit and also had good music programs. So we toured Rhodes and Emory, for example, and could see that music was not a priority. But we were surprised to find Alabama had a glistening new, large music school building. It also gave us good perspective when we visited the more serious music schools on our list, like FSU, Rice, Vandy and Miami-Frost.

I agree with the above. It’s really good to look and listen while on tours to get the vibe.

I will add that if you have any particular concerns about YOUR studies at the school, you should ask. I don’t know your background nor interests. I would say if you are a serious musician and solely focused on music (with no or some basic academic interest) most “music” schools (free standing conservatory, conservatory in a U/LAC or a serious music school) will work very well for you. You get a little study and LOTS of music. If you have OUTSIDE interests that you would like to pursue, then you may want to ask directly of the school and any “chatty” students hanging around, how “doable” that outside interest while in a music school program.

You may also want to ask about “ensemble” expectations too. This was a bit more “opaque” when we were looking at schools/websites. We understood that an ensemble was a requirement each semester. We did not understand the amount of time required…for example the need to have all classes done by 3:45 each day to be free for ensemble work every evening (which can have consequences on working if needed or pursuing other interests). Some of the ensemble requirements could start out slow and remain reasonable or others could snowball into every evening until 10:30 (with a dinner break).

Students hanging around in halls usually love to talk about their experiences at the school to prospects. Don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation with a general…how do you like it here…why did you pick this school…could I do this and this, is that reasonable? I felt my D got the best information out of students we met in hallways and elevators…they were very honest.

Some of these, of course, are issues that would only pertain to instrumentalists:

  1. What’s the availability of practice rooms/ procedure for reserving rooms? Are their practice rooms in the dorms? What’s the policy on practicing in dorm rooms? (That last question can work both ways–you might have a roomie who wakes you with a trumpet at 7 AM. And you might be desperate to practice anywhere, even your room, if you can’t get a practice room. Availability of practice rooms is a huge issue in so many conservatories.

  2. Are recitals required/guaranteed? My daughter attended a college that has a very active precollege program. This affected weekend availability of practice rooms (see above) and recital availability. She was never able to schedule a recital (because of the shortage of slots) until her senior year. In the end, this was not a big deal, as she had many other performance opportunities, but at the time it felt disappointing not to be able to give a recital at the school until her grad recital. I would have said this was a big issue a few years ago, but to be honest, not giving school recitals has not impacted her career at all.

  3. What is the requirement for orchestra participation? If you play an orchestra instrument and are interested in an orchestra career, you should find out as much about the system as you can in advance, including when placement and section-leader auditions are held, etc.

4)I agree with @bridgenail, above, that it’s important to find out what the method is for forming ensembles. In some schools you’re assigned to ensembles; in others, it’s up to you to form your own group, which can be a challenge with conflicting schedules. However, in the end, the more independent and self-actualizing you are, the better you will be prepared for real life. My daughter has friends who are now playing in professional, award-winning quartets that they formed as undergrads at CIM.

  1. What are the Gen Ed requirements. Also: if you are hoping to take part in an exchange with an academic university, or are hoping to take a lot of academic courses locally, take a deep look at the schedule. My daughter went to Juilliard and always wanted to take Columbia or Barnard courses. It’s the conventional wisdom that you can do this, BUT the scheduling was very difficult because the conservatory courses followed an irregular schedule. Also, the course available to Juilliard students who are not dual-enrolled are somewhat limited.

I also agree that the best place to get the REAL scoop can be from the current students.

Observing a studio class was the best way for my D to get the “vibe” of a particular teacher’s style and watching the way the students interacted with one another gave her clues about whether it would be a good fit forher.