<p>Hmm-- I should have previewed that to fix the ugly link. </p>
<p>Not what I was expecting from the title but I like it! </p>
<p>The legends are a lot more fun, the rich parents buying their untalented kids into the school, the teachers who torture students whose intonation is lacking, the weds special in the cafeteria is made from failed prodigies, the dungeon below street level (though in all fairness, before it was renovate Morse Hall was kind of dungeon-like <em>lol</em>)…the truth just isn’t as fun, but I am sure myth will continue to run rampant <em>smile</em></p>
<p>Of course, not everyone likes each other (does that happen in any school, conservatory, office, etc.?) But the school gets a bad rap for being “cut throat” (what does that even mean? Pianists skulking bout with wire cutters in their backpack? Trombonists sucking lemons in the audience during their rivals’ recitals?) The two young men mentioned at the end of the article I’ve known since they were in high school. They are both extremely gifted but also genuinely friendly and positive. </p>
<p>There is this phenomenon of trashing the successful- we see it in politics, international relations, and the arts. The greats have learned to shrug it off.
Not a lovely side of our species. But, we have another side; humans can retort by making great art. Lots of lovely and hard working people there, at Lincoln Center, and wonderful music.</p>
<p>Thank you for posting the article, glassharmonica. I know your daughter is a Juilliard veteran who chose to continue to a MM. DD will be joining these throat-cutters in the fall, and hopes to make a joyful sound.</p>
<p>Juilliard is kind of a weird duck, because it is so well known (friend of my son’s, who went and visited relatives in a rural area of Korea, kept asking him if he went to Juilliard when he said he was a music student…such is the penetration of the name) so it suffers from some weirdly divergent images. </p>
<p>There are those that treat it as some sort of temple on the hill and so forth, and those who treat it as an example of hype, and the reality is the images of it, like any place, are often a mixture of things. There is incredible music going on there, you will see orchestra performances and chamber performances that will blow your socks off, you also will see performances that, well, aren’t so great. Depending on the instrument and the studio, things can be cutthroat as in the popular image, but there also a lot of kids who aren’t cutthroat or don’t think they are the second coming of x (pick your favorite high level performer on the instrument). There are kids there who think that by going to Juilliard magic things will automatically happen to them and are disappointed when they don’t happen (and then turn around and often badmouth the school), there are also a lot of kids who give sweat and blood and tears to make the most of the opportunities there (and they have a lot, one of the advantages of being there and/or in NYC). There are great teachers at Juilliard IMO, there are great performers who you hope are great teachers, and there are teachers there who probably aren’t so good…Nor does Juilliard concentrate all the good things in music, and other programs are the dregs, people who can’t get into Juilliard, that isn’t true either. Put it this way, there are schools where many of the negative things said about Juilliard are in fact true of them, but at Juilliard the negative image is not the whole nor even the majority IMO, Juilliard from what I have seen of it is kind of like NYC neighborhoods, all part of NYC, but each has its own characteristics…and students tend to find their own ‘neighborhood’, so to speak, and many are not at war with all the other neighborhoods:). </p>