Undergrad music performance degree in Europe

College Majors Music Major
21

<p>In terms of the French language issue, your professor may well speak very good English, but I doubt he/she will teach in English in France. Remember, classes in France are run like masterclasses, there doesn’t tend to be ‘private lessons’ as such. My teacher in Paris speaks good English, and runs masterclasses in other countries in English with no problem, but would never speak in English during class in France - afterall, it’s hardly fair to all the other students (French as well as other international students) if they don’t understand what he’s saying. From the 10-15 hours per week that I was in class with my teacher, I learnt far more from what he said to other players than what he said specifically to me, in the 2 hours that I played.</p>

<p>Also, B1 level is not so easy to attain; they tend to mark pretty strictly!</p>

<p>As far as avoiding piano goes; I found out the hard way that if you intend to do graduate study in the US, it will be counted as a pre-requisite, meaning that if you don’t meet the standard at admission time you will have to take the classes, and be graded, but receive no credit, which is annoying to say to the least!</p>

1 Like
22

<p>Just putting my two cents in for those who are interested in studying abroad…D3 really had this as a goal when she was applying, and finally figured out that it really wasn’t going to be an option if she was serious about music performance. Sure, there are some “decent” schools offering a BA (or even a BM in a couple of cases) that would have permitted a semester abroad, but for a BM, the consensus seemed to be that she should do summer programs or possibly graduate school.</p>

23

<p>Solfege requirements in Paris are devilishly hard! European children who move through the graded music curriculum are well prepared from that- US students aren’t trained the same way.</p>

1 Like
24

<p>Mezzomom, I did see all the required credits in solfege for Paris. I think my daughter would have to study it for two years before going to Paris–even then it looks tough.</p>

<p>fishee, that’s an interesting observation about lessons being given in masterclass form. How did you find that? did you think you learned as much using that format as you would have with private lessons?</p>

<p>stradmom, I agree that doing a study abroad program for 6 month or a year out of a US conservatory would not make sense. The way I look at it, it’s a full undergrad either in the US or abroad, but no mixing.</p>

25

<p>I loved it; getting only an hour of week contact time with my teacher definitely feels like a disadvantage after getting over 10 hours/week. Also, it really helps to form strong bonds with everyone in the studio.</p>

1 Like
26

<p>I don’t know if how helpful this will be as our family never considered the possibility of sending either of our daughters to study for undergraduate abroad. My d, a singer did a semester abroad in Vienna through IES that was music intensive and her private voice teacher did say that she felt that graduate school or advanced training in Europe would be beneficial because of the contacts that could be made and more performance opportunities because more companies exist there and relatively small geographic area to travel in.</p>

1 Like
27

<p>I don’t know so much about France, the UK, and the Netherlands, but I do live in Europe, so I’m interested in your question. </p>

<p>We live in Italy, having moved here from NYC last fall. Our daughter attends a supposedly good conservatory, in violin, at the high school level. She did the same in NYC. We would like to look into having her attend a European conservatory, though not necessarily in Italy, in a couple of years. She’s currently a high school junior, in the US system, but we may have set ourselves back a year with this move. (See below) </p>

<p>A few differences I’ve noted:</p>

<p>Yes, there’s usually a B1 language requirement. This is not insurmountable if your student is motivated. Ours was absolutely NOT motivated at first, but seeing that her family was moving whether she liked it or not, she managed to do an intensive and pass the B1 test, and having taken classes since November she now understands what’s being said in Italian. Young brains are flexible. It’s doable!</p>

<p>Yes, solfege is different here. It’s spoken, and the kids have been doing it since elementary school. Again, there’s a bit of catch up, but it’s not insurmountable. The main reason for catch-up is that Italian kids don’t have to “translate” from ABC to solfege. Solfege <em>is</em> their note system, so they consider it sort of a childish thing to still be studying it by the end of high school. But they speak it instead of singing it. And the teachers are understanding.</p>

<p>My daughter has found that she has actually had more sight singing and theory than the Italian kids have, because they study that later.</p>

<p>They expect about three year’s worth of piano to enter a university level conservatory as well. Thankfully, my daughter is getting piano lessons thrown in with her instruction this year for the first time ever, and may just pass the piano exam.</p>

<p>Don’t even ask me to explain how this program stacks up compared to an American conservatory. It’s incredibly confusing, and to make matters worse, they’ve just revolutionized their whole system, so they don’t know either! But a few things to know: European kids get one more year of high school, and they expect the same to be demonstrated by American students. Just how an American is supposed to demonstrate this is a mystery to me, and no one in Italy wants to commit to an answer, so I’m lost in bureaucracy-land, as usual. Also, at least in Italy, the high school diploma is not required for entrance; it’s required to graduate. </p>

<p>In our case, we have a couple of extra complications, in that our daughter has been homeschooled and also that the faculty want her to sit for the entrance exam next fall. This would open up a lot more classes to her, but it would also “start the clock” for undergrad, and thus for the diploma requirement. We wanted to slow high school down instead, so she could study her academic subjects thoroughly while doing music. Likely we’re going to need some APs or something to show for this equivalency business. (As far as I know, you can’t self-study the IB, which is a shame.)</p>

<p>I’m on this site today for two reasons: 1) To get a good short list of violin European conservatories that feed into real job opportunities and 2) to see if anyone else has ever figured out this diploma requirement thing. But I hope my responses have given you a little feedback as well. </p>

<p>I may also post some variation of our story in the International Forum to see if there are any Europeans there who might know something.</p>

1 Like