<p>fiddlefrog, I personally think the Yale music school is very intense, more so than another university because it is strictly a professional school. An undergrad who is accepted to the double degree program is expected to play at a grad level. Good luck on RD! Other than the schools I mentioned above, I also applied to Rice, USC, Eastman/Rochester, I can't remember the others. They're totally not "backup" level schools, but they are my second choices. Do you also play piano? Who teaches at CIM? Would you study with Pressler at Indiana?
Are you competing at Kingsville in 2 weeks? Just wondering :)</p>
<p>Hi there,
As my username might indicate, I'm a violinist, though I do play piano some. What concerns me about Yale isn't the undergraduate level of playing-- it's the practice time available. I'm just not sure it's worthwhile to sign up for five academic classes a semester when I know that my main priority will be to practice 5 hours a day. It would probably be better to do justice to two classes a semester than to flub through five, which I'm afraid might happen if I went to Yale. Either that, or I wouldn't practice enough because I would get caught up in the excitement of my academics, and wouldn't be allowed to continue in the music school. I'm a good violinist, in my own estimation, but not soloist material by a long shot, and I'm afraid that may be the most suitable type for Yale.
Good luck at Kingsville! Did you know Thomas Landschoot at Music Academy of the West? I forget which year he taught cello there. Interesting man...</p>
<p>That is one of my concerns as well, not having enought time to practice. I am quite interested in a double major, however, and my interest in Yale is that I think it should be easier to accomplish there than Juilliard/Columbia, for instance. Yale encourages double majors, while at a conservatory/university arrangement, each school will demand the student to make them the priority. However, in prefering music to be your main focus, then maybe the academic load at Yale is too demanding. Good luck with that! Hmm, I'm not familiar with the name Thomas Landschoot. He must have taught at MAW several years ago. Did you apply to go there this summer? It's a wonderful festival!</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I'm the suitemate that thesmartazz referred to a while ago. I'm a sophomore at Yale and a music major. I'll give you a brief run-down of my performance study at Yale and tell you what I think about the system. (Apologies for the long post!)</p>
<p>When I came to Yale, I felt 90% sure that I was going to get piano lessons for credit. I had been accepted to Indiana and Michigan university music schools (though not Oberlin); one of the Yale School of Music professors I spoke with thought that I would most likely qualify for lessons. I auditioned at the beginning of freshman year but was assigned to a graduate student. I was also assigned to a grad student at the beginning of this year.</p>
<p>The graduate students I've studied with have all been competent teachers, but certainly not as effective as a professor would be. I took a a few lessons with college professors in high school, and it's very, very different. Practice time can be a problem sometimes, but a bigger problem for me is getting motivated to practice when I'm doing 5 classes and various extracurriculars. </p>
<p>So, for me at any rate, Yale's system of undergraduate lessons just plain sucks. If you are confident that you would be admitted to somewhere like Juilliard, you shouldn't have as much of a problem.</p>
<p>From what I've seen and experienced, your best bet might be to do the following BEFORE making your decision to come to Yale:</p>
<p>1) Arrange to play for one of the School of Music faculty, ideally one you're specifically interested in studying with. Even if they don't feel you're ready for credit lessons, you'll have a connection with someone in the music school who might be able to help you later.
2) Talk to the music department or an SoM professor about getting credit for lessons with a graduate student. This is not officially an option, but I know of one case where a professor arranged for a student to do this with the understanding that the student would study with him the following year.</p>
<p>One other thing: while the undergraduate lessons system is not so good, the overall musical environment at Yale is amazing. If you're just interested in "keeping up your skills," there are plenty of opportunities to play.</p>
<p>hey fishyfriend..</p>
<p>do you happen to know a timo andres? he's a pianist and composer and a sophomore at yale.</p>
<p>I don't personally know him but I have a few friends who do and from them I've heard alot of nice things about the Yale music commmunity.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, fishyfriend, for your very useful-- if very disillusioning-- post. I wish someone had told me that 7 months ago when I decided to apply EA. I'm glad I was deferred. An immediate acceptance might have been sufficiently flattering that I would have gone there, and found myself unhappy.</p>
<p>Yes, thanks a lot for your comments fishyfriend. This is pretty alarming to me. I am still interested in attending Yale for music however. I'll probably see you at Yale next year! Do you happen to know how many undergrads are actually taking lessons for credit right now? How many are in Claude Frank or Boris Berman's studios? I mean, is it actually impossible then, to get in without sufficient connections?<br>
Just wondering, what repertoire are you working on now? :)</p>
<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm very sorry for not responding to your questions sooner. Before going further, I want to clarify my opinion about the Yale music program, and Yale in general. I meant to address only the undergraduate lessons situation, which is probably the biggest problem I've faced at this school. On the whole, my experience has been wonderful. I have been delighted by the professors, classes, extracurriculars, and especially my fellow students here, and I'm certain that I'm happier here than I would be at any conservatory--probably even any other college. Yale has forced me to confront a larger intellectual, social, political, and cultural world than I ever knew existed, even as music has become a much larger part of my life than it was in high school. </p>
<p>WindCloudUltra, your friends are right about the Yale music community; it's amazing. Timo and others are putting together an all-night concert of contemporary/student music for the last day of classes. This has become an annual tradition at Yale, and is one of a huge number of contemporary music events that are held here every year. This week, the composer Penderecki will be speaking to my composition seminar and later conducting various Yale ensembles in his "Credo." </p>
<p>The concert scene is the best anyone could ask for. You can go to a concert every night (or more frequently!) if you have the time; also, my residential college provides heavily subsidized tickets and transportation to the Metropolitan Opera in NYC each semester. Other colleges have similar arrangements for the Met or for Broadway shows.</p>
<p>I'm constantly amazed by the level of student involvement in extracurricular music activities--directing, playing in orchestras or theater pits, chamber music, etc. Often, the music being performed has been written or arranged by other students. A giant money pot known as the Sudler Fund provides the resources for just about any student production (musical, dramatic, or otherwise) you want to do.</p>
<p>Overall, if the undergrad lesson system is lacking, Yale's other advantages (musical and otherwise) are worthy of consideration even by very serious instrumentalists.</p>
<p>The rest of this is for amypianist...</p>
<p>I believe Claude Frank and Boris Berman are very hard to get. Once again, if you are interested in studying with them, you really need to contact them personally or even arrange to play for them, ideally well before the start of the schoolyear. This semester I've worked on the Bach English Suite No. 2 and the Haydn Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI/52.</p>
<p>-fishyfriend</p>
<p>is there a lot of competition for music at yale? also how is the flute teacher(s)?</p>