<p>Hello, I'm curious about what you think or have heard about Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music. Do they have any merit scholarships for musicians?</p>
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<p>My DD is a freshman viola performance major at Blair. You may send me a PM if you wish.</p>
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<p>I would be interested in hearing about your D's general experience as a music major at Blair. A few years ago, we toured with my D and I was impressed by the facilities, but less impressed with the woman in admissions we met with. She prefaced everything she said with "I'm new and don't exactly know, but I think...." and everything she had to say was exactly the wrong answer for my D. She talked about how it was a great school for kids that wanted to study things other than just music and when asked about orchestra opportunities, she told my D you can only play in orchestra 1 semester a year..or was it every 2 years. Anyway, my D left and never looked back.</p>
<p>However, my S is starting his search for a school that accommodates science and music and it's time to look back at Blair/Vanderbilt. He is a brass, not a string player, but would like to know about their orchestra & chamber opportunities, and the general ambiance of the music school.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind about Vanderbilt is that it is HUGELY frat/sorority oriented. I live in Nashville and am very impressed with Vandy's academics and love the campus, but I know of a number of kids who have left Vandy due to the frat scene. S's girlfriend transferred back to the east coast after freshman year. She said you HAVE to be in a house or you have no social life. She was in a really intense sorority and it just wasn't for her. Rice has a stronger music school and no frats.</p>
<p>As I write this, my Blair school DD should be playing for her first jury. All fingers and toes are crossed!</p>
<p>Anyway, Team_Mom, I found the Blair School Dean of Admissions, Dean Sagen, to be very helpful, cordial, professional, and approachable. You might want to ring him up for a chat. Because my DD is a violist, she is required to play in the orchestra every semester, but the website does mention something about a rotation through the Wind Symphony (and perhaps other ensembles) for wind players. Dean Sagen is a wind player (and the marching band director) and can easily answer these questions.</p>
<p>In addition, I would contact the teacher(S) for your son's instrument, and make inquiriens of them. My DD also took lessons with the viola professors becuase she had never studied with either of them.</p>
<p>My overall impression of the Blair School is that Vanderbilt is an extremely fine university, and the music school is a place of earnest intention. One should go see and hear for oneself, I think.</p>
<p>My DD chose Vanderbilt and Blair over Rice (where we always thought she would go) Northwestern, and Oberlin, because it was the place where she felt she could complete majors in viola performance AND a social science in 4 years rather than 5 or not at all. She intends to pursue a law degree after the BAs. Blair is not in the same musical league as any of the aforementioned schools, in my view. It was a compromise for my DD. If one has ambitions as a professional performer, Blair might not be the optimum choice.</p>
<p>Having said that, my DD really likes the University a great deal. We are from NY, although DD grew up in Houston through middle school. She is very social, very blonde, has moderate politics, and does not intend to rush. She is very, very busy double majoring, and says she has a wonderful social life. </p>
<p>I would be delighted to offer any other info or insights. If you wish, you may also send me a PM.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions about contacting the Dean. I will follow up with that.</p>
<p>The thought of my kids in a frat ... I could more easily envision them riding on an alien spaceship! I was happily involved in the frat system when I went to school in the south. I'm pretty sure that they would not be. But I'm very curious, are there kids that survive outside the frat system? My S would more likely join (or start) a concert club, philosophy club, chess club or math league.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, my D @ Rice thinks of Shepherd school as a sort of music frat. The kids play music, eat & socialize together. It's a frat house without bedrooms!</p>
<p>One thing my daughter liked so much about Rice was that she had so many friends OUTSIDE of Shepherd! 4th year the Shepherd kids seemed to stick together a lot, with recitals etc., but her parties and meals were often non-Shepherd oriented. She got tired of being with "musis" all the time.</p>
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<p>Just out of curiosity, what exactly do they have you do during the audition aside from your repertoire, the music theory test, and the sight reading portion? I wanted to know if we would need to be prepared for sight singing during the auditions?</p>
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<p>Not sure, I would contact an admissions rep about that. One thing that I’ve found interesting through my college process is that there’s always missing information on websites no matter what school it is. nothing usually huge but something that I would think shouldn’t get overlooked</p>
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<p>I know several music majors at Blair/Vanderbilt, some with really excellent scholarships, btw, but more importantly, due to Vandy’s location by music row, all of the students I know at Blair have regular gigs whenever they choose, due to the recording industry. Blair students can literally walk up the street to a recording job, then head back to campus for class. </p>
<p>Just something else to think about.</p>
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<p>The same goes for Belmont though, which is another option and probably the complete opposite of vanderbilt/blair</p>
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<p>my son has interest to audition for violin performance in Blair school of music, can someone share some information: violin professors, scholarships, life as freshman…etc.
Thanks</p>
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<p>Hi lovemyson, I’m actually leaving for Vanderbilt in a few hours – my daughter is starting at Blair in violin performance – so just a brief reply for now. I’ll follow up later, or you can private message me. In brief, the teachers all impressed my daughter enormously with their knowledge/skill, comittment and friendliness – they all gave sample lessons after the audition, and also talked with her (and me) at length that day, and via email and phone calls afterward. My daughter just knows that her teacher (indeed, all of the teachers) will give her everything she needs – and more – to succeed in graduate school, especially since Blair is undergrad-only. It’s a relatively young music school (granted its first degree in1990), but the school’s profile has been rapidly rising in just the past few years, and Blair violinists are getting into the so-called top grad programs – another critical factor in her decision. Another important factor for my daughter was that the caliber of violinists was strong; they’re accepting the same kids who are getting into Eastman, Juilliard, Northwestern, etc. Also, and this was important (especially for me), their financial aid (both merit AND need-based) is extremely generous, presumably helping them to attract kids who need the money away from other schools that may not have been as generous. In the end, my daughter chose Blair over Eastman, BU, Northwestern, and several other schools that accepted her (all with scholarship awards). I wish your son the best of luck in this process!</p>
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<p>Whoops, sorry, I goofed on your screen name, lovemychild.</p>
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