Viola Performance- Any insight? professors, schools, etc.

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I keep searching for threads about viola professors, but I haven't found one that's really answered any of my questions! </p>

<p>Background:
I'm just finishing up 11th grade. I'm at a public high school in Santa Monica, CA (in Los Angeles) with a very strong music program. We have 6 orchestras, 6 bands, and at least 5 choirs. Our top 2 orchestras (A symphony and a Strings-only chamber orchestra, both of which I am in) have toured throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. I'm also a student in the Pre-college program at The Colburn School. I'm on about 70% scholarship, and am enrolled in a private studio (Gina Coletti), the Colburn Chamber Orchestra, and Colburn's Chamber music institute. My quartet just performed the Ravel on a live broadcast. With my teacher being the wife of Paul Coletti, who is the professor of the Colburn Conservatory, I have had many opportunites to work with him as well. I've been in the Coda and All-State orchestras, and attended the Idyllwild HS Chamberfest last summer. This year, I am headed to the Bowdoin International Music Festival for 6 weeks to study with Ralph Fielding and Carol Rodland.</p>

<p>Repertoire-wise, I am now working on the Walton Viola Concerto, 3rd Bach cello suite, and Schumann's Marchenbilder. I recently finished up the Stamitz D major concerto and the Bruch romanze.</p>

<p>I say all of this not to brag (most of it wouldn't have been possible without my amazing and caring orchestra directors and viola teacher, they've really been looking out for me) but to give you an in-depth picture of where I am at right now. </p>

<p>Here's where you come in! Any input you can give on viola professors, schools known for strong viola programs, the teachers i've mentioned? I'm looking to build a list of possible schools to audition for this next year. Most of where I will likely audition depends on the outcome of this summer, but for the past week I've really gotten back into practicing (4 hours a day, average) and I'm feeling hopeful for significant progress. My teacher has mentioned some names, but I'd love to hear any words of wisdom from you guys. Please, share any info about teachers, schools, and the auditioning process.</p>

<p>Thank you so much!!</p>

<p>Sydney</p>

2

<p>Your teacher will have a more comprehensive knowledge of the good viola teachers than almost anyone on this board would (and certainly more than I do). You have probably already heard most of the big names that come to my mind: Michael Tree at Curtis, Heidi Castleman at Juilliard, Robert Vernon and Jeffrey Irvine at CIM, Peter Slowik at Oberlin, and, of course, Coletti.</p>

<p>String programs are very strong at Juilliard, Curtis, CIM, NEC, Colburn, Rice, Indiana, Peabody, Eastman, Oberlin, San Francisco, and Northwestern. While everyone says that the teacher is all-important, because string players do so much ensemble playing (orchestra and quartet), it is important that you find a school that has a broad talent pool. Otherwise, you just will not be stretched. Certainly there are excellent viola teachers at schools of lesser stature, but be certain you go to a school with a strong group of string peers.</p>

<p>You are well set up in terms of repertoire for college auditions.</p>

3

<p>If you are interested in academics in addition to music, check out Bard College Conservatory. Michael Tree also teaches there, as do Steven Tenenbom & Ira Weller. There is a current composition student from your high school studying in the conservatory - if you’re interested in pursuing an education involving a double degree you could reach out to him for more info.</p>

4

<p>Violindad-
I totally understand your point. My teacher’s sort of on the same wavelength as me. She wants to see what happens this summer. She’s sent students to Juilliard and Rice and such, and her being a student of Heidi Castleman herself, I know that she has connections to a lot of great teachers. She’s encouraged me to research and see what others think, and ultimately it will be her final input mixed with mine that will count. But until then, I’d value any advice/opinions! Thank you!</p>

5

<p>SpiritManager-
Wow! I know who you’re talking about, but I hadn’t realized that he ended up at Bard! As far as academics go, I’m midly interested in taking other classes, but I’m not sure I want to double major. Back in middle school/beginning of high school, I worked really hard to get ahead, but this year I’ve had a hard time balancing school and music. But Michael Tree! Definitely incentive to checking out the school. Thanks for the info!</p>

6

<p>Michael Tree still teaches at Curtis, as well as at Bard. Many of the Curtis and Bard faculty members teach at two or more schools, as do some of the faculty at Juilliard and other fine schools. That is something to consider when choosing a school; some students prefer/need a teacher that is available all day, all week at their school rather than a teacher that is only in the school for a few hours once a week. </p>

<p>As well, some of the best teachers have performing schedules that take them away from their school regularly. While the lessons are almost always made up, it often means going for two or three weeks without a lesson and then having three lessons in a single week. This works fine for some students, but is problematic for others. The teacher of a viola friend of my son’s went on sabbatical this past semester; he arranged two awesome replacements (one was principal violist of what some consider the world’s best orchestra), but each visited just once a month and gave two lessons during the couple of days they were around each month.</p>

<p>So, if you are looking at big-name teachers, be certain to check out what they offer at their schools ahead of time so that there are no surprises. My son knew that his teacher had performance engagements, but we weren’t aware of how extensive they are; however, all is great since this teacher works very hard at making up missed lessons and offers additional lessons and classes whenever there are orchestra auditions, competitions, etc… I have certainly heard of students at other schools that have been disappointed in how little lesson time they get with their big-name teacher.</p>

<p>You might also want to ask about whether lessons are often given by a teaching assistant. I think most viola teachers teach their students themselves, but in the violin world, many big names have the teaching assistant take care of much of the instruction.</p>

7

<p>This has been talked about a lot on these boards, the issues of teacher vs program and so forth, and it may be wise to try and search the threads on finding a teacher/program and so forth.I agree that being in a top level program where you are challenged is important, that being a big fish in a small sea might not work out well (one of the allures of a top program like NEC, Juilliard et al is being around a uniformly high level of student, where a student is surrounded by students as good or better then they are; whereas you might have someone who teaches at Juilliard who also teaches at another program, where there isn’t that uniform level of student, and it could be 2 different experiences).</p>

<p>As far as the ‘great teacher’ goes, my view on that has evolved and continues to. Many of the great teachers get that name from being performers, which I think is a big plus, being active, working musicians the hope is they understand what is going on in the real world of music, that it is changing (and I personally suspect it is, big time, for a lot of reasons) and can guide a student to what it really takes to be a working, successful musician. The downside to this is as someone else pointed out, that this type of teacher often takes few students, and if an active performer, may not be available a lot, which means you will spend more time with an assistant (assistant is not a dirty word, it is not the same thing in most music schools as it is in UG college, they generally aren’t grad students, they are teachers working in the studio of a ‘master’ teacher, like Delay and others were with Galamian for example, it was his studio, but they did a lot of the teaching, which Delay followed when she had her own studio). The other issue is an obvious one, some performers don’t work out as well as teachers as they did as performers, they may not be able to teach the things that made them great, they may not even be aware of what it is…</p>

<p>Then there are the great teachers who are not known performers, and that is not uncommon (many respected pedagogues were not great performers, Delay and Galamian are good examples). The issue there is hopefully the teacher has good understanding of what it takes to be a successful musician in today’s world and knows what it takes to otherwise succeed…</p>

<p>I think you are already doing some of what you need to do to figure out how to proceed, in that you already have been exposed to some high level teachers through the people you already have met, that is where places like summer festivals and such can be really valuable IMO. Keep in mind that as has been posted many times, you are going to need to work with a teacher, and a ‘great teacher’ for another student may not work with you. It is why personal contact is important I think before choosing someone, it is why visiting schools and having sample lessons is valuable, because for example you might get into Juilliard, study with some ‘great’ teacher by repute, and find out you don’t click…keep in mind that because someone teaches at a ‘great school’ that they may not be good for yourself (or for anyone else, for that matter…). </p>

<p>Since your own teacher seems to be caring of what you do, they are obviously a big help as well, they might be able to suggest teachers to check out and programs. Another valuable thing might be if your teacher or others could introduce you to working musicians, ones who are facing the challenges of what the music scene is evolving into, to see what they think, about what the needs are and look like they are going to be and seeing which teachers/programs seem to be in tune with that.</p>