I am finishing my undergraduate degree at my country, Colombia and I am interested on doing my master degree at United States. I have some teachers options and I want to have some classes with some of them, but I am running out of time and I need some advice to choose a little group for classes and to decide where I am going to apply. If you could bring me some opinions about the teachers and the universities listed below, I will be very thankful.
My options are:
University of Miami (Frost School of Music) - Charles Cattleman
University of Texas at Austin (Butler School of Music) - Brian Lewis
University of NorthTexas - Felix Olschofka
Rice University (Shepherd School of Music) - Paul Kantor
San Francisco Conservatory - Ian Swensen
University of Southern California (Thornton School of Music) - Martin Chalifour
Northwestern University (Bienen School of Music) - Gerardo Ribeiro
Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music) - Mauricio Fuks
Cleveland Institut - Jan Sloman and Stephen Rose
I want to does things like…
How does he approaches to a technical problem? When you have a technical problem. Does he usually focus only on that leaving the musical work aside? Or does he work both at the same time? Does he have an standardized technique or he adapts technique to each students size (hand size, body...), personality, etc.?
Does he has a standardized way of teaching or he works different with each student?
How does he explains things? Is he clear? Does he talks a lot?
How does he usually begins the work with a new piece?
How does he motivate? Is he purposeful with performances, repertoire, competitions... Or you have to search and tell him?
These are all very well-known, highly regarded teachers. No one will or should discuss them in a public forum as if it were a product review. It is more likely that people will be able to tell you about the environment and structure of the various schools and departments, and what kinds of opportunities might exists for MM students. Any discussion of named individuals, if it happens at all, needs to be private.
@glassharmonica Is correct. You’ve identified instructors who can definitely pick their students (and reject many other aspirants). You should have no concerns that anyone of them doesn’t know what he or she is doing in their teaching approach. The best way to find out which works best with you and your learning style is a private lesson or two (as you indicate you know).
Some of your concerns, although fine for a younger student, seem rather inappropriate for a potential Master’s student. How does a teacher “motivate”?? By this level, a student had better be very self-motivated. At a Masters level in these studios, teachers are not going to accept students with major “technical problems”.
Pre-screens will be due for schools in a month or so. Each of your identified schools/teachers is competitive and even passing pre-screens is not a given at some of those schools you’ve mentioned. Good luck!!
To be honest, I think most of your questions will be style questions with the teachers involved, and in many ways the answers to those questions depend a lot on how you see those questions. I could study with a teacher and find them very motivating, another student might find them to be a pain in the neck. Some will tell you a teacher is great to work with, another will tell you they are a jerk. As an MM student, a lot of what you ask is not going to be coming from the teacher, when a teacher assigns a new piece of repertory, they will expect you I would expect to do the basic work on mastering the piece, and they would simply fine tune it with you. At that level, too, it is unlikely they would accept students with major technical issues, and if someone had something of a flaw they were already working with, they likely would point it out but would expect the student to work out most of it.
Some people on here may comment on those teachers (|All of whom are respected teachers who at an MM level will teach only selected students), probably in private, some of those questions you may be able to get answers via e-mail from the teacher if you ask about their approach, their philosophy and so forth. What is also valuable is if you could possibly meet with the teacher either before auditioning, during the audition process or if you get admitted, before you make a decision, because you won’t really get an idea what a teacher is like until you start to work with them, hence a sample lesson.
By the way, if you’re writing to professors, that first one, at Miami, is the very well known Charles CaStleman. Last I heard, he has never been a rancher
