<p>With still 6 out of 8 schools to visit/interview and thinking what will WE get out of this time/money expenditure, I am urging son to contact professors for slot to talk about program during our visit. He has attempted some, like NEC, and gotten no response. I have heard many times how Dr. Gandolfi (NEC) is very busy, but we keep at it. It is only when you call the admissions department that they admit you can visit with the professors if you contact them in advance... Shouldn't there be a better process? When we went to CIM and CCM his interviews with the professors there were lengthy and informative, but the above listed schools are larger and I am afraid he will leave after a 15 min. interview knowing very little unless we schedule other visits. </p>
<p>Here is the question: Are there any of you CC's out there that know any of the composition professors at the schools listed above that you would recommend that we attempt to visit with? The whole assigning to a studio and working with a particular professor is hard for me to wrap my brain around, especially when listening to the music is SO time consuming for a student, and you are not really going to compose like him or her... so what do you look for? Got any tips???? For you parent out there of Juniors or Sophmores in HS.... Start NOW!</p>
<p>Your post is a bit dismaying. Surely your son only applied to programs where he already was interested in a professor. He should already have a very good idea who he’s interested in working with at each particular school, and the visit will be to confirm that feeling. If he doesn’t have such an idea, it’s likely he will just get assigned to work with someone - and, if your assumption is that you can trust the institution as a whole, then it should not matter. Often, in fact, a composition student will end up working with all the different professors over time.</p>
<p>I can’t agree that listening to a professor’s music is too time consuming for a prospective composition student. If he’s not interested in listening to another’s music, he might want to rethink the field he’s chosen! He should also have done some research on the professors - their backgrounds, their aesthetics. It’s all relatively easy to find - most of them have websites.</p>
<p>It’s nearly impossible to recommend a particular professor to your son to visit - because each student is different, with different needs and desires. I know who my son would have chosen, but that’s no help to you!</p>
<p>Spirit Manager-your post is a bit dismaying. 88fingers came here looking for help (as most of us do), not reprimands.</p>
<p>88fingers- although I don’t know any of the NEC undergrad composition teachers, I do know that the faculty are REALLY busy. The reputation at the school is that all the faculty are very approachable. Our experience in the prep school, tells me that it is best to keep calling until you speak with someone directly. We have had preety good luck with contacting teachers through the department heads and have been able to schedule lessons with NEC teachers that way. Good Luck!</p>
<p>flute1298 - I know I was a bit harsh - but it’s worrisome that they are this stage of the process and don’t have a good sense of the professors at the programs to which he’s applied. It would be unusual for a serious performance major to apply without knowing much about who the professors were, no? On the other hand, I wasn’t being glib - if 88fingers and son trust in the institution - then they shouldn’t fret too much - he’ll be able to learn from all of the various professors who cross his path.</p>
<p>I do agree with 88fingers that it is best to start early. It would have been nice for them to have a sense of the professors already - from correspondence or earlier visits.</p>
<p>88Fingers - Michael Gandolfi is notoriously difficult to pin down, even for students currently in the program. Your son might try contacting one of the other composition profs at NEC - i.e., Kati Agocs, Malcolm Peyton (who responded warmly and right away to an e-mail from my son when he was newly accepted), Paul Burdick, Robert Cogan, John Mallia, Anthony Coleman, John Heiss or Donald Palma. Their contact info should be on the NEC website.</p>
<p>Our daughter enjoyed listening to the music of composition professors, for a year or so before she applied. She ordered some of them from Amazon (whole CD’s) and also listened to segments online on the composers’ websites. Reading bios was also helpful. </p>
<p>This is a great way to get to know a lot about what is going on in composition these days, anyway. </p>
<p>The music of the professors certainly did influence her choices, even when she knew that their own music might not affect their teaching style. Another factor was the reputation of the department, and the individual professors, in terms of giving students creative freedom to explore their “own voice,” as touted on the NEC website and elsewhere.</p>
<p>It also helped to research the individual composition departments and the courses offered.</p>
<p>Our daughter did not meet with any professors or anyone in admissions, at any conservatory or college, until she was admitted. Then, when she needed to delve deeper in order to choose, she certainly did meet with the chair of the department at her top choices. At that point, she even attended some classes at one of her schools.</p>
<p>NEC has no interviews, but often the interviews or whatever else is offered at other schools as part of a composition “audition”, offer a chance to get to know professors a little better. Even though some schools ask that you choose a teacher on the application, or rank them in order of preference, this can usually be changed down the line, at least in our experience.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who responded. We have been calling NEC and finally heard back from M. Gandolfi today, though he can’t meet with son when we visit he suggested another professor, a class to attend and offered to talk on phone. So that is helpful. Actually weeks ago son had emailed all profs. there via website, but hadn’t heard back, and finally called admission office and followup email finally was forwarded to M. Gandalfi.<br>
I feel like the whole music audition/interview/application is such a notch above anything my older two children experienced (not music majors), that I am on another planet and don’t know the language. Son has spent much more time contemplating where to go and we have done more visiting than either of two previous children. I am not complaining, but am a great rationalizer as to why son may be in place he is now, in response to Spiritmanager’s response. I appreciate that Compmom shared that D did not visit till admitted and then explored options. Feel less alone there. I think it is remarkable that a senior in HS can feel certain of desire to major in Music and know that Composition is their calling. On top of a busy senior year, doing what seniors do for a good HS program, participating in a citywide orchestra, and practicing two instruments, and still composing, looking at and finding the right school has been difficult for S both timewise and emotionally. The answers given about how to evaluate schools, professors were helpful and passed on to son who thinks this site is amazing and is appreciative of speed of responses gained. We are at Eastman tonight, and son has explored the comp. profs. bios and music. Nice to be here finally and spending time supporting son.</p>
<p>88fingers: My son is studying composition at NEC. PM me if your son would like to meet some comp. students or chat when he is at NEC. DS’s schedule is very full given that he is a double degree student but I’m sure he’d be happy to talk with your son. And, in the meantime, best of luck to you and your son throughout the audition/interview process.</p>
<p>FWIW, ds visited NEC once prior to admission but did not meet with any composition professors.</p>
<p>I’ve had the long impression that Prof. Gandolfi is very accessible and approachable figure at NEC. I don’t know where the “notoriously difficult” label came from. On the contrary, he is very willing to meet prospective students, and that in the other direction, he also strongly advocates his own students (if they want to attend other places for grad school/doctorates when done with NEC) to meet with professors at those schools.</p>
<p>CompGrad: No disrepect intended to Prof. Gandolfi (who is both gracious and generous with prospective and current NEC students). I am simply sharing the observations made by DS and several of his friends who are currently attending NEC. They have noted that he is hard to pin down, not because he is in any way unwilling but because he is very busy. It can take more than a week to get a response to e-mails, calls etc. I mentioned it only because 88fingers had received no response from Prof. Gandolfi and was concerned. I was simply suggesting that they might get a swifter reply from another composition professor at NEC.</p>