Hi - my daughter will be majoring in music performance (horn), not sure yet at which school. We are wondering:
Are MP majors encouraged or expected to do anything in particular over summer break - take classes, participate in off-campus ensembles/festivals/competitions, etc.? Or is summer typically just time off?
Thanks!
My brother went to a conservatory for both undergrad and grad school- he participated in festivals (sometimes multiple) and additional gigs every summer.
There is some really great commentary on summer plans on @GoForth 's Journal beginning at post #635! Definitely check there!
Festivals and other programs. Doesn’t have to be every summer, but a few…and often funded by the school.
Most students go to summer festivals. Not sure about “funded by the school”-- I guess it depends on the school.
My daughter is a Horn player too. She will be a senior next year… so rising senior. What colleges are you thinking about applying to? My daughter has done Tanglewood BUTI for the last 2 years and I know they have a college section too.
Well if my D is any indicator this summer then it’s lay around and text on the phone! Haha! Good grief…
Thanks for all the replies and for pointing me to GoForth’s thread - I am learning a lot.
@mperrine Right now my daughter is showing some interest in Indiana, Iowa and Texas because she has met the profs from those schools and liked them. Which places is your daughter looking at?
@hipster23 Rice, Eastman, NEC, BU, Colburn, UCLA, Frost, Vanderbuilt, Loyola NO(she loved the horn coach there), Jacobs(Indiana), CS Long Beach,Bard, NorthWestern… I am trying to narrow down some as I am having fits thinking about flying to all of the auditions in January/ Feb. Her dream school would be Colburn… but the chances of that are slim. We are in CA. We have had lessons with Pate(LNO), Bain(Colburn), Jeff Nelson(Jacobs), and VerMeulen(Rice) She got a lot of good advice at Tanglewood from the other horns there. I guess Peabody lost their good horn teacher and this year they have not replaced him. All of these have very strong horn teachers.
I have done a ton of research, but it is hard to tell where one falls in these conservatories and colleges…i.e… does she have a chance to make it in??. My daughter is Principal Horn and has been for the last three years at San Diego Youth Symphony, honor band for 5 years, and Tanglewood BUTI for the last 2. She is passionate about playing… LOVES IT… and she is strong in theory… has taken lessons in that from Thomas Weaver who is at Curtis. She knows tons of music history, because she has read it. This whole music thing has been her passion. I have never told her to practice nor try out for these things. It has been purely spawned by her. I don’t even play a musical instrument. I love the musical adventure she has taken me on… it has been beautiful.
@mperrine Yes, the idea of flying to a lot of auditions is daunting, from the perspective of both money and time! Luckily our daughter is also interested in a sport, so finding a place that is strong in both that and music guided her pretty painlessly to a short list of schools.
As for getting a sense of a kid’s chances, that is daunting too - it’s not as if there are quantifiable metrics one can compare, like in athletic recruiting. She is in the youth orchestra of a ‘big five’ symphony, whose former principal horn seems to think highly of her playing, so she hopes her chances are good. Fingers crossed, and good luck to you as well!
We spoke with S yesterday, and texted some today. He had a coffee shop gig Friday night in Denton, TX. He texted that he preparing for Disney band auditions and other possible summer work for next summer.
D (voice) does summer festivals. Over the last 4 years some have been pay to play and some have been paid to play. Hoping all paid to play in her future 
Where are these festivals and how do they work? How long do they run - days/weeks/months?
Festivals can be one, two, 4 weeks…it varies. Some are in the US, many are abroad. I only know classical and contemporary classical festivals, don’t know anything about jazz. Composers also can attend residencies, which is a different kind of thing, often funded.
Some can be as long as 8 or 9 weeks, which becomes exhausting for a lot of the participants, especially when the accommodations are dismal.
Sounds like Drum Corps, which is another summer option.
First summer: Traveled to Amsterdam to participate in a Jazz Program at the conservatory in Amsterdam. Went from there to meet a friend from Conservatory who lives in France and spent a week there. After that he gigged and practiced.
Second summer: Worked at Starbucks. Hated it. Realized if he hustled more he could do enough wedding gigs to earn the same amount of money and quit.
Third summer: Weddings, corporate gigs practice practice practice.
Fourth summer: Same and also taught Jazz Lab at his conservatory
Fifth Summer after graduation: taught Jazz Lab, moved, started graduate school. gigged a lot.
Sixth Summer: Completed grad school, moved to NYC, job hunting and began new job.
Wondering if the majority spend the summer before college freshman year doing nothing except simply relaxing and hanging out with friends. After attending summer music programs for 4 consecutive years in high school, S is determined to take a BREAK for a few months before college life commences!
D has been to Italy, Miami, Taos, Hawaii just to name a few. They have ranged from 3-6 weeks. Her teacher usually gave her a list of potential festivals to audition for each fall for the following summer.
@Compojazzmom , my vocal performance son is enjoying his summer before freshman year of college. We were content to let him hang out, but on his own he still is keeping very busy performing in a local musical, directing and acting in a charity musical, and preparing for a 10 song recital with his voice teacher. Next summer, we are hoping he has the opportunity to travel abroad for a festival or voice training, as his scholarship includes a generous summer abroad stipend.