Wisdom of no summer music program? ..

College Majors Music Major
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<p>My son's music teacher does not want him to attend any summer music programs. He said I need to keep him home, so he can work with the music teacher on some fundamentals. Son is a percussionist and needs to work on timpani, the instrument where he has the least amount of experience (partly because we do not have one at home for him to practice). I was going to let him attend 1-3 brief (1-week) summer percussion programs. His music teacher says son has already (in previous years) attended the two programs he (the music teacher) likes best and agrees with philosophically. He says that attending a bunch of other programs is just going to expose him to conflicting theories. He asked me what I thought son would gain and I said intensive playing experience. He said son already has that and just needs some focused attention building up certain skills. He said to save my money. </p>

<p>I would appreciate some feedback. I thought summer music programs were de rigeur.</p>

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<p>Does your son WANT to go to a summer program? My son did…and that was the deciding factor.</p>

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<p>Agree with Thumper. And if there is benefit to exposing your S to faculty that may be teaching at the summer program, I would consider that a great networking opportunity, too. Perhaps they teach at a college program that your S would consider.</p>

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<p>Ditto, POTO Mom. My S found the networking opportunities very helpful, both with the faculty and the students. Exposure to the faculty members was significant in helping him narrow the list of schools he was interested in. The interaction with other high level music students and discussion about potential colleges was equally helpful.</p>

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<p>Who is your son’s music teacher? College professor? Symphony musician? High school teacher? What degrees does he/she hold and where was his training? There are many musical arenas where technique methods vary widely, and a short exposure might prove confusing. It is hard to imagine that percussion has that kind of conceptual divergence, especially considering the breadth of instruments. Can you give more information?</p>

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<p>Just to play Devil’s advocate - </p>

<p>It sounds to me that your S’s teacher has analyzed your son’s position very carefully. He needs specific training that the teacher can provide - going elsewhere may disrupt the focus of a summer concentrated on developing his timpani skills. </p>

<p>I ran into the same advice with one of my kids - violin - when the kid was 12 - 15 years old. The teacher (music college faculty) at that point, didn’t teach at a summer program open to pre-college students. It was suggested that kid do some extra lessons with the regular teacher - a sort of an at home “practice camp” idea. The progress made during those summers was incredible - kid entered (major) conservatory with a repertoire far beyond most others. Kid played in major youth symphony and chamber program during the year so we didn’t feel that kid missed out on anything by focusing on individual growth during those summers. By the time kid was 16, teacher was at a major summer program excepting students younger than college, so kid did attend programs after sophomore and junior years. Frankly, although I was glad kid had the personal growth experience of being away from home and with other music kids for the summer, the musical growth was not what had occurred during the summers spent at home with the teacher. </p>

<p>Obviously, the decision will be yours. Perhaps a week or even 2 won’t disrupt the teacher’s plan, but I also have to wonder how much real growth can be gained in only one or two weeks at a camp - especially if the kid has already been exposed to differing music experiences. </p>

<p>Not all music kids attend summer programs. They are expensive and beyond the means of many families. Another (probably obvious) consideration - the programs aren’t all created equal - a program not at your S’s level, without the right faculty or with the wrong emphasis won’t provide the benefits you’d like.</p>

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<p>Devil’s advocate on the other side–teacher sounds controlling. Summer programs are fun and a social opportunity as well as a musical opportunity. If the teacher’s teaching is so weak that it will be tainted by a couple of weeks at a well-run summer program, you may need a new teacher anyway.</p>

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<p>If it were voice, I would say the teacher is right. D knows a girl who went to a musical theater camp last summer and it blew out her voice. Had to see a specialist, and hasn’t been able to sing since. I thought her teacher was exaggerating/controlling when she didn’t want D to go away to other summer programs, but having seen the effect, I get it.</p>

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<p>I think Hunt’s point about trust in the teacher is key to decisions of this kind.</p>

<p>When we went through the decision, I was aware that my kid’s teacher had signed recommendation forms for younger students who wanted to go to places like Interlochen and IU’s String Academy for the camp experience. I also knew that the teacher actively worked to get some of his older students spots at Aspen, Encore and Heifetz with specific teachers so they could “try them out” before college auditions. We had no concern that our teacher was controlling - we were grateful for the individual attention and advice - no “one size fits all”.</p>

<p>I assumed the OP was satisfied with the teacher, just surprised at the summer program advice.</p>

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<p>What grade in school is OP’s son in? And is he looking to be a performance major in college?</p>

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<p>My take-
Summer programs are not a necessity if someone wants to go into high level music, though many kids do them. There are advantages to them, it depends on the program and the circumstances as to what those are. Networking comes to mind, especially gaining contact with teachers at music programs who may end up being their teacher or help them get admittance to a program…obviously, performing experiences, being around other musical people, and of course instruction, comes into play. </p>

<p>One thing to keep in mind, summer programs are not all equal, some of them are the equivalent of summer camp with a music focus, others are more serious music programs, both have their reasons for existing. I think I agree with others, it depends on your trust level and relationship with the teacher. Is he truly a high level teacher, someone who already has guided kids to high level musical excellence, or is he a local teacher seeing a talented kid and glomming onto him? The problem is, from your description, the teacher could either by a wise teaching guiding the student to what is best, or some control freak afraid either that the student would be ‘ruined’ or afraid the student might see high level teaching and dump him…that is where your own judgement comes in.</p>

<p>BTW, based on my limited experience (and none with percussion, so YMMV), there can be conflict between teaching styles, based on what I have seen with our child. Teachers in our experience are very careful about who they send students to for other teaching (like if they are away, or for special things), because they from what I understand have had bad experiences where other teachers conflict with what they are teaching. From my perspective, I don’t know how a week program could do that much damage, but I have seen teachers not want a student see a particular teacher even once, so there could be validity to what your teacher is saying. </p>

<p>My advice would be to talk further to the teacher about what he has in mind for the summer, more detailed. Would he simply see your S once a week? What exactly does he have in mind? From that, you might get a better idea of what he has in mind, or where he is coming from, and make a decision based on that. </p>

<p>Again, summer programs are not a requirement, they have advantages, but they are not the be all and end all, either. Like I said before, there can be advantages gained from summer programs, like help in getting into a particular school by having a teacher there who will speak for you but in the end that is only one part of the chain, and it isn’t a critical one IMO.</p>

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<p>To answer some questions… </p>

<p>The music teacher graduated what I would call the top LAC/music conservatory and was a percussionist with a major orchestra for years. He now teaches in high school, at a local college and heads percussion for the county youth orchestra and the county honors bands. Last year, my son had tried someone else with excellent credentials and found they couldn’t teach. This man was recommended by the head of his school music dept (top public in a major metropolitan areas) and he said all the top percussion kids in the county have him as a private teacher. My son has been with him just under a year. I do not know where his students end up. </p>

<p>Son will apply for colleges in the fall of 2011 but (huge but) is going away overseas this school year to a program that may not be able to accomodate his music. My plan was for son to do a couple of short programs this summer and a longer program next summer, before he applies for college. The music teacher said son should spend both summers at home, focusing on filling in any gaps. He said he could teach him a timpani piece or two that would get him into college-- but he wants him to be built up from the bottom up and be solid and he needs some time for that. </p>

<p>I can’t figure out how a week or two this summer could really affect that. Both programs I was considering are just percussion – one at a conservatory where he might want to apply in a year and the other at Interlochen because I was wondering if son wanted to apply for senior year there. (I wanted son to make his cd this summer, before he goes away, so he can apply to Interlochen for senior year while away. The music teacher says not to do it, there’s nothing Interlochen can give him that he can’t do home. For what it’s worth, son is taking almost 3 hours of music at his local public school-- two in performance and one IB-- but the level of play would be higher at Interlochen.)</p>

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<p>I find it a bit of a red flag that the teacher thinks the student should stay home both summers. But this is really hard to judge. Is there another music teacher who might offer a second opinion?</p>

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<p>If your son is going to a school program next year that will not allow him to focus on his music, I hope he will have an excellent private teacher and plenty of practice time. If not, it won’t matter one bit how much he and his current teacher do this summer, or whether he goes to a summer program or two, because whatever gains he makes will be lost next year if your S doesn’t have a lot of time to practice and prepare his repertoire…unless the goal is to prepare audition CDs over the summer, and use those in lieu of live auditions. If this is the case, then staying home and working with the current teacher makes the most sense.</p>

<p>If he is planning to do live auditions next winter, he will really need to do intensive repertoire practice during the fall.</p>

<p>on edit: just reread your post and see that he isn’t even applying till fall of '11 (thought he was going fall of '11 and applying this fall. My post is somewhat moot with that new info. Then I’d send him to the summer programs!</p>

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<p>Actually I can see the teacher’s point of view, and the teacher does seem experienced and savvy enough to know best about this. The problem issue is that he will be gone all of next year, which makes his plans of auditioning fall '11 very chancy. Intense work this summer and next could make a difference. The teacher may be able to help shape a plan for how he can keep his chops while he is away next year, if your son will be disciplined about the work. Good luck .</p>

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<p>You need to explore options and reserve the right for you and your student to make final decisions.
I feel quite strongly about this since I encountered this situation of resistance twice (!) - though it is water under the bridge at this point.
I have more than one in music (now young adults) and their lives would have been greatly limited if we had listened to the two local teachers who resisted our ideas of travel and experience elsewhere.
I don’t think it even matters if your kid wants to go professional or what; the life experiences offered by the range of music endeavours out of area are well worth pursuing.
Of course, you want to look at programs that may suit one’s interests, instrument, age, length of experience, style, so on and so on, but life should not be about local studio teachers limited their students!!!</p>

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<p>If you are looking at summer programs that are competitive for entrance, then if your S gets accepted he’ll have a look at how he stacks up to his peers on his instrument. He may also meet some teachers he may later wish to study with in college/conservatory. Certainly, it does sound like his current teacher is knowledgeable–that doesn’t mean he is secure enough in himself to encourage his students to get outside input. A one-week summer program isn’t likely to make much difference skills-wise, but it may offer the advantages I’ve stated above. The bigger “problem” is the year away, though wherever he is, there are conservatories for classical instruction, particularly in Europe. </p>

<p>If he goes to Interlochen summer, he can audition right then for the school year, in most cases. I don’t know if they’ll delay his entrance for the following year, but all of this is worth a conversation with admissions at Interlochen.</p>

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<p>I know nothing about percussion technique, but D’s (violin) teacher has always encouraged her to go to summer programs. Her attitude is, keep an open mind, try out what they suggest, and if you bring home something I disagree with, we’ll talk about it then.</p>

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<p>^^^^^^^D’s voice teacher had exactly the same attitude. She also had trained D well on what to look out for, and how to keep the voice healthy.</p>

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<p>I see this mainly as a professional judgment/trust issue, and provided that the instructor has served the student well, I would tend to rely on their judgment.</p>

<p>Having said that, there are times when YOUR voice (either as a parent or student) needs to be heard. I remember three distinct times where either son (or I as a go between) were at loggerheads over conflicts that the instructor (actually a chamber coach/mentor) did not want son to participate in. </p>

<p>You pick your battles and take your stand according to the necessary priorities. Willingness to see both sides and accept compromise is an important part of the relationship. The best and often most productive associations are mentoring relationships, as opposed to dogmatic approaches on either side.</p>

<p>Just my $.02.</p>