piano in college

[melissa]

I am almost 19 and I have been taking piano lessons  for 11 years. Throughout high school I accompained the chorus and took lessons on the side. My goal is to get a masters in piano after I get my degree in Elementary Education. I didn't end up going to a college with a strong music program, but I made sure that I would be able to take some music classes. My minor is in music, with a focus on piano. However, because of all the other classes that came along with education, I found myself not being able to focus and put all my effort into piano. I just recently dropped lessons for the semester and am going to finish in the fall. Now that I stopped lessons for the time being, I find myself practicing more. In a way, I feel like I have let myself down, and that I start to question if I was really meant to play the piano. Is this normal? Any suggestions? I came to school becuase I wanted music and education and music is the first thing that had to go. Are breaks good?
After 11 years of piano lessons, I feel like I don't know what I should be able to do, and what I shouldn't.
Any tips would help! Thanks...

[faulty_damper]

I don't know how you spent those 11 years of training and practicing but I know that you didn't spend 3 hours a day minimum playing.  You're 19 minus 11 equals= you were eight years old when you started playing.  I'm sure some of those years were spent trying to to practice, am I right?

I'm in the same unison as you.  Sort of.  I didn't spend 11 years - less than 3 so far -  so I had time to do other things that interested me and didn't identify at all with the piano until I was your age at 19.  I'm 22 now.  I stick my finger into everything just so i have the experience of it.  Right now, it's piano and cycling.  Piano came first then cycling just last year.  I race bicycles now... go figure...  And I'm in college trying to get a degree in political science (which I don't have much interest in) but I'd rather be studying music but tampis for me: I started music less than 3 years ago and don't have a solid foundation for me to be accepted into the music program.

Dropping the lessons but still practicing (pieces you like) isn't taking a break from the piano - you're still playing it.  You are independent enough to practice what you like to play and not being told what to do.  I don't like being told what to do because I'm not 8 years old.


To quote some famous dead person: "Know thyself."  This is from Plato (or Socrates).

To know yourself, you must question yourself.  Why did you take piano lessons at the age of eight and why did you continue it for 11 years?  Why are you still playing the piano?  Why are you going to continue lessons in the fall after a "break"?  Why do you think you've let yourself down?

"Is this normal?"  If you walked into a classroom, how many in the class play the piano?  Or more generally, how many play any musical instrument?  How many are interested in music other than contemporary music?  Playing any musical instrument means you aren't "normal".  So if you feel out of the normal range, you just became more normal than "normal".

Question mostly for my knowing: Why do you continue to play the piano?  Do you go by the grading system to see if you can pass it to move onto the next?

[Clare]

I had a bit of the same experience as you. I wanted to do piano at university but my parents made me do architecture and there was hardly any time to practice piano. However, I was patient and practiced whenever I could, however sporadic, and after I finished my architecture course, I auditioned to get into my dream conservatorium and got in!
I had to wait seven long years while I was doing architecture, though, and at times it was frustrating. But I'm glad I did something else before going into music because I got a couple of exemptions from some subjects and I've got a lot more experience in life and music than I would have if I went into music straight after school.
melissa, why don't you finish your current course and apply to do a straight music course either at your university or elsewhere afterwards? It should be a bit easier for you to get in if you've got previous credits from your current course.
Do not despair! You can do anything you really really really want to do!

[melissa]

If I wait until after I get my degree in Education and then go to a conservatory, what pieces should I play to prepare me for when I go into music? Right now, I am finishing Brahms Rhapsopy Op 79 no. 2 and starting Claire De Lune. At this pace will pieces like these prepare me?

[Clare]

I think that ultimately it doesn't matter too much what pieces you play, except that you need to be able to play them very well and very musically. I think that playing musically is much more important than hanging on for dear life through a Transcendental Study or something.
What you've got now sounds good. If you are in doubt, you can always phone the place you'd like to apply to and find out more info from them. I did a lot of asking around and found students already at the school to talk to and asked them what they thought of what I was going to play.
Some music schools have very specific requirements on their websites, and they can help give you an idea on what another school might excpect you to play too.
At my audition, I played the last movement from Beethoven's sonata op. 10 no. 1, and a waltz by Chopin, op. 64 no. 3, and the Footsteps in the Snow prelude by Debussy (though they didn't ask me to play that one). As you can see, the things I picked to play weren't super hard, but I studied them with a microscope and was able to play them really well and I don't know but it might have left a better impression than say, a student who played much harder pieces but with less command.
Also, the interview is super important. You need to be able to say exactly why you want to study piano, and what your goals are.
For some reason, I found the audition not as scary as I thought, so don't panic too much.
I mean, my school wasn't the hardest to get into, but only six piano students were accepted, and I think that the thing that sold me to them was my wild enthusiasm in the interview and my attention to detail.
So there you go. That's my two cents on the subject. I hope I've helped you a bit. If you have any more questions, just ask.

[melissa]

what conservatory do you go to?

[Clare]

Somewhere in Australia... Monash.

[thomas_williams]

At my audition, I played the last movement from Beethoven's sonata op. 10 no. 1, and a waltz by Chopin, op. 64 no. 3, and the Footsteps in the Snow prelude by Debussy (though they didn't ask me to play that one)....
I mean, my school wasn't the hardest to get into, but only six piano students were accepted, and I think that the thing that sold me to them was my wild enthusiasm in the interview and my attention to detail.
So there you go.

I have been working on the Beethoven Op.10, No. 1(first movement), Chopin's Waltz in E Minor, Op. Posth., and Debussy's Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum, among other things.  So that's similar to your auditions program.

I am wondering what school you are in?  From other posts on this forum I gather that Austrailian conservatories are not as difficult to get into as some American schools, but I don't actually know it for a fact.  Could you comment on this?  I am still looking at the possibilities I have for college and had much rather go to a consevatory, where I could focus entirely on music, than go to a regular university and have to study math, science, and all this other stuff irrelevant to my major.  

[melissa]

hmmm... i live in Maine (in the U.S.) I am thinking about either Massachusetts or New York, but not sure where.

[Clare]

Thomas, yeah - I have heard that Australian schools are less hard to get into, but actually in reality I think it really depends on which school you're looking at. The thing is that here, the music schools are all relatively new. Like, the school I'm at is only about six years old, and the Australian Academy of Music is only a couple of years old too but I'd say for the Academy of Music the standards are comparable to a very good school in America. The only thing is, it has no real name for itself yet.
I used to think schools in Australia were hard to get into but now that I'm in one, I see the people around me, and I think to myself, "Um. They're not very good." It's disappointing in a way but ultimately it doesn't matter for me because I'm still getting taught by amazing teachers and I'll just kick everyone's butt at the end of semester.
So, yeah. I think MANY, but NOT ALL, Australian music schools are easier to get into.