music conservatorys

[imbetter]

I've never yet entered a music school, I'm still studying privately. But what are they like? What are the usual practice habits? What kind of repertoire do you study each year? I just wana know what they're like for the future.


thanks

[amelialw]

Over here at the University of British Columbia, 1st year students typically study pieces like Fantasie Impromptu by Chopin, Sonata in A major K331 by Mozart, Bach's Partita's etc. I my self won't be applying to this place. I intend to apply to the vancouver academy of music which is a much better music school

[pianowelsh]

Im not sure your nerves can really stand to hear what these places are like...NOISEY for one. Our head of department made a comment once about visiting in the middle of the recess and being stunned at how quiet the place was....i mean literally the walls, doors ceilings..corridors are full of sound - Imagine some eclectic kind of Ives sonata then magnify it ..this gets worse at exam time - everything gets louder and faster and people are queing at the practice room doors for their slots. Any school of music there is a tangible sense of energy..people are their to get a job done! there are always people around at opening time (sometimes as early as 7:30 am!) many have breakfast even shower there! and others go for liquid breakfast (coffee) on way to practice rooms. There is always a deadline to meet and so often people will be practising even after they have done a concert until 10-11pm at night to preparefor their next lesson/class or for a chamber music coaching in the morning.  You need stamina to get though a college course..because you have lectures and performance classes, orchestral rehearsals, choirs...private teaching - to fit in the day somewhere.  Not for the faint hearted but VERY rewarding.

[lostinidlewonder]

You will find that music school treat usually you like cattle when they lecture mass classes. Tutorials might not be any better but you can get the right teachers there. Most music departments are full of academic musicians, the ones that actually have a concerting career are rare, thus you usually get taught by people who do not completely know the ins and outs of professional concerting, this will be alright if concerting doesn't interest you.

I'd keep away from any school which say things like "This is the only way to do your music here." embrace those that push you towards answering musical questions not give you one that they think the holy grail of. Check if the schools network their students so that the learning is shared and experienced with you and your classmates together. Schools which encourage many meetings for students to jam together and share ideas get my thumbs up!

You also want a school which teaches the business side of setting up public performances if this interests you. Unfortunately this is not a topic taught very much at all and a knowledge I have absorbed mostly from people who have been national/international concert performers (and businessmen/businesswomen) in private talks.  Thus it is important to be privately taught by these kind of people if you yourself wish to perform. It is not necessary however, you can always work it out for yourself by jumping in the deep end and trying it out, you must do this in the end anyway because everyones experience in setting up a concert is different but every one of us must make an effort on our own  behalf to get the concert happening not rely on other people(which may be a trap you can get set up for if you rely on your music schools reputation to get you concerts). Most people do not have the nerves for this, there is a big chance for failure in the business side of things, unfortunately no matter how well you play a piano.

I have found that the most important thing you take away from music schools are the contacts you might make through them. The musical learning comes mostly from yourself anyway, you are simply guided in a particular musical direction. Hold onto your contacts for dear life because this is what makes your career. If I didn't personally know the concert hall managers, then organising concerts would be a lot harder, and more expensive! But I don't do it for gain, you do it because your career connects you with certain people who also work in line with your kind of work, and you are now questioned what do you do this this contact? This is where many musicians can fail because they might not be people persons. I sure know many musicians who are difficult to like !!!

[amelialw]

You will find that music school treat usually you like cattle when they lecture mass classes. Tutorials might not be any better but you can get the right teachers there. Most music departments are full of academic musicians, the ones that actually have a concerting career are rare, thus you usually get taught by people who do not completely know the ins and outs of professional concerting, this will be alright if concerting doesn't interest you.

This is not very true, there are music school with class sizes of 3-8 students only.

Yes very few teachers actually have a concerting career because of the commitment and practise required.

Thus it is important to be privately taught by these kind of people if you yourself wish to perform. It is not necessary however, you can always work it out for yourself by jumping in the deep end and trying it out, you must do this in the end anyway because everyones experience in setting up a concert is different but every one of us must make an effort on our own  behalf to get the concert happening not rely on other people(which may be a trap you can get set up for if you rely on your music schools reputation to get you concerts).

If you want a career as a concert pianists you have to have a teacher who is a concert pianists otherwise it will be very tough. The reason why I am becoming both a teacher and a concert pianist is because my teacher already has an excellent reputation as a concert pianist.

[franzliszt2]

You will find that music school treat usually you like cattle when they lecture mass classes. Tutorials might not be any better but you can get the right teachers there. Most music departments are full of academic musicians, the ones that actually have a concerting career are rare, thus you usually get taught by people who do not completely know the ins and outs of professional concerting, this will be alright if concerting doesn't interest you.

This is not very true, there are music school with class sizes of 3-8 students only.

Yes very few teachers actually have a concerting career because of the commitment and practise required.

Thus it is important to be privately taught by these kind of people if you yourself wish to perform. It is not necessary however, you can always work it out for yourself by jumping in the deep end and trying it out, you must do this in the end anyway because everyones experience in setting up a concert is different but every one of us must make an effort on our own behalf to get the concert happening not rely on other people(which may be a trap you can get set up for if you rely on your music schools reputation to get you concerts).

If you want a career as a concert pianists you have to have a teacher who is a concert pianists otherwise it will be very tough. The reason why I am becoming both a teacher and a concert pianist is because my teacher already has an excellent reputation as a concert pianist.

But most piano teachers at any decent conservatoire are concertizing all the time! I have never met any teacers where I am who havn't had big concert careers or aren't still foinf it. My teacher comes in to teach 2-3 days a week. And thats still only for 8 hours, which leaves time to practice. He always changes days, to fit around his concerts and stuff. If you want to be a concert pianist it would be strongly advised to go to music school. Most of the best teachers in the world teach in them, and the amount of contacts and concert oppertunities are huge!!! You won't get that by studying privatly.

I agree with pianowelsh....NOISEY!! That sums them up perfectly. It's also very competive and everyone is stabbing eachother in the back! The atmoshphere can be great and you do make great friends, but it is very stressful having to play in front of a big group of fellow pianists becasue you know they have decided to insult you before you've even played!

Practice habits are insane! You will find yourself staying up late or getting up early. The amount of times I've sat in a coffee shop at 6 30 am waiting for the place to open, just so I can get some practice done is riddiculous! Although fun, becasue my friend do the same from time to time and it's fun sitting in a cafe at 6 30 haha. I've stayed up all night on a few occasions, slaving away at a piece for my lesson which I hadn't done enough work for.

Reperoire is usually a very individual thing, and you usually decided what to do with the teachers guidance. You can be certain to get Chopin Etudes though!

I would advise music school, I love it! But I think it takes a certain type of person. You see people around, and you can see who's being affected by it all. Every musician takes insults and bad reviews, and they must get back on their feet and stay focused. In a place like a conseravtoire, a little trip...and it's very hard to get back up!

[jinfiesto]

Oh boy... Conservatories... Exciting. Hahaha. There are a lot of good teachers that don't teach at conservatories. In fact, most of the truly great teachers and performers don't teach at conservatories... Why? Because conservatories can't serve their needs. As active performers, they need connections, and money... Money is usually good. Hans Boeple for example, one of the greatest teachers of today, teaches at UC Santa Clara. Certainly not a conservatory, why? Because Santa Clara has lots of money... And lots of connections. Daniel Pollack is another great example. He's one of the greatest pianists of the century, and he doesn't teach at a conservatory, he teaches at USC... Yeah... The university of Spoiled Children... Anyways, universities with money and connections, can pay more, help active performers concertize, arrange sponsorships, and help with releasing cds, etc.... All very good reasons for very good people to teach elsewhere than universities. If you're serious about pursuing music as a career, i would Dredge up the faculty list for several universities that you would be interested in going to for academic studies, and researching the faculty. You may find someone very impressive. Also, it's easier to get scholarships from Universities, than conservatories... Usually a plus. Unfortunately, Universities don't carry a big name in the musical world, so you're kind of up the creek without a paddle there, if you intend to concertize, you won't have a big name school to rely on.

[jinfiesto]

Oh I forgot... As for those Chopin etudes, get them out of the way before college. I'm currently working on that... hahaha. I've been learning a chopin etude every week for the last month... I don't know how much more I can put up with... Hahahahaha. But seriously, being able to do all the etudes puts you seriously ahead of the competition. Even if you learn them just to get a good idea of the technique. I intend to perform them all, so that's a little more grueling, but it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the technique for all of them...

[pianowelsh]

Very true - but they will still make you study them in college even if youve done them already.

[imbetter]

i was talking with thalberg in the chat room and came to the conclusion:



WHY IS EVERBODY SO FRICKEN OBSESSED WITH CHOPIN ETUDES!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!

[franzliszt2]

The etudes are amaizng music. Just most people treat them as athletic feats. There is some absolutly incredible moments in all of them. Listen to good people playing them, and you'll understand why they are amazing. Peopel always play them becasue they think that to play them means they have good technique. But they are totalyl wrong. You only have good technique if you can play them using the correct technique  Not many people can, and thats why they are so hard! My teacher is a firm believer in that they are the hardest pieces in the repertoire...I agree, after having lessons on them, you find things that are harder in them than anything I've ever tried to play. Howvere these difficulties can be skimmed, and usualyl are skimmed. And people like a lot of amateur pianists you meet think that speed is the only problems ha!! If only they were aware!

[amelialw]

Yes, there is a huge reason why everyone's obsessed with chopin etudes. I know I am, and I plan to finish learning all of them eventually or at least Op.10.

They incoprate both musicality and technique and each of the chopin etudes have their own special quality and teach a different type of technique and they help build strength as well.

[elevateme_returns]

do you prefer op. 10 or op. 25? little off topic i know

[imbetter]

op.10

[rallestar]

25. Those last 3... 

[franzliszt2]

op10 by far. It's much better as a set, and there is more to be learnt. Op25 not that great in my opinion. Op25no6 one of my favorite etudes though. Why do people like winter wind? I hate that one so much!

[jinfiesto]

Pcha! The winter wind r0x0rs my s0x0rs... Hahahaha.. Rofl my waffle. Anyways. People are obsessed with the Chopin Etudes because they present enormous technical and musical difficulty. Haha. I went to a Daniel Pollack lecture on the Chopin etudes... It took more than 20 hours to cover them all... In the space of like 2 days... I thought my head was gonna explode.... hahahahaha.

[amelialw]

op 10. And Butterfly from Op.25

[steinway43]

My experience at the first university I attended was horrible. The piano faculty was made up mostly of lunatics! Some of the teachers verbally abused thier students. One was doing this with his studio door wide open, and when I walked by with my jaw on the floor he looked at me and screamed even louder! How you were treated was very political and, I'm sad to say, had a LOT to do with your looks.  I quit there and didn't go back to school for a long time.

(This yelling at students is apparently not uncommon in private lessons. My teacher in high school suffered that while getting both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree at Indiana. I won't mention her teacher's name but he is famous).

When I auditioned somewhere else 7 years later, it was at the University of Houston. They have a great faculty there and any issues of politics were very subdued by comparison. So obviously not every school is exactly the same. But regardless where you go it's not an easy task. I never finished the degree and though I'd like to...I just don't know if I have the stamina. The playing part is the easy part. All I need for that is to do a senior recital. It's the rest of it that puts me off. I need math in my life?

 

[thalberg]

Oh boy... Conservatories... Exciting. Hahaha. There are a lot of good teachers that don't teach at conservatories. In fact, most of the truly great teachers and performers don't teach at conservatories... Why? Because conservatories can't serve their needs. As active performers, they need connections, and money... Money is usually good. Hans Boeple for example, one of the greatest teachers of today, teaches at UC Santa Clara. Certainly not a conservatory, why? Because Santa Clara has lots of money... And lots of connections. Daniel Pollack is another great example. He's one of the greatest pianists of the century, and he doesn't teach at a conservatory, he teaches at USC... Yeah... The university of Spoiled Children... Anyways, universities with money and connections, can pay more, help active performers concertize, arrange sponsorships, and help with releasing cds, etc.... All very good reasons for very good people to teach elsewhere than universities. If you're serious about pursuing music as a career, i would Dredge up the faculty list for several universities that you would be interested in going to for academic studies, and researching the faculty. You may find someone very impressive. Also, it's easier to get scholarships from Universities, than conservatories... Usually a plus. Unfortunately, Universities don't carry a big name in the musical world, so you're kind of up the creek without a paddle there, if you intend to concertize, you won't have a big name school to rely on.

PHENOMENAL advice.  A good friend of mine studied with an amazing pianist at University of Kansas.  Another one at University of Georgia (a transplant from tthe Moscow Conservatory, happy to be making six figures in Georgia as compared with the standard 60k salary at my conservatory)

Anyway, the "big name school" thing is an issue, but not as big of an issue as your playing!!  Besides,  conservatories suck 'cause it's all musicians.  Nothing worse than all musicians, what a horrible feeling.  Universities are nice because you can make friends with math majors and others who perhaps aren't wondering if they're better than you.

At a university, you might be one of your teacher's only excellent students, so you will get lots of attention.  At conservatory, you will be one of 20 outstanding students in your teacher'ss studio, so individual attention will be hard to come by.

That said, I spent 6 years at a conservatory and survived.  But I really ,really got ignored!!