College Prep

[Chopins_Fantaisie]

I'm coming to the end of my senior year in highschool so college plans are definitely in mind. I will be giving a recital as a conclusion of the school year, so I'm unsure whether I will or will not be taking lessons with my teacher during the summer. And so, I come seeking advice.  
If I do not continue lessons through the summer, in place I will be working on sight-reading, transposing, improvisation with another musician, working on music selections for accompanying a vocalist I work with, and in between all that, teaching to keep some sort of income. Since I will be entering college in the fall, I think my sight-reading skills need to be just a little better than they are now... transposing as well, because I work often with vocalists that always need a change in key.

Taking lessons could perhaps be beneficial in all the areas I would be focusing on, but do you think it would be necessary? Should I work on sight-reading with my teacher (since she could perhaps supply the music i read)? Or is there anything else i might consider working on before i enter college?

Any input is appreciated. thanks!

[Chopins_Fantaisie]

dude... doesn't anyone have any suggestions?

[mdove_]

You didn't say what you would be studying or what level you're at now, so it's a bit difficult to determine what you need to work on. I'm going to make suggestions assuming that you are going into a performance program. I would suggest at a minimum to have all major and minor scales and arpeggios learned in every key. Sight reading is also something that you should work on improving.  Most colleges require an audition. Generally, the audition requirements are something like the following:

Baroque work : Bach Prelude and Fugue, Suite, etc.
Classical : Beethoven, Mozart or Haydn sonata
Romantic and 20th century works are often left to the performer's discretion, but the pieces chosen should be on roughly the same level as the pieces from other eras.

Hope this help.

Milton

[Chopins_Fantaisie]

thank you, Milton.

Going by what my teacher put me under for a festival this year, my level is intermediate advanced (if that makes sense) and i learned Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu and the 3rd Mvmt. of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata a couple of years ago... we haven't really done any sort of serious study of pieces over the past year or so, though. But I have been playing around with Beethoven's Pathetique and Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto just for some variety to go along with the other less demanding pieces i've worked on, to give you a further idea of what level i'm at.

while I don't wish to pursue the performance area, having spoken with a professor at the college i plan on attending about what exactly i hope to study, he said the performance degree would be the way to go first. so i guess that's what i will be going for.... I've already done an audition....

as for sight-reading, i was able to sight read well enough a piece by Veracini out of a Suzuki method book to accompany a violinist recently (Sonata in E minor, first 2 mvmts). but like i mentioned before, i would still like to work on the skill of sight-reading, because i often have times where i'm given music to read and i see my skills need polished. I will be working with a semi-professional vocalist over the summer and we're planning on doing some pieces by Mozart, Bach, and Handel. I don't know if by mentioning that if it will give you an idea for what i might work on along with those pieces for sight-reading... but i guess what i'm asking for is what pieces should i sight read for solo?

[mdove_]

It sounds like you are more than ready to enter a college program now. As for sight reading, you should generally read pieces a couple levels below the repertoire you are playing. I would suggest the following:

Baroque : Handel suites, anything by Bach, Rameau, Couperin, Scarlatti

Classical : sonatas by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Clementi, etc.

Romantic : Liszt pieces from the Years of Pilgrimage, Chopin nocturnes, waltzes, preludes, mazurkas, Schumann Scenes from Childhood, etc.

20th century : Prokofiev Fugitive Visions, Sarcasms, etc., Debussy preludes, Scriabin preludes and other shorter works

Most of the above can be found in cheap dover editions, which would be perfect for sight reading practice. If you were learning any of these pieces, you may want to find a better edition, but dover will be fine for just sight reading.

Milton

[Chopins_Fantaisie]

i will certainly look for the pieces you mentioned - your list is quite helpful, Milton! thanks. now, do you think i need a teacher to guide me through reading them or should i just read them on my own? my teacher might have some good insight/advice on what to do for certain techniques or what have you... but i'm thinking i could go ahead and read without aid. just seeking further advice on what might be done.....