What does it take to get into a great music school?

[mralkanesque]

I'm a very ambitious student, and I plan on applying to several music schools when I finish High school. ( Juilliard is my dream, my teacher went there, his teacher Adele Marcus WORKED there, and HER teacher Josef Lhevinne worked there as well) But I'm not sure if I really have a chance. What does it take to get accepted to Juilliard or a top notch music school? How good do you have to be? What areas of knowledge should you already have covered? What kind of experience do you need? How advanced should your technical abilities be? I only ask because I want to know what I need to work on towards my own personal goals.

[alpacinator1]

IIRC, for most schools you'll have to audition with a specific set of pieces. An audition might look like this: A Bach P+F, an Etude (Chopin, Liszt, Rach or similar), a Beethoven/Mozart/Schubert Sonata, some Romantic composition (eg. Chopin Ballades or Scherzos) and another piece of your choice (maybe something more modern).

Juilliard being a prestigious school, I'd assume they expect you to play all of these very accurately and with a good musical interpretation. In other words, you'll have to play them all up to concert standard. They'll also probably want you to pick relatively hard pieces, so that means no op. 49 sonatas, no C minor prelude+fugue, etc.

[Bob]

Great audition, good repertoire, a teacher who knows a few people/recommendation....

Competition winning doesn't hurt.

Good technical chops.  They say that's not "the" thing, but you still need technique too...

Potential.  That's mainly what they're looking for.  Will you do what they say?  Will you actually graduate?  Will you actually get a job later on?  ie Will you make them look good?

[awesom_o]

I'm a very ambitious student, and I plan on applying to several music schools when I finish High school. ( Juilliard is my dream, my teacher went there, his teacher Adele Marcus WORKED there, and HER teacher Josef Lhevinne worked there as well) But I'm not sure if I really have a chance. What does it take to get accepted to Juilliard or a top notch music school? How good do you have to be? What areas of knowledge should you already have covered? What kind of experience do you need? How advanced should your technical abilities be? I only ask because I want to know what I need to work on towards my own personal goals.

You haven't really said anything about your musical abilities or your own personal goals. All you've said is that you want to go to a particular school, because two members of your own personal pedagogical family tree happened to work there in the past.

My question is, if you've already plucked the ripe apples of knowledge off of that tree, what is it that you want from Juilliard?

Is it that you think you are a top-notch student, so you think you belong in a top-notch school?

Is there something that they teach particularly at Juilliard that they do not teach elsewhere that you wish to learn?

Sorry, I can't seem to tell whether your goal is actually to become an excellent musician, or whether you are just hungry to be perceived as being an excellent musician.

[mralkanesque]

You haven't really said anything about your musical abilities or your own personal goals. All you've said is that you want to go to a particular school, because two members of your own personal pedagogical family tree happened to work there in the past.

My question is, if you've already plucked the ripe apples of knowledge off of that tree, what is it that you want from Juilliard?

Is it that you think you are a top-notch student, so you think you belong in a top-notch school?

Is there something that they teach particularly at Juilliard that they do not teach elsewhere that you wish to learn?

Sorry, I can't seem to tell whether your goal is actually to become an excellent musician, or whether you are just hungry to be perceived as being an excellent musician.

        I have not said anything about my personal goals because I do NOT want advice on mmy current level of playing. I am simply curious as to what is generally required of me when I apply to said music school.

[awesom_o]

well, I think Bob's post is spot on. There are very few spots available each year in these programs. It helps to already have a relationship of some sort with someone on the faculty, i.e. you have impressed them while they were on a jury of a particular competition, or you have studied with them previously at a summer festival. If neither of this is possible, I would say having an exceptional classical-style piece prepared would be of the utmost importance on the audition. Plenty of undergraduate candidates for high-level schools can sound reasonably impressive in well-prepared romantic-style works. Very few can distinguish themselves musically in the earlier style periods. I would also be prepared to improvise. They could always ask for that as well. You never know.

I would only be able to give you advice on your playing if I could hear a sample of it.