" Lower Level " Conservatories with good teachers?

[ajlongspiano]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if any of you know some universities/conservatories that may not be super prestigious but still have very good private teachers? This would be very helpful to me. I feel kind of discouraged at my chances of getting into a " good " school, at least for the first few years of my undergrad. Thanks so much for your help and support.


- AJ

[visitor]

this is super smart thinking. almost more important than the 'pedigree' of the spot you land on is the teacher him/herself you choose to study with, especially at the undergrad level.  

This is a highly personal decision and remember you are interviewing the school and teacher to see if they are a good fit for you as much as they are looking at you if you it their ideal candidate profile.

I would think about pianists/artists you respect and look up to, see if any of them have teaching gigs at other schools (there are amazing teachers and pianists at 'sleeper' schools that maybe don't have the glitz/glam of the big names but you get world class instruction and performing opportunities ).

i mean just one example is Cliburn gold medalist Vladimir Viardo who teaches at
https://music.unt.edu/faculty-and-staff/vladimir-viardo

andre watts has/had a gig at a school in philadelphia (university of the arts was it?)

if you start looking for designations of 'artist in residence' or similar distinguished faculty, you'll find a lot, also there are super incredible professors that may not be as famous in performance headlines but that can still skyrocket your playing due to their excellence in advanced pedagogy practice.

Dang Thai Son is a guest professor and U of Montreal https://www.dangthaison.net/bio.html

Krasimira Jordan is a super awesome lady, splits time between Vienna Academy of Music and a small private college in the US  
https://viennapianoduo.wordpress.com/
here she performs

there are examples after examples of less visible institutions which can help you to become worldclass, and it is better usually to be a big  or medium fish in a smaller pond and small fish big pond, especially w regard to financial assistance they can offer to attract talent, etc.
ask around, read artist bios, etc

[ajlongspiano]

Thank you so much, Visitor! I really appreciate your help a ton.

-AJ

[philolog]

In the United States, some that immediately come to mind are Boston University, The University of Wisconsin, and I think the University of Michigan. I'm sure there are many others worthy of your attention. I wouldn't give up on Eastman just yet, though. From what I've seen of your playing, you show lots of promise and I would hope that that's an important criterion by which to evaluate a prospective student. After all, if you were a "finished" pianist, why would you have to go to school (of course learning to play the piano is a life-long endeavor, but I'm sure you take my meaning).

Your history reminds me somewhat of my own: I had a rather peculiar background vis-a-vis the usual progress of the musically inclined and had to work for three intensive years to prepare for an audition at a "top" school. I got in, so you, too, may very well succeed.

By the way, when you say you've only been playing for three years, does that mean you started "from scratch" or did you dabble before?

In any case, best of luck finding the right school.

[ajlongspiano]

Hi philolog, thanks for your encouragement.

When I was 11, I took my dad's old 61-key keyboard down from the attic and played it for a little while (watching youtube tutorials and stuff). Shortly after I quit, and started again at 14, this time much more seriously. At 15 I started lessons for the first time.

[rubinsteinmad]

You are crazy smart There is this well-recognized professor (Ill PM his name to you) who went to a not-so-crazy-at-the-time university for his Bachelor's. But there was a teacher who he really thought was a GREAT teacher (Ill send you her/his name, too.) After that, 75% of the people in her studio for that Class went to Juillard for their Masters.

(Note the following  very prestigious, but not as presitigious as say, Juillard (don't even MENTION Curtis )

Peabody (This is a part of John Hopkins University, one of the most prestigious in the world, and they will NOT accept you unless you are good enough to be accepted in the University. However, they have a pre-college that you don't have o have a high GPA   )

Oberlin (again, very presitioguis conservatory. If you want me to send you some teacher recommendations and descriptions, I can. Another great thing is that starting from 2016, they will host the USA base of the Lake Como Piano Academy. That means you can get masterclasses from some of the greatest pianists in the world! You can do more research on this academy; the 1st prizes of the 2010 Chopin Compettion, 2nd Prize of the 2014 Gina Bachauer Competition, and 1st & 3rd prizes of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition study/studied at the Italian base.) For Oberlin, they are part of a college, so they are kinda expensive, but they are very generous with scholarships (Personally, there are several people around my area down South who got full/almost full scholarships there.)


If you wanna learn from Babayan, maybe the Cleveland Insitute of Music is a good choice, even though it is pretty presitigious   He is an artist-in-residence there, and guess what? TRIFONOV STUDIES THERE!!!!!!!!!



For the not-as-hot conservatories, I hear that USC has a great program, but I've never been there, so I cant really say. They also host the SEPF, and guess what? Eric Lu AND Sergei Babayan are gonna be guest artists next year!!!!
Also, at McGill University, I think Andre LaPlante teaches there.

When I think of more, Ill reply more.  

[rubinsteinmad]

Also, you can ask your teacher what he thought about his conservatories. Even though they are not as "competitive" as say, Juillard, he still got a higher prize at the National Chopin Competition than every Juillard student (btw, there were many of them) EXCEPT Eric Zuber.

Just so you know, Eric Zuber is in the elite of Juillard. He's the best-of-the-best at Juillard. He won the Juillard Bachauer competition, which gives you full merit scholarships to a Master Degree at Juillard (so naturally, its quite competitive ). He also won 4th at the Rubinstein Competition.

But still, just because Josh Wright went to crtain schools doesn't mean he completely enjoyed it there... You may have to ask him about his experiences.

Another conservatory is the Shenandoah Conservatory. John O'Conor is an Artist in Residence there.


Ohhh.... and don't say they're "lower level conservatories" outside of PS. Even though it probably is true, some people might be offended. Josh Wright seems like a chill person, but other people are different.... XD (For example, if you see a Juilard piano graduate and then start talking about your Curtis dreams...  )

[rubinsteinmad]

THE Hamelin (actually, Richard-Hamelin) went to McGill University, where he studied with the great Andre LaPlante.

BTW, my thoughts on Richard-Hamelin have changed. Hes magnificent andinspring.

[schumaniac]

I was gonna suggest many of Rubinsteinmad's :p
And like he says, all are still prestigious though despite not being as well known as Juilliard and Curtis.

I'd also suggest Northwestern- Alan Chow is a great teacher. And Fabio Bidini's at Colburn, also in LA, smack in the "concert halls and art museums" area not the sketchier part where USC is O_o Cooburn tries to be the "Curtis of the West" :p offering only scholarships. But don't freak about that lol

(LA is gross in general though and I have no idea what region of the U.S. you'd like to study in... but the nice part is you get to visit all these places for auditions and get a feel for what you like not that that isn't obvious or anything)

[rubinsteinmad]

I was gonna suggest many of Rubinsteinmad's :p
And like he says, all are still prestigious though despite not being as well known as Juilliard and Curtis.

I'd also suggest Northwestern- Alan Chow is a great teacher. And Fabio Bidini's at Colburn, also in LA, smack in the "concert halls and art museums" area not the sketchier part where USC is O_o Cooburn tries to be the "Curtis of the West" :p offering only scholarships. But don't freak about that lol

(LA is gross in general though and I have no idea what region of the U.S. you'd like to study in... but the nice part is you get to visit all these places for auditions and get a feel for what you like not that that isn't obvious or anything)

When I was thinking about my pseudonym-last-name "Angel", I was referring to "Los Angeles" 

[quote} Colburn [/quote] 

[schumaniac]

When I was thinking about my pseudonym-last-name "Angel", I was referring to "Los Angeles"  

[quote} Colburn  

Lel

Yes I have the inside scoop about teachers and sh-t in this part of the States