Klarinet Archive - Posting 001337.txt from 2000/10

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] A curricular issue
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 20:02:36 -0400

--- Mark Charette <charette@-----.org> wrote:

> They kept their promise.
> There's an awful lot of water in this world ...

First of all, that's a very old joke, which you apparently experienced
as a reality. I imagine there were good things about your tour of duty,
despite being in the middle of the ocean so much. But with respect to
knowing which questions to ask, "no man is an island." Part of the in-
vestigation and research that goes into shopping for music schools in-
cludes talking to students who already attend that school. They are
among the best possible available resources for getting an authentic
understanding of the conditions and procedures under which the school's
administration actually operates -- never mind what their viewbooks say.
Fourth-year undergrads are ideal for this purpose. This also applies to
the quality of instruction, the nature of the ensemble placement process,
and pretty much every other aspect. You won't have to ask questions at
all, in fact. Simply walk into the practice room of some clarinet play-
er, explain why you're there, and be prepared to take notes, because you
are liable to get a lot more information than you had anticipated. While
on a business trip to Boston last month, I dropped by NEC a couple of days
in a row, because I'm tinkering with the idea of returning to school for
a Master's in clarinet performance. On my second visit, I found not one,
but two undergrad Seniors, who were more than willing to spend time tell-
ing me their impressions about everything at the school. I literally had
to cut the second one short because I had to catch my plane back to Jersey,
and we had talked for nearly two hours! I found out more from those two
conversations than I could ever have learned by having a stilted conver-
sation with an admissions representative or an instructor. The students
themselves have all of the relevant inside dope on how things work at a
given school. So to suggest that you don't know which questions to ask
is a pretty weak excuse.

Any questions? :-)

-- Neil

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