Author: EEBaum
Date: 2007-09-28 18:44
I have to disagree with skygardener about music-only conseratories being the only places to make connections. Any *very good* university music department in an area with a decent musical scene will do you just as well for connections as a conservatory.
I graduated a year ago, and if I wanted to put on a quintet concert I'd have no problems finding some very fine musicians for it. It's a matter of actually paying attention to people, getting to know them.
What I *would* recommend is trying to find out which programs have a social atmosphere. I'm not talking "let's get drunk Friday night" social, but "I brought some trios, who wants to play them" social. Find a place where you can randomly walk up to another musician and they'll give you the time of day and chat a bit. Those are the musicians you can call to put together an ensemble.
I don't know if CSULB was fairly unique in this respect, but the practice rooms are all in an open area, and many people practiced with the doors open, or didn't even bother going into the rooms. This was a godsend for a composition major, as a friendly stroll from one end of the department to the other could literally find you performers for just about any ensemble you'd care to write for. I'm a bit bummed looking for grad schools, as lots of them seem to have isolated practice rooms, some even with electronic scheduling systems, pretty much removing the casual aspect of the situation, making it much more difficult to find a pick-up quintet to play in or 4 saxophones, 3 flutes, and a mezzo-soprano to play my latest hypothetical kitsch-opera. And if you DID want to be left alone, it was quite easy to close the practice room doors and face away from the window.
It's my impression (whether rumored or actual) that at higher-caliber (i.e. big-name) music schools, it can be harder to find random people for pick-up ensembles, as people are more concerned with spending every waking moment alone in a practice room, squeezing the last bit of note perfection out of their excerpts, etc. For me, going the composer/performer route that relies very heavily on getting to know people, it would make things considerably more difficult.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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