 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chauncey
Date: 2006-09-02 23:11
Hello, My name is Brett, and I have been studying clarinet for about five years now, three of which have been very serious. Right now I am in the eleventh grade. I am definately stuck on the idea of becoming a clarinet virtuoso and doing a lot of performances. The idea just really strikes my sense of something I truly want to do in life.
Anyway, the place I would really love to study that is at Eastman in New York. My problem is that I don't know if I could financially make it, but I don't know how to check out if I do or not. I do know that I have been the first ranking classmen in my class, so a valedictorian is very possible for me. In addition to that, I have the most amazing clarinet teacher, and I believe if I can continue to study as hard as I am now with her, I may be able to get a very good scholarship there. The last student she sent there earned a one hundred percent scholarship, but I heard that she still had to pay a very large amount of money. Fortunately for her, though, she attends a school for the wealthier (not disgustingly wealthy, but it demands a lot of pay, I wouldn't have enough to go to that school even though it is public), and her family has enough to support her through it.
Very vague on everything, I know, but any help is appreciated.
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Author: andyrox
Date: 2006-09-03 06:02
it is a very hard school to get into. i would suggest you look into other schools as well. there are many good schools out there and if u dont make eastman you would have somewhere else to continue ur musical path.good luck.
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Author: kev182
Date: 2006-09-03 12:24
Just out of curiosity is your teacher Debbie Bish (Sp?). I would just continue working very hard and when time comes to apply for collage/conservatory do your best. There are many other music schools that are just as good or better as Eastman. Or some that are almost as good. Good luck and I really hope you can fullfil your dreams!
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Author: clarinetmc
Date: 2006-09-03 13:50
I never auditioned at Eastman, but my biggest suggestion is, don't limit yourself to one school! I went throught the whole stressful audition thing about a year and a half ago. Take it one step, and one school at a time. Eastman is a great school, but have you considered the Oberlin Conservatory, University of Michigan, Depaul, Cincinatti Conservatory, or Northwestern? All are great, and some of them may even be better. If you limit yourself to just Eastman, you will scare yourself when it is time to audition. Those are just some of my thoughts.
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Author: Chauncey
Date: 2006-09-03 19:20
Oh, I've got thoughts on other schools as well, but Eastman just seems to grab my attention. Unfortunately, from what I gather, Valedictorian is a useless title that will get you nowhere, after it helps you into a college only by a minute amount.
My teacher is Janet Thomas. I have complete trust in her, and I know she knows what she is doing, I'm sure if I just asked her about what I am asking you guys that she could help me out, but my lessons always go overtime with so much to do left over, and she has other lessons and is just so busy that I never get the chance.
Like what was said, I think I'll just continue to work hard and progress as much as I can before the time comes. I'm fairly calm for auditions, and always find the fun in it, although a few auditions ago I was a little too relaxed and didn't take it seriously enough, but I learned from that....I hope :D.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-09-03 19:38
Chauncey wrote:
> Oh, I've got thoughts on other schools as well, but Eastman
> just seems to grab my attention.
Have you visited Eastman?
Don't go by brochures alone ... and by all means you need to meet the teacher! Sometines, even though both student and teacher are just wonderful, there isn't that 'click' and you can get very disappointed and disillusioned.
If money is a worry, find out now all your avenues. Be prepared to go to a school that won't put you heavily into debt - the chances of finding a career in music that can pay those college loans off is slim. An inexpensive school where the teacher & student connect can be the best bargain - many of the less expensive schools have fantastic teachers! For instance, if you're a resident of Michigan, some of the state schools (while not really inexpensive) have some great teachers: Elsa Ludewig Verdehr, Caroline Hartig, Fred Ormand, Deborah Chodacki, Brad Wong come to mind.
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Author: FDF
Date: 2006-09-03 20:09
The music fair for high school students announced on the Eastman website (I posted above), is an interesting opportunity to meet with representatives from the some of the best music schools in the country, including my alma mater, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan, a great school. A link listing all the schools is http://www.esm.rochester.edu/apply/college_fair.php
Post Edited (2006-09-03 20:13)
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Author: Imperial Zeppelin
Date: 2006-09-04 11:55
Best of luck towards achieving your dreams. Applying to a conservatory is truly a process, not a task. I just dropped off my daughter at a conservatory to start her freshman year as a clarinet student so I'll try to ramble on with some musings on how our process went.
There's another BB that has much info towards this process at: College Confidential Music Majors. You should also check that out.
I'll take a contraposition here. We found college fairs to be a waste of time. If you're interested in a place, get on the phone with the admissions office. Ask them for intros to the clarinet professors and then get on the phone/email those professors and see who clicks with you. We were fortunate in that the frequent flyer account was ample so we visited many of the schools we were interested in to meet teachers and have lessons. This occured during D's junior year.
Congrats on your excellent academic achievements. However, when applying to a conservatory, your academic record is a very, very small factor on admissions. It all comes down to your audition in comparison to others that have auditioned that year for the same instrument. Since most conservatories just want to be sure that you can handle the academic load, people with GPAs > 3 on a 4 point scale are "bunched" together in the "they can handle it" bin. Therefore the titles like "Valedictorian," "NHS," "National Merit Scholar," "State Scholar," etc. are sadly just titles.
Towards the point of audition success and number of students needed for a particular instrument in a given year, you must select additional choices! Putting all your eggs in one basket is dangerous. Eastman had 8 clarinet students enroll for the class of 2009, which is 3 more than usual since everyone that was accepted attended. This limited the number of spots for the class of 2010. This game goes on at each school and changes each year. The bottom line is that a student that got accepted one year, might not be accepted another year due to the number of spots, the number of applicants and the quality of all the auditions.
Speaking of which, try your best to audition in person at the schools that you really would like to attend. I'm not saying that regional or recorded auditions aren't a good option; it's just that the on-site auditions are the best option.
Eastman is very generous with financial aid. Every admitted student gets a significant merit award. When you start talking about "need based" aid, you should do your homework and have your parents do a rough FAFSA calculation, the federal government's way of calculating need based financial aid. Once you get this, you'll have a better idea of your situation and can then call the schools that you're interested in and have a useful discussion with the financial aid office. They will be frank with you and help you make informed decisions.
Finally, you need to have many heart to heart discussions with your private instructor. I'm assuming that she feels you are Eastman material. Beyond that, however, you should explore multiple alternatives. There are many excellent conservatories throughout the country so just don't get your hear set on a single school. Expand your horizons and look at others.
My $0.02...
Post Edited (2006-09-04 12:04)
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-09-05 07:25
There are a lot of good music schools out there. Remember that the competition for jobs is VERY keen out there for music professors. This means that in terms of quality of instructors it's a buyers market for people wanting to study clarinet.
It's also remember that while the place you do your undergrad is more important if you study music than it is in most other majors a lot of your true polish is probably going to come from grad school (pretty much a requirement for most high level gigs these days). Names are a lot more important then and you are likely to have an assistantship (that usually carries a tuition waiver....at least it does in the sciences) that will provide you barely enough to live on, if you like macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles.
Good luck and have fun!
-Randy
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Author: kev182
Date: 2006-09-05 14:21
If you want to get into a good conservatory/University for music, I would really reccomend trying to apply for Interlochen Academy, there very easy about giving out large scholarships and there a a few ways to get full... check it out, i really think it would be good
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-09-05 14:29
kev182 wrote:
> they're very easy about giving out large scholarships
> and there a a few ways to get full... check it out, i really
> think it would be good
I'm sorry, kev182, but as a father who put a son through 3 years at IAA - that's just not true. If you're upper-middle-class - forget it. There's no dollars available. I ran through 75K in 3 years. Not that it wasn't worth it.
Argh. I just looked up the current tuition. 3 years would set me back over 100K. I don't think it's worth it at that point.
I remember that I saved 15 grand a year when my kid attended CIM ... with scholarship it was 10-13K/yr.
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Author: kev182
Date: 2006-09-06 01:07
yea, Interlochen is expensive =(... the general scholarship is 50% but a few get a ride on the emerson program. If you have a good teacher at home and have a good stable ensemble I wouldn't apply. Graduating from there just looks good on paper and might give a boost in getting accepted... might. It still all comes down to how you play =D
but i personally think the cost is worth it...well.. to a certain point
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Author: Scotti
Date: 2006-09-06 18:39
"Remember that the competition for jobs is VERY keen out there for music professors. This means that in terms of quality of instructors it's a buyers market for people wanting to study clarinet."
Randy, I'm afraid I completely disagree with this assessment. It's true that the competition for music school jobs is intense, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there are that many qualified and effective teachers in these jobs. The reason there is so much competition is because for years music schools have been graduating way more clarinetists than the market can withstand. This is particularly true for clarinetists, who make up the core section of a university band but for whom there are 2-4 positions available in full-time orchestras and usually only one job available at any college. There are more schools graduating more clarinetists irresponsibly, leading to incredible competition for college teaching jobs that is not reflective of the quality of the candidates.
I really believe there are only a handful of school/teacher combinations in the country that you could say you can't go wrong with. Brett's original post talked about being a clarinet virtuoso, and from his description of doing many performances, I'm going to assume he did not mean an orchestral job. While I'm tempted to point out that this dream doesn't come true for almost anyone, I think we should recognize that he's talking about a very, very high level of performance ability. Brett, find out anything you can about Eastman and a few other top schools and commit to them. At this point, there's nothing else you can do, other than apply to every scholarship competition you see possible.
As a junior in high school, if you work extremely hard starting now, I believe you have a shot at one of the best schools.
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Author: Chauncey
Date: 2006-09-06 22:43
I have very honestly been working as hard as I can starting a year ago. I try and practice as much as I can, as effectively as I can, and just have fun with it as much as I can. Essentially, I'm "walking in the forest" as much as I can.
I will admit that I never really thought about the TEACHERS of the colleges. That leaves a little touch of red on my cheeks, but that's what this topic is for, right? I think that heart to heart conversations with my teacher would definatlely help a lot, but like I said earlier, she is just so busy....maybe one day I will get lucky, so I'll just be wary of extra time. Thanks a bunch so far!
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2006-09-08 19:49
Brett,
take the time out of your lessons to talk to your teacher. It is definitely worth missing 5 or 10 minutes of etudes to have a frank discussion about this. Do some research, pick out some schools that interest you, write down the names of the clarinet teachers, and then ask your teacher what she knows about the schools and teachers. Ask her what she thinks, realistically, your chances of getting into and succeeding at a top-level music school are and what you need to work on between now and the time auditions start. Write down the audition requirements for each school.
There are probably some works that are on all of the lists for all of the schools. It's probably a good idea to learn those. Start learning them now. I didn't start until the beginning of my senior year, and I wasn't really where I needed to be until the end of "audition season," as evidenced by the fact that I only got into the last schools I auditioned for.
I talked to my teacher about each school and he did some research, talked to other music teachers and made a couple of phone calls and got back to me the next week about which schools he was impressed with and which teachers he knew of. He particularly liked the IU school of music, where he hoped I could get in and study with Howard Klug, the Oberlin Conservatory, where many of his very talented and reasonably successful friends graduated, and UC Santa Cruz, where his former (and, he says, one of his best) teacher, Mark Brandenburg, teaches.
Oberlin was my first audition and the Indiana tape was due pretty early on (i.e. I screwed them both up BADLY), so those ended up not being options for me. For UCSC though, I went down to Santa Cruz and met with Mark, had a lesson/audition with him and he admitted me to his studio right there.
It's unbelievably important to talk to your teacher about this, and if she's half as good as you say she is, she'll be happy to discuss this with you.
Post Edited (2006-09-08 19:50)
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