yongkilcho

Peabody, Michigan(Ann Arbor), Northwestern ...

little bit too high, so needs one or two more schools for safety

violadad

yong- there are some (financial) safety schools for piano discussed here:financial safety school for piano performance major

suzukimom

Hello, I'm new here. My biggest questions are more before college: my daughter has Asperger' and CP and I wonder how "out" she should be with her diagnoses in college applications.

And I wonder about her pre-college summer programs. An organist, are Pipe Organ Encounters or Oberlin's summer organ program more important (again, tho should she be "out" about her needs on applications?)

thanks for any help.

violadad

suzukimom- Welcome.

There was a very recent thread concerning a student with Aspergers in the Parents Forum. A link to it is here After a lifetime of accomodations... If you use the "Search this Forum Feature" and type aspergers, some additional threads will come up.

Regards the specific organ programs and mentioning her needs, I have no experience to offer you advice. Perhaps others here can.

suzukimom

Thanks, a good link, violadad.

Daughter's love since age 4 has been piano, but due to the Asperger's she knows she does not want a performance career in piano. At 9 she started asking about organ at church, and at 11 finally reached the pedals! Tho she is regularly winning piano competitions (smart girl, she's noticed that when she doesn't win she usually learns a lot more), she loves the anonymity of the organ and sees it as a viable career.

The church music world is really supportive as well. When we need to practice, almost every church we've asked let's us in. So she feels most welcomed.

But her teachers are all suggesting things like early college admission, summer music camps, and they don't realize how much Asperger's still affects her.

Anyway, Pipe Organ Encounters are run by the AGO; Oberlin has a wonderful sounding summer camp for high school organists, but none of the church organists we know have info. on it. So suggestions from anyone would be great. Also if anyone else has an aspie or CP kid in music and where?

thanks again.

violadad

Bassdad has a daughter at Oberlin Conservatory, and is very knowledgeable about programs in general, and Oberlin in particular. I'm sure he'll be able to help on some of the Oberlin questions.

BassDad

Info on the Oberlin Summer Academy for High School Organists may be found at http://www.oberlin.edu/con/summer//organ/default.html
I do not have any personal experience with this program or any insight as to how it stacks up against the Pipe Organ Encounters program. Likewise, I would not presume to tell you how you should approach disclosing the Asperger's and CP. Depending on the severity of her symptoms, it may be quite obvious once she gets there, or it may not. Many colleges are said to be very touchy about depression these days, pursuant to the Virginia Tech shootings, but I do not know if that attitude extends to other diagnoses.

Information on Oberlin's organ curriculum and facilities may be found at http://www.oberlin.edu/con/divinfo/keyboard/organ.html
In addition to the instruments at the school, one or two of the churches in town have very nice instruments as well.

I have been to an organ concert and one of the late night organ pumps (see http://www.organpump.com/ for more info on the latter) and enjoyed both tremendously. The organ majors there seem to be a tight-knit group with a special esprit de corps.

suzukimom

Thanks BassDad. Oberlin sounds wonderful; we are lucky to live in a town with several world class pipe organs, and daughter has had lots of practice on truly huge organs. Oberlin seems to fit into this well.

Her Aspergers symptoms are well hidden; most musicians don't understand that she has any problem. But due to CP she had many years of physical therapy for muscle related issues. Her biggest issue is the need for more sleep.

In the competitive music world I wonder if asking for accomodations (like a private room) would hurt her more than help?

I hope someone has experience with these issues and can reply! It would be great to attend Oberlin for the summer program, but not if she wears out so much she can't perform to her usual standard!

Thanks again for the links.

BassDad

For the summer program, they mention that both single and double rooms are available. If you were to request one of the singles based on the CP alone, I do not think it would put her at a disadvantage for admission. I don't know how competitive the admissions are for the summer program, but the program administrator would probably be able to tell you how many places are available and how many applications they expect to receive.

For a competitive music performance degree program, the audition will play the biggest part in the admission decision. The issue of housing will not even come up unless they have already decided to admit her.

At Oberlin in particular, there are a limited number of single dorm rooms available to freshmen, but she might qualify for one on the basis of the CP. Another possibility would be what they call a divided double. This is a regular dorm room but with an interior wall and door so that each occupant has their own private space. Floor plans for the various options may be found at http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/floorplans.html and at http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/typicalrooms.html

Most colleges (including Oberlin) also have entire dorms or specific floors within a dorm that are designated quiet and/or substance free. If getting some extra sleep is the main issue, that would probably be her best bet. Sound carries in dorms, so having a single on a noisy floor might not help very much.

db61

this is my first post. D is a sophomore violin perf. major at a liberal arts school in the midwest.
3 younger children; S who is a junior in HS and sings in choir, and 2 in elem school who take piano lessons from me. Younger daughter also plays violin and younger S plays a little classical guitar. H likes to play guitar.

thepianoman

Student, Music Edcuation major at Case Western. Main instrument piano, but minors include voice and percussion.

Originally from Concord, MA, love it, hope to teach there someday.

***Looking to transfer out to a better program. PLASE READ MY POST.***

RoadieDad

Proud parent of two up & comming musicians and future college students. My oldest is a drummer/pianist who wants to major in jazz studies, my youngest is a guitarist/pianist who wants to be a theology major. Here's a recent clip of their work.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

Chopsticks81

This message board is wonderful! This is my first post. My son is a hs senior, double bass player (classical) and he has wanted to go to Oberlin for the longest time. We went and visited a couple weeks ago but none of the bass teachers were around. He has sent emails to the classical teachers and has not had any response from them. Can anyone (like BassDad) tell me something about the teachers there and what their teaching methods are like?

catbird

S is a 13yo sophomore and a wild and woolly pianist. He always refused private lessons (his technique is self taught), except for three years of jazz, ending in 2006. He has an advanced knowledge of harmony both from jazz, and from taking a year of college music theory for credit beginning when he was 9.

Last year he got serious about learning classical repertoire. He learned several Liszt Transcendental Etudes, 5 or 6 Chopin etudes (incl. Op. 25 #6, the parallel running 3rds), and some Rachmaninoff Etudes Tableaux, and finally got himself a teacher. Now he is learning the Prokofiev Toccata and the Tchaikovsky 1 first mvmt. for a local concerto competition.

His playing is rough and primitive in terms of musicality and interpretation. But can he read music! He was the rehearsal accompanist for last year's musical and will do it this year too. In the last month he had several marathon Saturday morning reading sessions: the entire Well Tempered Klavier Vol.1 (all 48 preludes and fugues in 4 hours); all four Chopin Ballades in one sitting; and all 25 Chopin Etudes in one sitting. But he has never had a recital or played any of this in public.

So--to get to my header--he wants to go to piano camp this summer. I was floored when his teacher recommended Interlochen and Tanglewood. Tanglewood I dismissed out of hand, he's just not in that league. Even Interlochen seems like a huge reach and expense. We're in central New York and a 200-mile radius circle gives options like Ithaca College piano festival and the New York Summer Music Festival in Oneonta. Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations? I want to see him challenged and inspired but not crushed. Please help us think clearly about this.

OldinJersey

The first thing you need to find out is actually if the teacher regularly sends kids to camp. If he has sent students to Tanglewood or Interlochen then he will know what levels are expected. If he is not involved in the camp process then you need a way to evaluate what program is best. My dd did one year at Interlochen, and if her teacher had his way I think it would have been more. (not piano, trumpet player) Interlochen is highly competative not only to get in, but for seating. They have different levels of orchestras and you can challenge the people ahead of you for their seat every week. no clue how that affects pianists. It let her see where she stood on a national level, and what she needed to do to be there as well.
then she bolted back to the beloved, the best, the competition-is-not-wanted, sharing, caring and playing with everyone Kinhaven Music School in Weston Vt. They take a few piano players every year and everyone I know who attended loved it. There is no talk about wealth, they are super accepting of differences, and if the weather holds not even the teachers wear shoes. Check it out.
Remember to ask about financial aid at any camp or program. they are all expensive.