BassDad

Sewbusy,

another possibility that came to mind is the Case Western Reserve University / Cleveland Institute of Music combined program. You may wish to check it out if it is not already on your list.

violadad

BassDad-

The fellow on the left is the venerable Lionel Tertis, credited with being fundamental in the resurgence of interest in the viola. The International Tertis Competition was founded in his memory by his wife. The gentleman on the right is William Primrose, the Scottish born violist, a contemporary of Heifitz and Piatagorsky. The best known violist of his era, many say he was the greatest artist ever on the instrument. He became a noted and respected studio teacher in later life; some of the foremost viola teachers today studied under Primrose.

StringMom

BassDad-

I'm another fan of not only the article but also all of your posts. The information has been invaluable to both me and my daughter. You might also send the article to Laurie Niles, editor of www.violinist.com. Based on the posts to the forum there, I think a lot of teenagers read the site. By stated policy, posters have to use their real names; however, I have noticed that at least a couple of people don't, so she might consider posting your article anonymously.

BassDad

Thank you, StringMom. I have already offered the piece to Strings Magazine and will wait a little while to see if they have any interest before looking elsewhere. I will keep Laurie in mind should they decline.

EDIT: I just realized you were talking about another online forum rather than a magazine. In that case, I will go and have a look right now...

EDIT2: OK, back from looking. While that is an interesting site, it is not one that I see myself frequenting and I do not want to drop in once, ask for special treatment then never show up again. On the other hand, they do not seem to have any rules against links to other sites like this one, so if someone who is already registered there would like to link to this thread, I would have no objection...

MomOf3Stars

Bassdad,
As I said before, a lot of your ideas and experiences can be valuable to any child going into a Fine Arts major. That said, I really think that possibly one of the magazines such as Good Housekeeping (for lack of thinking of a better teen counterpart for "Parents" magazine) and Seventeen (even better if your dd would want to write a similar article for submission). Would be interested and would also keep your personal info out of it. Just a suggestion...

BassDad

MomO'3

Thank you for the suggestions. I will certainly consider them should Strings not be interested, but I feel that I should honor the offer I have already made to them if they want the piece. This is amusing in the sense that my day job involves writing extremely long and rather dull technical test reports. Two days ago I would have had a good laugh at anyone who suggested that I submit anything to Good Housekeeping or Seventeen.

sewbusy

BassDad,

Thanks for the info!

Debbie25

any comments on Eastman or Tanglewood for summer programs?

BassDad

Don't know about Eastman, but my daughter attended Tanglewood for 8 weeks the summer before her senior year and loved it.

Flutemom

I am new here and just wanted to take a minute to thank you for sharing such valuable information with us. I have a daughter that is just finishing her sophomore year of high school. I am in the beginning stages of my research into music schools, and the information that you provide is extremely valuable.
Thanks again,
Kim

BassDad

Flutemom,

Welcome to CC. I am glad you found some of that information useful.

momnipotent

Hey BassDad,
I meant to tell you....when DS finally got letter from Tanglewood, he was invited to both the 2 week workshop and the 6 week Orchestra program. Their emails had only offered a spot in the orchestra! I am trying to decide how much spending $ DS might need. Do they have internet available?

BassDad

It depends on how sociable your son wants to be and how tolerant he is of mediocre cafeteria food. The main expense my daughter had was going to Lenox for pizza and ice cream (this was her pre-Vegan period). I think she went through about $20 or $25 per week. It would certainly be possible to get by on less by going to town less frequently and having dinner or dessert but not both. On the other hand, there are a lot of touristy shops there and you could also spend a lot more.

The only Internet access available when she went was at the public library in Lenox. They had a few PC's that were very popular among the BUTI kids who would wait in lines to use them. Cell phone reception is a bit spotty in camp and I noticed that my phone would go from in-network to roaming to no signal just by walking a hundred feet one way or the other. It paid to find a spot that was in-network before making or answering any calls. I don't know how much these things have changed in the past few years.

dustinb23

Perhaps someone could help me. My son is majoring in vocal performance at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. His father and I have little to no background in music. We agreed to help him achieve his goal of becoming a singer with reservations but we were encouraged by many music and voice teachers along the way. He auditioned at Oberlin, Cleveland Institute and CCM and was accepted at all. We thought this was a good sign that maybe we should help him pursue this as a career. He is now a Junior and we are quite frankly very disappointed with CCM. We thought that the school would educate, advise and nurture the students on the pursuit of a singing career but we don't find that to be the case at CCM. It is suppose to be a fantastic music school but we feel they do little to nurture the students but focus more on their faculty. After 2 years the only performance where the students could truely express their talent was done because students themselves organized and paid for an accompanist . Parents and families came and truely enjoyed it but that was the only time. I don't understand what we are paying for because if you are majoring in Performance shouldn't you be allowed to perform in more than a choir setting. How do you learn how to get the audience's ear if you never perform solos except in a class with your peers. My son has had to go out and audition in the community to get to sing. I would never recommend CCM to any undergrad. I know nothing about the grad program. It seems to me that if a student achieves to be a recording artist or something other than opera the school needs to realize that the students ability to do so while young is important. It is unfortunate but youth seems to sell better than aged perfection in our current culture. Does anyone out there have any advice? I for one don't recommend CCM in Cincinnati.

lorelei2702

It is not clear what your question is....a new course of action? Is your son making vocal progess? Is he happy? At any rate, he has one more year to complete his BM (after this year). Were he to transfer, he would most likely fall behind this schedule.

If he wants to investigate how he is doing compared to his age peers elsewhere, he needs to do competitions, i.e. NATS, summer programs, etc. He might consider checking in with his previous voice teacher, or other vocal professionals he has met on his vocal journey.

If he is singing well, developing his voice and techique, learning lots about language and style, he should stay where he is, regardless of whether he is getting very many performance opportunities. A degree is a degree, and it qualifies one for other options. If he is not doing those things....he should leave NOW, or at least by the end of this semester. He could concievably transfer to a local state university (most voice programs find a way to accommodate promising male singers).

If you have read my previous posts, you know that I am pretty negative about undergraduate conservatory vocal training, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Good luck.

Lorelei