electricbassmom

We went to an accepted student overnight at College of St. Rose. The facilities there are beautiful. Everything seems brand new. This is definitely a program in its building phase. My son is very passionate about jazz, and despite my screen name, in the last year has transitioned to playing mostly upright bass. He felt that he would not be challenged there by being with other musicians who were significantly better than he is.

There was a lot going on in contemporary music at this school.

He did enjoy his lesson with the bass professor, but in the end, decided that this is not the school for him.

herranrukous

I have an audition in Potsdam, New York at Crane School of Music this weekend. I hope it goes well.

drumdad334

S (Percussion) visited Lawrence, Indiana and University of Illinois recently. Lawrence is quite small compared to the other two but you can tell that your child would definitely get individualized attention with small classes across the board. IU percussion faculty is hard to beat as it has four really laid back but still intense (if that makes sense?) percussion teachers. New music building being built across the street at Indiana but apparently this has been ongoing for years and not sure when it will be done. All facilities at the schools were OK. Not really impressed by any as they were all older but Lawrence was a bit more run down than the others. All three campuses put out the red carpet for visits but visited IU and U of I in the spring and summer and they were beautiful. I think my son is leaning toward a more traditional larger college over Lawrence. We have Kentucky and Florida State next for auditions so will update later!

shymom

University of Redlands

We "visit" every Tuesday as my S attends youth symphony there.
Beautiful campus and the city of Redlands offers the old mansions of the midwest without the snow damage. Some crime, but what CA city doesn't have, but safe campus because of security.

Lessons learned - make sure the college has a good or full time teacher! The double bass has to drive himself to LA for a good teacher. The flute teacher is so busy with outside obligations that sometimes lessons have to be re-scheduled. It was very enlightening to attend a masterclass at the college to see what the college teacher was lacking in teaching her students.

Practice rooms - WAY too few. Even saying that, on a Tuesday night it has only been this semester in 4 years that they were all full! So ask the professor how many hours they like their students to play and how many they actually do. This might show you the committment of the students attending. Students are friendly.

Something that instrumentalists may be forgetting - accompaniment. Does the college offer enough pianists? We are sensitive to this because without the U of Redlands, we wouldn't have a pianist! They have an outstanding collaborator teacher and performer before she tore her tendon. Parents - hidden costs - do you have to pay for the pianists for each recital, or are they included. Something to ask to be prepared.

Dorms - well my pet peeve is that the fire marshal isn't following the rules enforced at the Cal State colleges. Which is no bed against the window. The window must be free of obstruction as it is a last resort escape route. I see a lot of fans and open windows in the fall because of the one month of heat.

Redlands has stated in the past no financial aid for room and board. Their endowment is small.

shymom

University of San Diego, a Catholic University

The most beautiful campus. 180 degree views of San Diego. Beautiful students too (S's shared opinion). The students are friendly.

S attends the chamber winterfest and summer chamber music camp. No audition required.
Chamber Music Festival

Performance locations - French parlor, you feel like Mozart will walk in. Shiley theatre, a large old theatre like a church.

No visitor parking on campus during the week - they have shuttle buses. I think this is a plus in a big city, keeping crime lower and unwanted out.

shymom

San Diego State University

We attend flute festivals and their free audition clinic.

The campus is beautiful, Spanish style buildings and of course the weather - perfect. The halls are the typical ugly institutional building. Their instrument lockers had a warning sign that they had been broken into!

The weekend - the dorms had the guys hanging over the balconies partying hard.

I'm an alumni (business) and I quizzed the last unsuspecting student calling for contributions and he said the freshman classes were 100-200. The music classes are not this way. So if you want to put up with huge general education classes while you have outstanding music professors, then you might want to consider it.

SDSU is difficult to get into with a low acceptance rate because of how many apply. I'm sure out of state would be easier becuase they like you paying the out of state tuition.

A state university - you have to be on the ball to make sure you get the classes you need to graduate. There isn't the care that a small private college has to make sure you graduate.