stringfollies

SJTH - While my son is in classical and I'm not an expert, I had heard that Manhattan School is excellent for jazz.

jazzzmomm

SJTH, just to update you on NEC--they have wireless in the dorms but for some reason have not added this to any of their written or website information.

When we visited NEC we also got a jazz-meagre tour from a classical student. Our son got his infomation from his private teachers at MSM precollege and by going to watch ensembles play during the semester in the Keller Jazz Series which is spread out across the school year very frequently. Nothing beats seeing the undergraduate jazz musicians perform in their own element in Jordan Hall, having a good old time and making astounding music.

Just want to add that contacting Ken Schaphorst, head of jazz studies, directly, is probably the best way to get to know the program at NEC. It's true that the jazz department is small and doesn't seem to worry about promoting itself. I wonder if that will change with their huge new endowment.

Plainsman

I admit my D is not interested in a Music degree only, or even a double major. Oberlin (which we visited) has a unique five year, Two-Bachelor Degree program. You can actually earn a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Biology/English/Political Science/Sociology/Chemistry/or Whatever concurrently. You have to be admitted to both schools separately. The Oberlin Conservatory is more interested in musical talent than GPAs and test scores. Obviously the reverse is true for Oberlin's College of Arts and Sciences, a Top 20 LAC. We toured both and had info sessions at both. My D loved both schools and would be happy if she was admitted to either one but ideally both. The Conservatory and the College of A&S are both Oberlin. Even full-time students in the CofA&S take lessons at the Conservatory, and a few very skilled performers get to play Orchestra without the extra pressure of being a full-time Conservatory student. My impression was one big happy campus.

Loved the little town of Oberlin, too!

BassDad

Plainsman,

Tell her not to worry too much about the college side acceptance at Oberlin. My daughter is in her senior year in the Conservatory, having flirted with the idea of a second degree in Mathematics but ultimately deciding on music only. If your daughter gets accepted by the Conservatory, she will get one elective per semester on average in the college. If she does well in her two college classes in freshman year then transferring into the double degree program is pretty much a formality. If she does go this route, she will want to take classes given by two different teachers so as to be able to obtain a recommendation from each of them. The main drawbacks of going this route are that she may have a little catching up to do in her second year in the college (so not as many music courses as usual that year) and there may be some academic scholarships that she will not be eligible for that first year. It is not nearly as easy to go the other direction, although some do, because college students must audition with everyone else for spaces in the conservatory. The conservatory admission is the critical one for those interested in the double degree program.

mamenyu

here's a link for information about planning visits to Oberlin Conservatory, including arranging sample lessons:
Visiting Oberlin Conservatory

bluepearl

We will be visiting Oberlin in just a couple of days. It'll be the first official visit with a lesson from a professor for D, a violinist, so we are both a little anxious. We had made all our plans and then D got an email from the teacher who needed to reschedule! So we had to scramble, but hopefully all will go well. Wish us luck!

stringfollies

Best of luck. Oberlin's a wonderful school - my son almost went there. They have some very good violin faculty.

don9992

We took our D to Eastman today and I'm actually writing this in the lobby of our hotel in Rochester.

D had a sample lesson with a voice professor that went very well. The prof actually told her she really wanted D to apply there so that set a great tone for the day.

The lesson was immediately followed by a campus tour. It began in the library with a talk by a very knowledgeable admissions councilor who impressed me by the time he was willing to take to answer questions as fully as possible. After this session we took the actual tour by an undergraduate. Tours of Eastman don't take very long because the place isn't very big, but we were impressed by the friendly atmosphere that seemed to pervade the place as well as the abundance of practice space available.

BTW, Eastman claims that the library is the largest music library in the Western Hemisphere and, looking around, who was I to dispute the claim?

The dorm areas are about half a block from the building everyone there calls simply "The School" and houses all of the performance spaces and most class and studio venues. They are fairly new and quite self-contained. We ate lunch in the dining area and were impressed with the choices and quality of the food served.

A friend of my D's is a recently arrived freshman there and they went to dinner this evening. He told her that he's working very hard but that he's made a lot of friends very quickly. He also finds the place supportive and cooperative, not at all cutthroat.

While Eastman students may complete their studies entirely on the Eastman campus , they have an option of taking courses and participating in activities on the main U of Rochester campus. My D has recently come to the conclusion that she does her best work in a concentrated musical atmosphere, but would like to pull her head out of it from time to time, so this flexibility is very appealing to her.

Today was a good day and Eastman has moved to the top of my D's list. I believe she'll be ready to apply as soon as we get home.

bluepearl

We are home after visiting Oberlin. D met up with a friend from a summer festival and stayed in the dorm with her, and who took her all around. Her lesson went well--D still needs to reflect a bit, it was positive, she's sure he liked her, but she's not sure he is The One. She felt the atmosphere was very relaxed, and isn't sure if that is a good thing or not. But it was her very first formal visit. I loved the campus and the small town and I would be very comfortable if she goes there. We will visit Cleveland Institute of Music in two weeks for the next visit and will be lining up more visits shortly, so we'll see!

don9992

On our return trip from Eastman, we stopped off at Ithaca for a general open house. After the tour of the campus and the usual multimedia presentation we were split up by potential major and taken to visit the college's individual schools.

Ithaca started as a music conservatory and it's musical facilities are among the most impressive of any school we've seen. Unfortunately the tour itself was short, had no faculty involved, and spent way too much time telling students how to apply rather than trying to sell the school.

We saw a very nice 200-300 seat recital hall, but the main venue was being used by a piano competition so we were not permitted inside. We were shown one large rehearsal space and some production facilities, but no practice rooms or electronic music facilities.

In all, the music department's presentation was a huge disappointment. The feeling we got was that of an assumption on the part of the school that everyone there couldn't wait to get in and that no further description was necessary. I think that this attitude is a big mistake on their part and can tell them for a fact that at least one potential student is now quite turned off about the idea of going to school there.

stringfollies

My son auditioned there last year. He had not visited the school earlier. They did arrange a nice tour of the dorm building, but not of the conservatory facilities. Of course, it was very crowded that day so we sort of wandered around on our own. What particularly irked us, however, was that we arrived in Rochester (a very long way from home) the day before and went straight to the school so he could practise (as we had done at other schools he auditioned at). The admissions office is really very difficult to find and there were no signs or good directions. It was across the street in another building. Nevertheless, we did locate it. When we asked where he could practise, they said he couldn't without apology. I guess it is their policy not to provide practise space the day before the audition. On the audition day, finding a room to practise in was extremely difficult and nerve-wracking for my son. They offered an open practise room for those who couldn't find an individual room. My son cannot practise in an open room - maybe some people can, but he can't. Of all the schools he auditioned at, this was the only one where he really had a very hard time getting practise space even for a very short time. Luckily the hotel was able to be accommodating and gave him an empty conference room, but we found this kind of arrangement to be a crapshoot - it depends whether the facilities are being used or not and you certainly can't blame a hotel for not providing practise space!!

For this and other reasons, I was quite turned off by Eastman. The location is downtown which, at first blush, seems nice. But it is really quite a dangerous city and the kids are kind of cloistered in their buildings - which are indeed quite beautiful. Having said that, my son liked it quite a lot. He got a very nice reception from the faculty and was heard by the entire violin faculty - this is not always the case. Also, the violin faculty there is very excellent.

binx

For others who might be in this situation -- we've never had any trouble with practicing in the hotel. (It never occurred to us to try to practice at the school.) Most hotels are pretty empty during the day, so the noise doesn't bother anyone. However, we just ask at the front desk in advance. We have been offered other spaces occasionally, but everyone has also been okay with playing in the room during the day.

slovesviola

We visited Ithaca and Syracuse last fall, junior year for S. We unfortunately did not know that he should request a lesson at that time so these visits were not complete. The following are some impressions of these two schools.

We had a complete day scheduled at Syracuse, including the general University Tour and Info session, and an info session and tour at the Setnor School of Music. They were extremely warm and welcoming at the School of Music. At that point S thought he would like to study Music Business so their program was of great interest to him. The info session ended up being only 2 families so it was very personal with much information offered. He loved the warm intimate feeling and the friendliness of the students. There were students gathered in a lounge downstairs who were in a heated discussion about some music topic. S thought this was the greatest. He loved Syracuse and at the time thought it would be a top choice. How things change. Now he wants to major in Performance and he is concerned that Syracuse will not be a competitive enough school for him. He may not even apply there. He did like the fact that they focus on Classical music. It was a great visit.

Our visit to Ithaca was on an Open House day. The general session was informative but only skimmed the surface. There was some information that we were not able to get since people from those offices were not available but with follow up phone calls were able to fill in the blanks. That being said, the School of Music session was attended by approximately 30 students and their families. The admissions counselor running the meeting was great and offered tons of information and was willing to answer the many detailed questions that these informed students asked. He spent quite a bit of time tallking to individual students afterwards. We were able to see all of the music facilities and the whole music program was very impressive. We got the impression that they have a large Musical Theater program. As parents we felt Ithaca would be a great match for our son but as you know, this means little. I think the visit was not personal enough and that kids need to make a connection with someone at the school to make a good impression. This did not happen, so Ithaca is not on his list. From this experience, we will not attend any other Open House days.

One other school S visited was U of Miami this spring. We are from Florida so we are familiar with this program. Since his cousin attended the Frost School of Music, graduated a few years ago, we have attended many concerts there. S knows the campus so feels comfortable at this school. He now has a camp friend who is a freshman there who is having a great time, just commented that he had trouble getting a practice room.
His formal visit consited of a private lesson, a private meeting with the admissions counselor, and several scheduled classes. The private teacher went out of her way to invite S to attend a recital of one of her students that afternoon and even made the effort to speak to him afterwards to ask how he enjoyed his day. She invited him back to have more lessons this fall. He took that as a positive sign. It was also a great visit and this school has been at the top of his list.

We have several trips coming up this October so I will update after these visits, to Vanderbilt and to Eastman. This thread has given us a lot of worthwhile information, keep it coming. Thanks.

tango14

I did the Eastman tour when S2 was at summer program there. Had a very knowledgeable grad student who worked in admissions. We visited all the main performance spaces (even the organ because one girl was interested in organ performance), but no practice rooms (nobody asked because I'm sure we could have), and the library. Were not able to visit dorm but S2 was staying there so he knew it.

The location is quite small and can be dangerous as in any large city. However, security is good and there are cameras. It can get claustrophobic for some students though.

It never occurred to us that practice rooms would be available the day before an audition. I vaguely recall that being said in the Eastman literature somewhere. In any event, we did not expect it. S practiced (very quietly) in the hotel room & in the car when he needed the CD player. For his Eastman audition, we had an all-day trip to get there (2 flights + approx. 3 1/2 hours driving total on each end) and he didn't want to go a whole day without practicing. Fortunately, I had 2 friends nearby and we spent the evening of our arrival and the day before the audition at their houses so he could practice.

stringfollies

While it's usually okay in the afternoon, we've had complaints in a couple hotels when practising in the room - even with practise mute. My son is shy enough that this makes him feel uncomfortable about doing it. We once had someone banging on the wall. Another time, we had a call from the desk.

He has not always been able to practise in hotel conference rooms - you should not count on this. Practising a violin in a car is really not possible!!

Just be aware that this can be a challenge. We always found some way to work it out, but it was by the skin of teeth at Eastman especially since we didn't get to the hotel (after first going to the school) until about 6 PM.

All the other schools we visited helped him to practise on the day before and day of audition when he asked. At Eastman the practise rooms are behind lock and key for security reasons - at a lot of other schools, you can usually just go to the practise room area and find an empty one. I felt it was unfriendly. Just my sensitivity, I guess.