We have a slightly weird situation in that my one child (viola) has multiple teachers. We can’t figure out who should write the recommendations, especially for schools that only take ONE music recommendation.
She has a teacher who she sees about 3x a month who is a top professional in the field, both in performance and teaching. She has been working with this teacher about 2 years. This teacher teaches at one of the schools she is applying to. My only reservation here is this teacher tends to be very honest about everything, and I’m not sure if they would ever write a glowing recommendation for anyone!
She also has a teacher who she sees weekly who teaches both violin and viola. She is well-known as a violinist, and routinely teaches viola, but is not a violist. My daughter has worked with her for 6+ years, first on violin, and then on viola. So she knows her REALLY well.
She also has an intermittent teacher she plays for about 5x a year for the past three years. This teacher is also top of the field as a teacher and teaches at one of the schools she is applying to. This teacher knows my daughter reasonably well, and really champions her.
Thoughts?
My thoughts might sound like a rather wishy washy answer but here goes.
Your violist is applying to very high level schools and I would assume the faculty at those schools will know her current teachers well if not personally, then by reputation.
So my thought is that, if the top teacher you mention rarely if ever gives a glowing recommendation, the panel will probably already know that. So in my opinion, ok to submit what may be an honest but not glowing review.
And my other thought is that the audition matters so much more than other aspects of the application, that I’m not sure it would matter much which teacher submits a letter for her. As long as the recommendation reflects that the student has talent and is good to work with, it should be fine.
An additional thought. I don’t know if there is interpersonal drama amongst the high level viola faculty. If so, maybe mix and match your potential letters to minimize any potential ruffling of feathers. Of course, the panel will likely know who your daughter studies with from her resume.
What matters in performance music majors is the audition. Sure, you don’t want a letter that says anything bad about the student, but it doesn’t sound as if that is the case. It’s the audition that will get her in.
We attended a webinar put on by Julliard, Eastman, and Ithaca. When they covered LOR, they acknowledged that many students have more than 1 teacher and specifically stated to use the music teacher who knows you the best. They stated that the teacher’s connections/reputation are not what they evaluate in reading a LOR. They want the teacher who is most familiar with their playing/musical journey. So, based on their discussion, I would definitely not use the 3rd teacher. Between the first 2 listed, I would go with the one that fits their description the best.
Thank you for this info! Does anyone know if the Letters of Recommendation even get read by faculty at most schools? Or do they only get read by admissions staff?
Letters of recommendation can have impact, but IME with my son (and it is just that), that tends to weight higher in admissions to high level summer programs and the like (like if applying for a fellowship as one example) rather than music school admissions. FWIW I think having the letter of recommendation is kind of a benchmark that the student has been studying with a teacher and likely is at the level where they can audition there.
I think either of the first two would do fine. One thing with letters of recommendation, if a teacher had reservations with a student, they likely would simply say no to giving a letter rather than write something scathing I suspect. I agree with others, unless you feel the ‘famous teacher’ has better insight,I would go with the one she has studied with for a while.
The real action will be with the pre screen (if they have one) and the audition.
For BA programs, LOR’s are more important, and more than one is often allowed in a supplement. For BMN programs, as others have said, audition is key.
For any program, LOR’s of course should cover more than talent, and discuss work ethic and other aspects of character. If appropriate, cooperation/ability to work with others. (Not relevant for solo lessons.) It would seem #2 knows her best as a person and musician.
sample size of one. My son is a student violist. When he applied 4 years ago, he had one private teacher, one school orchestra director, one city youth orchestra director, and several college professors he had taken lessons with for two years. His school orchestra director wrote a great rec letter for him.
When I asked his private teacher if her rec letter would be more helpful since she was a professional violist, she said no. She told me that for violists it’s more important to play well with others (in orchestra and chamber) than to play well in solo. The school orchestra director was in the best position to illustrate how my son worked in orchestra and with his section. Even though my son had taken multiple lessons with each of the professors whose studios he was applying to, and had convinced them that he was highly teachable, they still needed the confirmation from the orchestra director that he worked well in the orchestra. This may not be the same for violinists and cellists but violists are different.
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Thanks, everybody, for your assistance on this. I think we are mostly going to have the longterm teacher write them, with some targeted exceptions based on school.
At this point, most teachers seem to know or know of my daughter anyway. Is there some secret teacher group chat out there where they talk about our kids? In any case, it is probably not all that important in her case.
My impression of the viola professors my son had taken lessons from was that they openly talk about some students. My son said each of them had suggested that “you should take several lessons with xxx to improve on yyy”. Two of them have told me this. The U Mich professor who passed away a couple of years ago was the most generous and considerate. I feel that the viola professors are genuinely helping the students to find their best fit.
Same with the trumpet teachers. I’m not sure they chat back channel about students. But my son was only rejected by one program. That trumpet teacher wrote him a personal letter explaining that he had only one studio opening and it had to go to an instate student. BUT this trumpet faculty person offered to look at my son’s other options and offer his opinion. DS actually took him up on the offer. DS already had all of his other acceptances. This teacher actually agreed that the one DS was leaning towards was the best choice (DS didn’t share his choice beforehand). So I do think these folks are helpful.
But back to the question. My kid studied with the principal trumpet of our symphony orchestra. That was his number one reference. The second was from the conductor of the Precollege wind ensemble and orchestra that DS played in for three years. For schools wanting a third recommendation, he used his HS music director.
I believe that there is talk in the trumpet community, because when my kid was in high school, I know that they were the subject of such. But at the same time, every place that they went to audition or compete, it seemed as if there was absolutely no advance knowledge of them, based upon the reaction to kid’s playing - it was as if kid had come out of nowhere.
And again, the recommendations didn’t seem to be the thing that mattered. My kid had a stellar rec from the grand old master at Juilliard on their instrument, the person who had taught at some point literally everyone in the US and many from Europe too, in addition to a stellar rec from the highly respected and well-known conductor of a major youth symphony, and all that seemed to matter was the pre-audition recording to get an audition slot, and then the audition. One of the kids from our high school got into Juilliard without having had anything other than local teachers (if any) and our highly respected school jazz program, I guess because they were surprised to see how good he had gotten, without studying with luminaries. Maybe they figured that he could get more out of what they could offer him, than someone who had already studied with luminaries.
It’s the audition, more than anything else.
Did your son audition for music performance programs in addition to sending in supplements to other schools? Or were these auditions with faculty so he could continue studying his instrument as a non-major.
Regardless, I think the best recommendation comes from the musician who has instructed you well and knows you the best.