How Competitive Are Music Schools?

old_music_prnt
Thu, 07 Nov 2024 17:16:43 +0000

There are various ways I have seen (and hopefully other people can chime in, music is a big field (some snarkers say it is a minefield you navigate using a map of Berlin from WWII…shout out to an old episode of MASH lol)

-If kids do music programs, faculty there often are teachers. Can also be things like master classes as well that sometimes music schools or local chamber programs run.

-A teacher may be helpful, they may know people as performers who now teacher, or people they went to school with.

-You can also contact teachers at programs and ask for a sample lesson. You may get ghosted, you may get a no, you never know, but it is worth a shot. These days with Zoom and such it may be easier, but I don’t know if teachers are getting blasted with such requests these days.

-I know of instances where with a specific teacher they kept on eye on what they were doing, and if they were doing something (like performing) they went to the performance, and introduced themselves after. Now I doubt Itzak Perlman does meet and greets after he performs, but a lot of teachers still perform all over the place and while not everyone does it, many such performances have meet and greets after. It is better that cold calling, plus you get an idea of what they are like. If they brush the kid off (something no classical musician should be doing, or any musician for that matter) or are a jerk or condescending, you may want to avoid them.

-True story, I know of a high school kid who really liked a chamber group. They sent a favorite recording of the groups to the school where one of the members taught to ask if they could sign it (they really did it for that reason). Ended up getting back a signed CD from the whole group , plus the kid ended up emailing and talking to the person and later that helped them get to study with the group members old teacher.

Like I said music is a wide field, and networking is a huge help in navigating it.