Peabody experiences, and hi!

PeasInABod
Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:13:14 +0000

Greetings from a Peabody graduate student! I’m also a newcomer to this forum, so don’t throw tomatoes, eggs, or old rosin ;)

So, I noticed that quite a few people were having difficulties making final decisions on conservatories, some between Peabody and CIM for violin performance. I’m going to offer some info (last-minute for this fall’s students), on Peabody from my own experiences! Obviously I may be biased as it’s my college, but bear with me.


Hotels (for visitors, hopefuls, auditionees, parents)


-Peabody Inn: located on-campus so no transportation necessary, a bit noisy at night, no practicing allowed
-Mount Vernon Hotel: within walking distance of Peabody, offers complimentary breakfast & dinner (don’t expect much), allows practicing, overall larger & better


Campus


Peabody is known for its gorgeous and expansive library (movies have been filmed here), where Johns Hopkins students often stay to study as well. There are several concert/recital halls, each wonderful in its own way in terms of appearance and acoustics. Student/faculty recitals, masterclasses, orchestra concerts, and concerts by visiting well-known people take place here. Elegant marble statues and a winding spiral staircase adorn one of the larger halls.

Classrooms: The standard affair, a bit small in comparison to some other colleges but not cramped. Professors are generally helpful and enjoy teaching, plus they are willing to help and accomodate each individual student due to small class size (I think 20 is usually the most).

Practice rooms: the average practice room you usually find. If you are auditioning, you may have to compete with current students for empty rooms especially near the evening.

Dorms: required for freshmen. Rooms are fairly spacious and clean (that is, until you move in), no bugs/bedbugs, separate closets for each student. Beds are comfortable but bring your own pillows & sheets. Air conditioning & heating is turned on when necessary so temperatures are comfortable. Food is provided (breakfast, lunch, and dinner, brunch on weekends); not great, but all right. Breakfast is not especially to my taste so I used to buy a bag of bagels (notice the alliteration lol) and eat those while in class.

These are co-ed dorms. In your second year you can choose your roommate, so make sure you find a good person in your first year! There are, obviously, separate restrooms and showers. Remember to bring a shower caddy and, if you want, a bathrobe.

I had great roommates and in all my years at Peabody, have never met an unhappy student so far. The environment at the dorms is light and fun, and teachers occassionally come to visit and check up on you. Monitors (trained grad students) are on each floor to enforce the many rules, such as curfew and noise after certain hours. No smoking indoors is allowed. There is an extremely low incidence of drugs/drinking, and when those “misfit” students are caught they undergo disciplinary action, along with having to meet the dean of student affairs, etc.

No pets are allowed, but I have seen the occasional solitary goldfish kept on shelves. After all, no one’s allergic to fish, are they? There are also TVs and a lounge area on each floor, plus a billiards and table tennis area on the first floor.

Note that if your parents live in Baltimore, you can request to live off-campus. However, especially for string performance majors (and more so for violin and cello), I HIGHLY recommend living in the dorms. Besides the benefit of being on-campus, etc., orchestra members/chamber groups often need to interact outside of rehearsal/class, and coaches pressure everyone to know each other well so the music made is harmonious. I had a cellist in my group who lived off-campus and while we attempted to interact as much as possible, it wasn’t quite the same and she ended up moving chamber groups.

Also, while no one will tell you this, teachers love having you on campus so they can visit and bug you to practice if they stay late. ;)

I can’t resist adding a brief anecdote here–one friend I had in my freshman year ended up being roommates with a fourteen year old cellist! Then, two years later, we got a fifteen year old violist, so the shock had already worn off. But then again, we Peabody kids are open-minded friendly people who even have Easter egg hunts in the dorms, so we actually like having those smart people around–they add to our mix of races and ages.

Campus security: there is a green tall gate encompassing Peabody and is locked at all times, requiring an ID. A supermarket, clothing stores, pizza shop, dry cleaners, and eyeglasses store are all within walking distance, so we tend not to travel out of Peabody’s charming little campus except to take classes at the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus (which is pretty rare anyhow).

Bottom line: I love Peabody like my fellow classmates, and we are a tight little community in our dorms (to tell the truth, we don’t like off campus people much, nor do we socialize with them much). the quality of musicians and professors is amazing, so I hope you will join us!