<p>What are the ups and downs about the following music conservatories (and what are the following teachers’ teaching style(s)?):</p>
<p>NEC- Wha Kyung Byun, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, Alexander Korsantia
Juilliard- Martin Canin
Eastman (have not chosen teachers yet, will need teacher recommendation)
MSM- Nina Svetlanova
Northwestern- James Giles
Peabody- Leon Fleisher, Boris Slutsky, Yong Hi Moon
Cleveland Institute- (same with eastman)
UMich- (same with eastman)
IU Jacobs- (same with eastman)
Oberlin- (same with eastman)
NYU - Martin Canin
SUNY Purchase- (same with eastman)</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I doubt anyone will write critiques of specific teachers on this website. It’s not as “confidentia” as you think. As for “ups and downs”-- it really depends on who you are as a person and a musician. Be more specific and tells us about yourself.</p>
<p>The ups: all of these are excellent schools which have great reputations.</p>
<p>The downs: doing 12 auditions is likely to be very difficult.</p>
<p>Have you visited any of these schools or had sample lessons with any of the teachers? Has your current private teacher made any recommendations for someone they think is a good fit for your personality and playing?</p>
<p>All teachers work differently, and the only way to be truly sure of how you/your child will be on the same wavelength (ha) is to have trial lessons or lessons in a festival environment (masterclasses often bring out different qualities of the teacher than lessons; the vibe is usually the same or similar, but there may be things they do very differently in a private setting). Similarly, individuals may have had a good or bad experience that was not typical of the teacher due to their particular case (a piece the teacher can’t stand or a student making a great personal impression).</p>
<p>I can say that, from your list, I greatly enjoyed and benefited from observing the masterclasses and/or working with Boris Slutsky, Leon Fleisher, and two teachers at Eastman (Enrico Elisi and Natalya Antonova). I have no direct experience with Yong Hi Moon, Weilerstein, Korsantia, Svetlanova, or Giles, but they all have very good reputations and I’m sure are wonderful teachers and human beings - it all comes down to the fit and their specialties (chamber music, late Romantic Russian repertoire, Viennese classics, etc). </p>
<p>There are great teachers at all the schools on your list. One thing you could try to narrow down your list is to check Youtube for filmed masterclasses or lessons with teachers: it really got me excited about working with someone, and real life held up to the expectations raised by the video. I would err on the side of many trial lessons/fewer auditions, if at all possible. Best of luck!</p>
<p>glassharmonica is quite right. The music world is very small and it seems like everyone knows everyone else sooner or later through fewer degrees of separation than you would ever think. If you ask general questions about schools- physical layout, practice rooms, performance venues and opportunities, dorms, food and such, I know you’ll get responses ( I can cover three of those on your list!), but public critiques and evaluations of teachers? Not a wise thing to do.
What are you looking for in a school? There is a wide variation on your list and some must interest you more than others?</p>