Ups and Downs about Music Conseevatories and Teachers' teaching styles

rachnroll
Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:50:33 +0000

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).

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).

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!