Wisdom of changing intended major from performance to composition?

marimbamom
Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:53:42 +0000

Thanks SpiritManager,
I was intrigued when you mentioned Paula Matthusen ( especially the mention of ping pong balls!) I listened to her piece on the project 440 site, quartet for electric guitar and it was quite interesting. She seems pretty cool. I have been flitting back and forth to that website listening to the different works and some of the music is wonderful. I will add Florida International University to the list of places to consider. FIU is probably easier to get into than Frost school of music at Miami. U of Miami has become increasingly selective, in terms of academic requirements.
I have been looking for a composition teacher today, and have found a couple that teach composition at two universities that are within 40 minutes of where we live. So I may contact them to see if they give private lessons. I already do the 2hr 30 minute round trip drive to Miami for son’s percussion lesson, so somewhere closer would be a plus but if I can’t find somewhere closer I will look further. I don’t know where else to look for a composition teacher except at the colleges. I did find a couple of independent composition teachers but all I have to go on is what they write about themselves, and at least on the college websites there is a lot more information,resume’s, compositional point of view, repertoire etc. Plus of course they have connections within the college which can be helpful I understand in getting compositions played. At this point, however I just want to find a good teacher so I am starting with colleges first. And I figure that if the proffessors I contact are too busy to take on another student then at least they might have other composition teachers they can recommend!