Music Schools

[Ballaw de Quincewold]

I know most of you guys don't live in the States, but I was wondering if any of you know how difficult it is to get into a major conservatory here. By major, I mean Juilliard, Curtis, Peabody, etc. Do you know any people that are attending these schools? If so, how good of performers are they? I have confidence in my own piano skill, but I just am worried about being severely outranked when I apply at one of these places in two years. Any and all information you may have would be helpful.

[some guy]

Don't go to Juilliard, Curtis, or Peabody would be my take on it.

Do a little research on who's teaching the kind of stuff you want to concentrate on, then go where they teach. That might be Denton, TX or UC Santa Cruz, CA for all you know now.

[bassistah]

In all conservetoires, you can have an "advice" audition. You have to pay, but they will give you a really good idea of whether you´d be up to scratch, and if not, what you need to do to get there.

Another good way to judge is to have a couple of lessons with either teachers there, or postgrad students.

The Julliard has an amazing reputation. I was going to go, but couldn´t afford the huge fees, or to be away from the UK at the time for family reasons.

It´s unfair maybe, but the better reputation your conservetoire has, the further it takes you. A huge part of being there is the contacts you make, and if you go to a higher profile college, you´ll make better contacts. Nepotism, sure, but you have to be pretty good to get in in the first place, and your reputation of how well you play and how professional you are in your approach starts at music college.

Good luck!

[sawscape]

Julliard is very difficult to get into. They only take a few each year. The son of the owner of the music school where my kids take lessons made it into Julliard two years ago. He is a fantastic performer who practices 8 hours a day. He was the only one from California to make it that year. His sister made it into the NY School of Performing Arts (the "Fame" school) last year. I just heard the youngest sister (17 yrs) play at a recital today. She will be auditioning soon. She is excellent, but I'm not sure she can make it to Julliard, though.

[ttw]

There are some good non-conservatory schools too. North Texas State at Denton is quite good; it's somewhat jazz-oriented though. The University Texas at Austin is good too. Most state universities are pretty good. You might check on their web-sites to see what they want and what is their orientation.