Music school recommendations?
in Students & Teens ·
Nicholas King said:How exactly am I supposed to ask "well, what does successfully continuing look like to you?" without coming across as some sort of provocateur?
"Success" could mean anything—playing beautifully, winning competitions, picking up trophies, whatever—but, I suppose, what about the actual cost of that success?
I don't want anyone thinking I'm trying to pull a fast one on you: you aren't going to find any "go see Professor Vilibald Hlowytzkog at the Juilliard School, they are incredibly successful" type of pitches in this text—so if that’s what you’re looking for, you might as well stop reading now. To be clear, I personally view those kinds of recommendations as misguided; the only way people usually measure a school's "success" is by how many students place in competitions—but, in my opinion, that shouldn't be the deciding factor for a parent. Besides, the reality is that the exact same teacher—depending entirely on a child's specific temperament—might be seen as Jesus, Elvis Presley, and Elvis Presley all rolled into one by one student, while to another, they might seem like Caligula, Hitler, and whoever else you can think of.
If your primary concern is simply that your child heads off to music school with a smile and returns home even happier—if you truly care about the joy of making music (which, if you ask me, is arguably the single most important reason to attend music school at all)—then you should just find out which instructor at your local music school has the right temperament for your specific child. That, I believe, would be the best choice you could make.
One more thing: middle school and high school music programs span several long years, during which a child goes through all sorts of turbulent developmental changes. No single school, and certainly no single teacher, can ever truly guarantee a "successful" completion of a musical education.
That's exactly what I'm looking for (the bold part). And I'm with you on that.
Now that I think about it, the school itself isn't the big deal. It matters more that the kid follows a decent program and works with someone who actually motivates them and clicks with them. I don't want this turning into some kind of drag.
Is a private tutor a good move? I'm considering it. Someone who's willing and professional. I don't have any crazy parental ego involved.