College Prep Schools?

Well, my personal experience would be coming from one year at Juilliard pre-college. Here at MSM there are quite a few people that traveled the music boarding school road in high school. I personally think that as good as Juilliard was for me and for many of my friends that were there longer, it doesn't seem the same as something like Interlochen. Part of it of course is that you're only at Juilliard on Saturday (so if you're into living the life of a semi-normal high school student, that's a plus I suppose). Another thing is that I'd say probably less than half of the graduating class at Juilliard went to music school. Many of them decide that music just isn't for them, so maybe you're looking for an environment where you'll be pushed more musically.
On the other hand, you might consider where you would want to go for college. If you're considering going to Juilliard with hopes of studying with Eugene Levinson then it might not be a bad way to go. Also, where do you call home? It seems that these places are all very spread out and to travel hours to get to a preparatory program on saturdays is quite a commitment to make although I do know several people that did it. Hope this helps you in making a decision.

 

If you want more intensive you should look at walnut hill. Dennis Roy and Todd Sebber of the BSO teach there. It is a great school. Even though I did not attend Walnut Hill I have many friends who did and love it. So if your at all interested in the boston school you should look into it. Also Juilllaird pre-college is not a boarding school from what I can tell. You might also look at Interlochen but i am not sure how good the bass teacher is there. And dont' let the fact that Daxun came out of there fool you. Daxun is a freak of nature and really is only a product of himself.

 

Well, if DaXun Zhang is a product of any particular teacher, Professor Hurst at Indiana University would probably deserve that credit. I heard that he would fly out on occassion during the year to give DaXun lessons at Interlochen.

 

I sincerely doubt that daxun is a product of indiana/hurst. It's not like he was mediocre until he went there and then blossomed in to an amazing bass player...

I was under the impression that Idyllwild was a pretty intense prep school, but I could be mistaken. Maybe talk to chris or peter askim, they could have some good input. good luck!

 

No matter where you go, school is what you make of it. Espically that the pre-college level, you need to do the work regardless of "intensity". I've never studied with Chris (although I probably will this summer), but a principal bass of the LA phil knows what hes talking about. The work is on you not the school.

I'm in my second year at juilliard pre-college. If you come here you have Homer Mensch and Levinson. Mench is getting old and won't be teaching much longer. His student have told me that the lessons with him aren't what the once where. If you come into Levinson's studio you'll study with his teaching assistant Joel Braun. He is a very, very good graduate student. Most of his stuents have 3 lessons with Joel and one with Levinson monthly. If you show him that you work really hard and are deticated to bass and playing his way, he'll teach you full time. If you're willing to do that kind of work, then go for it, it's a great studio.

 

I agree with Justin, Idyllwild can be as intense as you choose to make it. I've met many people that attended Idyllwild for highschool, and they've always been awesome musicians. Chris is a good teacher, so get what you can out of him and work your ass off practicing up in that mountain, because I'm sure there's nothing else to do

 

If you're looking at pre-college programs in the NYC area I would suggest having a lesson with the teachers at MSM, Juilliard, and Mannes to figure out which one you might like to study with the most. Of course your bow is probably the biggest deciding factor with the teachers being like this:

Juilliard - Levinson, German
Manhattan - McKnight, German and teaches French
Mannes - O'Brien, German

I know Linda won't make you change your bow even though she's really a German player because she's a Zimmerman student, but Levinson and O'Brien might if you're not too attached to a French bow because it's not their forte.

I don't know too much about Mannes, but Manhattan definitely has less funding than Juilliard does for their prepatory division. I think the same can be said about the colleges in general with Juilliard definitely having more money in general. The pre-college division at Juilliard in turn is also larger. Right now at MSM we have 4 bass players in the top orchestra. All students are required to take theory and sight singing classes which you're placed into by testing and there's also classes for composition, conducting, history, and the like. You also have a lesson every week and a studio class with McKnight where we go over ensemble pieces and solos we're working on. If you're interested in composition I strongly recommend MSM because the teacher there, Joshua Gilinsky, is probably the most brilliant mind I've come across and his classes are just him lecturing until he's well over the end of the class time.