Posted by John on July 23, 2003 at 20:55:05:
In Reply to: Best, Current Tuba Professors? posted by Mike on July 18, 2003 at 00:03:24:
While picking a good teacher is a big part of the college application process, primarily focus on the school itself. Your four years of college are some of the greatest of your life, and you need to pick a school where you will enjoy those years. If you don't like the sun, don't go to Arizona State... if you don't like the city, don't go to Julliard... and if you would rather go to a small school, don't go to U of M. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but a lot of people often overlook these types of things and end up very unhappy. If you don't enjoy where you are studying, you are not going to learn as much. Remember that for nine months out of the year, you live there. You get off campus every so often, but you pretty much spend every waking moment at that school, and if you don't like it, thats gonna really suck. When you are visiting schools, make sure to look around and ask yourself if this is a place that you will enjoy living at for four years. You won't spend all of your time in the practice rooms, at least I hope you don't, so see what kids are doing at this school. See what kind of activities you can get involved in outside of the music school, see what people do on the weekends, and see what kind of programs are put on by student activities. Go with your gut feeling on which school feels right for you, and don't compromise four years of your life to have a big name player on your resume. There are lots of great tuba teachers out there that you can learn a lot from. And last, make sure you plan on getting involved with something outside of music. Music is a wonderful thing to study in college, but the transition from it being your hobby as it is in high school to it being your major and livelihood can take some students by suprise. Take up tennis or running, get involved with student affairs, get a job, minor in something outside of the arts, or do something just to take yourself away from music for a little bit each day. Good luck!