Tips for Choosing Where To Go to School

Choosing where to go to college or graduate school for music is one of the most important decisions a person will make in their lifetime. The years they will spend under the tutelage of that intuition's faculty, the friends and colleagues they make, and the atmosphere of the city/community all have the potential to be transformational.

The Teacher

The one-on-one nature of private lessons means that you are going to spend a lot of time with your private teacher. You want to choose a school where you will have a positive relationship with the faculty, and especially your applied lessons professor. Your relationship with the teacher has the potential to not only be a four year, academic relationship, but really a lifelong relationship. I have been lucky that many of my teachers have stayed present in my life and continue to be important mentors. I’ve also been lucky that most of my students stay in regular contact with me after they graduate.

Try to arrange at least one private lesson with the professor prior to your audition. This gives you an opportunity to meet the teacher, and experience their teaching style. Yes, it’s nice if the teacher’s personality fits well with yours, but I wouldn’t get too hung up on that. I’ve had introverted and extroverted teachers, formal and informal teachers, and I’ve learned from them all. What’s really important is, do you trust this person? Do you want to work with them? Do you feel like they are excited to work with you? Do they inspire you? Do you like the way sound on their instrument? Do you like the way their students sound? Are their students successful?

While it's probably self-evident that your private lessons are important if you want to be a performer, they are also crucial to your development if you want to be an educator, composer, conductor, or other career in music. Private lessons are where you develop your interpretation, phrasing, and musicianship, and are therefore important to any career in music.

That being said, if you do want to be a performer, you may also want to consider if the teacher’s priorities fit with your performing aspirations. For example, if you want to be a jazz musician and the teacher doesn’t allow their students to study jazz or play in jazz ensembles, that would be a major problem. On the other hand, if your professional goals are to play in an orchestra and the teacher at a university is mostly a jazz musician who doesn’t own a C trumpet, that might also be an awkward fit. Find a teacher that you trust who has the background to help you achieve your goals.

University Ensembles

The quality of the university’s performing ensembles is really important. The other music students at the university will be a major influence on you, and in an ideal situation you are playing in ensembles where the other players have high abilities and high standards. For example, if you are playing in ensembles where the intonation and tone standards are low, it may be difficult for you to develop a solid sense of tuning and sound production. If you are playing in a group where the standards are very high, it’s going to challenge and inspire you to raise your own musicianship to fit into the group’s level of playing.

The diversity of the university’s ensembles is also important. Most schools have a band, but not every school has an orchestra, jazz groups, or chamber ensembles. If you want to get orchestral experience, you may want to choose a school that has an orchestra. Similarly, if you want to learn jazz, you’ll want to have jazz ensembles as your laboratory for learning that style. Also, if you go to a very small school with limited instrumentation, forming chamber ensembles may be a challenge.

With regard to ensembles, it’s not uncommon for a particular school to be stronger in one area than another. Some music programs may have some ensembles that tour internationally and record CDs, yet have other groups that struggle to find enough players and rehearse infrequently. If you do your homework (go hear the ensembles and ask around) you can determine if the diversity of the school’s performing groups is also matched by across-the-board quality in all of the ensembles.

The Degree Requirements

One thing students often do NOT look at is the actual curriculum. Yes, the teacher and the ensembles are important, but also take time to check out the classes you’ll be taking. If a school offers a variety of music degrees, consider the degree requirements for each degree and which one fits your ambitions and interests best.

Every student should ask this question of professors at their prospective university: “How long do students take to finish this degree?”  Some universities are transparent that music degrees at their school usually take five years. Other schools work hard to get undergraduate students out in four years. These are years of your life you’re talking about and you want to invest them wisely.  (BTW, the best measure of time-to-graduate is not what the degree plan says, but rather, what was the actual experience of alumni from the past 5 years?) What about course and ensemble expectations? Will you get enough experience in a variety of ensembles? Is marching band required for 1, 2, or more years? These questions may help you make up your mind not only about which school to attend, but also which degree to pursue.

The City/Community

Other factors to consider are the city and community. Do you want go to school far away? Close to home? As a musician, you may also want to look for (1) Opportunities to perform outside the university, (2) Opportunities to teach private lessons, (3) Opportunities to work with high-level public school programs, and  (4) The availability of professional-level ensembles.

I was lucky to get a lot of professional performing and teaching experience an undergraduate student, and I know that is not always the case. In an ideal situation, you go to school in an environment where you apply the material you learn in class in the community as a practicing musician in the real world. When you graduate, such experiences will be incredibly valuable and will make you more employable.

You also might want to think about the other professional-level ensembles are in the community. For example, if you want to be an orchestral musician, you might want to go to school in a city where there is a quality professional orchestra. If you want to be a jazz musician, you might want to find out what the city’s “scene” is like, as you’ll want to surround yourself with jazz musicians and groups that you can “sit in” with and learn in real-world situations. (Some cities are famous for vibrant jazz scenes and some are deserts.)

You may have other personal criteria for choosing a good city/community. Are you a vegetarian or vegan in need of supportive restaurants and grocery stores? Do you have medical needs that can only meet by certain facilities? Are you looking for community in a particular religious place of worship? Or, are you looking to put yourself outside your comfort zone in a community that is much different from your hometown?

Alumni

Often when prospective students visit a potential school they get to meet some current students. This is a good idea!  It's great to meet current students, sit in on current classes, and all of that. But, what may actually be more important is to learn about recent alumni. Did they have a good experience at their alma mater? Are they using their degree? Are they employed in music? Employment in music fields can be competitive, and it's worth considering the recent placement track record of a prospective schools. Go to a school where people get jobs!

Some schools and teachers are "powerhouses" of placement into the professional world. Examples from the trumpet world include: Charlie Geyer and Barbara Butler (currently at Rice University) are respected as the experts for placing students into orchestral positions; Keith Johnson, the now-retired Regents Professor of Trumpet at the University of North Texas, had an exemplary record of placing students into university professorships. Do your homework, and find out about the placement rate of the school.

Finances

It would be remiss of me to not mention the financial part of where you go to school. School is expensive! Where you choose to go to school can have a major impact on your short- and long-term financial health.

Regardless of where you go to school, and regardless of your family’s financial status, you should fill out the FASFA to see what federal financial aid is available. I won't go into all those details here, but follow this link (external link) and you can read more on the government website.

You’ll want to find out what academic, music, and need-based scholarships may be available. (Tip: Maybe don't ask about this in your very first email to the school,  as it may make you look like you're more interested in money than an education.) You’ll want to ask if financial awards can be “stacked” (combined) or not. 

You’ll want to consider any financial award relative to the overall cost and not as an isolated figure. In other words, a $20,000 scholarship toward a $60,000 tuition bill means you still owe $40,000;  But the seemingly much smaller $2,000 scholarship toward a $10,000 tuition bill means you only owe $8,000.

My advice is to consider finances as one of the factors (along with those other factors already mentioned) in choosing your school, but not THE deciding factor. A few times over the years I have had prospective students tell me things like “Well I’m just going to go wherever I get the most money.” First, that’s probably not the best approach to getting the best education, and second, that’s probably not the best way to make a positive impression on a prospective teacher.

Loans can be a way to afford school and – let's be honest -- most people have them – but be mindful of how much money you are and try to not get in over your head.  A career in music is an awesome dream that is worthy of being pursued -- but borrowing $200,000 to be a public school music teacher is probably not the best way to set yourself up for long-term financial success. (Loan repayment programs are available for public school teachers in some areas, as well as for those who pursue employment in the military. If you think you may be borrowing a lot of money, it's worth looking into these options for erasing the debt after you graduate.)

Conclusion

The decision of where to spend years of your life studying music is extremely important.  The professors, ensembles, and community will leave a lasting influence on your life. I hope this week's blog is helpful as you plan your future.

Jason Dovel is associate professor of trumpet at the University of Kentucky and a Yamaha Performing Artist. He is host of the annual UK Summer Trumpet Institute held every June in Lexington, KY (USA).