NEC and SFCM

Anyone goes to New England Conservatory or San Francisco Conservatory?

I'm a senior in HS and want some good "rare" or/and "personal" information of those two schools. xP

Any comments would also be good please~ : )

Are you just singling these ones out for some reason? What about Mannes, MSM, Juilliard, Eastman, Clevelend, Oberlin etc.

Well I didn't apply to those schools. I actually got in to SFCM and NEC.

I got a full ride scholarship to NEC and I am still waiting to hear scholarship information from SFCM. (I was REALLY excited and surprised! xP)

I really like the faculties at NEC so most likely I will go to NEC.

I just wanted to hear various information from other people or hopefully find people at NEC or SFCM, that's all.

You go to Mannes, right? Can you tell me about your school? : )

I know several people who went through NEC for grad-studies. All came out SERIOUSLY top-notch musicians, highly creative and unique musical voices... emphasis seems to be on developing your musical identity, as opposed to assimilating others'.

Were I to consider an American school for more studies, NEC would be near the top of the list. Faculty is killing...

I know several people who went through NEC for grad-studies. All came out SERIOUSLY top-notch musicians, highly creative and unique musical voices... emphasis seems to be on developing your musical identity, as opposed to assimilating others'.

Very true for Mannes as well. You develop your own voice while learning from the masters (in the case of Schacter, that's Bach, Bach, Bach, and more Bach).

hm. sounds great : )

HeyHEY!!! don't forget about the University of Michigan!

I was a finalist at SFCM and I'm on the waitlist at NEC (for grad studies). I've visited SanFran but not NEC.

Pluses of SFCM:

*focused on developing piano skills which are essential (improv, realizing figured bass, score reading, general piano literacy).

*each of the profs has a very unique musical voice.

*the school is incredibly oriented towards performing new music. Ensembles will volunteer to play for you. People there LOVE music and they're GOOD at it, which means more opportunities for you.

*it's a conservatory. Music, music, and more music. You can take classes as specific as focusing on ONE composer's works, in ONE genre (e.g. there's a class about Schubert's quartets).

Negatives:

*No campus. It's basically a building in the middle of the city.

*It's a conservatory. Music music and little but music. OK for grad, not sure I'd rec it for undergrad studies unless you are SERIOUS about being a musician because it won't develop any other skills you might have.

*It appears to be hard to get in as an undergrad, declared comp major; and if you do get in, as you have, you won't have too many companions. There is no clear delineation between undergrad and grad composition studies, in terms of student quotas; the profs basically pick who they want to teach. This leads to I'd say about a 3:1 ratio G:UG in the comp student body. Probably better chances to get into the school if you play a rare instrument?

I'm eager to learn more about NEC. Not sure if I'll go, if I get accepted, or just reapply to a bunch of schools.

UM is on my list, as are Indiana, Cal Arts, etc.

That's great Weca. Thank you for your input.

and YES! I am very serious about studying music and being a musician and that's really all I want to do.

Both SFCM and NEC gave me great scholarship offer but now I'm pretty sure I will be going to NEC. I hope I can see you there. I was talking to Mr. Gandolfi from NEC on the phone today and he told me that NEC has a great performance opportunity for the composers. He says that the composers have 8 recitals in a year and bunch of composition competition within the school. Many of these concerts are held at Jordan Hall and some of them are reviewed by newspapers and made into recordings. They also have some orchestra readings as well. On top of that! they also have informal gatherings of performers and composers to cooperate and perform. It looks like NEC is very serious about making music and what I have into reality.

I was just giving you an info about NEC because you were eager to learn more about it.

Good Luck with your schools!