The importance of mentors

Good mentors will work with you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and assess strategies to get you closer to your goals. They will provide honest and constructive feedback, help you develop self-awareness, and inspire you to reach beyond your own perceived limitations. In addition, mentors also often have the clout and connections to guide you in your career pursuits. Their job is to pass on their knowledge to you but it is also your responsibility to take action and implement the information they offer.

Where to start

In this day and age, you have many resources at your disposal to help in the search for a music mentor. To get started, visit the websites of music schools that interest you to find their private instrument or voice instructors. Search online for performers on your instrument that you admire, to learn where they are currently teaching. Use journals and publications to explore. Most instrument-specific associations publish their own magazines. These are good resources for finding professionals who are active in the field. Of course, speak to your friends, parents, and current teachers for advice.

Once you identify someone who you admire and respect, contact them. Ideally, you should form some type of relationship with this person ahead of your audition date. Try to schedule a private lesson, if possible. This will help you to determine whether you have chemistry with this person. You should have a good sense after a few meetings as to whether the rapport is right. Think about the qualities you are looking for in a mentor, and remember: not all private instructors view the act of teaching lessons to students as a mentorship relationship.

What to look for in a mentor

• Availability – Your mentor needs to be available for interaction. At times, you may need to meet with them outside of your scheduled lesson, just to talk. Instructors who hold full-time positions at universities tend to be more accessible to students.

• Flexibility – Good musical mentors are able to teach and guide in a manner that works for you. They strike a healthy balance between adhering to standard practice and adapting to your needs.

• Similarities – Look for a mentor who has a similar attitude and values and goals as you do. It can only help your chances of success if your mentor understands you and is familiar with the road that lies ahead.

• Character – Your mentor should be someone who you respect and admire. They should exhibit personal integrity and be honest with you.

• Confidant – A good mentor is someone you can trust. There are times when you may need to be open and vulnerable with your mentor.

• Caring – A mentor needs to care about your success just as much as you do.

• Inspiring – A mentor should inspire you to want to reach a higher level.

• Positive – Your mentor needs to be positive. Your path to success will not always be smooth. It is important to have someone to help you along when you are feeling down.

• Challenging – Mentors are not afraid to criticize constructively. It is important for private instructors to have you experiment and work on ideas and techniques that are outside of your comfort zone. They should challenge you to think differently, and have you reach for heights that you did not think were possible. All of this will allow you to grow to become a better person and musician.

• Belief in you – A mentor needs to believe in your potential. If they do not, then they may not put all of their effort into the relationship with you.

Final Thought

I was once advised that while finding the right music school is certainly important, finding the right teacher is even more important. The relationship between a music student and their private instructor is a special one. When that relationship is a mentorship, it can be reap benefits even beyond the formal years of study.

BIO
Wesley Ferreira is quickly becoming one of the prominent clarinetists of his generation.  He joined the music faculty at Colorado State University in 2011 and leads an active and diverse career performing worldwide as soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, and as an engaging adjudicator, clinician, and conductor.  Ferreira holds degrees from the University of Western Ontario and Arizona State University.  To learn more about Wesley Ferreira, please visit his website: www.wesleyferreira.com

What have music majors found most useful in their music school education? Music career advisor and consultant Angela Myles Beeching focuses on the importance of finding a mentor and getting involved in a challenging project as the two most impactful experiences a music major can and should aim for.

College in Hindsight
In an informal survey conducted over the years, I’ve questioned musician friends, colleagues, and alumni decades after they graduated, asking what actually mattered most in their college experiences. There have been two phenomena cited time after time, two kinds of educational experiences that made the most impact, no matter where, when, or what the individuals studied. And from watching hundreds of students make their ways through degree programs and on out into the world, I’ve observed that those who have had these experiences are the ones who tend to fare the best in transitioning to the professional world. If I had a magic wand to wave over every school’s curriculum deliberations, I’d wish these were the transformational experiences all students would have.

The Mentor Phenomenon
One of the most important experiences a college education can provide is that of making a strong personal connection with a caring faculty member who challenges, encourages, and dares the student to expect more of herself or himself. An ideal mentor is someone who coerces a student into having a more ambitious mission—not just a career—in life. Such mentors serve both as models and as mirrors, reflecting back on students a view of themselves as capable and full of potential. With such a mentor, a student dreams bigger. Music departments may have the advantage in this over others, since performance majors spend the most intense part of their programs studying one-on-one with a master teacher. However, true mentor-matches are probably made in heaven, not in studio teacher or advisor assignments; institutionalized mentoring programs often leave much to be desired.

The important thing is satisfying a student’s hunger for the attention of an inspiring adult role model and the challenge of working with a mentor. And schools can do better to help make more authentic, substantive mentoring possible. In the end, whether a student finds a mentor on his own, through a class, a work study job, or through a program, the objective is to make a connection with a trusted adult role model.

The Power of a Project
The second educational phenomenon I’ve found to have a lasting impact on students is the experience of becoming fully engaged in a challenging project, something that ignites her or his imagination and motivation. Projects that have lasting impact are those that demand the best of a student’s intelligence and put to the test her or his assumptions and worldviews. These projects (in the best cases) involve working closely with other students and one or more faculty members both on and off campus. Such projects can connect a student’s learning to a community beyond the campus and to a future the student can envision.

But the most important aspect of any student project—whether it is a thesis or a community service project, starting a concert or lecture series, or working as editor of a fledgling newspaper—is that it be fueled by the student’s initiative. The student ends up taking responsibility and therefore owns her or his learning. Such a project can be the light of an actual education, or the petri dish where critical thinking, analytical skills, communication, organization, and interpersonal skills are all developed. In the end, it’s where a student has the opportunity to discover her or his mission, and finally, to gain the confidence that she or he will live a meaningful life.

For any musician heading off to college or in the middle of a degree program now, I recommend making sure your education is the best it can be. It’s up to you. Ask yourself, who might be a good mentor? And, what project would you like to take on?

Music career strategist Angela Myles Beeching is author of Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music and has advised hundreds of musicians on a full range of career-related issues. She directs the Center for Music Entrepreneurship at Manhattan School of Music and is the former director of the Career Services Center at New England Conservatory. She maintains a thriving consulting practice, Beyond Talent Consulting, offering strategic career and business coaching to musicians.

Excerpted from “Curriculum Reform—A Perspective,” an article published in the Journal of the Music and Entertainment Industry Association Journal, 2005.

Copyright, Angela Beeching, July 13, 2011 (Reproduction granted with credit to the author and MajoringInMusic.com.)

There’s a big difference between singing or playing an instrument in high school, even being told you’re good enough to make All-State Choir or Band –– and deciding to become a music major when you graduate. The bottom line is this:  Do you want to major in music because it’s your calling, because you are so passionate about music that you are willing to take on all it requires to make it the focus of your life after high school?

It’s a myth that majoring in music is easy and fun, compared to engineering or pre-med or business.

As a music major, you have to study:

• music theory
• music history
• your specific area of focus
• aural skills

You also have to:

• expand your keyboard proficiency (for most majors)
• take music lessons
• practice more than you ever have on your major instrument and possibly a second instrument
• take classes to help you succeed as a performer
• learn how to prevent repetitive motion injuries
• learn to communicate effectively and use criticism well

Add to the list:

• any required academics
• rehearsals with required ensembles, orchestras or choirs
• performances
• required master classes
• all the extracurricular music opportunities that music majors delve into
• junior year and/or senior year recitals
• other professionally-related experiences
• everything else any college student needs to do (eat, sleep, laundry, work, and hang out with friends)

…and you get a bird’s eye view of what you are stepping into as a music major.

BUT if music is your calling, it’s all achievable. And yes, you will enjoy it, or most of it, and you will feel like it is the right thing –– and probably the only thing –– for you to be spending so much of your time and your (or your family’s) hard-earned money on at this point in your life. As with any major, time management and the ability to organize yourself will pay off more than you would ever have imagined.

It’s also essential to continue to think ahead about what you might do with your degree. Many schools offer classes and even entire tracks that teach the business skills most music majors will need at some point in their careers in order to be successful. (see: “Entrepreneurship + Music: What, Why and How”) If you think you’ll want to teach, check out pedagogy requirements. Even subbing for a music teacher may require you to have some music education classes under your belt.

☛ If you get a music degree and decide not to pursue a career in music, you haven’t wasted your time. The skills gained as a music major will provide you with the background necessary to enter many other fields as well as graduate programs. (see: “Transferable Skills: You Can Take Them with You”)

Links & Resources

NAfME: The National Association for Music Education, offers a worthwhile perspective on majoring in music in “What it Takes to be a Music Major”.

Dr. Lisa Garner-Santa, associate professor of flute at Texas Tech University, writes about the challenges and opportunities of majoring in music including practicing and auditioning for placement in her article “Become Your Own Best Teacher: A Guide for the College Music Major” that appeared in the Summer, 2009 issue of Music Matters.

“Music and Passion” is a fascinating talk about awakening passion and possibility through music, given by Benjamin Zander, former artistic director of the joint program between New England Conservatory and Walnut Hill School for the Arts, gave at the TED conference in Aspen, Colorado in 2008.

Robert Rickover, Alexander Technique teacher, working with a musician.

by Diana Rumrill -

Maybe you’ve heard of the Alexander Technique somewhere along your musical journey. If so, you’re probably aware that it has something to do with helping relieve excess tension. Perhaps you’ve seen people lying down on the floor with books behind their heads, or an Alexander teacher working with a student, and you’ve wondered what they were doing. Most importantly, you may have asked, “Can these ultra-subtle-looking activities help me play my instrument or sing better?” Yes, definitely!

Whether you’re having some kind of pain with playing, tension that you know isn’t working for you, or are just interested in playing with more freedom and ease, the Alexander Technique can help. For me, it forever changed the way I approached playing violin –– as well as singing, walking, sitting, and breathing, for that matter.

Origin of the Alexander Technique
Around the turn of the last century, F.M. Alexander, an Australian actor, suffered from chronic hoarseness whenever he performed. Through very careful self-observation, he discovered that he slipped into a pattern of unhelpful whole-body tension, similar to a tiny version of a baby’s startle response, even before he started to recite his Shakespearean monologues.

Alexander noticed that this tension began with his thoughts about performing. He also noticed that he had to first stop his pattern of tension before trying replace it with a more useful behavior. He found that his head and neck were crucial to controlling this whole-body pattern. When he stopped or “inhibited” the downwards and backwards tension of his head on his neck, it helped to unlock this overall body pattern of tension.

Then, he found a helpful way to use his mind: he thought of his body as having inner directions. These can be summed up as, “I will allow my neck to be free, and my back to lengthen and widen, so that my arms and legs can come away from my body, my knees can come away from each other, and my heels can go back and down.” He found that he could use these internal thoughts in any activity he was doing. This meant that he could have just the right amount of muscular tension in any position.

Music Majors Learn to Use the Entire Body
Often, we can get caught in thinking there is one magic posture for each activity that we just need to tighten ourselves into and then we will be “right.” No matter what it is that we do, though, a single posture doesn’t work past bowing the first downbow, singing the first note, breathing after the first phrase, conducting the first downbeat, or typing the first five minutes of your homework.

In the Alexander Technique, there is no one cure-all posture into which you can sit or stand up straight. Instead, you learn how to use your senses to stop subtly distorting your body with tension, and to allow your body to use its own inner support structure. Learning to include the entire body along with your breathing saves a lot of time in correcting many problems at once.

It’s especially important as a student to learn how to improve your body’s use because when you’re not in the practice room, you’re at the computer or typing on your phone. This can be a prime recipe for pain and discomfort if you’re not prepared!

Learning the basics of Alexander Technique now, at the beginning of your musical career, will save you years of undoing bad habits later as well as prevent injury over your lifetime. Most importantly, it will help you make breakthroughs in your music learning while feeling your best. Many schools offer group classes as a part of their coursework. If this is true for your school, take advantage of it!

Bio: Diana Rumrill is a physical therapist; soon-to-be certified Alexander Technique teacher; violinist; and singer in Washington, DC. She attended the University of Connecticut for physical therapy, the Hartt School of Music for voice, and the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique. Find out how to work with her at harmoniousbodies, and follow @DianaRumrill on Twitter.

Links & Resources

• For additional information about the use of Alexander Technique for musicians, check Robert Rickover’s site, Musicians and the Alexander Technique.

• To find teachers certified teachers of the Alexander Technique in your area, visit American Society for the Alexander Technique or Alexander Technique International.

I can’t tell you with any certainty why you weren’t accepted to a particular music school. A lot of times, even the schools themselves can’t tell you why they made their decisions (this is often for legal reasons). Having spent some time as the Interim Admissions Coordinator for the Carnegie Mellon School of Music, what I can offer are a few thoughts to consider about application decisions.
 
1. First, there is this weird inexplicable thing that music schools talk about called “fit”, as in, “You just aren’t the right fit with our school.” This is not a cop-out, even though it may feel that way. Certain music programs subscribe to certain schools of thought. Teachers have specific methods of instruction (did you know there are two different schools of harp performance?), and sometimes the methods they employ aren’t suited for you and your skills.

Maybe you want to be a singer/songwriter, and the program focuses more on classical repertoire. Perhaps the trumpet teacher knows you are applying to another school, and that you would grow so much more if you were in the studio of the trumpet teacher there. Sometimes there isn’t a strong interpersonal connection between teacher and student at the audition. It’s not that you’re not good enough, it’s just a personality thing.

We all know that forcing a square peg into a round hole doesn’t get you very far. It’s important to trust that the professors reading your application and hearing your audition are making their decisions in your best interest, whether you can see it or not. Chances are, they, as professional musicians, are hearing things and understanding things about you as a growing musician that you may not even be aware of yet. People want you to succeed, and sometimes certain schools don’t put you in the best place for that. Thus, it’s not the right fit.
 
2. A lot of music programs fill their studios based on the number of spaces they have available. For instance, if the cello studio capacity is 20 students and four musicians graduated last year, then there are four spaces available to fill. If you are sixth on the list, you probably won’t get an offer. However, next year, six people may graduate. If you audition again and you are still sixth on the list, you have a better chance of being accepted. It’s entirely possible that you are talented enough to attend this school, but the numbers game just didn’t align for you this year. This is arguably a more frustrating concept than the idea of “fit,” but it’s just something we have to come to terms with.
 
An Alternative Plan

If you had your heart set on a particular school, and if there is nowhere else in the world you can stand to be for the next four years, all hope is not lost. If you are in a position where you can still attend that school (as a non-music major) and perhaps apply to the music school for your sophomore year, consider doing that. You’ll have an extra year of practice, you can form relationships with faculty, and the numbers game may play out for you. Also consider contacting someone who heard your audition and ask them what you can do to prepare more effectively for the future. They may not be able to tell you exactly why your audition didn’t turn out the way you had hoped, but your efforts to continue to learn and become a better musician will reflect positively on you.
 
Not being accepted is still hard to hear and come to terms with. What may become clearer over time is that there was a reason for it that will actually serve you and your music. While it may not make sense now, perspective often comes further down the road.
 
Hang in there.

Katherine Pukinskis is currently working toward a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Chicago, studying with Marta Ptaszynska. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Composition from Carnegie Mellon University. She has studied at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom with Geoff Poole and with Leonardo Balada at the Summer Composition Course in Montserrat, Spain. Other private teachers include Nancy Galbraith and Noel Zahler. Pukinskis has had her compositions premiered throughout the United States and in England, most recently at the Royal College of Music in London.

Katherine is available for composition and arrangement/transcription commissions as well as composition and theory lessons, and can be reached at katherine@pukinskis.org.

Making the most of musical opportunities during high school gives prospective music majors the best chance for success in college and beyond. 

Here are some basic pieces of advice:

 
Study Privately
 
Your private instructor should be qualified to teach a serious young musician. An ideal pre-college teacher has:
 
• A degree in music (at least a Bachelor’s)
• Experience in preparing college-bound musicians
• Experience as an outstanding/professional performer
 
An instructor who doesn’t possess at least one of these qualities is almost certainly not a good choice to prepare you for a college music program!
 
Play with Other People
 
Students who attend high schools with strong band, orchestra, choir, musical theater or jazz ensembles enjoy tremendous learning opportunities.  Those who do not –– students at high schools without strong music programs, or home-schooled students –– should actively pursue music options at junior colleges, community music schools, private music schools, or religious-affiliated centers.
 
Popular music groups such as rock, contemporary worship or pep bands, while valid and fun, seldom challenge young musicians with regards to traditional ensemble skills such as music reading, blending, tuning and balancing, and following a conductor.  Participate and enjoy –– but don’t expect these groups to substitute for literature-based ensembles.
 
Sing
 
Singing is the most basic form of musical expression. All music majors are required to sing extensively. Take advantage of every chance to vocalize: high school, junior college and faith-based choirs all offer opportunities to work on your voice, and more importantly, your ear.  Particularly beneficial are those choirs that don’t rely entirely on “ear learning”, but emphasize music reading as well.
 
Play Piano
 
Like singing, piano playing is required of all college music majors.  If you started on piano but switched to a different instrument, pull out your old books and brush up.  If you have never played before, start as soon as you can; junior college Beginning Piano classes are a cost-effective alternative to private lessons.
 
Study Theory
 
Students who don’t start music theory until college often struggle, particularly those musicians whose backgrounds are primarily or exclusively aura (i.e., vocalists, drummers, and guitarists). Any pre-college theory background is helpful.  High school Advanced Placement (AP) Music Theory classes are a tremendous opportunity; so are junior college Music Fundamentals courses.  Numerous self-study methods, such as those at musictheorypro.com, are also available.
 
Learn Technology
 
Familiarity with computer notation programs is beneficial.

The most common are Finale and Sibelius, which are stand-alone notation programs, and Logic, which includes notation as part of a larger platform with MIDI and digital audio. Some companies offer less-expensive starter versions or educational discounts.
 
PC-based music technology is not limited to notation; MIDI, digital audio recording and editing programs are other powerful tools. Familiarity with technology is extremely valuable to anyone aspiring to a career in music.
 
Listen to Music
 
Serious young musicians often do everything to advance themselves except actually listen to music! Even well-trained students often have a poor aural grasp of basic musical styles and concepts, especially those that fall outside their specialty or preference.
 
The following are typical ways to introduce oneself to a wide range of music:
 
• Recordings (audio files or CDs)
• Internet sources (web radio, YouTube, websites, Facebook pages, etc.)
• Attending concerts and recitals
 
Attending live music events not only exposes you to a variety of music, it also gets you in the habit of supporting your fellow musicians—just as you hope they will support you.

Tom Hynes is an assistant professor of music at Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA), where he teaches Commercial Guitar, Music Theory, and Jazz Combos.  He also teaches at the Idyllwild Arts Academy and Northwoods Jazz Camps.  He received his BM in Studio Guitar Performance from University of Southern California and MA in Music/Composition from California State University—Los Angeles.  His instructional Interactive CD/ROM, The Developing Jazz Guitarist is published by acmuzik.com.  His book Modern Harmonic and Melodic Practice (Hynesight Music) is in use as a theory text at APU. Professional credits include the Grammy-nominated recording, Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra Precious Promises. He can be contacted at thynes@apu.edu.
 

Generations of distinguished faculty have put USC Thornton on the map as a global destination for those who are serious about music. Furthering that reputation are our alumni, who hold prominent positions in major orchestras and ensembles, serve as leaders in the rapidly evolving music industry, perform on stages around the world, win coveted prizes and honors, and remain among the most sought-after studio musicians and recording artists.

USC Popular Music – the first university program of it’s kind.

USC Popular Music link         (Photo Credits: USC)

Located in Los Angeles, our mission is to reflect L.A.’s unique and eclectic artistic landscape. This is why we offer programs in film scoring, songwriting, and popular music performance in addition to such areas as opera, jazz, and orchestral music. We utilize all the resources of this great city. Our faculty are members of the LA Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, LA Chamber Orchestra, and the LA Opera. But we go much further to blur the lines between campus and city. Thornton students regularly perform at the nearby GRAMMY Museum^®, and faculty, students, and alumni have performed on the Emmy^® Awards, as well as the GRAMMY^® and Academy Awards^®.

Our students have regular opportunities to interact with artists from all major performing disciplines- from on-campus master classes and drastically reduced (or free) tickets to cultural events at the Los Angeles Music Center, to working in the vast number of professional recording studios in Hollywood.

Your fellow students will win national and international competitions and awards in diverse areas. The relationships you develop with these colleagues will make you a better and more expansive artist while also building a network of like-minded individuals that will last throughout your career.

If this sounds like you, check out the USC Thornton School of Music.  We’re the perfect school to help you launch your career.

USC Thornton School

Imagine a sunlit building alive with music all the time – performances, rehearsals, lessons, coaching, course work.  Imagine a stimulating environment in which academic and performance creativity is encouraged, challenged, and fostered.  Imagine an all-inclusive place where musicians of all interests and skills can come to participate.  Imagine majoring in music at Colorado College.

We believe that music happens at its best through the combination of rigorous course work and performance taught by first-rate scholars and musicians.  Majors in the music department at Colorado College earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, as part of their immersion within a liberal arts institution.  Students receive broad-based instruction in the musical arts with the freedom to direct their study towards several areas of emphasis including performance, composition, music history, ethnomusicology, and theory.  

Because of our 10:1 student to faculty ratio, Colorado College students receive individual attention unmatched by larger institutions.  Under a special academic system called the “Block Plan,” students take courses in theory, composition, ethnomusicology, and music history.  Our faculty includes eight full-time professors, representing the leading scholars in their fields.  Additionally, thirty-six studio instructors offer private lessons and group performance opportunities including classical orchestra, Indonesian gamelan, bluegrass, jazz, and musical theatre.  

Aren’t sure if you want to major in music?  This might just be the place for you.  Admitted students enroll in Colorado College as a whole and pursue coursework in a wide variety of fields and subjects beyond the music department.  You might choose to minor in music, take on a double-major, or even major in a different department altogether.  In fact, many of the 350 students who are active in the music department do so only for their own pleasure.  We offer opportunities for all students to participate in making music and look forward to sharing these opportunities with you.

Colorado College offers a Bachelor of Arts in Music, with emphasis in Performance, Theory, History, Composition, Ethnomusicology, or Musicology.

Please fill out the form below or contact our department coordinator, Stormy Burns, at (719) 389-6545 or by email at Stormy.Burns@ColoradoCollege.edu

The Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM) is located on 77-acres of tree-lined campus in Queens, New York, minutes from Manhattan,
and part of Queens College—a leading senior liberal arts college in the City University of New York.

ACSM offers three different types of undergraduate music degrees: general music (BA), Performance (B.Mus), and Music Education (BA/Ed). Undergraduate students go through rigorous academic courses in theory, history, ear-training, sight-singing and performance as well as take private lessons as part of their degree requirements.

ACSM faculty members include world famous musicians and scholars such as Daniel Phillips (Violin), Marcy Rosen (Cello), Charles Neidich (Clarinet), David Jolley (Horn), Bruce Saylor (composition and theory), Arbie Orenstein (Music History), and Janice Smith (Music Education) just to name a few.

Our newly renovated music building provides students with a welcoming atrium, Steinway pianos in all practice rooms, a music library which has more than 35,000 scores, 30,000 books and 20,000 recordings, and an award-winning LeFrak Concert Hall, celebrated for its acoustics and the Maynard-Walker Memorial organ. ACSM produces over 300 concerts a year including recitals, orchestra, choir, ensembles, new music, early music concerts, and opera productions.

ACSM offers a first-class curriculum, renowned faculty, and an extraordinary facility, at an extremely affordable tuition (full-time, in-state undergraduate tuition is currently $5,130, plus fees for a full year of study.) Students at the Copland School of Music get a world-class education at the center of the cultural universe for an impressively affordable tuition. Additionally, many of our students qualify for financial aid, and we have merit scholarships available up to the full cost of tuition.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through the study and practice of contemporary music.

For more than half a century, the college has evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business.With more than a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing more than 70 countries, and a music industry “who’s who” of alumni, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow.