Visiting Music Schools? Here Are 6 Top Things To Keep In Mind

Visiting music schools? How can you know which one is best for you?

It can be really quite overwhelming trying to figure out where you  fit. I've been there. I get it. In this episode, we dive right into the top 6 things to keep in mind when visiting a music school, so that you can have a clearer picture of which ones are a good fit for you.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Quickly before we start. Do you have an audition coming up or you want to make sure that you are ready for it? But maybe you don't want to sort through a bunch of podcast episodes to find the ones about auditioning. Well, guess what, there is already an audition playlist just for you. These bite-sized episodes cover everything from preparing all the way to the secret to thriving in your audition. You don't want to miss it, and they are compact and ready to download for when you are on the go. So click the link in the show notes and get your audition playlist right in your inbox. Now back to the show.

Speaker 1: 0:39

I got into three out of five schools that I auditioned for in the UK, and I auditioned for these schools virtually, because I'm currently based in the US, and so when it came time to choose which school I wanted to attend, I thought for sure that the second school I got into was the one, and then I visited the campuses and everything changed. There were some important aspects that I didn't think about until I was actually there, and today we're going to dive right into all of them. Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. I'm your host, eleanor, and after countless practice sessions, a ton of broken reads and seven different music school acceptances in three different countries. I have learned a thing or two about savoring your practicing, becoming your best practice companion and actively working towards your musical goals, and I want to share this with you because I want you to become your best musical self. Are you with me on this? Let's get started. Hey there and welcome. Today we are going to be chatting and solving the problem of which school do I attend. This is a good problem to have. I'm going to be honest, like if you have choices, that's an amazing problem to have and congrats to you. And the solution of this problem is to go visit them. And in this episode, we are diving right into the top things to keep in mind when visiting these schools and what to look out for, because, let's be honest, being there in person makes all the difference.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Now, this is actually take two of this episode. I started to record this episode and then some of my equipment died and I didn't realize. So this is take two. Let's dive right in. Number one thing to keep in mind is the teacher. Now, this might be an obvious one, but this is so important, which is why it's number one. A great way to do this is to take trial lessons with the teacher, and if you can do it on campus, like that's even better because you get the full experience. If you want to learn more about trial lessons, there are two episodes all about this Episode nine the ins and outs of my trial lesson experience, and episode 14, trial lessons coming up. Here's how to prepare for them. You can go check them out Now. If you go into the show notes, there is actually a link where you can click and you will get these episodes right in your inbox so that you don't have to scroll and find them and remember to listen to them. Anywhere you are. They are right in your inbox, ready to download, ready to listen. Go on the go. So go check out that link in the show notes Now.

Speaker 1: 3:20

The teacher is one of the most important factors when choosing the school. So be honest with yourself. Do you mesh with them? Does their teaching style work with your learning style and does your learning style work with their teaching style? Do they excite you? Do you find them inspiring? I remember when I went to a school and I had a trial lesson with one of the teachers and I'm going to be honest, our styles did not match. It just wasn't going well and it just didn't match. And it wasn't that he wasn't a good teacher. I talked with some of the other students and they loved him. It was just that his teaching style and my learning style did not mesh, and that's okay. I had another lesson with a different teacher at the same school and our teaching style slash learning style meshed way better. So having trial lessons really helps to open your eyes about the teacher, and the teacher is an amazing thing and the teacher is so important to consider when visiting the school.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Now, number two, we have the campus. Now this might be obvious, but it is so important Checking out the different facilities and thinking can I actually see myself there, like literally sitting in, for example, the library and trying to see, can I study here? Can I see myself here or sitting in a practice room and be like could I see myself actually practicing in this room and think about how that makes you feel? If you're sitting in a practice room and you're like and think about how that makes you feel, what are your thoughts about that? Should you actually see yourself there? I remember when I went to look at Unis in the UK and there was one that I thought would be the one. And then I got to the campus and I realized that I really, really, really could not see myself there, whereas there was another school in the UK that I was excited about but I, to be honest, didn't know if that was going to be the one. And then I got to the campus and, oh my gosh, I knew. I just knew that it was the one. I could really imagine myself there and I was so excited about being there. I just knew it was the one. So visiting the campus is so important.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Number three we got the city, not just the campus, but the whole city around it. What are the people in the city? Like that can be a big factor. Do you like the people in the city? Are they nice? Are they overall, maybe not nice? What are your thoughts about that? Thinking about the whole city, what are the vibes of the city? I don't just mean like is it cool or is it hive. I mean what are the crime rates in the city? Would you feel safe there? What are the prices in the city? Is it an expensive city? Could you actually afford to maybe live in that city? That is another thing to think about. So an amazing way to do that is to actually go there. So when you are there, look at the city. Spend some time looking at the city and seeing how you feel about it, what you think about it. Could you actually be there, could you see yourself there? Now, number four kind of segues from that. We went from the campus to the overall city right into number four, which is the neighborhoods around the campus. If you are not living in student housing, these might be your neighborhoods, and even if you are living in student housing, these will be your neighbors. Maybe just a little farther away. Walk through these neighborhoods. You might walk through these neighborhoods to get to places to go shopping, etc. So when visiting the school, go look at the neighborhoods around it and keep track of which ones you like and which ones you don't, which ones seem safer and which ones don't, when you actually see yourself in these neighborhoods, walking through these neighborhoods, all of that stuff. When I went to visit schools, not only in the UK but also in the US, and all of the schools that I visited, I took either quite a chunk out of my day or maybe just the whole day to look at the neighborhoods and see the neighborhoods and see which ones I liked and see the feeling around them. Look at the city. That is a huge factor. So don't discount the neighborhoods just because of the campus. Really really think about the surrounding areas.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Number five this one I am so excited about because, I'm going to be honest, it is an amazing resource. Number five is the other students. This is a big one. Meet the other students. When I went to the UK, I actually already beforehand had asked the teachers to put me in contact with some of the students, and so I had been in touch with them, and so when I went to the UK, I got in touch with them and so I was like hey, I'm in town, can we meet up, can we chat about the uni? And this really helped my perspective on the uni.

Speaker 1: 7:47

In fact, there was one school that I went to and I reached out to one of the students that I had been kind of texting already and I was like I'm in town, can we chat, can we meet up? And she was like yes, she was in an Oboe class. So she was like after the Oboe class I will come down and we can have a chat, wait in the lobby. So I waited in the lobby of the school and I saw her come down and following her were the rest of the Oboes in the school and I thought to myself, okay, she's going to say goodbye to the Oboes and then we're going to go have a chat. But no, she turns around to the Oboes and she says guys, meet Eleanor. This is Eleanor and I met all of them and I chatted with all of them and it was amazing. I did not see this coming, but the student was so amazing. She's an amazing human being and she just created this amazing opportunity where I just met all of the other students. I got their opinions on the campus, the teachers, why they chose the school. It was a gold mine. I'm going to be honest. It was amazing. I was so grateful for that and I came away from that feeling so excited. So it was amazing. So if you can meet the students, that is an amazing thing to do and just ask them why they went to the school, their thoughts on the teachers, all of the things, it's such a gold mine.

Speaker 1: 9:09

Number six is kind of an accumulation, I guess number one through five, and that is the vibe of the school Throughout all of the categories before one through five, you can kind of get the vibe of the school. You know the overall feeling to it. But what's more important is your overall feeling of the school. What do you feel like? Can you actually see yourself in the campus, in the practice room, you know, working with the teachers in the city, all of this stuff? Can you actually see yourself there? And when you're looking at schools it might be kind of a lot. I'm gonna be honest. I've been there.

Speaker 1: 9:43

It can be a little overwhelming to be like, oh my gosh, which school do I choose? And my answer to that is keep track of all of these things, keep track of the school, keep track of your thoughts on all of these different things so that when you go back to actually decide, you can look back and be like oh yeah, I remember that this was like this or this I really liked or this I didn't like. You might be thinking right now, eleanor. Well, that means that I'm gonna have to go back through this episode and, you know, look at all of the categories again and write them all down and take them with me to the schools. That sounds like a lot of work. And I say to you, my friend, yes, it does, which is why in the show notes you will find a little workbook, a worksheet where you can actually fill all of this out right there.

Speaker 1: 10:29

It has all of the categories in this episode listed, with spaces where you can write out all of your thoughts, all of your feelings so that, when it comes time to decide the school, you can make a confident decision. So make sure to go check that out in the show notes. It is there just for you All. Right, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 1: 10:50

As always, all the stuff to do with this episode will be linked in the show notes, from the blog posts that go with this episode to the link about the audition playlist Make sure to go check that out to the link for both episodes on trial lessons, so you can get them right in your inbox and your worksheet for when you visit the schools. So make sure to go check all of that out. Make a habit of doing yourself a favor and looking at these show notes because, let's be honest, there's some good stuff in there If you want to show your love for the confident, if you want to show your love and support for the confident musicianing podcast. Make sure you give it a follow and, as always, I hope you have the best day. I will see you next time. Bye, bye.