School of Julliard

I have my heart set on going there. I'm working hard to build up a portfolio. I was wondering if there is anyone here that is trying to get into that school, or if there is anyone here who is going there? I went to there website. The school looks amazing. Too bad about the weather though.

Are you considering only Julliard? If so, why?

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No, it's not my only choice. But it is my first choice. There is Berkly too.

Okay....but, why are you choosing these schools?

What do you want to do there?

Are you familiar with the work of the people you'd be studying with?

Interesting fact, Julliard has about a 4% acceptance rate.

I have my heart set on going there. I'm working hard to build up a portfolio. I was wondering if there is anyone here that is trying to get into that school, or if there is anyone here who is going there? I went to there website. The school looks amazing. Too bad about the weather though.

Watch out for discouraging teachers and lazy thoughts.

Interesting fact, Julliard has about a 4% acceptance rate.

According to you John, Why is it intersting?

According to you John, Why is it intersting?

Because of the sheer amount of people who say, "I'm going to go to Julliard," then fail miserably when applying.

They're accepting someone. Who is to say that can't be me? I won't know if I don't try. I'm trying to go the distance by entering these competitions. I'm currently working on music for a documentry that the local museum is making. It's my first gig. I want to wright music for films, and John Williams has always been my inspiration.

They're accepting someone. Who is to say that can't be me? I won't know if I don't try. ... I want to wright [sic] music for films, and John Williams has always been my inspiration.

No one's saying it can't be you...I'm saying: you should ask why it should be you.

You want to write film music - how does the composition department deal with that? A quick browse of the composition faculty bios brings up precisely zero boasting any film work...

Just make sure you know what you're getting into...

GAH! It's such a complicated thing, applying to these colleges. >_<

It's hard making these decisions but in the big picture they are the most important decisions I could possibly make in my life!

*sigh*

What other schools out there in the United States do any of you think are good for someone who wants to peruse a career in composing music for films?

well.....yeah, Chris is right.

Only you'll know which school/program/teacher is best for you. We can suggest schools all day long, but you need to dig into it.

Email or call professors.

Talk to current/former students.

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In other words...

"Hey, anyone wanna do the actual work associated with picking a college for me? I can only base decisions on popularity..."

Wow, kind of harsh. :P

I'm not asking for others to do the work. I'm just wondering if there are some other schools out there I have not heard about. There might be that diamond in the rough. You will never get the answers to your questions if you don't ever ask them.

well.....yeah, Chris is right.

Only you'll know which school/program/teacher is best for you. We can suggest schools all day long, but you need to dig into it.

Email or call professors.

Talk to current/former students.

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I was asking here because I thought, "who else would know about other great schools out there than other people who have the same passion I do."

I did not ever have the intent to send anyone on a fetch quest here. XD

So please forgive me if I gave the wrong impression. :)

Here's a decent database of music schools...worth poking through.

Think:

Geographically - you seem bent on getting out of the northwest. Also, consider where you'll be as far as musical opportunities go...Boston is better than Delaware....

Faculty - anyone you'd want to study with?

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Hey mate,

I think there's no harm in applying. Or in setting your goals particularly high, or taking music all the more seriously. I'm sure you have other options in mind - but work hard for this goal, and give yourself a fighting chance. If your just starting out, like me, and you don't have a impressive repertoire or anything to go on other than a gut feeling, ignore everyone else's criticism. Whether you fail or succeed, you learnt/will learn a great deal in the process. If your ambivalent because your unsure - research more - educate yourself - make an informed choice; but if your looking for affirmation from others to give you encouragement, or reassurance, you most likely won't find it. That's just some general advice. All the best,

Pravin

P.S

If your string quartet is anything to go by, you are already quite talented. Keep challenging yourself and you'll do fine.

There are a lot of things you have to consider. I call tell you a good deal about Julliard, since I attend there as a kid. Although, i'm sure going there as adult would also add a new aspect to it and it been half a decade.

Also, please do not pick Julliard because it is a well-known school. Pick it because there are people there you really want to work with and learn from. If you do not do that, then you will suffer the Princeton diease. (The Princeton diease is something that happens to freshman who go to princeton. They go there because it is well known, but do they do understand that an A is excellent and getting excellent among a general core of hard working student is tough. Also they fail to understand their professors lack of interest in a their life. It is a common theme among well known places.)

Anyway, you should go to the place you want to go, but do not only aim for big name schools. It isn't a good idea to do so. I would suggest looking for schools in every region of the united states. I preassume money isn't an opition since Julliard is an opition to you, unless you are so excellent of a composer/instrumentalist that you are obtain a full scholarship or a scholarship at all.

Okay, thank you. I seem to understand the rules of this game better. I just grew up with my mother telling me, "Julliard is the best school in the world!"

I'll look around some more and focus more on the faculty. Sorry guys. I'm kind of uninformed about how to properly picking out schools. I guess my parents are partly to blame since they have been stuffing facts about Julliard down my throat. Your parents always want the best for you. I wonder what school John Williams went to. Whoever his professors were are probably dead now. Still, I have pieces to compose, schools/faculty to look at, and a portfolio to feed. I hope I didn't upset anyone here. :P

Thanks for all of the advice. :)

Okay, thank you. I seem to understand the rules of this game better. I just grew up with my mother telling me, "Julliard is the best school in the world!"

And that's precisely the thing to avoid, if you think that one school is better than all the others, not only is that close minded, but it's also rather lazy. Julliard may be the most famous school, but certainly it isn't the greatest in the world. Make sure you've looked at plenty of other colleges and oppurtunities before you decide to stick with one

Okay, thank you. I seem to understand the rules of this game better. I just grew up with my mother telling me, "Julliard is the best school in the world!"

I'll look around some more and focus more on the faculty. Sorry guys. I'm kind of uninformed about how to properly picking out schools. I guess my parents are partly to blame since they have been stuffing facts about Julliard down my throat. Your parents always want the best for you. I wonder what school John Williams went to. Whoever his professors were are probably dead now. Still, I have pieces to compose, schools/faculty to look at, and a portfolio to feed. I hope I didn't upset anyone here. :(

Thanks for all of the advice. :)

Well, just keep in mind, you are the one who is going, not your parents. There are a lot of things to consider when picking a college. We aready covered the faculty, but you also have to consider the social life. Are the people so stiff that they refuse to have fun or are they so elite that they reject people outside of their social class. Is the area surronding the campus a place you want to spend a lot of time in?

I can say that the people at julliard are rather fun. Every out going people, but also very elite. The musicians at certain levels will mainly only speak with other musicians at their level. They have a way of looking down at lesser musicians. They do work hard, so you will be in an enviroment that does foster musical growth. Also, the area around Julliard is a great place to be in my opinion. There isnt to much of a danger there and plently to do.

Wish I was young enough to have a goal like Mr Hahns - being accepted into a program at Juliard would be awesome. But there again - I agree with Robin Jessome above. I'm one of these people who feels the School you ultimately chose to attend, should meet your expectations and you should meet theirs as well. Its like setting your sights on buying your first home. It pays to shop around... for an affordable first home. The last thing any of us want - is to get into a house we've always wanted - but we'll grow to hate, because we're working 3 jobs to make the mortgage payment.

You want to write film music - how does the composition department deal with that? A quick browse of the composition faculty bios brings up precisely zero boasting any film work...

You're totally forgetting John Corigliano's Oscar-winning score for "The Red Violin."

But still, I don't think he would take in a student who had his/her heart set SOLELY on film scoring. That's a really tough gig to do well in as it is, and a lot of it is how well you can sell yourself and position yourself in the industry--not just how well you write, or even less, who taught you/where you studied. Danny Elfman went to college for one year, dropped out because he said it was "bogus," then went backpacking in Africa for three years before coming back to America to form his band, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (more commonly known as simply "Oingo Boingo"). Tim Burton happened to be a fan of that band and contacted Elfman to score a movie he was set to shoot, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." And Elfman's career took off from there. (Of course, this isn't at all taking into account Elfman's FIRST film to score--"The Forbidden Zone," written and directed by his older brother, Richard Elfman.)

So you can see that going to a prestigious school won't guarantee you a job in the film scoring industry. Better to simply read up on ways to promote yourself and your music for that, methinkst. The University of Southern California has a music school noted for its emphasis in film scoring, however, if you want to check that out. Besides, if we're talking about the "best" school for music in general, I've always heard greater things about Eastman than anywhere else...but that might be just because of who I was around at my own college (Lamar University).

You're totally forgetting John Corigliano's Oscar-winning score for "The Red Violin."

Oops...you're right. Perhaps I should have written: "a quick browse brings up precisely one with any film writing experience." ...my quick browse might have been too quick...

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You Americans, if we only had that kind of schools in Portugal... :cool:

Heh, if only they appreciated incidental music I might send in an application :cool:

The University of Southern California has a music school noted for its emphasis in film scoring, however, if you want to check that out.

I am a current student at USC, and having been in the composition department for a while before dropping it, I can tell you that I wouldn't recommend this place to any undergraduate composer. They don't care so much about undergrads here, and furthermore, you don't even get to take any film scoring classes until you're working on your masters' anyway. (i.e., the undergraduate composition program is general; it does not tailor specifically to film scoring)

I can see how USC would be perfect, though, if you're going in for your masters'. As far as undergrad, I think there are two kinds of schools that are the best way to go.

1) Good conservatories. Obviously. If you can get in, go. The end.

2) Smaller, all-undergraduate universities. DePauw comes to mind. In these schools, there are no grad students taking up all the opportunities. The students I've spoken to who have gone to all-undergrad schools have nothing but great things to say about their undergraduate experiences. Places like this afford you a ridiculous number of opportunities, both musical and otherwise.