PLEASE help me in my grad school search!

[saxysai]

Okay, so here's my story. I'm a senior (but not graduating for 2 years...) Music Ed major and recently decided I want to go to grad school very badly. I want to teach saxophone on the college level. But I don't even know where to start!

1)I would like recommendations for good grad programs in saxophone. Any info you can provide about the professors, the school, how hard it is to get in, etc is MUCH appreciated! Who are some good people to study with, and for those schools, how hard is it to get in?

2)When the time comes, what can I expect from grad school auditions? How proficient as a saxophonist will I be expected to be? I just now FINALLY am hitting some altissimo, so that has some work to do. I am 2nd chair of my university's top ensemble and play lead for one of the jazz bands. I'm also in my college's sax quartet that recently played a piece at the Society of Composers International symposium held at my college.

3)ANY info, tips, links to good resources, etc etc you can give me would be wonderful.

[gary]

ANY info, tips, links to good resources, etc etc you can give ....
http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewforum.php?f=93

[saxysai]

Ummm...why was I referred right back to the forum? :?:

I did read through the different threads...however most of these were about studying jazz. I am more of a classical player (I do play jazz too, of course!). I don't want a masters in Jazz Studies/Jazz Performance/etc, but Saxophone/Saxophone Performance. I didn't see any answers here.

But please refer me to a thread if you know of one.

I'm new here anyways; cut me a little slack. 8)

[gary]

Ummm...why was I referred right back to the forum? I did read through the different threads
Because you didn't say so. :wink: Also, I find it helpful when questions are not so open-ended. Helps focus on the answers.

Be that as it may, welcome saxysai. Here are some threads from the "Classical Saxophone" area. You might want to look there as well as in "Colleges" if you are principaly interested in classical music:

Under the thread Colleges of Classical Saxophone : http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=6895

Under Colleges: http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8162

Other threads with names and locations of classical professors and schools, also in "Classical Saxophone" are:

http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=254

http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=624

http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8978

After you've read those, you might be able to zero in on some specific quesitons forum members could help you out with.

[Randall]

William Patterson, Manhattan School, Berklee...this is in cost order-low to high.
I have a bud at Manhattan now (grad school studying under Steve Turre) and he loves it....I went to Berklee,, and of course I recommend it highly too.
David Murray told me a lot about William Patterson's program. His son went there too....seems like a very solid program within close proximity of NYC too....deserves a little wider recognition.

[saxysai]

After you've read those, you might be able to zero in on some specific quesitons forum members could help you out with.

Thanks for those links. I guess I could have been more specific, huh? :)

Thing is, I'm familiar with many names, some listed in those threads...Rousseau, Sinta, etc plus the names of the Yamaha artists (my own sax professor is a Yamaha artist). But knowing names is one thing...knowing how good of a teacher they are and how good the music program where they are is is another thing. :)

That being said, I guess my intended question was: where are the best classical sax grad programs?

[TJC]

University of Iowa. As one of the largest universities in the nation, though, I would bet it would be really tough to get in. But let's talk serious for a moment. If you want to learn classical saxophone, who better to learn from than Kenneth Tse? He is pretty well regarded as the successor to Eugene Rousseau (whom he studied under) from what I understand. He is young and still on his way up, dedicated to performance and to new music. Plus he is published in so many areas, how could you go wrong with this guy?

I would just be worried that you (or any saxophonist, even as a grad student) might have trouble getting into his studio and not being pushed on to one of his understudies. As a grad student though, you should have a better shot, if not only because you have already completed your undergrad and are looking for the advanced instruction that I don't think you would get from another grad assistant.

I guess my only other comment is that Kenneth Tse might not be the greatest person to learn to "teach" saxophone from? Don't take that the wrong way, I mean, how could you not learn to teach from his instruction? But what I am getting at is that he is a performer. A world class perfromer. Maybe he instructs people in a way as to mold them as performers, or is only interested in students who want to perform for a living. You have to learn to teach, and it can't all just be absorbed from example. I'm not sure if Mr. Tse strives to "teach people to teach", or to "teach people to perform." Get what I'm saying?

At any rate, here is the link to U of I's graduate music page, you should be able to root around there and see if it's to you liking. http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Emusic/prospective/graduate.htm

[Tonehole]

2nd year and 2nd chair in the top ensemble and lead in a Jazz combo and just now reaching altissimo????

I would assume to teach at the College level you are going to have to have a bit of a performance resume and be very, very good on the technical side........

Gotta blow....

[saxysai]

2nd year and 2nd chair in the top ensemble and lead in a Jazz combo and just now reaching altissimo????

I would assume to teach at the College level you are going to have to have a bit of a performance resume and be very, very good on the technical side........

Gotta blow....

Actually...this is my 5th year...

And with altissimo and just reaching it. My previous teacher was horrible and I learned little from him...I guess in the performance department I'm a bit of a "late bloomer". It took me until 2 1/2 years ago to study with a competent teacher and now I am doing fine.

I've actually got a semi-decent performance resume so far. I was a featured performer for the regional SCI (Society of COmposers International) conference last year, and I will be a soloist at my region's NASA conference this spring.

Hey I know I'm not the best there is but I am a hard worker and this is something I really want to do. :(

[SaxinTDOT]

Hey Saxysai,

Don't let the others here get you down. I'm a late bloomer myself, not having had saxophone lessons at all until reaching university, then taking 2 years off before starting grad school in the US.

Having said that, I'm still learning, constantly challenging myself, even though I'm not really studying with one at the moment. So good for you for wanting to get better!

In the US, there are lots of choices for grad programs. Depending on the part of the country you want to look at.

In the North-east, there's Manhattan (Paul Cohen), any of the schools in Boston, including my alma-matter, New England Conservatory (Ken Radnofsky pretty much teaches at all the schools in Boston . . www.kenradnofsky.com). A lesser known choice is Tim McAllister (with whom I had an awesome 2 1/2 hour lesson a few years ago) at Crane School of Music, assosciated with SUNY Potsdam (Upstate New York). And Chien-Kwan Lin teaches at Eastman.

If you are really confident of your playing, John Sampen is at Bowling Green in Ohio, Otis Murphy is at Indiana, Don Sinta is still kicking at Michigan, Joe Lulloff at Michigan State.

That just covers the Northeast and northern mid-west (Someone already mentioned Kenneth Tse, and Rousseau is now at University of Minnesota).

As you can see, I've done a lot of research into this. Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Mike