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Help on selecting teacher

Schools: Choosing between Ellen Jewett, Denise Lupien, Richard Roberts, and Thomas Williams at McGill.

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted June 6, 2004 at 05:13 AM

I recently got admitted to McGill and I wanted to ask help from you guys considering my teacher selection. Its violin faculty are:

- Ellen Jewett, B.Mus.(Ind.), M.Mus.(SUNY Stony Brook)

- Denise Lupien, B.Mus.,
M.Mus.(Juilliard) (Concertmaster of the Orchestre Metropolitain, and first violinist of the Morency Quartet. She has won the CBC Competition and was a prize pinner of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition.)

- Richard Roberts, B.Mus.(Ind.) (Prior to his Montreal appointment, he was for eight years assistant concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra under conductor Lorin Maazel)

- Thomas Williams, B.Mus.(Bran.), M.Mus. (New York with Ivan Galamian).

Thanks...Bijan

From Erika Anderson
Posted on June 6, 2004 at 11:57 PM

have u met all of them? which ones have you played for?

From Chris Howard
Posted on June 7, 2004 at 12:40 AM

by the way, do u need really great grades and sat II's to get into mcgill?

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted on June 7, 2004 at 11:43 AM

No, in fact I haven't met any!!! Weird I guess but remember I'm from Iran and I did a taped audition for all the places I had applied...uuuuurgh....and I hate that stuff because you can't really show off on a taped audition and you won't benefit as much as you would from a live audition because everyone thinks that you've played your audition pieces 100 times and selected them and edited them etc, and they think you would sound much worse when giving a real audition....maybe that's true for some, but not me.

But anyway, I was still surprised to see I was admitted to McGill.

I talked to James Buswell about the faculty and he recommended Ellen Jewett as she's been one of his best students at Indiana Uni (as he put it). So I'll probably go for her....but any comments from you guys would be appreciated a hell lot...lol

Bijan

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted on June 7, 2004 at 11:36 AM

And I don't think so Chris, cuz I haven't given the test at all, just a simple TOEFL..that's all (but I did have good grades on my high school transcripts)

but maybe they require SATs for US applicants....I don't know exactly...

From Kelsey Z.
Posted on June 7, 2004 at 04:05 PM

McGill is hard to get into, Congrat's!!

I'm not really familiar with any of the teachers unfortunetly, best of luck choosing!

From Erika Anderson
Posted on June 7, 2004 at 07:03 PM

maybe you could talk to/or contact some students of each of the teachers

From Christina C.
Posted on June 7, 2004 at 07:40 PM

Just to give you a little more background.....

Williams is the chairman of the violin department
Roberts is the concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony (not sure, but he may be retiring soon)

I would definitely agree that you should get in touch with the students to get a better idea of the teachers. Try the McGill music student society page:

http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~musa/

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted on June 8, 2004 at 07:42 AM

Yeah I'll try that...thanks

From j k
Posted on June 9, 2004 at 03:15 AM

How do you know James Buswell?

From Fernando Flores
Posted on June 9, 2004 at 03:58 AM

Take one lesson with each instructor, and choose the one that you can relate to the best, and the one that is the best teacher. It is important to have a good relationship with your teacher b/c you will be studying with them for 4 years.

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted on June 9, 2004 at 09:58 AM

Well, last year I made contact with different teachers at different conservatories/univs and I managed to maintain a good communication with Mr. Buswell and found him extremely helpful and supportive (I've never met anyone as supportive as him up until now!). I haven't met him in person yet but I hope I will in the future.

What about you? have you studied with him?

Yours,

Bijan

From j k
Posted on June 9, 2004 at 07:27 PM

yea, he is my teacher. He is very supportive and such an amazing player. I highly would recommend playing for him sometime, he has so much to offer.

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted on June 10, 2004 at 07:56 AM

Cool! do u study at NEC?

From j k
Posted on June 10, 2004 at 03:04 PM

actually I am a highschool student.

From Sarah .
Posted on June 10, 2004 at 11:52 PM

Hey j k, James Buswell is my teacher too. :)

From Valerie Gordon
Posted on June 11, 2004 at 09:50 PM

Hey everyone! Jus thought I would give my take on the whole thing with teachers!When I auditioned for Mcgill, I had just come from an audition at the Hartt school of music. The guy that I auditioned for there seemed to be a wonderful teacher and he told me that he had studdied with Thomas Williams, many years ago. I decided to keep that in mind, and then when I auditioned at Mcgill, the same Thomas williams was in the audition room. He was increadably nice, and just seemed like he would be a good teacher in general. I really didnt know much more about him, because I'm from America, but I put him as my first choice in teachers. I think that it is always going to be somewhat of a gamble, because even if you were to have a lesson with a certain techer, there is no way to be sure that you are going to always agree with their ideas.
But anyway, I think that all of the teachers there are amazing!

:)*Val

From Sue Donim
Posted on June 11, 2004 at 11:12 PM

As I'm in the UK I know nothing about any of these teachers, but I've done a similar 'teacher shop' at college level and agree wholeheartedly with Fernando: the best, most reputable teacher in the world will be no good to you if that vital chemistry is missing. Have consultation lessons with as many as you can before choosing; they should all understand what an important decision this is.

From Bijan Sepanji
Posted on June 12, 2004 at 04:49 AM

Thanks Valerie, I guess we'll meet eachother this September, not that I'm looking forward :-P

Anyway, I selected Ellen Jewett in the end and I think she's an awesome teacher over there. (as well as others.)

Thanks Everyone :)

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