Is it really worth it?

May 3, 2006 at 3:43 PM

I had a rehearsal tonight, a continuation from the one I had blogged about on Monday. At the end of the rehearsal we had a big deep and meaningful with our "lecturer".

He's going in tomorrow to talk with the director of the institution that I'm at. He's basically saying to them that there isn't enough for the string students here at WAAPA, and the only way to give the students what they need is to have full time staff (Currently, we have 4 lecturers, 2 voice teachers, 1 piano teacher and a "composer" full time). Unfortunately, there's not enough money to provide full time strings staff, so there's no interest from students because there isnt' any full time staff, and because there's no interest, there's no money to provide for such things...

It got me thinking - am I really happy here? Am I really getting what I should be getting?

Here's a look at my week:
Performance units:
Principal Study - 1 hour/week
Concert Practice - 2 hours/week
Chamber Music - 2 hours/week
Faith Court Chamber Orchestra - 9-12 hours the week before a concert.
Eneksis Vocal Ensemble - 3 hours/week.
String Class - 2 hours/week
Regular performance hours: 10 hours/week

Theory Units:
Aural - 3 hours/week
Harmony and Orchestration - 1 hour/week
History - 3 hours/week
Music Criticism - 3 hours/week
Pedagogy - 1 hour/week
Total Theory Units - 12 hours/week

Doesn't sound like much of a difference, right?
Chamber music - run in such a way that the two hours are taken up with performances and discussion - you are expected to have rehearsals in your own time. I'm cool with that. It's just that you only get two sessions a year... that's two hours of chamber music tutoring a year.

Concert Practice - run in a similar way - required to do two/three performances a year. Unfortunately, because there's so many people, you only get about 15 minutes when you perform - if you're lucky. So, that's 30-45 minutes of tuition on concert practice...

Our lecturer (who has two hours a week with us, and then 3 cello students) studied at the same institution a long time ago. Back then, they had resident ensembles all over the place. There were three cello teachers! There was always someone available to tutor their chamber music group.

Now, it's a completely different scenario, where if chamber groups want tuition, they need to find someone to tutor them, and it will cost them money.

So it makes me wonder, since I'm not getting what I should be getting - where can I go? THe other music school in WA? No, for one reason, the vibe there is way too competitive. At WAAPA, whenever you get up on stage, everyone wants you to succeed. At UWA, everyone wants you to fail. Also, it's far too strict - if you want to form a string quartet, you have to not only get permission, but also get permission for the repertoire.

So what else is there? There's other schools in Australia, but I think many are in the same situation, in that money is lacking so they can't provide what they really want to do.

So that leave overseas. I've always wanted to study in England, so should I try out there? Personally, I don't think I'm up to the standard, but you never know.
I think study in England would be a great opportunity for me, not only studying there, living on my own, but for not having anything to do, I would be left to practice, so theoretically more practice, plus greater tuition, means better me, right?

But anyway, I'm probably kidding myself. I know that I'm a couple of years off overseas study level, so I resign myself to studying at an Instituion that I love (and I really do love being here) but that has not many facilities.

From Neil Cameron
Posted on May 4, 2006 at 2:43 AM

What switching to one of the other Australian cons?

Neil

From Ben Clapton
Posted on May 4, 2006 at 4:12 AM

Its an idea, I could swap to somewhere like Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide or Tasmania. I'm starting to look around a bit more than I have in the past, and am starting to get over my past preferences where I was totally against going to America. I'm looking around, but have no firm ideas as yet.

Basically, my whole mind is a mess at the moment.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on May 4, 2006 at 8:57 AM

Ben, I don't think your whole mind is a mess now. Your thinking is very logical. It does sound like you are not getting the kind of education you want where you are now, and I encourage to consider other schools carefully. My understanding, based on reading your previous posts, is that you don't want to be separated from your girl friend, so the two of you need to look at possible solutions together. I wish I knew more about schools so that I could advise you better. I can just say that your thinking is logical and sound, so keep thinking that way. Let us know what happens.

From Jonathan Law
Posted on May 4, 2006 at 10:32 PM

sounds like way more support than you would get if you study where I do....!

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Is it really worth it?

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