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Dear Rui725,

I have a contact from the Juilliard school. He teaches music theory and composition at Juilliard. I am waiting for a reply for personal suggestions. Thank you for answering my question!

- Brooke

By the way, Brooke, there are also collections of famous piano classics in simplified form. They can be gorgeous for the first few months of piano playing.

I'm glad you do The thing is that you need to work VERY VERY hard. My next teacher was a Juilliard graduate and by age 12 he was already playing with the New York Symphony Orchestra. It's a HUGE challenge.

Dear Skorpius,

Wow! That's amazing! What an achievement. Basically I need to eat, drink, sleep and breathe music. But the way I think, is that there ARE people that get in there, so, if I'm dedicated enough and practice and put my heart into it, then why not have one of those people be me?

- Brooke

Thanks ChopinAddict! I'll look into that. By the way, I like your user name! I am a huge fan of Chopin as well.

- Brooke

Let's be realistic here. Let's say you manage to put in 5 hours of practice everyday until your audition. A few things you might finally realise:

1. You will realise that other candidates who started earlier than you and with excellent teachers are also practicing 5 hours a day.
2. Other candidates have been winning competitions and prizes at festivals.
3. Other candidates have acquired a lot more repertoire as compared to you.
4. You may eventually burn out and get sick of piano.

I am all for ambitions and for youngsters to realise their dreams and passions. I was once drunken with folly of youth and thought I could conquer the world also. Been there, done that. It is easy to say to someone that with enough heart and dedication one could achieve great things, but it will be irresponsible if we ignore the realities altogether.

You have a lot of work cut out ahead for you. In these few years to even have a shot at Juilliard or Eastman, you better start winning some prizes and secure performance engagements.

To CWPiano: I think we can be a little more positive than that! She's already progressed from nothing to the Raindrop prelude in 10 weeks, if the trajectory continues she will certainly become a wonderful musician.

One doesn't need to win a bunch of competitions and obtain performance engagements to be accepted into Julliard, of course it helps, but a focus on these may divert focus away from musical advancement.

Finally, there are many other conservatories out there, many equally prestigious, for example: Oberlin, NEC, and Curtis (in many ways more prestigious than Julliard due to its extremely small size and intensely competitive admissions, lowest admissions rate of any higher ed institution in America).

Best of luck in reaching your goals, whatever they may be!

Me too...

By the way, you can find many scores in the public domain here .

And here is a list of graded pieces:
www.pianostreet.com/Graded_Pieces_All.xls

We really do not know how Brooke played. I am personally speaking from experience here as someone who took up piano at the age 17. I also tried to attempt difficult pieces like Clair de Lune within a few weeks of starting from middle C. But as many late beginners like me would soon realise, the learning curve got a lot steeper soon. As I attempted increasingly difficult pieces, frustation mounted and as soon as I played my pieces to reputable teachers, my heart sank as many of them advised me not to pursue music. I realised My definition of good playing is significantly lower as compared to the standards in the field. But I persevered on and an arts college accepted me despite my background. I entered full time music study after 4 years of picking up piano.

Was I under illusion that I played very well and had chance of entering big conservatories? Yes, unfortunately. Was it tough life for me to study music? Yes, undoubtedly. But I did not have any regret at all studying music and I encourage Brooke to do the same if she is really passionate about piano. But passion untempered with reality often result in dissappointment. Many youngsters who studied with me in the institution got disillusioned with the system and some of them even stopped practicing piano.

Beethoven Op14/1

Dear CWPiano,

Thank you for answering my question, however, I do not appreciate your negativity. I wish I had started earlier, unfortunately, I did not. I have been playing guitar for eight years, and have not "burned out" as you say. Nor will I "burn out" on piano. In some ways, yes, you are right. But you have not heard me play. I do have excellent teachers, one of them graduated from Juilliard himself. So I think I'll be fine.

- Brooke

Dear Quickster94,

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments. I am definitely keeping my eyes open, my second choice is Curtis. You are a good person. Thank you again! Feel free to message me sometime!

- Brooke

Thanks!

Thanks Victor25!

Dear Brooke,

You reminded me when I was younger. I was not being negative, although you may perceive it as so. I think you would agree that your background was similar to me, altough I started piano later than you. Personally, I don't think you should discount the danger of 'burning out'. It is a very real danger for aspiring musicians. And one of the sure ways to achieve burnout is to drive your music learning through big goals and achievements. And I would not be lying if I did not contemplate stopping piano halfway through my study. But of course I grew to appreciate music along the way and I have a pretty nice music career now. But I can't say the same for many of classmates last time.

Nonetheless, I shall not say much. There are things you best find out yourself and if you are truly passionate (like me), none of negative criticism and discouragement really matter in the end. I shall type for you a detailed repertoire list that you should pick up soon later when I take a break from my practice.

Brooke, I really admire your ambition, but I have to agree with CW in some ways. You don't HAVE to go to Juilliard straight out of High School, do you? I've been playing for almost 10 years, and I don't think I'm in a position to go to Juilliard (despite the fact that half of that time, I was younger and less serious of a pianist). But remember, you're just starting high school as well. I'm going into my junior year and the difference in school work from freshman year and sophomore year was tremendous! Balancing piano with your daily schedule would also be a challenge. In all honesty, I would consult your teacher, especially the Juilliard graduate, and if you go ahead with your decision, I wish you the best.

PM me for further suggestions on study ideas.

Dear CWPiano,

Thank you. I am determined to get into Juilliard. I have my heart set on it. To me, that's on the top of my list of goals to achieve in life. My second choice is Curtis, and third is Eastman. My teachers are very confident that I will reach my goal, and I understand that the only way I will achieve this is if I am passionate and love it more than anything on earth, which I do. I have gotten a few very negative comments, claiming that I will NOT get into Juilliard, this one person on Yahoo Answers even said to me "People who can do a few tricks on Photoshop think they are artistic geniuses, nah." referring to me. This person didn't even get into Juilliard herself, yet she goes around and bursts everyones bubble. Do you by any chance know who "Mamianka" is? She claims to be a NYSSMA judge. Anyway, I am becoming numb towards these hateful comments, because only I know myself. But some of these people.. You have to wonder what their mentality is.

- Brooke

Hello Skorpius!

Thank you for your kind words. My plan is to attend Eastman for my undergraduate and Juilliard for my graduate. I have a contact from Juilliard, and he said he would be delighted to help me in any way that he can. I plan on PMing you soon. You're very helpful, I appreciate all of the advice you are giving me!

- Brooke

Dear Brooke,

I wish you the best in your endeavor. I would only advise you to be very careful about the teachers you study with. My personal suggestion would be to immediately contact Eastman faculty and take lessons from one of the faculty members. You could also perhaps send a recording of your playing first to ask them where you stand now. Then you will be able to get first hand info on the progress you need to make the audition.

Now, a personal advice to you. Be careful of people that will try to take advantage of your passion. A teacher who was a Juiliard graduate once claimed that I was so fantastic I could secure direct admissions to Juiliard, IF i took lessons from him for at least one year. Needless to say, his lesson fees are astronomically high and I soon find out from other teachers that this particular teacher was not trustworthy. So be very very careful, Brooke.

I don't know her, and I am not from US.