Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How are conservatory students paired with their teachers?

I have the whole thing recorded. Well, almost. My dang newfangled SLR video camera has a naasssssty habit of cutting off automatically after a while, unless you tell it not to. I forgot, so in several pieces (ones I really wanted, of course) it cut off for a few crucial seconds, essentially ruining the piece for a full recording.

I have to consult him to see what he wants posted. It was 75 minutes of music. And a lot of this stuff he has already posted earlier. For instance, does anyone need to put up three recordings of the prelude to the Suite Pour le Piano. I think not.

On the other hand, his take on the Griffes White Peacock was the best I think I have heard him play it. That one will get posted, I'm sure.

In my case, my New York City teacher, Lillian Freundlcih, an Oberlin alumna, wanted me to study with Emil Danenberg, and so that came to pass, though I ended up asking for a teacher transfer after just one year of enrollment.

I do believe "politics" often determines the choice of teacher and that instructor's willingness to accept a student.

In our conservatory after being accepted you are given a form to fill along with all the other paperwork. There you have to write the name of the professor you want to study with. I think most students are getting the teacher they want unless the latter decides not to accept the student for some reason. Otherwise why give us the option to choose in the first place if we have no say in it.

We don't get to choose which teacher we get.

But my old teacher is a friend of my teacher now at the music school. As soon as I expressed an interest in auditioning for the school, my old teacher phoned my teacher that very night and asked if she would take me if I passed my audition. Thanks to my old teacher, I'm now studying with the best piano teacher in the country!