Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Summer programs

Hi everyone,
Could you list some residential summer programs/institutes/camps in the US, for pianists under 18? I want one that will help improve technical skills and musicality a lot, but I don't want to be that one horrible pianist in the camp. I am not one of those prodigies, and I do not have the skills to compete in prestigious international youth competitions. I won my state competition last year for my grade, but my state is not a big state like California or Texas. This year, I am competing in MTNA senior division. Look at my signature for the pieces I'm playing. Any suggestions? Thanks!

What state do you live in?

I live in missouri.

I've heard this new one (at Univ South Florida Tampa) is great:

http://rebeccapenneyspianofestival.org/10388-About_the_Festival

I apologize. I should have followed up with, "How far are you willing to travel?"

I'm from Missouri (and live in Iowa.) Be sure to win so I can come hear you at the division competition in January.

As for your question, check www.mtna.org - they publish a summer programs directory every year both online and in American Music Teacher magazine. I don't think the 2014 directory is available yet, but keep a lookout for it in January.

If there's anything in the Midwest, it'd be perfect. Anywhere else in the US would be good too. Out of the country, probably not.

Edit: also, I already know about IIYM in the Midwest (considering it)

@Michael: ok thanks! I'll be sure to check it out.

@Kreisler: haha easier said than done to win our state competition. Thanks for the reference!

@Kreisler, does the MTNA website have a rating or review on the listed programs?

No, it's just a listing with some general information submitted by the programs themselves. To my knowledge, there's no third party who reviews music programs. Everybody seems to go by word of mouth and marketing materials.

Many universities run piano camps that offer lessons with faculty. It may be worthwhile to check the websites of nearby colleges to see what they have to offer.

Ok thanks

Interesting that MTNA doesn't publish its festival directory until January; some festivals have application deadlines in that month, some quite early: Aspen requires materials by January 2nd, and Banff hardly three weeks later!

In general, though, there are a number of fine festivals for your age category. The biggest considerations are faculty, amount of instruction, and the length and musical focus of the program. A piano festival is naturally a very different experience than an orchestral and chamber music festival that includes piano. Although there are many fine piano programs within larger festivals, my personal experience has led me to prefer piano solo, and as a young musician, you have to make the choice between broadening your musical experience or deepening your knowledge of the piano. You'll want to do both at some point, so the only question is what you think would be best for you now!

I am 17, and I have been a student at:

Kinhaven Music School (six weeks)
Texas State International Piano Festival (one week)
Southeastern Piano Festival (one week)
Adamant Music School Traditional Session and Masterclass sessions (three weeks plus one week for each masterclass)
Aspen Music Festival and School (four or eight weeks)

The middle three are purely piano festivals, and the outer two are combined orchestral-chamber-piano programs. If I were to make a recommendation purely on your repertoire, making the assumption that you play it very well, I would suggest you check out the first four to see if any of them interest you!

My thoughts on them:

Southeastern might be a bit of a stretch, but if you make a stellar audition tape, it's not impossible to get in, and trust me: it's a wonderful place to be. The faculty make the most of the limited time, and there is (almost) enough practice time reserved for every student. They make sure that every minute is fully utilized by studio classes, lessons, masterclasses, or guest recitals, but they make sure there is still time left over for practice and sleep because the week culminates in a very fine competition - perhaps the least competitive in which I've participated.

Kinhaven wouldn't be my first recommendation, but it might be suitable for a different temperament (99% of attendees love it unconditionally). Texas State is a good place for networking, tons of masterclasses, and attending good recitals, but it's short and the practice situation is less than ideal. Adamant is unique: the traditional session offers unequalled quantities of instruction (studio class every morning for three hours - extremely important) with very good teachers, and there are as many practice rooms as there are students, but the level of participants is variable from year to year because they don't advertise widely enough to attract tip-top talent. I highly recommend their masterclasses; each session offers students two masterclass performances with world-class artists like Menahem Pressler, André Laplante, John O'Conor, and Sara Davis Buechner. The difference between good and less-good one-week festivals is how they use the time: either use the time well or let the students use the time well. At Adamant, things are quite unstructured, which affords the possibility of great self-motivated progress (the most important kind), whereas at Southeastern, the schedule is very strict but well-balanced.

In your general area, you might consider:

Indiana University Piano Academy
Interlochen
Kent State Piano Institute
IIYM, as you already know (the student level is very high - they would challenge and support you!)

Other popular festivals include:

Brevard Music Center (NC)
Eastern Music Festival (NC)
Colburn Academy Piano Festival (Los Angeles)


There are many more worthy of your attention, but these are just my $0.02!

Best wishes in your summer search! Festivals are one of my favorite things about being a musician: they bring together incredibly passionate young (and older! Faculty members like teaching, as far as I can ascertain) people and help them to do their very best at what they love.

AldenH: wow, thanks for the thorough and complete recommendations of festivals/programs! I will be sure to check out all of your recommendations. I do nt think I will apply for Kinhaven, simply because, in addition to piano, during the summer I focus on soccer and math. 6 weeks might be a little much. Thanks!

Edit: I just looked at the Southeastern one: that looks way beyond my level, if what the website says is true. Thanks for the recommendation though, if I was good enough, I would've loved to go! One more question: is Adamant very hard to get into, since it only accepts 30 students?

You're very welcome! Hope you can benefit from my experience

If your summer is full of other things, definitely look at Adamant; weeks of festival à la carte, so to speak!

Is Adamant very hard to get into, since it only accepts 30 students? It looks the best so far

Edit: I did read about your comment on advertising, but 30 is still very little

It's hard for a festival to be highly selective when sometimes it receives fewer applications than there are spaces! In 2012, the Traditional Session had only 20 students because of that. A number of students return for several years, so it's not like Southeastern where annual turnover is high, and the new students are often the very best.

I would say that the level is higher in the masterclass sessions is higher, on average (more college students), than the Trad. Session, but don't let that dissuade you from applying to both: I feel certain that a genuinely fine recording of your Beethoven plus two other works on your list would get you in to any of their sessions (except perhaps the Pressler, which is a very special situation). It's an uncompetitive place (the founding values of the school are communal living and cooperative learning), but that can be a double-edged sword. It really depends on the combination of your learning personality and the teacher: the Trad. Session faculty rotate, so I can't predict who will be there.

In general, my prediction (based on very little data, mind you!) is that your level is a perfect fit for the Traditional Session, and you would learn rapidly there because of the daily studio classes, and maybe additionally one masterclass session would be a perfect challenge.

Ok, thanks for all the information! So what age pianists are there? Adults, even? That place sounds great! Sorry there is so little data, I would post recordings of me playing, except I can't figure out how to get a good recorder (not my laptop's) for Audacity, and how to convert it into mp3 file.

There was an adult amateur in my studio (which had five students), and it was interesting to observe the contrast in the learning-performance process with the younger students; not necessarily better or worse, just quite different. Anyways, the age range when I was there was about 13 or 14 to 22 (minus the sole adult participant) in the Trad. Session, and from 16-30 in the masterclasses (with the exception of the Pressler class, which had two young professional participants, but the rest were split between his former students or skilled amateurs who have been participating in his masterclass session there for over 20 years - there was some overlap between the latter two groups).

Regarding recording equipment: I would recommend dropping some cash on a Zoom device - relatively inexpensive and very practical for a piano student for a number of reasons. There should be sufficient information on their various products available on PianoWorld (definitely make use of the search function when you need something somewhat general like that) or just on the web in general. Even if $100 for a baseline recorder seems steep, you'll recoup your investment very quickly: the ability to listen to yourself play without being caught up in the physical-emotional act of playing is extremely valuable. In my opinion, it is something that every musician aspiring to play beautifully should do on a regular basis. You can also make your recordings on such a device if they don't require video - and if they do, Zoom makes a device for a little over twice as much that offers good audio and acceptable video (a combination difficult to find at that price point). But we digress; I hope others have festivals to suggest!

Ok thanks! And also, I do have a recording device, but it's not a zoom, and I'm not sure how I can connect it to my laptop (I'm not very good with technology XD)

Well I think I'll just use youtube. Surprisingly, the iPad quality is not bad for recording... I'll try and post some videos so people can get a better idea of my piano skills to recommend me a summer program