Practicing three hours a day for every one hour a week they spend at class, students at IU's School of Music do not miss out on the overall college experience. Instead they have a rare opportunity to attend a music conservatory within a full-range university. \n"I came here because I'll get a well-rounded education as opposed to just doing music," said Crystal Boohr, sophomore trombone major. \nThe students at the School of Music manage to perform, study, tour and enjoy themselves during their four years at IU. They do this because "they love music and have known only music since a very young age," said Anthony Cirone, chair of the Percussion Department.\nThis type of life is what prepares music students for the adventure after college. Most students do not attempt to get a job right away after completing an undergraduate degree, although it is a distinct possibility. Instead they continue their training -- whether formally in a graduate program or informally with coaches and teachers outside a university or a conservatory. For these people, learning never stops.\n"The minute you stop looking at yourself as a student, you atrophy. Music is a way of life where one never stops growing as an artist," said Ron Donenfeld, a senior voice major.
GETTING HERE\n"There is a wonderful feeling of extended family here," said Professor Lawrence Hurst, chair of the Strings Department. "Faculty and students have an almost palpable cohesion."\nThe quality of the IU School of Music attracts not only talented students, but also exceptional faculty from all over the world. Consistently ranked above or on the same level as Julliard, IU's School of Music is an environment that has collected various traditions, according to Evelyne Brancart, chair of the Piano Department.\n"The School of Music is a really healthy environment," said Brancart. "This is not a school that creates an artificial environment, it presents the reality of being a professional musician."\nBloomington's long standing tradition of art and especially music makes IU stand out among other music programs. \n"Bloomington has the flexibility of a little town with most culture you've ever seen," said Dan Perantoni, professor and chair of the Tuba Department. \nMost professors have been professional musicians themselves under world-famous conductors. They have learned from their teachers and are now giving their knowledge and experiences to the younger generation of musicians.\n"IU finds faculty from around the world with life-long professional experience and recruits them in later years to teach at the university level," said Cirone.\nAlthough the acceptance rate for the School of Music lingers at a mere 9 percent, each applicant accepted has "the potential to be a professional musician," Brancart said. The raw talent shown in auditions is key to getting into the music program -- whether instrumental or voice.\nAccording to the School of Music Web site, students must successfully audition and meet the academic requirements to be accepted to both the university as a whole and to the School of Music. "If you are admissible based on academic work, but do not pass the audition, you will need to choose a different major," the Web site states.\n"Where they come from, students are accustomed to being the best. Here, they have to compete with others who are also the best," said Professor Edmund Cord, trumpet.
ADVENTURES IN LEARNING\n"Despite IU's number one party school ranking, music students have no time to party," said Jan Harrington, professor of music and composer. "The pastoral yet cosmopolitan setting leaves students free to concentrate on career goals and studies."\nIU's rare mix of a wide-range School of Music with a full-range university allows students not only to learn better self expression through music, they also take a rigorous curriculum of classes in various other departments of the university. In addition, they perform in evening concerts, tour on the weekends and practice at all hours of the day. \n"The life of a music student is perhaps the hardest. No other profession has so many demands on a person's time," said Cirone. "Students here are like working professionals."\nIU has enormous opportunities for student performances. With four orchestras, five ensembles, an Early Music institute, an Opera theatre and a choral program, students can find endless opportunities to merge participation in campus life with professional improvement. \n"Students are often surprised that if they audition well enough, they can be in top ensembles," Cord said. \nStudents have a recital requirement -- at least one performance every semester. \nAlong with this, musicians learn to adjust to the pressures of competition and a demand for a solid performance. The competitive, yet friendly and supportive environment helps students improve.\n"You don't get better if you only play with people you can beat," Cord said.\nThese performances teach students about real-world competitive situations they will face after graduation. Audition simulations also allow students the opportunity to find out under what kinds of stress they may be when applying for orchestra or troupe positions.\n"If you get really nervous at an audition, can't control your nerves, you are probably in the wrong business," Cirone said.\nThe School of Music also holds required Master classes for performance majors. The class is comprised of several students and teachers who perform for each other, and critique each other. Both students and teachers participate in critiques, allowing the students to hear feedback from their fellow classmates. \n"This is playing for the most critical audience you'll ever play for," said Rachel Raboy, a senior cello major. "But it's always inspiring."
AFTER GRADUATION\nWhen students exit the doors of the School of Music for the last time, they have to have somewhere to go. Amid a culture where music and art in general have been pushed back in favor of more material professions, musicians have to be exceptional to achieve a successful career. \nWhile most continue their studies and go to graduate school, this is hardly the only possibility. A Master's degree enables students to practice more and enrich their repertoire. Some choose to go out into the 'real world' right away and later continue onto graduate school. \n"Some choose to come back while they are substituting in regional orchestras or doing other professional work," Cirone said. \nBloomington students may either stay at IU for graduate studies or may go to other schools. Diversity is important to keep the musician inspired. \n"The reputation of the performance students and the academic graduate students tops other schools. Our graduates are great in number ... the word spreads," said Roberta Graham, president of the School of Music Alumni Association. "No doubt other schools turn out some excellent performers and a few academic scholars, but IU has both."
OTHER OPTIONS\nIn a full-time orchestra -- where musicians practice during the day, only four to five spots open up in a good year. Musicians need to prove to the Director of the orchestra that they are exactly what the orchestra is looking for.\nWhen a spot in an orchestra opens up, there are immediately anywhere from 200 to 300 applicants. Out of these, only 60 receive an invitation to audition. These 60 people are heard by two committees. They must play four to five excerpts flawlessly and consistently. Only about half of those who audition will be invited back. \n"At this point, the judges are looking not only for consistency and correctness, but also for musicality, precision, and sensitivity," Cirone said. \nAfterwards, only five or six people are left to whom the director will listen, looking for the one -- the person who fits exactly what the director is looking for. \nIU prepares people for this competitive environment: the rigorous admissions process, the recitals, auditions for concerts, plays, musicals, and operas, as well as practice auditions for a committee of professors. \n"We don't just talk about what the student needs to do," Cord said. "We show it, teaching by example." \nStill, going directly into a professional career can be quite scary. Students receive the best possible preparation their teachers are able to give, but it is up to the student to enhance his or her talent to be able to ensure a future position.\n"Hard work is the single most important factor in long term success as well as getting a job or getting into graduate school," Cord said. "There is no substitute for it."\nIt is popular among voice majors to choose to take a year or two off in order to study with a coach and improve their performance on their own.\n"I am taking some time off to polish my voice and allow it to open up," Donenfeld said. "I'll never give up on music and no one can make me stop."\nWith a 99.7 percent placement rate, music education -- another option -- is widely popular.\n"One of our jobs here is to help kids understand that they have to invent their career and that there is more than one way to be involved in music," Harrington said. \nThe demand for music teachers keeps rising and students who choose this path have no problem finding a job.
CHALLENGES\nLike in any other profession, musicians can burn out. Although the faculty at the School of Music does everything possible to keep the student from exhaustion and falling into an artistic void, some students end up realizing that music performance is not for them. \n"We all have different skills and abilities ... we just have to put them together," Cirone said. \nWhen putting the puzzle together becomes too much, students may choose to abandon their hope for a professional performance career and go into fields completely different from music. \n"Music is great preparation for lots more than just being a musician," Harrington said. "Studying music as an undergraduate gives you an insight into humanity."\nEven if musicians break their involvement with music, they still have an advantage- Harrington pointed out that employers have tremendous respect for people who have gotten musical training.
