Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Precollege Division at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music is designed for gifted young students of age 5-18. It takes place on Saturdays and the students have access to world class faculty and newly renovated facilities.

[edit] About the Precollege Division

Admission is based primarily by a competitive audition on the students proposed major. If accepted, the student is entitled to a full day of music classes. Classes occur on most Saturdays during the school year, with the exception of holiday or vacation weekends. Students generally commute from New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, although many international students relocate to one of these states in order to study at the school.

Private lessons, which are the core of the program, are augmented by required courses in music theory and ear training and elective courses, such as conducting, piano literature, composition, piano ensembles, and chamber music. Non-pianists are expected to participate in an orchestra. A jazz major was added in 2003 and is complemented by jazz theory, ear training, and analysis study. There are also various choruses and an opera workshop for talented singers. Faculty are primarily drawn from college faculty, but all are active performers and teachers. Joanne Polk has been the dean of the Precollege Division since 2002. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degree from The Juilliard School and her Doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music. There is a highly competitive concerto competition held each year. The winners of each age group will get the opportunity to perform with one of the precollege orchestras.

Precollege students have full access to all of the resources of the school, including the Peter Jay Sharp Library and the Evelyn Sharp Performance Library, which contain over 19,000 cds, 2000 dvds, and 49,000 scores. There are performances open to the public every week, including recitals, senior recitals, performance showcases, chamber music concerts, master classes, orchestra concerts, chorus concerts, faculty concerts and more.

Precollege students consistently graduate to the most prestigious music schools and academic institutions in the world and win prestigious national and international competitions. There are 76 students in the class of 2007. Some of the schools these students will matriculate into this fall include: University of Southern California, Mannes College of Music, New York University, Eastman School of Music, University of Chicago, Rice University, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, McGill University, Amherst College, University of Michigan, Swarthmore College, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Wellesley College, Duke University, Northwestern University, Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, Amherst College, Vassar College, Stanford University, The Juilliard School, and Dartmouth College.