The Decision Has Been Made

Photo of Alice Tully Hall at The Juilliard School.

I received an e-mail from my former student who is an internationally ranked pianist. He has been accepted to many colleges and was trying to make the hard decision of choosing which will forever shape his life.

Here is a portion of his e-mail:

After deliberating over the decision almost a month, today I enrolled at Columbia University and Juilliard, as part of the Exchange, and so will be studying with Mr. XXX in the fall. I believe it is the best option for furthering my potential in both academic and musical fields, though I feel sort of bad for turning down Harvard and Yale.

Juilliard. I have such mixed feelings. It is supposed to be the best. It really is the best. But there is always a “but…”

Through the years, I have performed and worked with a number of Juilliard graduates and Juilliard dropouts. When the school is mentioned, there is a reaction almost like post-traumatic stress syndrome from both groups. One said it was the most horrible experience of his life and he still had anxiety so many years later. He had been a young teenager when he was accepted into the school and moved to New York on his own. There was no local emotional support. Another said that after she left the school early, she did not play her instrument for a decade.

When one is accepted into Juilliard, the student is usually considered the finest musician in their area. They are accomplished. They often have artistic sensitivities. But, Juilliard is like boot camp. They take each student, then break them down to get rid of bad habits, then rebuilds them to be the finest musician they can be. Sometimes, the process just breaks them.

David’s piano teacher at the school (where I got sick) was tough on him. Really tough. I can only hope that she prepared him well for this challenge that awaits him. We hope to be in New York some time next year and will plan to see him.