studying classical guitar/composition in europe

[drew p]

So I'm gonna be graduating a year from now from a modest little private school with a decent music program in Wichita Kansas with a music performance degree/emphasis on theory/comp. The more I think about it, the more I think planning to move to Europe, at least for awhile, would be a good idea. I've always been told, by Americans and Europeans alike, that european culture sort of values musicians more, and it's way easier to find paying gigs in Europe--not to mention healthcare.

My idea is, maybe if I can get a scholarship/assistantship of some sort to a graduate program over there I'd be a lot closer to obtaining citizenship, and in the short-term again I'd have more money making opportunities to pay back student loans. The problem is... I know little to nothing about any of this. The countries I'm looking at, based on the fact that tuition is low and I've heard good things about are

Germany
Austria
Iceland
Luxembourg
Norway
Spain

So, what's the difference in studying in each place? Again I'd be studying theory/composition, but I would like a lot of performance opportunities--both at the university and away from it. I'd still like to improve as a player I just want to focus on writing more. I know in germany for performance you have to study 2 instruments but I don't know about for theory/comp... Basically I just wanna narrow it down to 1-3 countries first and then look at my opportunities there.


Thanks

[drew p]

anyone?

[mariotenuta]

I can give you some insight on studying in Europe. I had inquired about it when I was studying. My teacher Patrick Kearney studied at the Ecole Normale de musique de Paris. A very prestigious school and not at all expensive. It is very well known for performance and competition. Debussy, de falla were both students there.

[drew p]

PM sent! Thanks!

Anybody else? Or any europeans can chime in and sort of compare studying in spain vs germany vs austria vs anywhere else?

Also, the lit i'm working on right now is

Chopin Op 34 no 15
Vivaldi's Lute Concerto in D
Bach concerto for 2 violins in Dm (duet)

assuming I play them well, is the literature difficult enough to be able to get in?

[Praeludium]

I can give you some insight on studying in Europe. I had inquired about it when I was studying. My teacher Patrick Kearney studied at the Ecole Normale de musique de Paris. A very prestigious school and not at all expensive. It is very well known for performance and competition. Debussy, de falla were both students there.

Debussy certainly not studied there but rather at the Conservatoire de Paris (which corresponds to today's CNSM, where Dyens teaches the guitar). I don't think De Falla studied there either, at least he's not in the alumni list on their site.
Moreover, if the school isn't that expensive (well, for a school in France, it is expensive !), I think studying and living in the Paris area is expensive.
But it's a great school ! I know Dyens was taught there. Andia and Alberto Ponce teach there, and some other great guitarists (Taria Chagnot, etc.).

At the CNSM de Paris, once you've entered the school, you can study harmony, composition, theory, analysis, etc. quite easily. But to enter it in guitar you'd better be a virtuoso and a teenager...


I plan on studying guitar and composition (not in France). I was thinking of trying to study guitar first and then composition. I think it's a matter of time. I don't know how it goes precisely, but if you enter in a famous international music school, there are chances you'll be quite busy just with studying guitar and/or something else.
I mean, studying guitar and follow classes on analysis of contemporary music (for instance) is probably possible, but to study both guitar and composition seems to be a bit too much to me.
The best things you could do is to ask them directly. The conservatories/hochschulen/university of arts (they're basically the same thing I think) all have a website, btw.

[Alan Green]

Your biggest problem in any of these countries is you're most likely to be studying (and living) in a second language.

What I found living in Germany was that whilst most people I worked with (smack bang in the city centre) spoke reasonable English (I had one person working for me who spoke none at all), the people in the village where I was living (ten kilometers away) spoke no English whatsoever and quite rightly expected me to speak German. Fluently. Period. And they laughed at me when I got it wrong.

Germany has a good healthcare system (AOK Hessen as I recall) but I don't know if they extend that to US citizens. Check before you apply.

Vivaldi lived in Darmstadt near Frankfurt for a while. Hildegard von Bingen (a big name in medieval music) came from Bingen which is one hour from Frankfurt. Bach worked in Leipzig.

[Praeludium]

Guitar-wise, there's Pablo Marquez teaching at Basel Hochschule, Roberto Aussel at Cologne hochschule, Alvaro Pierri at Vienna university, Sergio Assad (or it is Odair ? I never get it right) at Mons (a Belgian town) conservatory, Zoran Dukic at The Hague conservatory, Elena Casoli at Bern hochschule, Manuel Estarellas at Madrid, Dave Kavanagah at Detmold, and the list go on !

It's probably more about the person you want to study with than the health care system (I think it's roughly the same all over Europe... except maybe in Spain/Italy/Greece, nowadays...) or the difference about each place (my harmony teacher, who studied many things both in Lyon and Paris CNSM, told me the level is a bit higher in the CNSMs than in most of the Hochschule - it's much more selective.
But it's mainly about "the class of", ie. the differences at this level seem to be more about teachers than schools. Again, I've never studied in any of these school. I'm thinking of trying to enter in precisely one (or maybe more but I have one precise objective) for 2013-2014, which means the next year will be dedicated to prepare the auditions.

[drew p]

after doing a little more research... I'm having a hard time finding many schools in europe that offer a master's in composition--only one in Spain so far. Anyone know of any others that aren't super prestigious? I'll be 25 by the time i graduate and no virtuoso by any means...

Also, for performance, what kind of lit do you usually study? Is there a sort of... textbook selection of literature most guitarists go through in grad school?

Thanks again

[Mikkel]

I study in Aarhus in Denmark. They offer both a Masters in composition and guitar but it's quite specialized so you got to pick one. The guitar teacher is Frederik Munk-Larsen a very accomplished player who studied with Aussel and Garrobe. The composition teacher is the famous contemporary composer Simon Steen Andersen.

Tuition is free (for me at least) but not sure about non eu people. We have a lot of foreign students though and there is a class for English speaking students where everything is in English. There is around 10 guitar students in Denmark at the moment and a few that is currently in Germany, Holland or Spain to study. Search google for Royal Academy of Aarhus and you can check out their web page.

NB: in regards to healt care system Denmark properly has one of the best in the world. You can freely and without paying use all public medical facilities (doctors, hospitals ect) once your application to study has been accepted. I must warn you though, finding a job is quite difficult

[drew p]

cool, i'll look into it

do they have all the classes for a masters in composition in english?

[Mikkel]

Yes all courses can be taken in english.