I would welcome an email from you. Look over my faculty page,
which has my email address, a complete bio, and some more information.
I would love to hear
from you if you are interested in studying horn at
UW-Madison.
The horn studio at the University of Wisconsin-Madison consists of
12-15 players, at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. I
teach all of the students
myself - if you come to UW-Madison, you will
NOT study with a graduate student.
Undergraduates can major in performance or music education. You will declare your major in your sophomore year.
Every student has a lesson every week. We have a weekly studio class
that involves student performances, excerpt study, occasional guests,
and lots of student
involvement. In the class, students learn to offer
constructive criticism to their peers, and a freshman could be called
upon to comment on the performance of a doctoral
student (or
vice-versa). Everybody learns to listen criticially and to comment
politely. We have frequent discussions of such topics as career
preparation, auditions,
performance anxiety, the process of recording a
CD, how to practice, and so on.
My expectations of students are high. I will expect hard work and
intelligent practicing so that every student makes rapid and reliable
progress.
The UW Horn Choir performs twice annually. Our winter concert takes
place in December at the Chazen Museum of Art, next door to the School
of Music. We have
been filling the space to capacity for the last
several years - this concert is a tradition in Madison, with around 200
people in attendance. For our spring concert, which
usually takes place
in April, we become a rock band (called Twisted Metal). All horn majors
are required to arrange a song for the band, which performs with a
drummer.
If you have never arranged a song, do not fear: help is
available, from me and from your fellow students. There are few
pleasures greater than creating an arrangement
and hearing it come to
life through the rehearsal process.
Members of the UW Horn Choir in performance at the Chazen Museum
The Mentorship Model
The faculty at the School of Music is resident in Madison. We are there
for our students five days a week. If you come to the School of Music,
I will be your advisor,
your mentor, your teacher, your coach. I will
oversee your progress, and I will be available when you need me: for
extra help, to listen to you play with your pianist,
to hear a few
excerpts before your audition, to encourage you when you are feeling
low and cheer for you when you are feeling great.
Large Ensembles
The UW-Madison Symphony, Wind Ensemble, and Concert Band sections are
assigned by audition at the beginning of the school year. Students,
both returning and
incoming, are sent the excerpts for the audition in
the spring, so there is plenty of time to prepare. More information on
large ensembles is available here. Our School of
Music is fortunate to have excellent conductors.
Chamber Music
At the beginning of each year, the brass faculty
will help all interested students form chamber ensembles. Horn players
can join a brass trio, brass quintet, wind quintet,
horn quartet, or
mixed ensemble. All chamber groups are coached by faculty. I strongly
encourage all horn players to join a chamber group.
A Performing Faculty
The brass faculty (and one graduate student trumpeter) form the Wisconsin Brass Quintet.
Our ensemble rehearses twice weekly, and all rehearsals are open to you
to
watch and listen. We perform several times a year on campus, and
also travel around the state and farther afield. Additionally, all
brass faculty members maintain extensive
performing careers, both on
and off campus. Neither I nor my colleagues have "retired into
teaching" - rather, we are actively playing concerts, keeping ourselves
constantly
rejuvenated and excited about the world of music. We are all
recording artists as well. We will teach you about music careers
because we ourselves have music careers.
Auditioning
We hold 3 auditions per year, in November, January, and February. Check here for undergraduate admissions information, and here
for graduate information. Masters degree
auditions can be scheduled
privately with me, and doctoral auditions often can as well. My email
address appears here - feel free to contact me with ANY questions.
Undergraduate audition requirements are here, and graduate requirements here.
Funding and Scholarships
For undergraduates, your merit scholarship offer will come with your
admission notification. For graduate students, information on funding
is available here.
Double Majors
Many of our students double major. UW-Madison is a great university,
and you can take advantage of it to any degree that you like.
Information about double majoring is
available here.
For Foreign Students
The required TOEFL score for admission to the University of Wisconsin-Madison is now 85.
Our University
UW-Madison is an extremely large university, with some 45,000 students.
The School of Music, however, is a much more manageable size. You will
know everybody's
name within a few weeks. The social life of our School
of Music students largely unfolds in our building, the Mosse Humanities
Building, as students are there most of the
day practicing, rehearsing,
performing, and listening to concerts. There are over 200 concerts per
year. The nearby Union Theater also presents big name artists from the
classical, jazz, world music, and pop worlds. The Madison Symphony plays numerous concerts every year, and the Madison Opera presents three operas per year.
New School of Music Building
We will begin construction on a new building in late autumn of 2016.
The new building will contain a state of the art concert hall, recital
hall, and rehearsal hall. Practice
facilities, rehearsal rooms,
classrooms, and professors' studios will remain in the Humanities
Building.
Horn Stuff at UW-Madison
The Mills Music Library possesses a truly huge collection of horn recordings called the Curtiss Blake Collection. There is much in here that you will not find on Spotify
or iTunes! Additionally, we have a large collection of horns, including Wagner tuben, Geyer horns, natural horns, and even a Vienna horn.
Life in Madison
Madison is a small city (approximately a quarter of a million people)
with the cultural life of a much bigger city. It is the state capital,
and has wonderful restaurants, museums,
a spectacular concert hall (the
Overture Center), and many jazz, rock, and alternative clubs for live music. The bus system is reliable and has great coverage of the city.
Many students get around on bicycle, and there are bike paths everywhere (the bike paths are often plowed before the roads in winter). There are dormitories
very close to
the School of Music. Winter does NOT slow Madisonians
down, and there are wonderful opportunities for skiing, skating, and
other winter activities. Fall and spring are
absolutely beautiful in
Madison. If you are a sports fan, you will have ample opportunities to
root for the Badgers.
Arrange a Visit
Let me know if you would like to visit the campus. You can take a
campus tour and a School of Music tour. I will teach you a lesson at no
cost to you. I especially encourage
visits on Mondays (when we have
studio class) and Fridays (when we have Horn Choir), but any day of the
week is fine. Send me an email and we'll find a good time to get
to
know each other.
