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Thread: Thoughts on grad school

  1. #11
    where do you currently study?

  2. I'm currently studying with Dennis Askew.

  3. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by ghmerrill View Post
    German is easier to learn than Norwegian or (especially!) Finnish. While there are various bizarre cantonal dialects of German in Switzerland, you can always make High German work -- or French, depending on where you are. In addition, the Swiss learn German, French, and English in school. So mostly you can get along in English as well. Switzerland is also centrally located and so travel (by good trains) to France, Austria, Germany, Italy, etc. is quite straightforward and not expensive.

    Just some non-musical and non-academic considerations .
    Just my 2 Cent as a German euphonium player.

    1st the language theme: English, German and Norsk belong all to the same language family (Indo-german -> German(ish)), Finnish is far away in this context (Finno-Ugrish) and therefore heavy to lean for us. French is also Indo-German, but the Romanic branch (I hope, you can understand my translations, i afraid these are not the official ones). In Switzerland they're speaking four languages - Italian, French, Raeto Romanian and a dialect of German, which is difficult to understand even for a natural German. The advantage of Norway, Germany, Netherlands or Switzerland will be, nearly everybody will understand English, especially the to N's. The french people are not friends of English language, historically.

    For euphonium purposes - Germany is a kind of "desert" regarding brass band tradition or even the understanding of euphonium as a regular instrument. The choice of other locations to study euphonium would be better.
    Jochen

    Boosey&Hawkes Imperial with SM4(U-X),
    YEP-321 with DW 4AY ...
    ... and my cello

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,368
    Quote Originally Posted by bilucas View Post
    I'm currently studying with Dennis Askew.
    Ah, then you are studying right "up the road" from me. Probably the best department around here -- certainly for low brass.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,368
    Quote Originally Posted by JoCologne View Post
    In Switzerland they're speaking four languages - Italian, French, Raeto Romanian and a dialect of German, which is difficult to understand even for a natural German.
    I still recall my dissertation director, many years ago, speaking to a visiting lecturer who was from a different Canton: "Can we speak English, please? I find High German to be fatiguing after a while." It's not just A dialect the Swiss deal with. It's basically one per Canton and they're ALL different to varying degrees. I recall being told by the VP I worked for that basically Swiss children take (High) German as a foreign language when they start school. Much worse than the difference between, say, Southern English and Boston English in the US. More like Canadian French vs. Cajun French. However, in educational institutions and just about everywhere I encountered in the cities, High German works well -- but maybe that depends on the region.

    The french people are not friends of English language, historically.
    Delicately put. However, after spending a lot of intense effort in learning that language (and failing ever to speak it well), I did understand the attitude of the French towards their spoken language (and particularly pronunciation in it) somewhat better.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  6. #16
    From my limited experience with speakers of the various European languages, I can concur that the regional variations seem to shift much more quickly than here in the US. My sister-in-law's parents emigrated from the Netherlands, from near Rotterdam and her mother commented that she found it very difficult to understand the Groningen dialect that my Dutch speaking grandparents spoke. Someone recently commented on the Dutch spoken in Maastricht where the Adams factory is as a very unusual accent. By American standards these distances are quite small.

    I've studied some German, French, and a bit of Swedish and while there are many cognate words between the Germanic languages, the accents and syntax make them sound quite different. I once knew a Norwegian speaker who rather condescendingly described Danish as Norwegian spoken with a diseased throat. I actually find French syntax the easiest to read, but get totally lost when trying to speak or understand the spoken language.

    The Low German speaking immigrants to north central Iowa that I'm familiar with often called Dutch speaking ministers to their churches in past generations because they could understand them better than High German speaking preachers.

    All of this is to concur with what Gary and others have implied. Studying with someone overseas who is proficient in English might be the easiest option.

  7. Hi Bilucas,
    I went to England to study euphonium for grad school. There were a few things that I learned that may help you out. First, see if any of the schools have repertoire lists posted. That will give you a good idea of what you can audition with. Also, make sure to check out when auditions are. Many schools in Europe are on a very different audition schedule than the US. This next part is a bit outside of my experience since I studied in an English-speaking country, but I would suggest going to the school that you feel you'll learn best. I think you'd be surprised at how fast you learn language and how much other people speak English. Good luck!
    Amy Schumaker Bliss
    Professor of Euphonium, Rowan University
    Senior Adjunct Professor of Music, Burlington County College

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