5 Things You Must Do at Manhattan School of Music

Perhaps just like some obvious life choices such as practicing, eating well, and staying healthy, there are some definitive things you just have to do when you go to Manhattan School of Music, either to survive another day of competitive vibe, or to enjoy your time while it lasts. The choice is yours and here are the cards:

1.) Participate in the orientation events.

This applies especially to out-of-state and international students. Unless you’ve spent your whole life in the city, the events that the orientation committee comes up with are going to sound pretty new to you. The orientation weeks take place two weeks prior to the first day of classes, so it’s the right time to explore NYC as much as you can! Once the semester starts, it’s going to be more challenging to arrange nights out. The events included in those weeks are some of NYC’s biggest treats: Broadway musicals, world-class museum tours, famous restaurants, bars, shopping sprees at flea markets, live sports.

2.) Always book a room for your individual practice or group rehearsals.

Unless you’re a bassist or percussion major, the struggle is real when it comes to finding practice rooms. It’s safe to make online reservations a night or two before, even if it means you would have to stand by every night at midnight. Classrooms are also generally available from the evening onward, so take advantage of those. For chamber rehearsals, figure out everyone’s schedule and come up with one shared slot of time per week. This way, you can reserve the same room weekly and avoid confusion.

3.) Got extra credits to spare for electives?

Do yourself a favor and take Reiko Fueting’s classes. A genius theorist and historian, Reiko Fueting is one of MSM’s most sought-after professors. He offers a couple of electives on top of his core classes, including Beethoven String Quartets and Operas by Strauss, Berg, and Britten, both of which are some of the most popular classes here at MSM. The reason is simple. His lectures are a perfect combination of history and theory that make these severely complicated masterpieces sound so intriguing and easy to understand. Even if you knew nothing about opera or any of those aforementioned composers, you are guaranteed to fall in love with the music you learn about! Choose these electives at your next registration appointment if they aren’t full already.

If you’re really interested in Manhattan School of Music, make sure you read my articles on what to avoid while you’re there and what I wish I knew before I arrived on campus.

4.) Enter the intra-scholar concerto competition at least once.

If you play an instrument that has concertos written for it to be accompanied by an orchestra, you may have a chance to perform with MSM Symphony as the winner of the school’s annual concerto competition. There is some restricted repertoire (music that the previous winners have played in recent years), but the range is still very wide to choose from. It’s a great way to motivate yourself to learn a great concerto; besides, playing with MSM’s most accomplished orchestra in a hall with more than five hundred seats would be a priceless experience while at school. Even if you don’t win the competition, you’ll get one more concerto under your belt.

5.) Never skip a lesson.

Except for emergencies that physically hinder you from playing your instrument or singing, nothing should be in the way between you and your weekly lessons. Not practicing enough is never an excuse (in retrospect, you’ll realize that you should have prioritized your practice hours). The biggest reason you go to MSM is because you are a musician, trying to hone your skills by learning invaluable lessons from some of the world’s most distinguished pedagogues.

If you are lucky enough to have a teacher like mine, who, notwithstanding my musical state of the day or the amount of effort I put in the week before, still gave me a walkthrough of my pieces slowly, that is one more reason to always make it to your lesson. I felt so bad that he basically babysat a college student that I always made up for the losses the following week. And yes, I’ve heard some horror stories of my peers being kicked out of their lessons because they were underprepared. Well, it’s your responsibility to work on your music and have questions to bring to the lesson. Make your time worth it!

You’ll know rather soon after you graduate that your college life was the absolute best time of your life. How you utilize your time while you’re there is completely up to you! Challenge yourself to always improve, both personally and musically.

Sara Hong is a New York City-based classical pianist, teacher, translator, and writer. She graduated from Manhattan School of Music with a Bachelor’s (2011), a Master’s (2013), and a Professional Studies degree (2014). She specializes in short stories, travel journals, good eats recipes, and articles on performance and pedagogy.