- I think one thing that doesn't get spoken of,
perhaps enough, is what the opportunities are
for study abroad after you finish
your undergraduate program.
Some people feel like they ought
to be going to work right away.
Other people feel like they ought to continue their studies
at some institution towards a master's degree
or just towards furthering their performance skills.
Even more people think about one of the two organizations
like the Civic Orchestra in Chicago
or the New World Symphony in Miami beach.
I tend to think of it, you know,
America the US
can in its way be extremely provincial
and concerned with itself.
And the fact is
that the great majority of the music
and the repertoire that we play
came from another area,
which is Europe obviously
and was considering Europe
to be including the USSR.
Well, not the ticket, considering it to be Russia
and the former USSR and all its parts.
And for some people, interest might even go
into Asia and India and the middle East
depending upon what your interest is.
Anyway, the main thing that I would like people
to think about is the sources of the repertoire
that we play are not here for the most part
except for our American and Canadian materials.
And that it does such a credit to you as a player
and as a person to have been involved
in those cultures and to understand somewhat
about the culture of if you're playing a piece of music
from France or a piece of music from England
even the English speaking countries
how different that culture is and how different
the background is, and to go and do a little research
on the spot about where that music came from
and study what the history is considered,
what they consider to be the history
of their own repertoire.
Studying Italian music in Italy is unlike studying
Italian music in the best of libraries
with the best of teachers here.
Even the teachers that have studied in Italy
because they can only give you
as much as they were able to get for themselves.
And perhaps your take on it might be quite different.
There are all kinds of ways to do this.
Of course the best would be if you were able to win
a Fulbright fellowship, those are amazing,
but they are attainable we've had several people
from the Shepherd School do that and I'm sure
we'll have more.
The business organizations like Kiwanis club and others
offer international scholarships
for a year study abroad, many institutions
including Rice offer individual grants
like the Watson grant,
which allows you transportation money
in a certain stipend for studying abroad.
And there are other organizations that do that as well.
I've known people to go to their large organized
religious groups and try to get backing
for study abroad and frequently they found
that there was already a fund that's there.
It may not fund you in the style to which you're accustomed
but it might be enough seed money to get you going.
And I frequently will say to a student of mine
that maybe there's a grandmother who would be willing
to be mortgaged for a few years and lend you the money
considering that they might get it back
to give you the opportunity to do that kind of study.
And I don't think necessarily
that you need to go to an institution.
In some cases that's appropriate,
and in some cases it's actually gets in the way.
If there's an individual that you would like to study with
and you've done enough homework and research
to know that that person is somebody
that you might like to study with that frequently
is better because there's less hassle
with the carry over of your degrees
and their degree programs.
And you can just go and work with that person.
Sometimes that person will send you
to an institution to pick up a different kind
of self edge class or a different outlook
on the theory and composition
that goes along with this study that you're doing.
It also gives you the free time to poke around
the libraries and the museums,
and to hang out in the right coffee shops
and all the things that are available
for you to get the richness of the place that you're living.
Even one year which seems like not a lot,
and maybe to some of you, it seems like a lot,
but one year is a very small amount of time in your life
to spend on that kind of pilgrimage.
And I think it pays major dividends.
And when I look back over the times
that I've been to Europe and studied, and the value
that I got out of it, I find myself going back and back
and back and going to different places and doing more.
And interestingly enough there have been several
opportunities to play and perform
and do things that I would never ever have even known about
had I not gone over there and done
that initial first trip to Europe, very important.