안녕하세요^^ 문의 감사합니다. 오디션 교수님께 문의해서 답변을 받았습니다. 참조하시라고 전문 개제합니다.

Dear Kathleen,

The level 5 scholarship recommendation is the highest level possible as a recommendation from the Audition Committee to the Scholarship Committee. It means that the Scholarship Committee will award you the largest amount of scholarship money available. I think it is great news.

As far as the choice of school is concerned, you may want to consider several facts:

1 The school doesn't teach you - the teacher does.

2 There is a constant fluctuation of teachers in the world, often triggered by better work conditions for them. In the last 10 years or so very many musicians moved from the East Coast (the area of New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia etc) to. Texas. Why? Because Texas offers a very solid strong economy and great support for the arts, unlike New York State for instance. I know, because I used to live there.

3 If you look what Houston as a city has to offer, it could easily compete with New York City or other cities in that area.

4 People and institutions in Texas are very frugal with their money.  Their philosophy is: if it is possible to make something less expensive without losing quality, they will do it. For that reason the tuition and living expenses in Houston area are one of the lowest and most competitive in the country.  It doesn't mean that they are of lesser quality.

5 The name of the school only means as much as the student's level of playing. In reality of life, to get a job or to be accepted into any institution or management, one has to play an audition. At this point most auditions are done behind the screen and the auditioning committee doesn't even know the candidate's name or the educational background.  The candidate has to defend himself/herself by... playing well.

6 As far as opportunities are concerned, perhaps my own experience could serve as an example.  On March 21 this year I am going to perform in Carnegie Hall, and this is my second Carnegie Hall performance this season.  One of my students is going with me and she will perform as well.  I don't know how many New York students performed in Carnegie Hall.

There is no question that I would like to work with you here in Houston.  You may find this environment stimulating, high quality and... friendly.  You may find life here just as stimulating and... less expensive.  Students in my studio are like one family, helping each other, playing for one another.  Yes, there is a sense of competition among them, but it is a healthy one.

I realize that from a large distance of Korea it is not easy to judge these things, and people there can only depend on external sources.  You may have an advantage of forming your own opinion based on your personal experience right here in this country by seeing things for yourself and meeting people personally.

My suggestion would be: trust yourself in the decision making. I wish you the best of luck in this process, and perhaps you could let me know what your decision is.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Warm greetings from Houston,

Andrzej Grabiec, Professor of Violin, Moores School of Music

University of Houston

 > > > 안녕하세요. 기악전공으로 음대 대학원 과정 입학을 앞 둔 학생인데요. University of Houston Moores School of Music 장학금 제도에 대해서 문의합니다. 오디션 당시 교수님이 Level 5 장학금을 받을 수 있다고 하셨는데, 이 장학금이 어떤 성격의 장학금인지 궁금해서요. 교수님도 마음에 들고 주변환경이나 날씨도 생각보다 나쁜 것 같지 않아서 한 번 고려해 보려고 하는데 정보 주실 수 있나요? 부탁합니다. >