A Pianist's Advice for Incoming Students

Monday, Sep 09, 2019
By Rixiang Huang
Juilliard Journal
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Juilliard pianist Rixiang Huang (MM '19, piano)

Meet Donors, Get Outside the Practice Room

As the new school year was about to begin, a few seasoned Juilliard artists pulled together some advice for incoming students.

  1. Take advantage of NYC—I regret that I didn’t go to more concerts at Carnegie Hall, where you can get $10 student tickets. And don’t forget to broaden your horizons beyond music—you have to step out to see what’s going on in the outside world.
  2. Networking is important here. Introduce yourself to people and take advantage of opportunities. Meet your donors. Go to concerts and see other people perform. You never know when you’ll find the next opportunity, but you won’t if you’re only in the practice room.
  3. Always go to Lunch and Learns (a monthly speaker series). Even if they’re not in your field, the speakers may have useful suggestions because they’ve been there before.
  4. The Juilliard Café is a great place if you want to save money.
  5. Don’t limit yourself to just doing competitions. Being a well-rounded musician includes practicing and coursework and talking to faculty and going outside your comfort zone.

Rixiang Huang (MM ’19, piano) spent the summer performing at the Sarasota Festival, doing a concert tour in China, and then performing at the Mozarteum in Salzburg—“one of the coolest things about being a musician is the travel”