Chamber ensemble

Chamber Music

Age: Ages 9 and up

Cost: 2023-2024 Tuition: $475/semester (10% discount for Powers private lesson students)

Audition Required

You’ve been steadily making progress in your lessons, love classical music, and are ready to try a different outlet for playing your instrument. Why not try chamber music right here at Powers?

The repertoire you’ll work on includes some of the most beautiful pieces in the classical genre (although we sometimes borrow arrangements from other genres as well). The music is challenging enough to keep you interested and motivated, and will help you develop skills you may not get in a large orchestra or as a soloist.

Think of our ensembles as teams of students working together toward a common goal. You’ll think and talk about the piece together, and have a say in how to make the music sound its best. You’ll develop a solid sense of rhythm, impulse, intonation, and intuition. You’ll learn about cueing, listening, communication, and eye contact, and you’ll deepen your understanding of how to be a key player in a group (especially if you play piano!).

Chamber music is open to strings, woodwinds, brass, and piano, and can be as small as 2 students or as large as 9 musicians! Chamber music is sometimes called “the music of friends” – the more intimate setting created often leads ensemble members to become close and stick together throughout many years.

You’ll generally meet for an hour each week during the semester with a coach who helps guide each practice session. The schedule is determined by coach and student availability to fit in the schedules of even the busiest music students.

Private lesson teachers – why recommend chamber music to your students?

Chamber music can become an essential part of your students’ overall musical development. They allow a student to take ownership of their part, to understand how it fits into the context of a group with other instruments, and to think critically and make their own musical decisions. In general, an ensemble helps everyone’s skill level to rise. It also provides you as the teacher with an opportunity to coach and teach in a different kind of setting.

Placement Auditions for the 2023-2024 Season!

We’re holding placement auditions for the spring semester in early December! Only students new to the chamber music program need to audition. Current chamber music participants do NOT need to re-audition.

In-Person Audition Dates for Spring Semester:

  • Friday, December 8
  • Saturday, December 9

Time slot options can be found through the sign-up form below.

Audition process for new chamber music students:

Please read our audition requirements below to prepare for your audition, then click to schedule your audition here:

Schedule your audition!

Once we have received your audition form, our Director of Chamber Music, Dr. Hyun Min Lee, will reach out to you about your audition.

Audition Requirements:

  • 1 Scale
  • 1 Solo piece or a movement of your choice (traditional classical music only, not jazz or pop tune)
  • Sight-Reading

Registration:

You will be notified of placement shortly after your audition.

Once accepted and placed into an ensemble, please contact our Registrar at 617-484-4696 to complete and submit your registration and tuition payment within two weeks. Your payment will include the $20 fall or spring semester registration fee and full tuition for the chamber music program you were placed in, unless a payment plan has been arranged. For those auditioning after the fiscal year has begun, tuition will be prorated.

Still have questions?