(ALL BIENEN STUDENTS PLEASE INCLUDE AREA OF STUDY AFTER YOUR LAST NAME IN PARENTHESES WHEN SIGNING THE FORM. EX: First Name, Last Name (Program Area))

This summer, the administration of Northwestern University announced to all returning students that private instruction from our primary faculty members would be reduced from 10 to 9 private lessons per quarter. This would result in a reduction in 10% of all private lesson time through the school year, from 30 to 27 private lessons per year. Private lessons at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music are 50-minutes in duration meaning every minute of instruction from our primary faculty members is crucial to our education.

Here is our response to that decision: 

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To the esteemed Administration and Faculty of the Bienen School of Music,

We, the students of Bienen, are writing to voice our disagreement with administration's recent decision to cut private, primary lessons from thirty lessons per year to twenty-seven per year. This change would cut curricular content by 10% each quarter, putting both the institution and individual students at a disadvantage. Private instruction by our world-class faculty at Northwestern is one of the most important aspects of our education and is, in fact, the reason why many elite musicians choose the Bienen School of Music.

Private lessons are a foundational pillar of a competitive music degree, and time spent interacting with the acclaimed faculty of Bienen is time spent cultivating prepared, competent, successful, and supported students—all of which contribute to their overall well-being. Reducing the scope of this time by ten percent would actively cut into students' ability to grow towards their full potential during their time at Northwestern's Bienen School of Music. We understand the various responsibilities that place a demand on our faculty: balancing and coordinating juries, auditions, and recruitment activities—all in addition to providing private lessons. However, we posit that these responsibilities should not interfere with faculty members' ability to provide students with high-quality one-on-one instruction.

One of the most valuable aspects of a Northwestern education is the high level of commitment the institution has historically demonstrated to the betterment of students. Part of that commitment lies in the extra time we are afforded to hone our craft and musicianship through ten weekly lessons a quarter. By reducing private lessons to nine a quarter, we risk falling behind peer conservatories on the semester system such as the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Curtis Institute of Music—which all offer their students more private lesson instruction time. This risks positioning Northwestern's private lesson offerings as inferior to those of other prestigious music schools, many of which are courting high-caliber student musicians from the same applicant pool.

The lack of timely communication to the Bienen student body about these upcoming changes also disadvantaged both incoming and current students. Current students had no opportunity to discuss what the changes might mean for their academic trajectory, and incoming students were unable to factor the reduced lesson time into their admissions decisions. We view this as a lack of transparency toward both current students and those entering the Bienen School of Music this fall.

As Bienen students, we are faced with high tuition fees. Many of us have made considerable personal and financial sacrifices in exchange for the benefits of the hands-on, mentorship-driven education Bienen offers. As a student body, we strongly feel that this reduction in lesson time undercuts those benefits. We are calling for one of three actions to be taken to remedy this error:

1) Total reversal: Revert wholly back to ten private lessons offered per quarter.

OR

2) Grandfather clause: Current and incoming students should be grandfathered into the policy of ten private lessons offered per quarter. New students for the 2027–2028 year may begin to receive nine lessons per quarter as long as this is explicitly stated to those incoming students.

OR

3) Reduce current and incoming Bienen students' tuition bills for the 2026–2027 school year by $685 per quarter (10% of the current $6,850/credit hour).

Signed,

Henry Griffin

MM ‘27, Voice and Opera, Northwestern University