Les Harpes Camac being French, we are often asked about studying in Paris. Many inquiries are about the possibility of studying with Isabelle Moretti at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (known as the CNSM, CNSMDP or "the Paris Conservatoire").
1. The CNSM
Isabelle Moretti is professor at the CNSM, assisted by Geneviève Létang.
Fortunately, the CNSM's website has a good English version. Unfortunately, in order even to be allowed to play the harp audition, all students first have to pass one exam in solfège, and one in French. If you have studied neither before, you need at least a year working pretty hard at both to have a hope of passing. Also, Isabelle Moretti does not give private lessons, so if you want to study with her, your options are to learn French and solfège, or take lessons on a less regular basis at her courses.
If you can already do solfège and speak French, you can download English-language information below, about the CNSM courses at undergraduate (3 years) and postgraduate level (2 years). Bear in mind the age limits: under 22 at time of entry for harp undergraduate, under 26 for postgraduate. You can also only take the entrance exam a maximum of three times, so don't apply too young (before your chances of getting a place are realistic), or too old.
Download CNSM course descriptions (English)
Speaking of realism: the Paris Conservatoire is a wonderful school and you may well be a wonderful harpist. However, the audition is a concours - a competition - for one or two places at the end. You may play brilliantly, but if two people turn up on the day of the audition who play even more brilliantly, you won't get a place. Don't be put off by this - aim high! - but make sure you also apply for enough viable alternatives so you are not too disappointed if fate is against you. A course with Isabelle Moretti before the entrance auditions will help you best assess your chances.
Another way to spend some time studying at the CNSM, although you will not leave with a specific qualification, is through the ERASMUS programme.
Download CNSM Erasmus (English)
Standards of harp playing in Paris are very high and there are two other schools to consider: the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Regional de Paris (CRR). You do not need solfège or French for either, at least not in the beginning.
Isabelle Perrin teaches at the École
Normale. Like Isabelle Moretti, she needs little introduction, and there are many opportunities to experience her teaching on a course. The École
Normale is a private college, offering six different levels of course across undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and across the board of practical and academic musicianship, performing and teaching. English-language course information can be found here for the levels, and here for the subjects. Some supplementary courses are compulsory in order to obtain the diplomas, details of which are here.
Because the École Normale is private, it can be very flexible. There is no age limit for applications and no competitive entrance exam (you do play an audition, but this is to gauge what level of course you should take, not whether or not you may join the school). The school is also officially approved by the French State, so students enjoy the same benefits as any others, such as student discount cards.
Private diplomas are not always recognised by other music colleges, eg for further study. This may or may not matter. Private tuition fees in France are also higher than in the state-run conservatoires (where they are very low). It will cost you about €320 to register at the École Normale at college level (€420 for non-EU students), then around €2000-2500 a year for the course. Most supplementary subjects such as harmony or chamber music are included in these fees: a fee table of what is included and what isn't is available here. Your private harp lessons may incur a supplement: Isabelle can inform you about this. Scholarships are available from the school for applicants under 27, and the school is also approved by many external funding bodies.
3. The CRR.
Ghislaine Petit-Volta teaches at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Regional de Paris. The CRR is a public conservatoire, meaning that it is inexpensive – fees are about €250 a year. You also receive qualifications that are recognised everywhere officially. The academic teaching is linked with the Sorbonne, one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
The
CRR has no English-language website, so I will explain the course structure in more detail than is necessary for the CNSM or École Normale. The CRR offers three levels of course. The first is for school-age
pupils (the "double cursus"). College-level studies then follow.
There are two undergraduate options, for which the age limit is 25:
- The cycle spécialisé or DEM, which includes your instrumental special study, solfège, chamber music and musical cultural studies. It can also be used if you are prevented by French/solfège/other reasons from immediately applying to the CNSM or any other French license-level course. If you take the DEM, you will then be in a position to attempt the entrance audition for the undergraduate course at the CNSM. Of the seven candidates who made the final round of the CNSM auditions last year, five were Ghislaine's students.
- The DEM is followed by the more academic DNSPM, Diplôme National Supérieur Professionnel de Musicien. This three-year course is the equivalent to a French license (undergraduate degree/Bachelor) and is officially recognised everywhere: you can apply for a German Masters afterwards, for example, or a Masters or Masters-level diploma anywhere else (at the CNSM, for example).
It is possible to take the DEM at other conservatoires in Paris, but not the DNSPM or the DEMS, which are unique to the CRR.
4. Life in Paris
I almost didn't write this section for fear of producing some awful glib 250-word summary of a whole city, but I hope it is fair enough to say the following. Like any major city, Paris has a vast range of concerts, operas and other cultural events of the highest level. Musical studies are demanding and the level high. You will be expected to work harder than in many other places, but your playing will be the better for it. The French tradition of harp playing is particularly good for cultivating a beautiful sound, a clean technique, and a really thorough knowledge of and respect for the score. There is a strong focus on solo and small ensemble playing, which is good for those with competition and other solo ambitions.
Paris is not the city with the greatest plenitude of lucrative freelance work. You can make it as a freelancer - Myriam Serfass is a super example of this - but you need a lot of energy, creativity and talent for self-promotion. You need those wherever you are freelancing, but Paris simply doesn't offer dozens of background music and other bread-and-butter gigs like there are in Britain or the United States, and your longterm options are more confined to getting an orchestral job (of which there are hardly any, so you can imagine how good you have to be to get one), putting on solo and chamber concerts, and teaching. But this is only relevant if you plan to or find yourself thinking about staying in Paris. During your studies, there is a good argument for spending your time practising, not playing at weddings, and harpists all over the world have benefited in their careers from the rigours of a Paris education.
Whatever your nationality, your own country will be your most important funding source. American students may come to Paris on Fulbright scholarships, or Germans on those from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. I dream of knowing about every available music scholarship in every country in the world, but until I do, please conduct your own research and email me if you are having problems, I will do my best to help.
On the Paris side, the best thing to do is to contact each conservatoire's people who are responsible for co-ordinating and advising on scholarships and grants. These are:
CNSM: Catherine Lavigne
Tel. +33 (0)1 40 40 45 93, scolarite@cnsmdp.fr
Ecole Normale: Nadia Dufruit
+33 1 47 63 85 72, nadia.dufruit@ecolenormalecortot.com
CRR: Delphine Siguret
Tel. +33 (0)1 44 70 64 26, delphine.siguret@paris.fr
6. Deadlines
CNSM: see here. Undergraduate applications usually October, auditions start of following year; postgraduate applications usually April, auditions September.
Ecole Normale: no fixed deadline. Contact the dean of studies before the beginning of the academic year (information here).
CRR: Registrations forms are available here (under "fiches d'inscription") from mid-June. Auditions take place in September and October.
7. Fees (2010)
CNSM: annual tuition fee €410, student social insurance €198.
Ecole Normale: application €275, audition fee €45, administration fee (non-EU only) €325, annual tuition fees €2000-2500, plus possible supplementary courses (see here) and harp lesson supplement.
CRR: application €52, annual tuition fee €259.
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