FAQs

At Franklin Pond, we believe that the right ensemble can transform a student’s musical experience. Forming groups that work well together is at the heart of what we do—and one of the things that makes Franklin Pond unique.

Creating a great ensemble is about much more than putting students of similar ability together. We carefully consider each student’s musical ability, age, experience, personality, and maturity. We look for combinations that will challenge students musically while also creating an environment where they feel comfortable, supported, and excited to work together.

And we take this process very seriously.

Long before students arrive, we spend weeks experimenting with different combinations of musicians and thinking carefully about how each group might work. We talk with parents and private teachers to learn as much as we can about each student—not just how they play, but how they learn, collaborate, communicate, and respond to others.

Why does all of this matter? Because the chemistry of an ensemble matters. When students feel well matched with their peers, they are more willing to listen, take risks, speak up, solve problems, and grow. They learn not only how to play their own part, but how to become an essential part of something bigger than themselves.

Our goal is to create ensembles that are musically strong, personally compatible, and developmentally well matched—groups where students can make beautiful music, build meaningful friendships, and develop the confidence and collaborative skills that will stay with them long after they leave Franklin Pond.

It takes time and a great deal of thought to get the right students in the right room. We believe it is time very well spent.

Shortly after you apply to one of our programs, you will receive a personal email confirming that we have received your application. After the application deadline, however, it may take several weeks before you hear whether you have been accepted. There’s an important reason for the wait.

At Franklin Pond, we don’t simply accept students individually and then figure out where to put them. Once the application deadline has passed, our staff carefully reviews every applicant’s video and begins the process of creating ensembles. We work hard to place each musician in a group that will challenge them, support them, and give them the best possible experience. (See “How are students placed in ensembles?” for more about this process.)

Sometimes, the right ensemble comes together easily from the students who have applied. Other times, it takes a little more work. If we see that a student would be a great fit for Franklin Pond but we don’t yet have the right combination of musicians, we will explore every option we can.

We may reach out to private teachers in the area to help us find additional students of a similar age and ability. Sometimes students recruit friends who would be a good fit for the ensemble. We do everything we can to build the right group.

And occasionally, despite our best efforts, we simply cannot find the right fit for a particular student.

If that happens, it is very important to understand that it does not mean the student was not good enough to attend Franklin Pond. It means only that, among the students who applied that year, we were not able to create an ensemble that would be a good musical and personal fit for that student.

We know that waiting can be difficult, but the extra time allows us to do something we believe is incredibly important: make sure that every student we accept is placed in an ensemble where they can thrive.

Over our 25-year history, Franklin Pond has coached an extraordinary variety of chamber ensembles—from traditional string quartets and piano trios to mixed ensembles featuring winds, brass, and harp.

While many of our students are string players and pianists, we enthusiastically welcome wind and brass musicians as well. We believe that chamber music is an invaluable experience for musicians of all kinds, and we love the variety and musical possibilities that mixed ensembles bring to our programs.

At the heart of Franklin Pond is the Franklin Pond Quartet, our core team of coaching artists. But our coaching faculty extends far beyond the quartet. We maintain a broad and carefully selected pool of professional musicians, allowing us to match students with coaches who are experts on their particular instruments.

That means students don't just learn how to play chamber music—they have the opportunity to work directly with professional musicians who understand their instrument and can help them grow as individual performers.

Whether your student plays violin, viola, cello, piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, horn, or another instrument, there is a place for them at Franklin Pond—and a professional musician ready to help them make the most of the experience.

When students apply to Franklin Pond, we ask them about the chamber music they have already played and, just as importantly, what they would like to play. Their answers are an important part of our decision-making process. We want students to have a voice in their musical experience, and we love hearing what repertoire excites them.

At the same time, repertoire choices are just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Once we know the instrumentation and musical level of an ensemble, our coaches consider what repertoire will give those particular students the best opportunities to learn, grow, and enjoy making music together.

The possibilities can vary greatly depending on the ensemble. A string quartet or piano trio has an enormous body of repertoire to choose from, giving us plenty of opportunities to find music that is both educationally valuable and genuinely fun to play.

Other ensembles may have more limited options. A cello quartet, harp trio, or unusual mixed ensemble, for example, may not have the same breadth of established repertoire. In those cases, our coaches carefully select the music that we feel will best serve the students—sometimes finding arrangements or lesser-known works that open up exciting musical possibilities.

Ultimately, our goal is to strike the right balance between what students want to play and what will help them become better musicians. We want students to leave Franklin Pond having discovered new music, developed new skills, and hopefully found some new pieces that they will love for years to come.