This page is packed with information about your participation in the Seminar, about the Music Department, and the campus and surrounding areas. We hope that it will answer any questions you may have, and that your stay with us will be not only musically productive, but that you will enjoy the many amenities both on campus and in the surrounding areas.
Major subdivisions are shown below and to the side; each area will have links to its own sub-groups.
By Car | From SanFran Airport | From San Jose Airport
Please note - all prices for transport are current as of June 2004. Updates will be provided to accepted participants prior to the opening of the Seminar.
There are a number of public transportation options from the major airports in the San Francisco Bay Area. Generally, the least expensive option is bus or train service; van services such as Super Shuttle offer the best price for door-to-door service, and taxi service is the most expensive. You may also opt to rent a car through your preferred service.
All Van Services depart when a full load of patrons is assembled. Reservations are required for return trip to airport on all services.
Please note: This information is provided as a convenience for conference participants and visitors. Stanford University makes no representation regarding the companies or services listed herein. All prices and schedules are subject to change without notice.
Housing and Meals | Parking | Healthcare
You may check in for housing after 5 pm on the date the Seminar begins. If you wish to arrange for housing, please contact Barbara Greenwood, program coordinator, at (650) 723-7851 or bgreenwood@stanford.edu.
Each room key requires an $80 key deposit, which can be made with a personal check or cash, payable at our first orientation meeting. Your deposit will be returned to you when you produce a receipt from Housing Services indicating you have turned in your key.
While we cannot provide specific information on where participants will be housed, in past years our groups have been housed in a single building located close to Braun Music Center.
Residences on campus are not air-conditioned, and temperatures can be fairly warm in the summer months. You may wish to bring a shared fan for your room. We also suggest that you bring bathrobes and slippers, as bathrooms are shared and located down the hall from sleeping rooms. No pets are allowed in the residences, so please leave Fluffy and Muffy at home!
Residences provide weekly service; beds are made upon arrival, and linens and towels are changed after 7 days of occupancy. "Linen" comprises sheets, blanket, pillow and pillowcases, two towels, and one washcloth. A small bar of soap, soap dish, and paper cups are also provided. A few hangars are provided in each closet. Common areas such as bathrooms, lounges, and hallways are cleaned each weekday.
All members of housekeeping staff are bonded. However, we do advise that you not leave valuables in your room (including instruments.) Doors and windows should remain locked when you are away, and outside windows and doors should not be propped open at any time, unless you like having squirrels in your room - which is not advisable!
Pay telephones are available in all residences and campus buildings. Private telephone service is not provided in residences. If a telephone is a requirement during your stay, contact the Summer Conference Office to make these arrangements.
We suggest you budget approximately $20 per day for food and beverages. Food sources near Braun Music Center include the Treehouse (burgers, Mexican, teriyaki bowls); the Coffee House (or CoHo) with sandwiches and salads, soups, light munchies; the Law School Café (made-to-order sandwiches, beverages, snacks, good veggie food); Olive's in the Main Quad (mid-East flavored kebabs and salads), and the recently renovated Tressider Student Union with a coffee bar, SubWay, and a variety of self-service food stations. There is also TresEx, a convenience store in the Student Union, for those insatiable junk food cravings as well as small personal items.
If you wish to take home Stanford souvenirs, you can shop at the Bookstore just across the plaza from Braun Music Center. Clothing, souvenirs, CDs, supplies (paper, pens, etc.) and of course, far too many books! The Stanford Store, off the patio behind Tresidder Union, has other Stanford clothing and souvenirs, and is student-run, with lower prices than the Bookstore. More on off-campus shopping information is provided further down the page.
Parking on the Stanford campus is usually at a premium. If you are a commuter participant, we strongly suggest that you carpool with others in your group. If you have a state-issued disabled permit, you may park in any disabled parking space on campus. There are two disabled spaces immediately adjacent to Braun Music Center.
Parking permit prices vary with location; the closer you park, the more it costs. Parking is free on weekends and after 4 PM weekdays. Parking permits are available at Housing Services on arrival (directions will be provided at orientation).
If you elect to forego a parking permit, you can pay metered parking in the lot next to Braun Music Center for $1.50 per hour, or purchase a $12 one-day permit. These permits are available from these locations:
The Conference Services office will have a list of seminar attendees (required for you to purchase a permit) so if you contact them, please reference the SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford to make sure they will allow you to purchase a permit.
Complete details on parking and permits are available on the Parking & Transportation website.
In the event that you should need emergency health care during your stay on campus, the Stanford University Medical Center is located within 10 minutes’ walk of Braun Music Center, and offers a full range of health care services. Before attending the seminar, you should ensure that your personal health care coverage is up to date, and that you bring proof of coverage with you to the seminar.
Schedule | Faculty | Registration | Concerts
Below is a typical schedule for our seminar; evening programs and tai chi sessions may be different in 2007.
A note on sight-reading during the seminar, from John Lad:
Stanford’s intensive chamber music seminar differs from some others of its kind in its emphasis on the fundamentals of chamber music playing. By concentrating on a single piece of music, learning it well enough with our assigned group to perform for others at the conclusion of the week, we engage in a chamber music adventure that enables us, with the help of what our coaches can share with us about the process they have practiced together every day for many years, to extend our imagination about what is possible both in our own instrumental practice and in working together with a group.
By contrast, other chamber music intensives I have attended, even if they have coaching by professionals, are much more oriented toward chamber music sight-reading, and participants go through a great deal of music in the course of a week. Though such an experience can be a lot of fun, I am convinced of the value of what is offered here at Stanford as a opportunity to reach toward a higher level of participation in music that will have a lasting effect on our musical endeavors. Every summer I have come to the [Seminar] I have learned something I did not expect about the amazingly complex process of attaining musical harmony with a group of people.
It must be admitted, however, that this approach to chamber music is hard work. Besides the physical fatigue of practicing for hours a day, there are stressful feelings involved in the demands of rehearsal, in which we are subject to critical examination of what we are doing by other players, in which we have to negotiate with others about every aspect of our musical expressiveness in order to be more firmly cohesive with them at performance time. The critical working relationship with other players in this process is what those of us who are not professional musicians find most different from chamber music on a more social basis, which is more about discovering a piece of music together with friends than about any kind of refined musical unification with them in its performance.
I suggest, however, that there is plenty of room for this more relaxed kind of music making at the Seminar. In fact, I believe that our week together is significantly more successful if people come with the expectation of having musical relationships not only with the members of their assigned group, but with as many of the other participants as possible. Although we have rehearsals and coaching sessions scheduled each day, we are able to find in-between times to get a group together and play for fun throughout the week if enough people are interested. For instance, in the late afternoons when we’ve just about had it with our rehearsal groups it might be refreshing to sight-read a Haydn quartet with a group of other players in which we make fewer demands and more allowances. Stanford's music library has quite a large collection of chamber music scores ad parts which we are free to use during the week. These materials must be checked out, however, and the library is not always open, so we plan ahead to make sure music is available.
This year's Adjunct Faculty:
This year's Guests and Presenters:
(Watch for updates on our faculty and guests. )
The first meeting of the seminar will be on Friday evening, June 22, 2007 at 5:30 pm in the Braun Rehearsal Hall of Braun Music Center, and will include dinner provided by the quartet. At this registration meeting, you will meet the other participants, receive your studio assignments and seminar materials, learn about the campus’ rules and regulations, and discuss the seminar schedule. Following the registration portion of the evening, you will have your first rehearsal section with the members of your group. We have set orientation for Friday to allow individual participants assigned to new groups the full weekend to begin working together prior to the beginning of coaching sessions on Monday.
There are several informal noon concerts by the faculty during the seminar that are open to the public, and you will be part of the final concert on Sunday, July 1 in Campbell Recital Hall. Please invite your friends and family to join us for that occasion, which will be followed by a reception in our lovely courtyard.
Maps of the local area are provided in the orientation materials, and are also available in the Music Department office if you should wish to explore further afield during your stay.
Local shopping is accessible via the campus Maguerite shuttle, which makes stops at the California Avenue shopping area, Town & Country Village, downtown Palo Alto and Menlo Park, and the Stanford Shopping Center. Your orientation materials will include a list of local grocers and food shops with a range of possibilities (in price, proximity, and produce).
While it’s unlikely you will require a hotel room unless you expect friends or family to be joining you, a list of local lodging with price ranges and contact information is available on the Summer Conferences website.
Below is a list of websites which you may find useful either before or during your stay:
If you are making an on-campus call, you need only dial the final 5 numbers. All numbers shown are within the 650 area code. To dial off-campus from a campus phone, first dial "9" and then the number. Campus phones only make local calls.
| Music Department Staff | |
|---|---|
| Mario
Champagne, Dept. Administrator |
723-0038 |
| Delane Haro, Project Manager |
430-0335 |
| Mark
Dalrymple, Facilities & Productions Coordinator |
725-0229 |
| Seminar Staff (Studio Phones) | |
| Christopher Costanza | 725-0537 |
| Geoff Nuttall | 723-2690 |
| Lesley Robertson | 723-2619 |
| Barry Shiffman | 725-2695 |
* Add a "9" to 911 if calling from a campus telephone!
Copies of the Stanford Directory are available in the Music Department Office,and in all residences. The directory contains a plethora of useful information about campus services, organizations, departments, and local merchants (with coupons!).
Department of Music,
Stanford University
541 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-3076
Tel: 650.723.3811
Fax: 650.725.2686
Stephen M. Sano , Chair
Copyright © 2004 Stanford University Department of Music
Website Developer: Jeff Q.
Nguyen (Mus. ‘04)
Webdeacon: William Keats
Banner: Copyright © 2004, Raina Cornejo
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