<p>I have just started my junior year of high school in august. I have been playing the violin since I was six years old, and would love to become a professional musician one day. However, I do not know if I have what it takes to go compete against so many other talented players when it comes to college admissions. My private teacher says that I may get into a school, depending on where I choose to apply. My main choices are USC, UW Madison, BU, and Vanderbilt, all of which I've heard have good string programs. Some of my performance experience includes my state's annual solo and ensemble, which I have been doing for the last five years, being in the youth symphony for the past two years (also going to join next year), my high school orchestra (all four years), and some small recitals my teachers arranges a few times a year. Also, I have been selected to play in a state-wide competition taking place in November. How much performance experience is necessary in order to be considered for admission, alongside skill level?</p>
<p>No performance is necessary, although realistically speaking most of the successful applicants will have had performance experience. It’s really your audition that matters. To get confident about playing in front of a jury, try to get as many performance opportunities as possible in the upcoming year. Perform at nursing homes, hospitals, churches, wherever you can volunteer your services. Set up a recital and invite your friends and family. See if you can play at a school assembly (not necessarily your own high school, but even at an elementary school or middle school. </p>
<p>As @glassharmonica noted, it is primarily the audition you’ll need to be concerned with. At some of the schools where the conservatory is more integrated into the university, your academic grades will matter as well (which is less the case at the stand-alone conservatories like Juilliard, NEC and the like).</p>
<p>Also, you didn’t mention the level of repertoire you are working on. As a high school junior, you will want to make sure your repertoire is ready for pre-screenings next fall, which may mean starting to get it in order now, if you haven’t already done so. If you go to websites of the schools you’re considering, you will find the specific audition repertoire requirements for both pre-screening and live (or final video) auditions. </p>
<p>As the parent of a violinist going through this process as well, I would suggest that you don’t want to find yourself in the fall just getting ready to learn, and in some cases, be prepared to play from memory, the required repertoire. On a comforting note, there is little variation in the repertoire requirements among the schools you’ve identified. By fall, you’ll want to be in a position where you’re just polishing, not learning new stuff (forgive me if this is information you already have; but you ask “am I skilled enough” without discussing repertoire, so I have no way to know 
)</p>
<p>The best thing about having solo performance experience will be that you will have learned to play in front of strangers… which is what you’ll be presented with in the form of audition committees next fall and winter (most schools don’t do their music auditions until after New Year’s. A handful have “early review” dates in late fall).</p>
<p>Best of luck to you in your search.</p>
<p>The performance experience is valid in the sense that it gives you experience performing in front of people, but it won’t count towards admissions, the admissions is pretty much the audition. The audition itself will be done in front of a panel (depends on the school,some schools have single teachers, but I think most of the ones mentioned are multiple teachers), and will probably last somewhere in the range of 10-15 minutes , and there is no way of knowing exactly what they will ask or how long it will take (kids have had 7 minute auditions and got in, kids have had 20 minute ones and got rejected). </p>
<p>One of the biggies is to look at the school’s website and see what the requirements are, it is likely they will be very similar, which is kind of nice, because means not having to prep a lot of unique pieces. See where you are repertoire wise, and take it from there. If you are playing at the level they advertise, you should be good, if you have already memorized for example several romantic concertos, you likely are at some sort of level appropriate, if you haven’t memorized a concerto at this point you would be a bit in the hole IMO (and again, that is hypothetical). </p>
<p>The other question is how knowledgeable is your teacher? Has he sent kids to high level schools? Has he kept in touch with the levels out there? Not all teachers are the same, and to be honest, especially with teachers who studied a long time ago,. things have changed yet in my experience many of them think it is still 1990 or 1980 or whatever…and it isn’t. One thing I could suggest is if there is a high level music program anywhere near where you live, or if there is a private teacher that seems to get kids into top programs, arrange an evaluation with them and see what they think. It isn’t just about what you are playing, it is how you can play it, and no one on here can tell you if you are prepared for any or all of the schools you are talking about, you might be working on the Sibelius, but are you playing it well enough? Someone outside your teacher gives you another view, and may either affirm what your teacher said, or point out specific areas where you need improvement. </p>
<p>Of the schools you mention, USC is probably the toughest, it is a touch academic admit plus they have a very strong strings program (Midori is the department chair, they have some really, really top level teachers) so the audition is going to be uber competitive, probably on the level of the top conservatories, BU is pretty high level, Vanderbilt has a good reputation, so for any of them you are going to need to be in top form to get into almost any of those programs, so knowing where you stand is important, and that is based on your playing level as seen in an audition. The fact that you are all state, or have won some competitions, may indicate little towards how good you are (in some places, the kids in all state are way up there, in other places, all state attracts decent level high school players and the really top notch kids generally don’t participate, so it is hard to tell), and the only way to know is have someone assessing you who knows what the level is out there. Violin is tough, it is among the most competitive of the competitive world of music admissions, and one thing I think is a great rule of thumb is no matter how good you may feel you are, there are likely a lot of kids better, so it is always better to assume you have a lot of work to do rather than assume you are doing okay:). If I had one piece of advice and only one to give, get the outside assessment, especially from someone who teaches at a top program or who has a record of sending kids there, knowing where you stand is huge, it is the single best way to be able to chart a path from here to there IMO. </p>
<p>Also. Can you attend any summer festivals or short camps? It will help you learn the audition process and know how hard you need to work for college auditions. I am grateful we did this. My son figured out what he needed to do and has made improvements where he needed to. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the helpful replies! @listenmissy I am currently finishing up Lalo’s symphonie espagnole, and I’m not too sure what I will play after this. Also, because I live in Hawaii, it might not be possible for me to go and take a live audition. Does sending in an audition video online hurt my chances?</p>
<p>@kianak the Lalo would likely fill the concerto requirement at most of the schools you’re considering. There will also be requirements including one or two movements of unaccompanied Bach, an advanced level etude or study, and other requirements. I strongly recommend visiting EACH music school’s website and looking for the specific audition requirements, ASAP. You will find that they are remarkably similar. Most of the schools you’re considering require memorization of some or all pieces; thus, you’ll need to memorize all in order to fulfill the pre-screen and “live” (or final video) requirements.</p>
<p>While most schools will tell you that live auditions are preferable, many (and possibly most) accept international students by video audition… I think Hawaii would at least qualify for the “distance” exception ;). I’d recommend you contact individual schools to really get an idea of how they’d handle your particular situation. This can be done by email, but a phone call may get you info more quickly (and introduce you to the schools as a real person!) if you have can coordinate the time difference. </p>
<p>Echoing musicprnt’s advice to arrange to have an evaluation done by a teacher who has recent experience placing students in conservatories. Such a person may be a bit trickier to find in Hawaii, but you should still try. It is so worth the effort. You will come out with invaluable information (and confidence) to move forward in an informed way. Best of luck and don’t forget to enjoy yourself. Visiting music schools and auditioning can be fun! </p>
<p>@ kianak-
The audition requirements are usually a movement or movements of a romantic concerto, so Lalo would likely be covered, plus they also generally have a sonata requirement, and one or two movements of a Bach sonata or partita, and also may ask for a 20th century piece (Juilliard does that), they also may have other requirements. Every school is different, but you can almost be guaranteed they will ask for sections of the concerto (often they want contrasting movements) and the Bach solo piece, and they seem to be the big section of the audition…</p>
<p>As far as Lalo goes, I would be a bit concerned about it as an audition piece. The level of a concerto, its difficulty, plays a role and while people can and have done "easier’ concertos and gotten in, the playing is going to have to be darn near perfect I suspect (just my opinion). Most people seem to audition on the more difficult concertos, The Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Dvorak are common ones, and Lalo tends to be a bit lower on the pecking order, it usually is learned earlier in the sequence of concertos. It again would be good to talk to someone who does auditions these days, given the level of playing on the violin you will be competing against, they can tell you about using that as an audition piece (obviously, playing Lalo well is better than playing Sibelius not as well)…</p>
<p>Not auditioning in person will definitely lower your chances for acceptance. </p>
<p>@glassharmonica – I was thinking that as well. So what happens with foreign students. Are they automatically at a disadvantage? I would think Hawai’i would qualify – it’s awfully far from the mainland and getting to the various auditions (for a high school student with limited time off allowed) would seem an almost insurmountable task. How DOES something like that work?</p>
<p>Some schools allow video auditions. You need to check their individual website. </p>
<p>A video audition is generally to be avoided if there are live auditions, however. This is not to say that no one is ever admitted from a video audition–my daughter was accepted to a school via video audition when she was given audition dates for two different schools in two different parts of the country on the same day. But she would not have risked a video or regional audition for a school that she was very serious about.</p>
<p>A video audition will decrease your chances for admission because it demonstrates less seriousness to the school. It’s also more difficult to pull off. A regular audition is 10 minutes or shorter. In a video audition you perform each piece in its entirety, before a camera, not a live panel. The video audition will be reviewed by faculty in a different setting, often after all the live auditions have taken place. </p>
<p>Some schools hold regional auditions, but these are generally to be avoided because they are simply videotaped auditions by admissions staff. Again, you generally play the whole piece. And you have no ability to retake or control the recording setting. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s hard when you live in Hawaii or Alaska, or some less distant city that is not on convenient flight routes. But from the school’s perspective, this is really the student’s problem. Unlike a regular college, a conservatory has no mandate for geographic diversity (and the elite conservatories don’t lack for diversity anyway.) They simply want the best musicians. </p>
<p>However, the OP is looking at 2nd tier schools within universities, so admission from an excellent video audition might not be as unlikely there as from a more competitive school. It occurs to me that USC is probably the most competitive of those mentioned and the easiest to reach from Hawaii. Depending on how series the OP is about auditioning, she or he might wish to audition live at USC and maybe at other nearby conservatories, e.g., Colburn if she or he gets an audition there, Chapman (which has a decent program, I’m told), and maybe UCLA or Puget Sound. There maybe other suggestions for west coast schools. That could be easier than flying all of the country. </p>
<p>From what I have heard on the grapevine, I would try and shy away from video auditions, even if allowed, everything I have heard tells me it does decrease chance of admittance. Among other things, some of the schools have been bitten by people doing video auditions that were edited/changed or worse, had someone else playing with the video being the student (in one case, it isn’t second hand, it came from someone associated with the program). Some programs have actually done audition panels overseas because they were disappointed with what they were getting through video auditions.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I suspect they do take into account where someone lives, so it may not be as big a handicap if you live in Hawaii as if you lived on the mainland and gave a taped audition. </p>
<p>I liked what GH said, USC is probably the top of the programs you mentioned, and it is a school that features both top music and academics. It might be a reach, USC is close to or the equal of some of the top conservatory programs (least on strings), but may be worth auditioning at as GH suggested. If you can audition at programs on the west coast in person, you can still submit video auditions to other schools otherwise that would be difficult to reach. Obviously there is a cost in the audition tapes (I believe you have to do a straight run through with the recording, no editing or putting together individual taped sessions, though I could be wrong), which might mean you can submit a performance tape to several schools with basically the same requirements, but you might have to do custom ones where things vary. </p>
<p>Interesting comments from@glassharmonica and @musicprnt about the video and about top tier schools not caring how far you’re traveling—although some of those have regional auditions in Europe and Asia, which will be videoed but at least under the auspices of the school, and you still have to show up to a regional location. Is</p>
<p>@musicprnt – regarding the audition video, while each piece must be recorded without editing, you are generally not expected to do an entire run-through of your repertoire without a break. In fact, since most video these days is uploaded rather than mailed, individual pieces seem to be a specific requirement due to upload file sizes. </p>
<p>In a digital age, there shouldn’t be much cost in recording. A home camcorder on a tripod should it (the tripod is key, you don’t want wobbly video), and most schools on @kianak’s original list make a point of stating that a good quality home recording is fine. FWIW I’ve been at regional auditions for summer programs where they were using iPads to record. While the sound coming out of the iPad is subpar, the device is quite capable of capturing good quality sound to download and listen to on better speakers. The OP should be aware that some schools have very specific video requirements (such as seeing the performer’s entire body and instrument, etc.), and since most of these schools require pre-screen videos anyway for violin, I’d recommend reading each school’s video suggestions/requirements quite carefully.</p>
<p>My daughter has only used home-made videotapes but I know families who spend thousands on professional recordings. </p>
<p>@listenmissy, we went through this last year when my S was applying to schools as an international student. He knew he couldn’t attend without some serious merit scholarship so we figured we had to go all or nothing. In other words, the schools needed to know he was serious and certainly one way to express that commitment is to live audition. He narrowed his US choices to 4 and we made trips to all of the schools. We figured the cost of travel would be well worth it if he was able to land a nice scholarship. We were fortunate that this strategy paid off and he is now a freshman in the US. Had it not, we at least got some nice trips to places we had never been before, he had lessons with teachers at each of the places, and it was a great experience. For us, the key was identifying the right schools, the right teacher, and the possibility scholarships. Of course, as many people have noted on CC, each family’s circumstance is unique and decisions must be made accordingly.</p>