Son will be a high school senior in the fall and, have to admit, we’re more than a little apprehensive by what we expect will be a stressful 6 months of college applications, pre-screens, auditions. Excited and intimidated at the same time; doing our best to be prepared without getting obsessed…
So, we have a list of music schools that he’d like to apply to and most of them require a “professional resume” and a “repertoire list”. Very little information about what’s expected in them – not sure whether that’s because they’re not all that important or because they assume we know what it means.
For the “professional resume”, what should he include? He’s a jazz saxophonist. Off the top of my head, I’m thinking performing groups, competitions/awards, camps/workshops, plus basic information about where he lives/goes to school. Is that too much, missing something, or…?
For the “repertoire list”, specifically with jazz in mind, what should it include? Jazz standards he knows (i.e. has memorized) seems obvious, but how about non-standards, or big band charts (which he obviously doesn’t have memorized)?
I’m not expecting to spend a lot of time drafting these, just want to get the low-hanging fruit out of the way.
Thanks!
Easiest thing to do if you don’t understand something is pick up the phone, call admissions and ask. They will explain what they want. All schools we contacted were extremely friendly and more then willing to help. Often things are cleared up within a minute. Pick up the phone!!!
I agree with bigdjp. Also, in our experience, there was no standardized way to do these. Awards are another item that can go on the resume. if there are some.
I notice the “I” in your last paragraph. I am sure you are a team but even so, it should at least in theory be “he”
I think a lot of us look back on senior year fondly: those trips are among the last experiences we have with our kids while they are still home. Just a little positive spin I guess.
I certainly agree with what common and bigdjp have said here about calling the schools. Speaking from my own experience with having had 2 daughters go through the audition process we found their private teachers were also very willing and able to help with questions like this. Granted both my d’s were vocalists working with local college faculty, so it isn’t quite the same situation,but I’m thinking most teachers who have had students go through the college application and audition process have experience with this.
And do enjoy this time with your child, it is very special and fleeting!
I think you can sit down with him and list absolutely everything he has done, or won, in music. Then there will be some things to highlight and some to take out. Then come up with a format that organizes it all logically and highlights what he wants to emphasize.
As an example I just looked at my daughter’s now quite old music resume (she was applying for composition) and she had education (including high school, summer program, conservatory prep), composition and instrument study (teachers, years), performances (she didn’t mention anything at her school at all); awards (again, nothing about her high school), internships and work related to music. It could have been organized in several ways and she just did it the way she felt outlined her experience and interests in the best way
@ScreenName48105 What did you end up finding out? Did you call every school? I can’t imagine working up a custom tailored resume and repertoire list for every single audition. Ugh!
My D has a basic format resume, but the closest thing to a repertoire list she has done is a setlist type thing her band gives to venues when they are booking gigs. I know that’s not going to work!
I was just looking at Belmont’s website and they ask for “One copy of a repertory list which includes all solo literature studied by the student to be presented to the evaluators at the time of the audition.”
She has been in voice lessons since the age of 9. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to know that she learned every song from Camp Rock in 2008! (and I assure you my D doesn’t want anyone to know that) So, I am curious as to how far back to go or if maybe they only want what she currently has memorized. Her list from the last year or two would be very long, but it’s not like she still remembers most of it.
Anyway, guess we’re in the same boat as you were when posting. Just wondering what you ended up doing!
I remember going through this with my daughter. So here are a couple comments:
We had a boiler plate music resume and repertoire list. I think her music school gave her some past students’ information as a format. The list would be “tweaked” based on school requirements. In most cases, I don’t think much needed to be changed from school to school.
She only included her high school years. She kept both to one page. I’m not sure with instrumentalist if there would be more as they start so much earlier. With voice, serious lessons are not suppose to start until around 14 (my D did sing earlier as well). However she only listed high school and up as she had enough for one page with that. She may have gone deeper if it seemed relevant. You need to think of the faculty and if they really need to know she sang a Disney song like “Frozen” in middle school - my opinion was probably not.
Another mother showed me her daughter’s resume and repertoire list and it was in probably 8 point font with very little margin and included songs from elementary school. All I could think was “who would read all that!”. My D used 12 point font and did a pretty basic list of her high school work based on her teacher’s suggestions. They both got accepted at good schools.
If you really are concerned about it, call a couple of the schools and ask their opinion on what to include.
