Audition Advice for music students and their parents

College Majors Music Major
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Starting a new thread to make all the great advice shared on the “journey” boards easily searchable for future applicants. Please chime in with your best advice. So far:

Be aware that auditions take many forms. Most will specify the material they want you to learn, or give you a range, on the music school websites. Be sure to reach out and ask directly if you want to make changes – some schools are fine with it but others are not. Some will require prescreen videos before you even get in the door.

A few examples of the audition process at specific schools, ranging from ten-minute solo performances to all-day extravaganzas:

*Eastman School of Music asks you to allow nine hours. This includes: Introduction and faculty concert. Theory test. Ear training test. Warmup time. One-on-one audition which may or may not incorporate the pieces the student has been asked to learn. (Especially true if you have done a prescreen video. Be prepared to duplicate it but don’t be surprised to find you don’t get through much of it.) One-on-one interview with prospective advisor or admissions representative. Group lesson (classical) or group jam (jazz) with other applicants.

*BU and NYU/Music Ed both take 10-20 minutes. Show up, warm up, do the pieces they’ve asked for, maybe answer a couple of questions (why do you want to come here? Where else are you applying?). Set up campus tours separately if you are interested.

*Ithaca College, among others, takes about half a day. Intro/sign in, welcome by deans and admissions people, 1-2 student/faculty performances, then short theory/ear training test and audition period. Coffee for the parents in a lounge but you will be done by lunchtime. Jazz applicants should expect to do both a jazz audition (3 tunes) with a student combo and a modified classical audition (1-2 pieces) unaccompanied.

*Berklee is organized and gets you in and out. Sign in at the specified time and wait in an auditorium with other applicants. You will be called out and escorted first to a warm-up room, then to an individual audition in front of a panel of 2-3 faculty, and finally to a short interview with an admissions counselor. You will play scales and warm-up materials plus one piece that “you feel represents you well.” The whole process takes about an hour, although allow extra time in case they run late.

A few other tips:
*Most schools listen to all audition results and make one set of offers. So it doesn’t matter if you audition in Week 1 or Week 3. Choose the dates that are most convenient for you, when you are likely to be well-rested and at your best.

*The exception to this rule is Early Action (non-binding) or Early Decision (binding) auditions/applications. As the name implies, these auditions take place early (usually in December) and you will be notified in late December or January if you got in. If possible, try to do one early action audition, preferably at a school that isn’t top of your list, to get through the nerves and get familiar with the process (as well as, hopefully, get one admission in your back pocket).

*Experienced parents also recommend applying to at least one school that does not require an audition. The degree in this case will be a BA in Music, not a BM (almost all BM degrees require an audition). The audition process is chancy no matter how talented or well-prepared you are, and it helps to know you have 1-2 choices that are not based on the number of slots available in a given studio in a given season.

*The audition process can be expensive and logistically difficult, so choose your priorities wisely. How many flights or long drives do you want to do in the middle of winter? How many hotel stays can you afford? Start stockpiling miles and hotel points early if you can. Also, book hotels immediately after learning your audition dates, preferably at large chains where you can change or cancel with little notice if necessary.

*Start thinking about when you want to go. Most schools offer several weekends of auditions in late January, February and/or March, so space them out if you can (or combine if they are within a couple of hours of each other and don’t overlap). This isn’t true across the board, but some parents have found that students hit their strongest auditions in the middle of the arc–after they are past early nerves but before audition fatigue sets in. If possible, schedule top choices in the middle of the pack.

*Some schools (Oberlin comes to mind) offer discounted or free transportation and hotels to applicants with need. Check with music departments if this is an issue for you. Alternately, most schools accept video auditions if finances or logistics make travel impossible. Parents suggest making the effort to actually go to the top schools on a student’s list and deciding the rest on a case-by-case basis. Keep in mind that in-person auditions do more than impress the school – they give students their first true impression of what life at that school will be like.

*When traveling, allow extra time whenever you can. Auditions are almost never canceled due to weather, so you may be delayed, have canceled flights, or run into a storm that causes a 3-hour drive to double or triple. For morning auditions where the drive is over a couple of hours, arrive the night before. It’s not worth blowing an audition to avoid a hotel room for one night.

*Keep your student rested. Pour on the sanitizers to keep germs at bay. Vocalists can take advantage of nifty in-room humidifiers and steamers. Instrumentalists may want to bring a mute for practicing in hotel rooms, and/or ask the hotel if they have a place where they can practice (unused conference rooms, ball rooms and restaurants as well as fitness centers have all served as practice rooms).

*Reach out to individual faculty and studio heads. Some will set up sample lessons during the audition weekend, others will not. It never hurts to get your name out there.

*After the auditions, students should follow up with thank-you emails to any faculty who put special effort into their audition or who they especially liked. It’s not necessary to write to everyone on your panel, but if the head of the jazz program spent 45 minutes hearing about your hopes and dreams it couldn’t hurt.

*Expect your students’ (and your) opinion of the schools to change during the audition process. Remember that you, your student, and the school are all looking for the right fit.

*Keep in mind that auditions are a marathon, not a sprint. You may start with an early action audition on Dec 1 but do the final audition March 10. (Most are in late Jan. to early March, and more and more people seem to be finishing up by mid- to late-Feb.). This is especially hard on kids who watch their non-music friends declare preferences in December through February while they are still waiting for offers.

*After auditions come another period of waiting. Some schools notifying people within a couple of weeks of their final audition date (late Feb-mid-March) while others wait until the end of March. Technically, all notifications are due in by April 1. The student then has a month to weigh offers and attend accepted student days, if desired, before committing to their school by May 1.

I hope this is helpful, and that others will chime in with advice that I have missed. Good luck and happy auditions to all!

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Fantastic compilation! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

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start saving airline miles early… we used points for travel and it helped A LOT

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The following is a list of legendary audition recommendations made by Jim Wilt, Associate Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Trumpet professor at The Colburn School. The comments were originally made on another website discussion group regarding a 2006 2nd Trumpet audition for the LA Phil (won by Christopher Still who still sits in the chair) and a couple comments are trumpet specific, but all of the underlying wisdom and most of the general comments are equally valid for college classical music auditions for any instrument or even vocalists :

  1. Sound is king. Do not try to artificially darken your sound by lipping everything down - you will end up with a dead, flat sound, and you will also end up back at the airport a day early. Many, many candidates went down for this reason. Conversely, do not squeeze up on the notes, either. Tight sounds do not win jobs. Play right down the middle of the horn, where the sound spins. On every note. Including the fast ones.

  2. Do not neglect the metronome when you are preparing - I don’t care what level player you are - do it. You will be amazed at the tendencies you will notice and (hopefully) correct. This goes for counting your rests, too.

  3. Don’t assume that because the LA Phil (or any other band) is a “big-time” orchestra, we want to hear everything really loud. There were more 300 lbs ballerinas than I care to think about . When an excerpt calls for you to really rip it, then yes, by all means show us what you have (with a good sound), but you had better show us the flip side, too. Remember, there may be more than a few viola or bassoon players on that committee, and you can bet they’re thinking "do I really want to sit in front of that?

  4. Along those lines, if it is marked p or pp we want to hear it softly. Not so softly that you ghost every other note, or to the point it sounds weak or scared, however. Just don’t come out and play your Academic Festival at a comfortable mf.

  5. Get intimate with your tuner. Yes, it is a tool based on an equal-tempered scale, but it will show you if you are really flat or really sharp.

  6. Play with good rhythm. Should be a no-brainer. You’d be surprised at the variations we heard on the second mvt of Dvorak 8, or Siegfried’s Funeral March, etc. And the opening fanfare before the Ballerina Dance? Uh, the beat is in eight notes there, so that low C gets four of 'em.

  7. Unless you are willing to get a recording and listen to the whole piece, don’t waste your money on airfare. It was brutally obvious that some had just listened to the excerpt, or that they had learned it from the guy in the next practice room. Do yourself a favor and go to iTunes and spend a buck on each piece. Do this before you try to learn the piece. If a list says “sight-reading may be required”, a good place to look is the dark corners of the pieces that are already on the list…

8.) Pick reasonable tempos - some guys cratered because they tried to play some things too fast. Don’t volunteer to show us “what you can’t do”. If we want to know, we’ll ask…

  1. Be honest in your preparation. If there are problems, you can bet we’ll hear 'em if you can. Fix them instead of pretending they’re not there, or hoping we won’t “ask for that one”.

  2. Ask yourself “why is this piece on the list?” Figure out what qualities we are looking for in a particular excerpt, and make sure you demonstrate them. In other words, we want to hear versatility. It should sound like the same person, but a person with a HUGE tool bag. Lyrical pieces like Pines or the Posthorn solo have tremendous potential to show how beautifully you can turn a phrase - don’t leave that opportunity on the table.

  3. Don’t be afraid to shine. The committee is looking for someone to say “I’m the one”. That means, in addition to doing everything I just said, you need to make all of that sound like it is second nature to you, freeing up your conscious energy to concentrate on actually making music. I want to hear patience. I want to hear someone who puts the proper space between the 16th notes on Siegfried to give the impression of weight - same goes for the aforementioned Dvorak 8th. I want to hear someone who plays with purpose, direction and intensity. Play these excerpts like they are actual pieces of music, which they are. You need to know the context in order to do that.

Chris played great. He did not play the most accurate audition (darn close), but he consistently played with refinement, a great, centered sound, and attention to musical nuance and detail. He did not panic when a note went by the wayside. He showed poise and maturity, which is very reassuring to someone who might be sitting next to him for the next 20 years. He showed a huge range of musical expression, and was not afraid to cut loose when appropriate. His technique was clean and reliable - it did not fail him under pressure. You could tell he took the rotary and cornet seriously, too.

I hope this doesn’t come off sounding too harsh, but it was sometimes frustrating to hear players that you knew were capable, but just did not prepare properly or take it seriously enough. I know in some cases, audition jitters just get the best of us (believe me when I say I’ve played some really bad ones), but you don’t want to make unnecessary mistakes.

Now get practicing for the next one!

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Another great recommendation from Jim Wilt . . .

"Run up and down some stairs (or jog in place) and then sit down to play. See how quickly you can get your body under control with your heart pounding.

The week of the audition, you should be giving yourself one shot at each excerpt per practice session. Get used to playing through any mistakes or takes that “don’t feel good”. You have to go in with the mentality that you must be mentally focussed before you play the first note, not that you can “stick your toe in the water” to test things out before committing."

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I have to say my S isn’t yet at the level for most of these, though they are brilliant!

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"“Run up and down some stairs (or jog in place) and then sit down to play. See how quickly you can get your body under control with your heart pounding.” – this is good, concrete, practical advice, a trick my daughter learned from her first teacher (violin, age 10) before her first competition.

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^I love that advice! My heart would pound so hard before I played piano publicly! It was one reason I decided not to major in piano performance.

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My S’ teacher also gave him the run up and down stairs advice! His trick is to eat a banana about 1-2 hours before the audition to calm nerves.

Great compilation @akapiratequeen and @WestOfPCH.

Another pretty basic piece of audition advice: Be sure to read the entire list of pieces and excerpts the school is looking for. All schools do NOT ask for the exact same pieces. A kid yesterday didn’t know they needed a certain classical excerpt and S was nice enough to give him the music so other kid could quickly prep during practice time. No one needs that stress.

Another thought: If you get in early and have an extra day - stop by the school and see if you can use a practice room and talk to other students (if you haven’t toured before). Also, see if the local symphony/orchestra is playing as many professors double up as orchestra members - gives you something to talk about in your interview.

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Great thread!

I really like the comment on SOUND in @WestOfPCH. I don’t talk with my D about these types of “things” as much anymore but I do remember in UG the emphasis on SOUND. In the end if you don’t SOUND good, it’s all over. And that ties into HONESTY and being BRAVE enough to be you…not who you think they want to hear…by singing/playing too loud, too fast, too distorted. It’s absolutely essential to show up … as you are … and have the confidence that you’re good enough.

And yes, I have heard many comments about students being unprepared! I wouldn’t be surprise if a quarter or more kids get knocked out due to disorganization/poor preparation at auditions. You don’t have to perform perfectly but you can be prepared with good communication skills!

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My son was just waitlisted for Miami. At least it’s over. We are not interest in waitlist bc I am sure he can’t get a scholarship off waitlist. He is accepted to Belmont, Calarts, and 3 others. But neither cal arts or Belmont have merit scholarships. We are holding out now for Berklee which does not come out to end of month. He is a singer songwriter and I think he would have had hard time Academicilly at Miami. Not that focused in monmisic classes.

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I’m sorry @jacole for the waitlist, but congratulations to your S on the other admits. It does sound like your S does have some other options, with Berklee still to look forward to at the end of the month. You should share this news in the other thread- Tours, Auditions and Journey.

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One of D’s teachers at the college level did the running up and down the stairs, occasionally adding another stressor like detuning the instrument or moving the sheet music from where it was left.

One of my favorite moments was during the intro talk at Oberlin where one of the profs said “we know immediately if you haven’t been practicing your scales regularly.” The collective gasp made the entire journey worth it!

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D is a soprano going for classical VP.

Try and visit each school of interest and set up a private lesson with a professor. This was invaluable for my D in getting contacts for the future. We fully believe those lessons got her live auditions at a couple of schools. Ask specifically about performance opportunities - several schools have lots for undergrads, several really only have them for graduate students - we made a note of that and when D is applying again 4 years she can focus on those. This list didn’t eliminate schools from her apply list but I do believe it will make a difference in her overall decision once we hear form all the school.

We made a spreadsheet of all the requirements for prescreen videos - every school required different songs, one school required filming the entire body not just an zoom on upper body (we used full body video submission for all schools). My daughter learned 4 or 5 pieces starting end of her junior year and we did the videos in a church in the fall.

D applied to 8 schools - 3 rejected prescreen, 4 live audtions, 1 video audition. There was 1 other school D intended to apply to but the application process to apply to the music school was messed up. She email 2x and called admissions 2x. All that contact and no one was ever able to help her apply as a VP in the music school (there was only a button for music education even though they offer VP). She got frustrated and decided not to apply to that school. She decided if they couldn’t get their act together on the admission part then she didn’t want to risk not getting a good VP degree.

Try to plan auditions that time well for travel. Again spreadsheet very valuable for this. Many of the schools she applied to allowed you to put 1st choice. We drove to 2 auditions in snowy weather so plan to get there early if you can. For 2 auditions we flew in at least 1 day before just in case weather was bad.

Although she was advised early on to wear a knee length dress because she is a soprano she has 2 very nice pant suits that she wore for all. No problem for the schools she auditioned for but keep this in mind. The pantsuits won’t wrinkle at all due to material so they travel well.

Practice with you kid how to answer interview questions. Are you applying to other schools? Yes - don’t elaborate unless prompted. Is our school a top choice? Yes. What do you want to do with your degree? Perform on stage. Why are you applying to our school? One school D applied to because it showed up in a list of top schools even though she had never heard of them (no one in our family has done music before). We found D is good in interviews but just needed a little practice of typical questions you would ask in an interview.

D did 4 live auditions total - every school was about 10 minutes. One school she had a list of 3 songs and happened to list a 4th that she had with her. Of course they asked her to do the 4th - which was fine since she does it well.
Almost no questions at most. A couple of schools asked if she was auditioning elsewhere (which she said yes) and one asked if their school was in her top choices (again she said yes). Auditions started in Jan and we have only heard back from 1 school so far. Other 3 are still in the running just have not heard if she is in the music school but we know she is in the university.

One school we did a video audition and she did not get in. Most likely a live audition would have been better but could not get it in schedule and it was low on her list so why fly there if she wasn’t really interested. She did get into the honor program at that university but has declined their offer since music school is where she is going.

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I think the best bit of advice I can give and I think it has already be given is to identify the schools you are really interested in. Use whatever resources you have to identify them, private lesson teachers etc. that can help you find a good fit for YOU. Then do whatever you can to visit the schools early and get a private lesson with the professor. Remember that relationship will be the most important one you will have in the 4 years at the school. IMHO it is WAY more important than the ‘prestige’ of the school itself.

These worlds are small and if you are looking to go to graduate school you can bet that these people know which professors are cranking out good quality students regardless of the name of the institution they teach at. Don’t get dazzled by the name of the institution, get dazzled by the professor and the FIT and comfort level your student has with that professor.

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Having gone through the process and gotten a variety of offers, I would add:

Don’t be put off by schools with high sticker prices. With one exception, the merit awards my S received from private schools made them as/more affordable than our state schools. Apply to a range, although you may have to be prepared to walk away if aid doesn’t come through.

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A lot of helpful information has already been posted. One thing I’d add is to put very little stock in the feedback provided by the faculty at the audition. The feedback that my son got at his audition for his ED school was excellent and he was told “we’ll be seeing you soon.” He didn’t get in. At one of his February auditions two faculty members made a point to tell him that they would be seeing him next year. The guitar teacher that he took a private lesson with messaged the same thing. He got waitlisted at that school. On the other hand, the two schools that he got into thus far both involved auditions that he came out of havng no idea how they went.

My son’s tongue in cheek takeaway is that when they indicate to you that they want you in the program it is code language for “you are going to be rejected.” While that is not meant to be taken seriously, it does illustrate that you can’t judge your ultimate result at a school by the feedback you receive on the spot.

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I agree that you can’t assume just because a professor indicates interest that it will translate to an acceptance. However, if the faculty provides positive feedback, read it as “This student meets musical standards of others in my studio and would be a good addition to our program!” Lack of an offer could be due to things like insufficient studio space (eg:Only one studio spot and another slightly better guitarist auditioned a day later), academic issues with grades/tests scores, and instrumental diversity (The department can’t have 35 guitarists and no bassists). Take it as it was intended - a vote of confidence in his ability! But it would be wise for individual faculty members not to make promises that can’t be fulfilled.

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Oh this is a great thread! I just pop into this board occasionally the past few months. I think I’ve learned some stuff this winter. My kid auditioned for VP programs but I would say his application/background was a bit nontraditional in that regard.

Schedule your pre-screens early. If you have the resources, have them professionally recorded or in a space with good sound equipment you can use. If you can book to do your pre-screens TWICE that is even better. Like maybe do a recording, wait a week or 2, and do it again. That will give you 2 different takes to work with and can help account for sound issues, glitches, allow you to pick the better take. I was not happy with my kid’s prescreens.

Just prior to your winter auditions, record again if you can. This is great back up if you have travel issues or illness (who thought February was a good month for this!?) and need to switch to a video audition. I know so many people with travel issues this winter! We actually were delayed several times with travel. It’s also a good dry run for being ready. These recordings were scheduled earlier and done in a professional recording space. Night and day difference from our fall prescreens. #regrets !!!

On travelling, if at all possible try to plan to get to your destination with an extra day in front of the audition. If you can be flexible for road trips that is nice too.

Don’t waste time auditioning for schools where your student doesn’t have a positive vibe or has a negative experience with faculty. Even if there is a bunch more faculty available and you hear glowing reviews.

My kid did get extremely positive feedback at a school where he is now wait listed (he got a personal follow up too) so I agree definitely take any positive words with a grain of salt for final result. For many programs they only are taking very small numbers, teachers need to compromise with each other, they are trying to balance financial aid/scholarships, many music programs do want to admit holistically, etc. My kid’s music teacher said to take a wait list as a compliment meaning they wish they had more studio space. I like that.

I do think the ability to have a visit, a lesson or some sort of connection with faculty seemed to make a difference on where my kid was invited to audition. I’m sure if you have the resources to make some summer intensives would help too and I’ve seen that in kids locally. This really is not a cheap process. Sigh. Hindsight, I could have focused our search more. Not everywhere he initially applied was going to be a good fit.

This winter/spring my kid is a dual enrollment student with all online classes. That has been great.

My kid high stat, academic kid applied for dual degree everywhere he could. He has gotten MUCH more love from schools of music from within academic Universities. When we were visiting schools, a college might say we love dual degree students. And you’d get to the conservatory side and someone on music faculty might strongly discourage for freshman. And you might get a different impression from someone else on faculty. So ask hard questions about how faculty feels about it if you really want dual degree as an option even if they proudly advertise dual degree. He has gotten into a couple highly competitive schools on the academic side and I definitely think the music/performing arts played into those acceptances. Wished we had looked closer at pure BA options.

Auditioning for VP is odd. My kid got so much love, literal applause, and instant follow up at some programs and felt like teachers barely looked up at others. He got in at a school where he got no love at all. I know that school is very holistic in their admissions and I suspect he fits some sort of niche for them. I think it’s fairly subjective for young singers and I am sure most applicants are talented and qualified. I felt like it was more about making some sort of connection with faculty then anything. The school I like most for the kid right now is the one where I just feel like the teacher fit seems absolutely perfect. That school was not a school he was seriously thinking hard about at the beginning of the process. So keep an open mind to all the options as you go through the process. Love the school that loves you! He’s got 3 good affordable offers. He started with 10. I have no regrets about casting wide.

We’ll be focused on some final visits in April. Happy spring music people! We’re going to make it!

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One of my D’s best friends passed all but one of 12 prescreens and was disappointed with some of her rejections–until she realized that they’d all come from conservatories attached to universities, and by her own admission, her grades are not very good. She was accepted as a VP into all her standalone conservatories. So it is a good reminder that the music school can only recommend you to the university; the university still has to accept you based on your grades, scores and general application.

The other thing I would add that I wish I’d known: if you’re applying to non-conservatory music programs (LACs or unis) where you’re sending in an arts supplement through the common app: you don’t have to wait until you submit your application to look at the arts supplement requirements! We did not do this and were very surprised to see that we needed to do more than just send the recordings. They all had short answer questions and a few even had longer essay requirements about music! If my D had waited to submit until right before the deadline, it would have been a mad scramble.