<p>As a parent of a Chicago-an, I second both those restaurant recommendations!</p>
<p>Lamont School of Music (Denver University) - Everything seemed very organized, with lots of current students walking around to help auditioners find practice rooms. Everybody was very nice and friendly, and they even had pizza and doughnuts in the lobby for everybody. I was the only pianist auditioning that day, so my audition was about 40 minutes long. Eek! I got all the way through most of my repertoire, then they had me sight-read a few Brahms pieces. Yay no scales!</p>
<p>Oberlin - I went to a regional audition in Denver, which was held at the University Park Methodist Church. It was a long walk to the choir room to warm up, on a teeny tiny upright piano that was surprisingly responsive. The clarinetist with the time slot before me didn’t show up, so they came to fetch me from the practice room about 10 minutes early. I auditioned for about 20 minutes in the sanctuary, and Michael Mandarin had me play a little bit of every one of my prepared pieces. The piano was…Not great. I kind of wish they had auditioned the pianists in the choir room on the little upright. Funny story - Michael would interrupt my playing with a little soft “Ahem, thank you” then ask me to move on to the next piece. Then I started in on my big loud Beethoven piece. Lets suffice it to say that he had to dance around waving his hand in the air for awhile before he could get my attention. 
He had me sight-read a piece, then gave me a short aural skills test. </p>
<p>Shepherd School of Music (Rice) - These people run audition day like clockwork. This was the first audition I had been to where everything was exactly on time. Each piano auditioner had an audition room with a steinway reserved for them for an entire hour before their audition, which I thought was nice. The audition itself was very businesslike. They asked me what I had prepared to play, selected 3 of my pieces for me to play all the way to the end, told me “thank you for playing for us, we will be in touch.” then showed me the door. I guess this is how they kept everything so strictly on time, but it left me feeling like I needed a hug. That night, we attended a packed orchestra concert at the school. The school orchestra played the Elgar cello concerto with one of the cello professors, and the Shostakovitch symphony 11. It was…Incredible. It was the most impressive classical concert I have been to, bar none. </p>
<p>Next up, CSU Fort Collins, CU Boulder, and Peabody. The end is in sight!</p>
<p>ninjapianist, that was a great, detailed post of your experiences. Here’s virtual hug to compensate for lack thereof after your Rice audition.</p>
<p>Ninja, D’s auditions have been very kind so far, except for one. The auditioners were talking about the previous applicant as she was setting up. And just before she started into her 3rd required audition piece, she was told “Oh, you’re done”.
Because of previous rumors, D was not surprised by this experience, and no therapy was required. Well, not for her anyway.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in the forefront is that you may get “the warm fuzzies” from an audition, with lots of talkative, smiling, beaming adjudicators, or a stonefaced panel of pokerfaces that may not collectively issue three grunts all day (let alone a grunt per applicant).</p>
<p>Neither scenario will indicate a good or bad audition, nor an acceptance or rejection. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1059260-will-teachers-ask-me-questions-after-i-play-audition.html?highlight=auditions[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1059260-will-teachers-ask-me-questions-after-i-play-audition.html?highlight=auditions</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/850837-fall-cycle-2010-audition-experiences.html?highlight=auditions[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/850837-fall-cycle-2010-audition-experiences.html?highlight=auditions</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/654765-analyzing-post-audition-events.html?highlight=audition[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/654765-analyzing-post-audition-events.html?highlight=audition</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/661256-about-those-post-audition-verbal-acceptances.html?highlight=auditions[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/661256-about-those-post-audition-verbal-acceptances.html?highlight=auditions</a></p>
<p>Violadad, that puts a whole new spin on the acronym GPA.</p>
<p>Well ninjapianist, Renee Fleming who just sang at a gala at Rice would agree with you:</p>
<p>"“I have the honor and pleasure to travel all over the world,” Fleming said. “I get to hear musicians from everywhere.
I can tell you that at the Shepherd School, the quality is so high, the level of musicianship so great that it rivals many professional orchestras.”</p>
<p>Audition experiences:</p>
<p>So far, I have done 2 auditions, and have 1 more to go. I had another one, but it was a financial back-up school, ended up not needing them so I cancelled it. The one I still have to audition for is this weekend, but I’m not going there; I wanted to cancel the audition but my parents are still making me do it anyways. </p>
<p>So far, both auditions they let me pick which piece to start with and which one next, etc. Both were very nice, played some scales, then played the pieces (auditioned on piano btw, if my screen name doesn’t already tell you that!), and then talked for a little bit. One school, where I have already received my acceptance letter, actually basically told me that day that I’d be accepted, and then received an email, a regular letter in the mail, and a handwritten note in the mail about how impressed they were, so I kinda knew before I received the actual acceptance letter.</p>
<p>We went to both schools this weekend. Rice on Friday morning and then we flew right out and were in Oberlin for 8:30 Saturday morning. All I can say is that I’m very thankful the weather cooperated!</p>
<p>We stayed at the Hilton Houston Medical Center. We used Super Shuttle to get to/from the airport. It is a 10 minute walk from hotel to campus but they also offer a free shuttle. The shuttle will also take you Rice Village. I can’t say enough about how great this hotel is. We booked it through the Rice website and got a good deal ($99). The rooms are 2 room suites with 2 bathrooms. The service was great, they even found a place for my D to practice at 7 am on the day of the audition.</p>
<p>The audition procedures were really well organized and very prompt. D had no trouble finding a warm-up room or knowing where to go. We did not do the tour as we had visited/toured in the fall. D was asked to choose her first piece, then they chose the rest, including 3 excerpts. D said it was very “professional” with no feedback, just a “Thank you” It was really nice to know D’s audition time ahead so that we could book our flights accordingly.</p>
<p>Oberlin was not nearly as organized. We found the building a bit large and confusing so it was hard to find the practice rooms and then to find an open one. There weren’t any students to show auditioners around. The info session was relaxed and helped to calm those early nerves. Our biggest complaint is that they obviously had the audition schedule ready at least days earlier, but didn’t tell the students until they arrived on campus. We were done for the day by noon and could have easily gotten a flight home had we known. </p>
<p>D said the audition was fairly relaxed. She was asked what she wanted to play first and then they chose the rest. It was the first audition with sightreading. D was asked about her second major (as part of their double-degree program) and once she answered “French”, then the rest of the audition was held entirely in French. D thought it was great; I would’ve thought it made it too stressful! But then again, I don’t speak French!</p>
<p>Switching into French given the slightest provocation sounds very much like something Michel Debost would do, although Kathleen Chastain might do so as well. I hear that he is retiring after more than twenty years there, though. Did they give you any inkling of who may be teaching flute there in years to come? Since they are married, if she stays then I imagine he will do the occasional masterclass or hold court at the weekly studio classes now and again.</p>
<p>D had her flute performance audition at NYU this past weekend. There were no flute teachers in the room, altho the head of the woodwinds department, her assistant and someone else were. </p>
<p>The day was well organized, and they kept to schedule. D was able to find practice rooms (albeit overly heated). It was 10 minutes on the dot. There was no sight-reading and D felt it was more of an interview than an audition (which would make sense as, for all her other auditions she had already had a meeting/class with the teacher prior to the audition). They were delighted to hear her SAT and AP scores…</p>
<p>Colorado University - Boulder
These people were VERY organized, and were even running ahead of schedule. One of the piano professors was on Skype, which was kind of weird. I can honestly say that I have never performed to a computer before. The faculty were very warm and welcoming, and asked me a few questions afterwards. No sight reading, no scales! YAY!</p>
<p>Peabody -…was insane. It wasn’t because they were disorganized or anything, it was just because hundreds of people were flooding in every day to audition. The building is the most confusing thing I have ever had to navigate through, with half levels, buildings that only connect on certain levels, funny crooked corridors, etc. It felt like the Harry Potter castle! (“wait a minute…wasn’t there a stairway right there just a second ago?”) They had the piano auditions in a recital hall, with awesome acoustics on an AMAZING piano. They asked to hear 4 of my pieces, and stopped me halfway through all of them. Once again, no sight reading and no scales! YAY!</p>
<p>ninjapianist, our Peabody experience last year was also insane (compounded by our nightmarish stay at the Peabody Inn.) We had a lot of trouble finding various rooms for theory and ear-training tests, and it seemed that even the Peabody students we asked directions were confused. Other auditioners were wandering the corridors with their parents, in varying states of distress. To compound the misery, there had been a bad snowstorm; some entrances were blocked because of the amount of snow on the roof-- it was a mess</p>
<p>We went back in early April so my daughter could play for the teacher (who turned out to be terrific). The place was utterly transformed. It was calm; the neighborhood was lovely. We were able to find directions and the floor plan seemed less daunting. There was a positive vibe among the students (instead of the 5-alarm anxiety produced by dozens of lost, late prospective students looking for rooms.) It was amazing how different the school seemed under different circumstances.</p>
<p>Final 3 auditions:
SUNY Fredonia, regional: Very quick. Everything was done in the audition room with the string rep: audition, sight singing, and sight reading. The only downside was that the warm up room was not heated and the practice rooms were too small to fit a string bass. We ended up going to a heated hallway to warm up.</p>
<p>Ithaca: All 260 hopefuls were told to arrive about 8:30 am. Traffic jam at the school of music dropoff followed by hoards of students trying to sign in at the same time. The professors from each studio worked the room introducing themselves to the students during the meet and greet. This was really very nice and welcoming. The bass teacher was great telling each auditionee to not worry and that no one was going to get any better between now and their audition and that they know that the kids are not professionals otherwise they wouldn’t need to attend college. They had a morning program with the faculty brass, awesome: followed by the women’s choir, great,too: finished by the jazz ensemble, another outstanding group! Then, there were breakout sessions with each studio. Here reality set in as the very nice teacher stated that he had 3 openings and 36 basses auditioning… There was a sight singing exam followed by a later audition with Bass prof in his studio. The other bass students that we know, including my son, all felt positive after the auditions since the teacher was kind enough to find something good to say to each kid. We left feeling that Ithaca and their faculty really care about their students and wanted each player to perform their best that day.</p>
<p>SUNY Potsdam (Crane): Another day of 200 plus students and their parents trying to register at the same time about 8:30 am. The auditons were staggered throughout the day as were the sight singing exams. They also ran multiple breakout sessions for music ed, industry, jazz, voice, piano and performance so you were able to attend most of the areas of interest. They too had numerous performance scheduled throughout the day to drop in on. Son had the opportunity to jam with the Jazz prof since no one else showed up during that info session (a blast according to son). The school layout was a little confusing but they had many current students around to help guide you and find practice rooms. Son left feeling great and liked the laid back atmosphere</p>
<p>When I auditioned at Duquesne in Pittsburgh, I found that a lot of the information online about what I had to do at my audition was wrong which was really frustrating. Because of that I walked out of the audition feeling like it had gone horribly, but I got in so I guess it wasn’t that bad.</p>
<p>I did a regional (in NYC) audition for the Frost School of Music (U Miami). This was the last step of a very long application process (for Music Engineering and Jazz Bass). That audition was very strait forward. The only thing I had to do that I didn’t know about was a music theory test which was just for placement. The woman seemed very nice, and the audition was video-taped so it could be looked at by faculty down in Miami. </p>
<p>My main advice would be to Email any music people at the school to make sure of the audition requirements. You can’t always trust what’s online, and sometimes it’s very confusing. Nothing is worse than getting to your audition and realizing you have the wrong stuff prepared.</p>
<p>Peabody:
My S had a composition interview at Peabody on Wednesday.
I agree it is a little confusing finding your way around, but we found people were very helpful in redirecting us to where we needed to go. The information session for parents by David Lane was very informative. The Dean also spoke and she was wonderful. The interview was only 5 minutes long and my son and I sat outside the interview room for half an hour and all the interviews before his were almost exactly 5 minutes. The interview was with four of the composition faculty. My son said all the professors were really nice. Other interviews we have been to were more like 15-20 minutes. They did not mention my son’s compostion portfolio at all! That did not seem like a very good sign to me! They mainly talked about the composers my son liked and what he was working on with his composition teacher. Surpisingly they asked him for his SAT scores, and I thought that was odd. My son said the theory and ear training test were easy. In the evening there was a further general meeting with all the composition faculty to answer questions. We were told that there was 116 applicants for composition. One third did not pass the pre-sceening. The number of openings would seem to be 6 -8. They will offer more acceptances than that under the assumption that some applicants will choose other schools. The odds of son being accepted are very small. We both thought Peabody was amazing. The opportunities for compostion students to get their works performed are very good. If son does not get accepted he already has Peabody on his short list for graduate studies. We found the Mount Vernon neighborhood very charming. We stayed at the Peabody Court Hotel. The hotel is very close to Peabody, less than five minutes walk. It is an older hotel, I guess you could describe it as quaint. But it suited our needs well. We went for dinner at the “Brewer’s Art” ( a short taxi ride away) Great food, we had a very nice dinner there. I have read other posts about the “vibe” at Peabody and we definetly felt that. My impression was that it is a nurturing environment for musicians and while it would not be for everyone it would be a good fit for someone like my son.</p>
<p>MSilvers,</p>
<p>I have taken the liberty of adding your Duquesne acceptance to the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1045522-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2011-a-14.html#post12060243[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1045522-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2011-a-14.html#post12060243</a> and have assumed that you were accepted for a BM in Jazz Studies on electric bass. Please let me know if any of that is incorrect and I will change the listing.</p>
<p>BassDad, I’d actually be earning a BM in Music Technology if I go there.</p>
<p>So noted. I will update the records.</p>
<p>At one of my auditions, the professor on my instrument asked for two excerpts that I hadn’t prepared and weren’t on their list, from memory. (Two of the more challenging excerpts for my instrument, mind you). I struggled through, not having played them in several months, but I think I did well all things considered. I suppose the faculty was trying to test both my knowledge of the repertoire and my response to pressure. This makes sense for grad school or a professional audition, but for undergrad? Has anyone else experienced this?</p>