<p>My D is having her first of 5 auditions this weekend. I would appreciate any help/advice on the process. We are seeing CMU, Blair, Syracuse, Bucknell & Richmond. Thank you!</p>
<p>Is she at Syracuse this weekend?</p>
<p>When is she doing Blair (we are there next weekend)?</p>
<p>Each school is so different. Oh, and what instrument?</p>
<p>We got the Blair email the other day with a full schedule. They only have Music Theory test and your audition.</p>
<p>She is doing Syracuse in NYC, we will be at CMU this weekend, we are at Blair next weekend. She is a viola player, what are you auditioning for? I found the Vanderbilt schedule to be the most welcoming with the dinner and reception, but haven’t heard that from anyone else.</p>
<p>Daughter is a double bassist. </p>
<p>We live in Syracuse, but daughter has decided not to apply at SU as the bass professor’s teaching style is very “old school” while my daughter’s training has been a little less Gary Carr and a little more Rabbath. Otherwise she loved the school and the music building looks like Hogwarts! The people in the VPA office are just the BEST. It may be a better fit for daughter for grad work. Off site auditions are very different than on site ones, so I wouldn’t expect anything wonderful in NYC. However, SU does send actual professors to those off site auditions and that is nice.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is the only one that had a two day schedule for us. The dinner is a nice idea, but a lot of the rest of the schedule looks a lot like the visit we did over the summer. Also with a bass, we can’t fly so we have to drive the 14 hours and we will make it in just in time for dinner. The next morning she will do her theory test and her audition is around noon. </p>
<p>We didn’t do CMU, but we did Duquesne and she has already been accepted there. Loved their bass professors and one of them is a perfect match for her if she ends up there.</p>
<p>Where else is your daughter auditioning? We completed Hartt already too, and she has auditions still at Shenandoah (this weekend), Vanderbilt, Eastman, Ithaca and University of Louisville left. We finish in February!</p>
<p>She is only doing Bucknell and Richmond after these two. We are looking for a good LAC with a strong music program and I was very impressed with Bucknell. For a school that doesn’t have an official music school and just a department they have great facilities. I have heard that they are putting a lot of money in to the arts and it shows. We met with the viola professor and loved him. We did the Vanderbilt tour last spring as well, but some warm weather will be nice.</p>
<p>Oh gee, you said that in your first post (sorry!). That’s what I get for replying from the tablet instead of a computer!</p>
<p>Best of luck to your daughter and maybe we will run into each other at Vanderbilt!</p>
<p>Last year my son’s teacher recommended the book “The inner game of Music” (apparently written by a double bass player. I don’t know if it helped or not. </p>
<p>The key to all auditions is to be prepared, well rested and relaxed. Tell your daughter that if she makes mistakes that is OK. It happens. My son made his share of mistakes during his auditions. Tell her to have fun. </p>
<p>Is she bringing her own instrument to all of these auditions. My son went to Eastman with a friend and borrowed a Bass. He brought his own bow. It was a bit more challenging because of that.</p>
<p>Hi StacJip, </p>
<p>If you are talking about the bass girl, then she is mine and yes, she is bringing her own basses to all the auditions. She really does not feel comfortable playing an audition on someone else’s bass without time to get used to it and we have spent too much time and money on her playing to leave an audition to chance. She is a pretty confident auditioner (thankfully) and I’d like her to be able to keep it that way.</p>
<p>She had a horrible experience when she competed at Disney Jazz a few years ago where the bassists were told to not bring their own instruments. She was handed a BRAND NEW bass that had never been played, never been setup properly and had action so high as to make it unplayable. She had to go through all the basses they provided to find one that she could even play at all - and all this in the hour before the competition performance began. I had never seen my daughter cry over her playing until that day and so now, we bring the basses everywhere. It makes more driving for us, but it makes less stress for her in the long run. </p>
<p>Thank you for the book recommendation! We’ve seen Barry Green’s name on the ISB stuff, but didn’t know about the book. She really found Victor Wooten’s book to be helpful, so I will get her this one as well. She loves the “spiritual” side of playing and teaching.</p>