<p>Does anyone have familiarity with auditions at Rice? My pianist d. will be there next Friday.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the details of a violin audition at Curtis? I know there are multiple rounds, but what are the specifics, i.e., how long do they last?</p>
<p>They didn't have a jazz vocal program with Steinhardt, only classical. As she is trained in classical she knew that was one of the best schools so went out on a limb. I looked over the paperwork and it says we can submit a dvd or video audition if "unable to travel to NY" but she understands that in-person auditions are best. So...March 2. We're coming from FL so will have to find clothes!</p>
<p>qpwoeiruty,</p>
<p>Procedures may have changed for violin Curtis auditions - my experience is older than last year. But you already knew to be prepared for anything!</p>
<p>1st round - Not terribly different from other conservatories - some of your concerto (not Mozart yet) and Bach.</p>
<p>This is the rough part - they used to have everyone wait around till the end of the day and announce who made the finals. It was rather public and could be upsetting. Don't know if things are still done that way.</p>
<p>Final round - Mozart Concerto and more of your Romantic (or other non-Mozart) concerto - parts of each from multiple movements, some Paganini. </p>
<p>If you are already 18 (or older) and are not admitted, I can tell you that you are in very good company - many incredible young players now performing as 20-something violinists in major symphonies were not admitted to Curtis. </p>
<p>Being under 18 or an 18 year-old who has already won a major international competition has a definite advantage. (unscientific survey!) </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My D had her audition at Eastman yesterday. I could swear that I read here or somewhere that this school was cold and intimidating. Nothing could be further from our experience. I was very impressed with the pains the school took to assure the kids there that, by being invited to audition at that school, they had passed their first hurdle and were, indeed a select group. Indeed the entire time seem to be spent building the kids up so they would be more relaxed when their time to perform came. It appeared that the school was truly interested in seeing what they could actually bring to the table, not necessarily who would be the least nervous. </p>
<p>The dean of the vocal program spoke to the voice majors and their parents. He reminded us all that the kids were auditioning on the stage where Renee Fleming performed her master's recital and that our day had opened in the Eastman Theater where Horowitz and Rocmonanoff had performed and Stravinsky had conducted. It actually brought chills to my spine and made my D feel all the more special.</p>
<p>The interviews were done in small groups. My D was with two others and the questions were fairly standard (Why Eastman? What musical things have you done outside of school?). Again being there with others was less intimidating for her and allowed her to relax more.</p>
<p>We won't really know how she did for another two months or so, but we were very pleased with how the day went for all of us.</p>
<p>BTW, I met Operadad there. Nice guy.</p>
<p>I, too, found our experience at Eastman last year to be very encouraging. However, I can see that where the comments made our kids feel special, it could be intimidating for some kids to hear those things. I found that everyone went out of their way to ask if we had questions, needed anything, how our S was doing (since H&I were waiting by ourselves most of the day). He found the faculty he met with to be very friendly and interested in seeing him do his best.</p>
<p>IU Flute......notfromme</p>
<p>My D had her audition at IU Jan. 17. Like your D, mine had her first audition in Dec. and yes was very personable. So it was perfect way to ease into the audition process. She enjoyed IU's audition. They were more stick to the 10minute schedule since they did have many to audition, but she said Mr. Robertello and Ms. Luckas were very nice and made her feel right at home. There were many IU students around to help with questions and guide you where you needed to go. Overall very friendly both student level and staff!! And yes the campus is beautiful. My D loved it instantly even in 7 degrees below and very windy day. We had lunch at a greek restaurant across from the main square in Bloomington........loved the town!! This school is now one of my D's top picks. Best wishes to your D.</p>
<p>DS had his audition at Eastman on Friday. I agree with don9992 that the school did a very good job of trying to make everyone comfortable. Staff and students were warm and friendly. DS went through a similar routine to what others have discussed -- opening convocation, testing, and then meeting for the voice students. Then there is a small group interview and the audition scheduled. DS's interview was at 2pm and then he had the audition at 6pm, so he had some time to relax and warm up at our B&B.</p>
<p>The voice students perform their auditions in Kilbourn Hall, a beautiful space. Evidently, for three of Eastman's five audition days, the voice faculty use Kilbourn, and then for the other two the piano faculty hold auditions. DS felt it had wonderful acoustics, in contrast to the prior commenters, but he has a pretty big voice. There were nine faculty there. He chose his first piece, and then the faculty chose from the other two -- they unerringly picked the more challenging of the other two. DS felt he got excellent support from the accompanist and turned out a top notch performance.</p>
<p>Note that the voice auditions were very well organized and ran right on time (so don't be late!). There seemed to be about 30 to 40 candidates for voice there, including transfers and Master's folks. I was impressed with how much Eastman whittles down from the prescreening - they get about 800 voice apps, that they bring down to about 120, so it is an achievement to be invited.</p>
<p>We spent a little time visiting the library - definitely worth looking at while you are there - three floors with an incredible amount of material.</p>
<p>My S auditioned at IU this past weekend and I thought I would share some information on the process. The audition weekend at IU was amazing. They really have their act together. It started on Friday at noon with a percussion luncheon that the four percussion professors (Steve Houghton, John Tafoya, Kevin Bobo, and Michael Spiro) hosted. They each spoke about the program and then fielded questions. They we went to the room next door and for the next 30-40 minutes several undergrads performed a myriad of percussion pieces. It was a great way to see kids perform in the environment. This was unique to any of the other schools we have visited (SMU, Juilliard, MSM) and very fun and informative. I overheard them say there were 140 applicants for percussion and I am assuming that included Masters and Phd candidates but I'm not sure. They have 10 slots for incoming Freshman so I assume they will probably offer 20 kids admission.
My son's audition was the next day at 9 a.m. and lasted 10 minutes. He played parts of 3 of the 6 pieces he had prepared. They four profs. were there and very friendly. After the audition, he and about 50 other prospective students took a basic musicianship test that took about 30 minutes. About 50 questions of which 10 were aural. My wife and I attended an hour long information session in the MAC auditorium where the dean of the school, the admissions director, and a theory professor spoke and took questions. A panel of 4 undergrad students then spoke and took a few questions until time ran out.</p>
<p>After this was over my son then went back and had a 5-6 minute interview with the four professors who had heard his audition. They asked him how he thought his audition went, what instrument he felt he was the strongest/weakest on, why he wanted to come to IU, did he want to play drumset and Michael Spiro was very interested in if he liked playing in the steel drum band at his high school and would he want to do that at IU. This is Spiros first year at IU and is really ramping up the world music scene there. I can't emphasize enough how accessible, friendly, honest ("you are going to work really hard here, it's not a place if you aren't really committed to improving") all four of the professors were. The other thing is you could tell they really like each other and they all have their specialty. This interview after the audition really made the entire process a great one. My son came away with a very good sense of what they thought of his audition (they did not promise him admission) and by the things he said they told him, felt very positive that he would be accepted there. I am cautioning him (and his mom and I) not to count the chickens quite yet but it does sound promising.
My son and my wife and I came away with a very strong sense that this is where my son should be. He is not comfortable with many of the other schools approach to picking either classical OR jazz and then not being able to study the one you didn't pick. The philosophy of the percussion faculty at IU is that you will learn classical, drumset, jazz, and world music during your four years at IU. Another important difference between IU and UNT is that IU you will ONLY have your lessons with one of the 4 percussion faculty. A new bonus at IU this coming fall is that a music major can pick up a minor in jazz, composition, conducting, and a couple of others I can't think of right now. The head of admissions stated that merit scholarships ranged from $3000-full tuition. One of the great bonuses of IU is that your child can also receive automatic academic scholarships as well based on SAT and GPA (ie-> 1310 SAT + GPA>3.8 = $9,000/yr). They last percussion auditions are Mar. 6-7 and they told my son he would hear from them by the middle of March.
I must mention the town of Bloomington. I don't think you can appreciate the beauty of the campus right now as all the leaves are off the trees but your imagination will fill in the gaps as it still is quite stunning. I will also declare my bias as I grew up from 6th grade through college in Bloomington but haven't lived there since I graduated in 1980. We met another family from Texas and the mother was shocked with the beauty of the campus and the charm of the town. Unless you have to live in a big city, I think you will find the IU campus in Bloomington as one of the best in the country.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something but feel free to PM me with any other questions you may have.</p>
<p>I apologize for this hijack but in reading about percussion auditions, I would love to know more about them. I attended a contemporary music festival at my D's school this weekend and several of the pieces were percussion - marimba, xylophone, timpani, and a piece by the Percussion Ensemble that consisted of 6 players with floor toms and cymbals. I really enjoyed it all but it made me wonder more about the audition process. Is there a required instrument? Can someone audition on the marimba for example? Would it have to be four mallet? That has to be so difficult to master.</p>
<p>Has anyone auditioned at NEC for violin? An accompanist is optional, and I have not arranged for one for my daughter, however NEC requires the first movement of a sonata and I know it would sound better with an accompanist. Do they usually hear the sonata? Or is it usually Bach and the concerto?</p>
<p>D auditioned at IU this weekend for flute. Thought I would give you some details.
First of all...the weather. How lucky were all of us who traveled this weekend for auditons in the midwest and northeast???!!!!! 57 degrees in Indiana in February?! Thank you!
We flew into Indy. Very nice, new, customer friendly airport. Short drive to beautiful Bloomington, less than an hour. Went to hotel, Marriott just a couple blocks off of the downtown square, dropped off luggage and safely tucked away d's companion...her flute. We then drove around this gorgeous campus. Even in the melting snow it was beautiful. Okay...a little bias here since husband and I are IU grads, but we even had d saying it was truly a beautiful campus! Had dinner downtown at one of our favorite places...Trojan Horse. Uptown Cafe is very nice too.<br>
Saturday was d's audition day. Warmed up in the room for a while in the morning, then off to the MAC. Parking was available in a garage just across the street from the MAC as well as other areas. Her audition was mid morning, she gave herself an hour to check in and warm up some. No lines, almost empty when she checked in. We were handed a folder, a map on which they circled the building where the audition was and the building where the practice rooms were...buildings were connected but different names. We walked over, found the auditon room then easily got a practice room. Plenty were available. Good luck hugs, left daughter to meet up afterwards in the lobby. Audition was ahead of time, quick, 10 minutes, no chatting, in and out. Well, they did ask her where our hometown was and which piece she would play first. We met her in the lobby...said audition just went okay...good first piece, not happy with second piece. (never truly thrilled with her auditions!) Went to MAC to take the test. It was a typical music theory test...d said it was not difficult. Then that was all.<br>
They had an information session for parents at the MAC. The students were all very personable and helpful when asked. I noticed a lot of grad students there to audition. No numbers were offered to us even when asked. I do understand that a lot of schools do keep the numbers hush, which is fine. D's overall feeling...not warm, probably more of a grad school for her than undergrad. We spoke to other auditioners that d knew and they pretty well felt the same. The common word used as a description was..."huge". Please do not think I am speaking badly about our beloved Indiana University!!! There are many incredible things about Jacobs, but we realized this weekend it just may not be for our d for undergrad. She has a couple of acceptances to some of her top picks already in her pocket, thankfully. She would pick either one of those over IU now.
We left the MAC, stopped for lunch on the way to the airport, watched some of the basketball game at the airport...another topic thread of it's own should be Hoosier b-ball....boarded our flight for home. All flights were on time for us. We took note of all the instuments. Saw a young man checking his bass which made us a little nervous, but the person checking the case seemed to know what they were doing...took a lot of time with this young man, and handled the case like they cared. D carried her flute onto the plane, nothing every opened or checked through security. They are probably used to seeing these instruments go through.<br>
I was amazed that with only three audition weekends, it was not chaotic. As a matter of fact, it was quiet. I imagine it felt this way because the auditions were spread out over a few buildings. By the way, all of these buildings are right next to each other. There were no lines, everything was on time and running very smoothly. Overall, a well ran audition weekend.</p>
<p>bluepearl,</p>
<p>Things can always change from year to year, but in the past the emphasis has been on the concerto and Bach at NEC auditions. I wouldn't worry about having an accompanist for sonata.</p>
<p>Is your D also doing Juilliard? The open secret is that the post-1939 piece is not heard - unless her concerto is post-1939. I don't personally know any undergrad who has played a post-1939 work. Concerto, Bach, Paganini.</p>
<p>Of course, the frustrating part of all of this is that you have to take the audition requirements literally and be prepared for everything - even if the odds are that certain works won't be heard. </p>
<p>Best of luck to your D - it sounds like a very rigorous audition tour she's undertaken, but the early Oberlin acceptance is a great sign!</p>
<p>Thanks, fiddlestix! That is what I suspected about the sonata. Yes, she is auditioning at Juilliard as well. I have heard that the post-1939 piece is not played, but of course she has one and it will be prepared, just in case! I'm trying to stay relaxed about all this, but I have moments of anxiety--that I have forgotten something, or a form didn't get turned in, or an email overlooked--but I try not to let my daughter know! She has enough to worry about.</p>
<p>My d did her NEC audition today. There was much less to the process than we'd experienced at other schools. The whole thing consisted of an audition and an optional tour of the three-building campus. No presentations by deans admissions personnel and financial aid staff members. No theory tests or interviews. The packet she received was contained in a plain folio that probably came from Staples and contained forms and FAQs that were simply word-processed and printed. Bottom line, there was no attempt at slick marketing.</p>
<p>As with many conservatory schools, the facitities seemed rather worn, but the performance spaces were quite nice, especially their flagship venue, Jordan Hall. We all got a positive feeling about the place, from the general friendly response we received from students we encountered and the warmth my d felt from her jury during the actual audition.</p>
<p>My d said the audition itself was fairly standard - she picked her first piece and they chose one of the other two she'd submitted. She did say that, for once she was allowed to actually finish the second piece. She came out feeling good about the experience.</p>
<p>A lot of the way the conservatory functions seems rather "old school". Many processes that other schools have moved online are still performed manually, but that seems to be rapidly changing. New president Tony Woodcock (he took office in June 2007) has built the endowment and added WiFi to the entire campus. He has plans to make extensive updates to the facilities. This may be a very exciting time to begins studying there.</p>
<p>A link to a thread posted by SJTH containing much valuable practical info about some of the do's & don'ts in preparing a recorded submission. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/653097-tune-up-your-tryout-jazztimes.html#post1061829447%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/653097-tune-up-your-tryout-jazztimes.html#post1061829447</a></p>
<p>While written with jazz in mind, the thoughts apply to any submission.</p>
<p>Thank you, Violadad--I couldn't figure out how to link that!</p>
<p>We're about to leave on our ten-day, four school jazz audition extravaganza (early Weds.) , and I was wondering if there is any point/value to taking copies of the music resume and/or CDs with us?</p>
<p>I see no need to hand them out like business cards, but having a few extra resumes might not hurt. Good luck and hang on tight.</p>
<p>d always has resumes and repertoire lists with her to hand out if asked. She has had 4 auditions and has not been asked for one yet. However, we do believe in Murphy's law, so she will continue to have them with her!</p>