Audition tips & info.

College Majors Music Major
61

<p>Once your HS student is confident that they're conservatory bound, it's time to adjust the HS academic load. AP "This" and AP "That" will have little to no value for their future, unless they're really driven for a dual major with music performance and a non-music major, like thzxcyl and others. Remember that a semester's worth of AP credit WILL NOT allow a conservatory student to graduate a semester early and save you that tuition. It's something you have to remind the HS folks... Even AP Music Theory, which I highly recommend a student take, doesn't get you any credit. It just helps you place into a higher level course at college, helps the jitters of taking the placement test during auditions, and makes you a better musician...</p>

<p>To get the perspective correct, I'll comment on our experience. My D attended a public HS that goes on and off the US News & World Report list of the best HS's in America, has a nationally recognized music program, and sends an average of 3 or so students on to conservatories each year, so there are excellent credentials there.</p>

<p>When a child knows that a conservatory is the place for them (I'll touch on this later), part of that epiphany is the realization that they need to spend significant amounts of time for daily practice. Then they start to realize that time is a limiting factor and they are often the one who says, "You know, I just can't be a part of this or that anymore." So the schedule starts getting adjusted by musician theirself, but there become some battlegrounds, especially at school, where uninformed HS "guidance" counselors often need a parent to tell them "NO." </p>

<p>If your child does well academically, many schools "suggest" that they take honors and AP courses. Sometimes this becomes an area where parents have to step in, especially the AP courses, which are often suggested not because of your child, but because that the US News and World Report list of "Best HS" is SOLELY determined by the precentage of students at a HS that take AP courses!!! I could get off on a long rant here, but I'll resist since there are other considerations that you'll find yourself drawn into. We had a guidance counselor who called me to protest that D wasn't taking a 4th year of math, telling me that all competitive schools required 4 years of math, but we held our ground. Now there's now one counselor at our school that is a bit more well informed...</p>

<p>Now, for the most important part of the equation, the day that as a parent you know that your child is really ready for a conservatory. Knowing from unbiased sources that your child has the talent is important, but that doesn't tell you that they are ready and the conservatory environment is the appropriate one for them. In our case, it was my D's experience at Interlochen Arts Camp during the summer before her senior year. We did proceed during her junior year with the assumption that "we're going to a conservatory, " but continued to keep other options open. However, the IAC experience cemented her futue direction. Once my D found herself in an environment where everyone had the same interests and passions as her, she was in heaven. She had always had problems in HS with band and orchestra members who were just "going through the motions" or "were there because their parents made them." Now she was with people who loved music and lived for it. </p>

<p>That summer was truly the watershed event in her music career. Suddenly a person that would practice, but not passionately, was off "practicing like the devil and playing like an angel." The work was paying off since she improved her seating after each audition, which let her, and her parents, know that she "could run with the big dogs." From that point on, there was no doubt that a conservatory was the place for her, so it was easy to ensure that her HS schedule was appropriate towards that goal. </p>

<p>Now, did it work? Yes, the reports back from the first month of conservatory are glowing. "Dad, I pulled out a clarinet quintent arrangement that I wrote and could actually find people who could play it! My instructor was impressed with it!" or "Mom, quick send me my tin whistle! We're starting an Irish Folk Music group." When those types of phone calls, IMs, Emails and TMs start coming in, you know that it all the blood, sweat, tears, time and $$ was worth it.</p>

62

<p>Great information and advice.</p>

<p>Seems like the deadlines for making decisions keeps moving up. Now it appears come spring, some serious decisions will have to be made. With the HS schedule for next year being yet another one.</p>

63

<br>


<br>

<p>Actually at many conservatory programs, you don't even have the option of placing into a "higher level course". They require three or four full years of music theory...period. However, I agree that the AP Music Theory course is a plus for the music major as it provide an excellent foundation for the music theory in a music program in college. Also....for some music students...beware that your school guidance counselor will likely know NOTHING about music admissions. DS was told (by his GC) NOT to apply to the university where he will be a senior. The GC knew only about academic admissions (btw...ds had THOSE too...), and not the importance and weight the audition carries.</p>

64

<p>Yes thumper1 is correct on both counts. I had neglected to emphasize that any AP credit wouldn't remove any Music Theory requirements. Like she said, you may start higher on the ladder, but if the conservatory says you need to take 4 years, you'll take 4 years.</p>

<p>D is also attending a program that guidance counselor said she couldn't get into because on not having 4+ years of math. That's a requirement for the University, but not the Conservatory. Bottom line, unless child is at an arts HS, GCs are mostly likely clueless as to this whole process and it's nuances.</p>

<p>W also saw major typo in my litany above. When I said "double major," I really meant "double degree." Important distinction there...</p>

65

<p>Here's another favorite. Our HS keeps a database of students' GPA and ACT/SAT scores and where they applied and where they were accepted. For the Fine Arts student, this makes for some interesting reading, especially since things are inconsistent..</p>

<p>For example, Peabody is combined with Johns Hopkins, so you have people with low GPA and ACT scores getting into Peabody screwing up their model.</p>

<p>And then there's Juilliard all by its lonesome and the computer broke trying to make a "if you have this GPA and this ACT score you'll get in decision" since the 4.5 GPA/35 ACT student didn't, but the 2.4 GPA/22 ACT did...</p>

<p>It makes for funny reading and would be hysterical if you didn't have to suffer these fools, especially when they are reluctant to change their ways and systems...</p>

66

<p>We were fortunate with daughter's guidance counselor. He didn't know much about music school admissions, but he realized his limitations and never got in the way, tried to force her into inappropriate AP classes or told us not to apply somewhere based on academic records. He was very good about getting the paperwork done on time and his only suggestion was that she add a couple of safeties, which we did mostly to keep him happy.</p>

<p>The Tanglewood program had much the same effect on our family as Interlochen did on Zep's. It convinced us that daughter belonged in a conservatory environment.</p>

67

<p>My D did the Eastman program August right before senior year. She finally decided that music had to be a part of her life and she wanted a double degree with conservatory-level music. She had a long way to go and a short time to get there. It is amazing what some motivation and 2-3 hours/day can do.</p>

68

<p>Did anyone attempt to audition for two schools on the same day? The NYC and Boston schools come to mind. Or is that just impossible? 3 in a weekend?</p>

<p>I am wondering how people fit 13 or more auditions in to the limited time frame that most schools have. Not that I foresee her auditioning for that many, (I certainly hope not) but have heard of others that did.</p>

69

<p>Two in a day probably impossible with all the other "add-ons" like placement tests and tours, but two in a weekend could work. When we were at Eastman with a Friday audition, we talked with a few people who were heading to Ithaca for a Saturday audition...</p>

<p>Best audition parent meeting story comes from Peabody. Admissions director asked if anyone there had children doing more than six on-site auditions. When a few hands went up he said, with a straight face and a joking voice, "Don't you people have jobs?"</p>

<p>People I have talked to who have applied to more than 8 schools did utilize audition tapes and regional auditions for many of their choices, especially the safeties. In general, I strongly suggest personal auditions on campus, but this many school makes that extremely difficult.</p>

70

<p>I cannot for the life of me imagine a kid auditioning for 13 or more schools.</p>

<p>My son plans to do four or five (this could change, but I doubt it), and even that feels daunting. I would just think the sheer cost and logistics of more than that would be prohibitive.</p>

71

<p>I'm in agreement with Allmusic about numerous auditions. I posted the following on another thread but it seems relevant to this one, too.</p>

<p>I think the number of schools in the final set depends on resources and time. For D, she narrowed it to 6 schools and tried to keep the framework of reach/safety/match although it's a little tougher in music because the audition is such a big part of the decision. Some programs required screening recordings/CDs be sent first and others did not. Given a very busy extracurricular life (a varsity sport, private lessons, orchestra, 3 choral groups, competitive show choir and musical lead in the spring), it was very difficult to get everything scheduled and she did have to miss one show choir competition in order to make an audition. For several of the schools, we made an additional visit to have a practice lesson with faculty. Given all of that, I would lean toward fewer rather than more. It gets very expensive, too!</p>

<p>Most conservatories have regional auditions but the conventional wisdom from this board is to avoid that unless absolutely necessary. The thinking is that there tends to be more opportunity to connect with faculty in person rather than dealing with a couple of program representatives. D did on-site auditions.</p>

72

<p>DS did 7 auditions, but one was done the summer prior to his senior year of high school. It was hard doing the 6 remaining ones. AND the notion that you can do more than one audition in one day is not a good notion. In fact, I know students who did two audition in one weekend and felt that one audition suffered because of that. As mentioned above, go TO the schools for their auditions if it is at all possible. It takes some planning (and money) but is well worth it.</p>

73

<p>More great stuff from everyone.</p>

<p>Brings up a few more questions. Is a safety really a safety if it requires and audition? If it is really a safety do you need more than? Can you get away with taped auditions for Safeties? How many reaches and how many safeties?</p>

<p>What school had auditions in the summer between Jr and Sr year?</p>

<p>Most schools seem to have auditions in the same 5 or 6 week period, how do you get 7 or more in without doubling up on weekends?</p>

74

<p>BU's audition is very short - sign in, 30 minutes to warm up, 10 to 15 minutes in front of a video camera, put away your instrument and you are done in about an hour. No tests, no interviews, nothing else required at all. You could easily do BU in the morning and NEC in the afternoon if the scheduling works out. (Note that you can schedule tours of BU and NEC on certain days, but the auditions tended to happen on weekends and the tours during the week.)</p>

<p>Daughter did Curtis on a Fridy evening through Saturday mid-afternoon, then we jumped into the car and drove up to Boston for NEC on Sunday mid-morning. She didn't get into Curtis, but the busy weekend must not have hurt her NEC audition too badly because she was accepted there.</p>

<p>Speaking of BU, they do allow singers at the Tanglewood program to audition there the summer before the senior year. If it goes well, they can use that as their BU audition. If it does not go well, they consider it a practice session and let the student reaudition along with everyone else. They normally do not extend the same deal to the instrumentalists, so I would also like to know where thumper's son was able to audition in the summer.</p>

75

<p>I had NEC auditon at Saturday, and drove back to Maryland for Peabody on Monday. It is not that bad, and I think neither of my auditions suffered because of doubling.</p>

76

<p>I just can't get over how wise everyone on this board is... honestly you are all my saviors! Coming from a non-musical family and a very unnurturing school music program, its been so hard to find out what schools to apply to and how to go about auditions. </p>

<p>I can't agree more with post about having to drop activities and courses senior year to devote time to music. And I actually feel foolish for letting my guidance counselor convince me to take honors Physics... which I hate with a passion. I'm giving up a foreign language I love, foreign language honor society, french club, interact club, my local youth symphony which I've "worn out" and been a part of far too long, playing in my school's pit band, summer travel softball league, and possibly my school's varsity team. Now, I know that seems like a lot... but I was basically trying to be wonderwoman my first three years of highschool and regret devoting so much time to "being well-rounded" rather than a fantastic musician.</p>

<p>I spent the summer at the Eastman program and I can truly say that it was the deciding factor about whether I could cut it (talentwise and mentally) in a competitive music environment. I can't rave about Music Horizons enough... I really got the conservatory experience with theory, music history, sight-singing, lessons, ensemble, concerts, etc. </p>

<p>Anyways, thank you all again! Flute advice is always welcomed :)</p>

77

<p>Actually DS did do an audition at Tanglewood for BU. But he went again for the on campus audition as well. Re: NEC and BU...the timing does not work out. BU auditions at the beginning of February and NEC auditions at the end of February. Both schools have only one onsite audition weekend. NEC assigns by instrument. The audition during the summer was arranged by DS's private teacher who knew the head of the brass department at one of DS's schools. This was a very exceptional situation. However, I would not recommend it...DS wishes he had gone to that school for the audition in person. He thinks his merit aid was affected by the fact that he didn't audition in person at the school. I think he's right. DS did his audition for UMDCP on Saturday morning and his audition for Peabody was supposed to be on Monday (see above post for the weather story...and the change in schedule). That was a lucky shot, in my opinion, and we were mighty happy to make that trip only once.</p>

78

<p>We were able to arrange two long weekend trips where my son auditioned at two conservatories/universities on the same trip (4 auditions in two trips) using mutliple destination airline tickets. For example, on one trip he flew from his boarding school in Michigan on Thursday morning to
Rochester for a Friday audition at Eastman, then flew from Rochester to Cleveland on Saturday for a Sunday audition at CIM, and returned to Michigan late Sunday night. The multiple destination tickets were much less expensive than two separate round trip tickets, and he was able to miss less school this way.</p>

<p>My son was a fairly experineced independent traveler, so we did let him go to most auditions by himself, and he did just fine. It is very easy to find out in advance about ground transportation from airports to schools, purchase shuttle tickets ahead of time, or map bus/train routes for public transportation. At several schools, my son was able to stay with friends in the dorm, but at several others he had to stay in hotels by himself. Many hotels do not allow guests under 18 unaccompanied by an adult, but most of the admissions offices know which local hotels will accommodate students traveling alone for auditions. Once we found a suitable hotel, we made all arrangements for payment with our credit card (he only has a debit card, which many hotels will not accept) prior to his arrival.</p>

<p>As best I can remember, Juilliard was the only school at which he had no choice of audition dates. They publish a time frame (usually appx. 1 week in early March) but do not notify you of your specific date until about 1 month prior to the audition. It was also the only school which required an accompanied audition - provided names of 3 accompanists for him to contact, select, and make arrangements for rehearsal prior to audition.</p>

79

<p>In looking through the requirements for applications to conservatories, it looked like Oberlin, which requires two teacher recommendations, was the exception (along with McGill, Schulich School, which requires one teacher recommendation): Juilliard says they are not required, USC doesn't seem to require them. Does anyone here have experience with whether schools that don't require them actually accept or want recommendations as part of the application? Certainly there is a some amount of unofficial communication by teachers with faculty they know, but I'm thinking of more formal recommendation letters.</p>

80

<p>Can't remember exactly who did require, but I do remember that Eastman did require at least one. Regardless, I think we had private teacher send letters to all schools...</p>