Do most or all schools normally have an accompanist at on campus auditions? I figured they must but wasn’t sure if there would be a situation where we would need the songs on CD…I would think most schools you would just need your marked sheet music… Thank the Lord for this forum so I may continue to ask dumb questions…
It’s always good to have both, although most on campus auditions will probably provide an accompanist. In addition to sheet music and CDs, D also had a playlist on her phone with her accompanist cuts and her own speaker that worked with her phone. She took it to every audition “just in case” and used it for those she knew didn’t have an accompanist. I know at Chicago Unifieds in 2013 there was a school who said to bring recorded accompaniment as they would not have one there, then lo and behold they did have one which left some kids scurrying to get their sheet music . You just never know. Things change. We just took everything everywhere just to be on the safe side!
“Most” of the schools did, but a couple didn’t …
Plus, she’ll want it recorded to warm up and practice. It’s always good to have both–and a charged phone (on airplane mode during the audition) and speaker!
D had to use recorded accompaniment for one on-campus audition (Baylor). The rest of her on-campus auditions provided an accompanist.
She had to use recorded accompaniment at all of her Unifieds auditions in Chicago except for one. No schools provided any speakers or CD player for recorded accompaniment, you had to bring your own dock or speakers.
D did not use a CD at any time during her auditions, it was all played on her iPod with a speaker dock. We dragged that thing everywhere.
It really helps to have a couple of seconds of silence at the beginning of each recorded track so that you can reach over and turn on the player, get back to your spot, take a beat, and then the song begins. As noted above, putting the songs in a playlist is a great idea, that way you don’t have to search through iTunes to find the song while the reps stare at you, and, when the song(s) end, the player won’t roll over to the next random song in your d’s iTunes database (which could be “Baby Got Back”).
D had hers in the audio files of both of our phones. They were organized by song and cut (16, 32, whole). That way, they were easy to find, and there was no way one would roll into another.
FYI - partway through the process at Unifieds, My D started making playlists for individual schools - she had 3 songs she was juggling between depending on the school - plus 16/32 bar cuts - she found it easiest to figure out what the school needed when she was calm - stick it in a playlist, and then not have to worry anymore once she was in the room and had some nerves going. When she hit on doing this it was one of those “doh” moments… she couldn’t believe she didn’t think of it right off the bat.
Each website will tell you but… Son had audition with recorded music, but they also had an accompanist and asked for his music to do adjustments. I think it was kategrizz and D ??? , or another CC mom, who saw him fly out of the room to ask dad for the music. Ironically, I could not go to the Chicago unifieds, but I had everything organized for them for what I thought may be any possible complication. This particular school was the only one that wanted music done a certain way, and I didn’t pack it because I didn’t think he would need it. He had the same cuts in his folder, but not in the preferred fashion.
Like with everything else in this process… check each school for particular requirements. 
I find it really interesting that so many of you had situations where accompanists weren’t provided. Maybe because we applied to comparativelyy fewer schools, and were also looking at BM programs in VP ( at least in some cases) we never were in a situation where the school didn’t provide the accompanist. And I’m also surprised you had ro bring backing tracks to Unifieds. To be fair, we didn’t attend Unifieds but I would think since they are held in large cities finding plenty of accompanists to hire wouldn’t be hard for the colleges.
The problem with Unifieds (don’t know if this is the case in Chicago, I did NY Unifieds) is that sometimes, schools will be renting out a studio without a piano.
We did like kategrizz’s D. We thought it was much more foolproof to have the playlist set up by school. But, we also had it set up by song and cuts just in case someone asked to hear more or to hear something different.
45-50 schools hold auditions at the Palmer House in Chicago (this number is based on the room sheet published by the hotel last year). The audition rooms are mostly just small hotel conference rooms, located in a rabbit-warren of cramped hallways, spread over more than three floors. Marshalling 40+ pianos for all the auditions going on (even if they use electric pianos), and finding 4 dozen accomplished accompanists would be no small feat, even in Chicago. Hence, most auditions in the Palmer House are done with recorded accompaniment. More auditions are held in other nearby hotels.
Some auditions in Chicago are held in off-site studios.
I totally get that @ Unifieds you would need everyone to bring music. We won’t be attending those I don’t believe so I think for the most part our schools will have an accompanist. Will check first of course.
B/c I know it is on your list @theaterwork - Muhlenberg did NOT have accompanist when D auditioned there
My daughter just did all on-campus auditions and all but one had an accompanist.