We also have not heard from Ithaca, but have a large unknown letter and a small letter from Ithaca financial affairs coming today.
Well, good news and bad news. He got into Ithaca (with a nice scholarship), but in performance. He did not even apply in performance, only in Dual performance/music ed. He indicated on the audition form that he would consider music ed without performance, but not performance without music ed. Bit strange since GPA was quite good (3.95 unweighted). He really wants to teach so it looks like Ithaca is out of the picture.
@PAPDAD I would contact the music school’s admission’s office for clarity. This may just be a simple mistake.
@eh1234 Notifications are rolling. What appears as a delay may not mean anything.
@PAPDAD congratulations to your S! I second @momsings on contacting Ithaca as it could very well be an error. Can you remind me how you knew that a large unknown letter was in the mail? Technology!
Congrats on all the Ithaca and Michigan admits!
@JeJeJe - I just saw your note about the vocalists calling the tunes at SFCM. Our daughter is there right now for the orientation on Sat. night (followed by a concert at SFJazz). I will tell her when she gets home. Combos are formed tomorrow I think. Darned vocalists! 
Always the primadonas (just kidding here!). Our daughter’s favorite tune is one that she transcribed to another key but she said she would never call that since it’s not in the usual key. Oh well. Our daughter actually loves to play for vocalists (she is the bassist for the jazz vocal dept at her school) so hopefully she can roll with it). It’s nice to have her home for the weekend (we live in the SF Bay Area).
Another sleepless night for our daughter - she says she’s not nervous but then she can’t sleep. I have a feeling that she will like SFCM more than she expects.
The parent orientation meeting is tomorrow at 9:30am. She doesn’t want us there but we are going to sneak in and hopefully won’t get “caught”. She said it will make her nervous if we are there. Maybe we can go get a disguise? Who should I go as? :)) They will be in auditions at the time of the meeting, so hopefully she won’t see us.
Tomorrow, my friend set up a time for our daughter to meet up with Maria Muldaur (Midnight at the Oasis and a grammy winner from this past year). I’m excited for her to hear the advice of a professional in the biz…e.g. conservatory vs. not. She is going to miss the building dorm tour for that - but my hubby said he would go. (I’ve had my fill of dorm tours lately).
Can’t wait to hear about D’s experience @tripletmama ! Best of luck with your sneaking as well! :)>-
@tripletmama - the vocalists are always the prima donnas and it’s best for the instrumentalists just to get used to it at an early age. ?
Good luck to your D tomorrow! I know she’ll do well.
@tripletmama goodluck to your daughter and you!!!
@jazzpianodad and @lkbux64 - Thanks! She’s at SFJazz right now with the other auditioneers - which I think is pretty neat.
She just texted me that she doesn’t want to leave LA (there is a significant other so I suspect that might be part of it). She wishes she had applied to USC or UCLA but she didn’t. Oh boy - what’s a music mom to do? Roll with it I guess??? I do know that if she stays in LA she can’t keep a car there anymore. She keeps getting parking tickets and getting it towed. :))
I don’t think it’s the worst idea - she has a great teacher, gigs a fair amount and has contacts (the Producer from the Voice just asked her do a gig for him “Up and Coming Young Artists” or something like that). Hypothetically - what does going to a conservatory/music college give a performer? Just wondering out loud.
Tripletmama———You should go and meet with SFCM people! They are very nice people (directors and faculty). Get connected with them directly. It would help you when you need to communicate with them about $$$ and your daughter’s future. Applicants probably won’t see parents until after group auditions. Your daughter wouldn’t get nervous by you but maybe by a vocalist (if one is assigned in her group)… Facility is nice and current dorm, too (very compact but modern and functional kitchen). But SFCM is building new dorms (open in fall 2020) in even better place, right front of Davies Hall / Opera and right next to City Hall, almost like Juilliard’s location in NYC (sorry to compare SF with NYC…It isn’t realistic but SF seems more expensive than NYC now). It’s going to be great life for young musicians. Your daughter will be excited by high paid “gigs” opportunities given by SFCM, food / cafe around, SFJAZZ Center and SFJAZZ Collective!
I have a quick question. My s has audition tomorrow at SFCM and I was wondering if they have practice rooms available other than assigned warm up room given 30 min. before their audition time.
Chollist———When I had a campus tour at SFCM during my son’s audition, I saw most of practice rooms were taken by students. It was Sunday in the earlier afternoon. You should call SFCM in the morning to ask if he can have extra time in a practice room. Good luck!
@tripletmama, I’m no expert, but I would strongly convice your daughter to finish out the audition process and see what her available options are before making any decisions. She’s come this far.
I totally get the second guessing though. My S has gone full speed ahead on the music auditions but he is likely going to have to finally make a decision on the question he has been putting off for a long time – does he go to the school that’s the best fit for him musically or does he choose the school that he thinks will challenge him the most academically that also has a “decent” music program. He doesn’t have any music school admissions yet, so the day of reckoning is not yet here, but I expect that when he has to decide, it will be a gut-wrenching decision.
My D also had good and bad news in the way PAPDAD’s S did. Admitted to Lawrence Conservatory (yay!) for Vocal Performance, but not cello. Although eventually, D is likely to have one major, not having a good connection with the cello prof sunk this choice to last place. We are still celebrating! I think D would do well in VP there but don’t think it’s likely she’ll choose it.
@tripletmama I suppose your D could take a gap year and then apply to universities in LA. It sounds like she could get work in the LA area. But San Fran might give her some experience out of town to bring back, too! Ultimately, where she could best hone her skills might be the main consideration. The conservatory seems like a pressure cooker designed to do just that. However, if all she needs is the networking, then she might want to stay in LA.
The SFCM kids who played for ahead of the info session were crazy good! I was quite shocked that they were almost entirely freshmen. @tripletmama, you must’ve found the comment from the sax prof about gigging interesting given how much your daughter gets to gig in LA
Good luck to everyone at SFCM today. My son’s never been in an audition where they put people in groups and jam together.
@JeJeJe, thank you for your info. My s has audition on 2:30 pm and if he cannot get a practice room between 9:30 am ~ 2:30 pm, I would rather skip the info session and let him rest a bit longer at the hotel room, otherwise he will get too tired from staying a long time at school which was the case at USC even though there, we could find plenty of practice rooms. But I will definitely call SFCM to ask about practice room availability.
Congratulations to everybody who received great news, all the best luck to people including my s who are still taking auditions.
Good luck @chollist S!!
I know others have pointed this out and Frost and SFCM are different auditions, but thought I would just reinforce the fact that if vocalists are involved, the instrumentalists won’t have much say in which tunes get called. That was our experience at Frost a couple of weeks ago at least for the “jam session” part of audition day.
Which makes sense on one level, because if the vocalist doesn’t know the song, or the called song doesn’t have vocals, or is in the wrong key, there’s no real way for them to perform.
At the same time I know this can be a bit frustrating for the instrumentalists, as they often have to fake their way through a tune they don’t really know, and the vocal standards all seemed to be in a narrow range of style/tempo/feel. So not much of a chance to show variety in skillset.
But then again, showing them you can “serve the song” and make it sound great, is what it’s all about. So maybe they are smart to do it this way. So my suggestion from having watched many of the Frost songs from a variety of thrown together applicant bands is to play tastefully, serve the song, focus on communications, and avoid any showboating that distracts from the musicality of the chosen piece. When it comes time to trade fours, they’ll see what you can do well enough. And have fun! Everyone in that setting is stressed, so just enjoy it as best you can and your love of playing will shine through.
Have a great audition day!
@chollist - our daughter called SFCM and they gave her the names of local places with practice rooms. She didn’t end up using them (she practiced for several hours in a closet in our house - which also houses the cat litter box - the things that musicians do!
We didn’t go last night but our daughter (as she just flew out the door) told me that she’s never been to audition where they were selling the musicians on the program. I guess because it’s a new program. She said that at NEC and Berklee it was just the opposite - they acted like they were doing the musicians a favor by listening to them. She thought the musicians from SFCM that played were “good” but about the same level as her high school (LA School of the Arts - which has a very high level jazz program). I think she liked it, though - and she is on her way there right now. We will sneak in there in an hour to attend the parents session - hoping she doesn’t see us She is fiercely independent! I think she enjoyed going to SFJazz last night and then she went to dinner with some of the students. She said it’s a contender - so a departure from the “I want to stay in LA” mantra last night.
I didn’t warn her about the vocalists calling the tunes - but given her rep. I think she’ll do fine. She has to learn that vocalists are in charge sooner or later but I think she already knows
She thought that the bassist was the best of the ensemble last night - he transferred to SFCM from Cal State Long Beach this year.
I’ll keep you posted - going to put on my disguise and head to SFCM with my hubby.
For those that saw their musicians on audition day - what time did they leave the room to go with their ensembles?