Triplmetmama———If I remember correctly, there were no bassists in the 1st audition weekend. So, your daughter is one of only three bassists to audition (I don’t know about Skype / video auditions).
Chollist———I am glad your son did fine after a fire alarm!
Thanks for the details @tripletmama
Sounds like a super cool and growing program. As we are on the east coast, it wasn’t on our radar or we would likely have put it on our list too!
And our experience mirrors yours. My D is usually the only or one of few female instrumentalists at these jazz auditions.
Berklee had the most (owing to it being genre agnostic) but the other schools had very few.
A few of the schools have brought it up directly and talked about what they are doing to attract more women. Others just ignore the topic.
I think this will all change over time but that change starts slowly.
Congrats on getting a big one in the books!
Yes congrats!! Is it just one more to go?
@lkbux64 Congrats on your son’s New School audition! My D was working auditions this weekend, escorting musicians to practice rooms and to the audition room. I wonder if she took your son up? I think there may only have been 2 NS students working that day.
For anyone else who’s kid is auditioning, D will be working auditions this coming weekend as well as the following weekend. Let me know if you need anything! Can’t wait to hear everyone’s results!
@SpartanDrew – maybe it was your daughter! It was definitely a nice young woman, friendly and smiling with dark hair, I believe. I might have gotten a better sense of her if my son hadn’t asked me not to come up in the elevator with him!
@lkbux64 hahaha yeah it was the same with me when D auditioned. I cooled my jets in the lobby area. She has shoulder length dark hair with a blond streak in the front (college freshman right of passage dying hair funky :-(( ). It was most likely her. How did your S like New School?
@DrummerDad18 My son got overwhelmed. He felt he wasn’t fully competent on many of the tunes being called. The vocalist needed tunes that fit her key and she knew, so the ones my son was prepared for didn’t get called. For better or worse, I think having a 1-1 part along with a jam would seem more appropriate. Especially coming out of high school, these kids have very different levels of preparedness and instruction. I guess elite jazz schools require their freshmen to already have a high degree of competence with many standards, like the JB Dyas article says.
The SFCM audition was definitely a clarifying moment for my son 
Dsinha——— I think that my son thought that it wasn’t a good audition format (His drummer friend who had an audition at SFCM two years ago without vocalists also thought the same). My son had no control on tunes or a rhythm section to play with (not only vocalist’s key but slow tempo). All three judges in the first audition weekend are instrumentalis. So, I am sure they know about young jazz instrumentalists in the particular audition situation. Hope, 4 prescreening videos and a whole entire repertoire list (additional to 8 tunes for andition) would support instrumentalists.
@SpartanDrew, S liked it! We are from the NY area, so he already knows and played with many musicians who currently attend the school when they were still in high school. His current private guitar teacher is an alum. He thinks very highly of the school!
Re: SFCM. I did get more input from my daughter. She said that she got lucky. Recordame (Latin) was called in both groups she played in and that’s one of her prepared audition pieces. Pure luck. The guitarist wanted to play a ballad and no one knew many so they ended up playing Misty - so she just pulled up the music on her Iphone and played it.
Here’s a cool tidbit (putting the fire alarm to one side); On the Friday night after the general information session (that she didn’t invite me to there were no practice rooms so several of them went on the sidewalk and played. Wish I could have seen/heard that…obviously very passionate jazz kids.
@SpartanDrew - I’m so glad that your daughter will be there to help at the New School! Her upbeat nature will go a long way to quell nerves. Can’t wait for next weekend to be over. Our daughter lands on Friday am (red eye), goes to her ballet brother’s dorm to sleep (while he is in school) - then she has to go find a rental bass. She’s staying with her brother’s ex (that should be interesting!!). The audition bucket is not that full anymore!
Anyone else’s last weekend?
Congratulations to all on completing auditions and making it through. Good health wishes for all who, like myself, have been sick. Still battling after weeks but lungs are making progress. So glad I don’t play a wind instrument. And @akapiratequeen CONGRATULATIONS ON ITHACA ?. It’s always wonderful getting acceptances with merit at top choices. And congratulations to @AmyIzzy on College of St. Rose. I remember you suggesting it to me earlier on and am glad it came through for your D.
I’m starting from page 125 of the thread so I apologize if this gets long or confusing.
Thanks for advice about the “different” scholarship terms from the one school. I know S will need (also want) to be in an ensemble wherever he goes. I also assumed if lessons weren’t part of the general fees for music students that we would have to pay something. But the whole dual contract signing with so many requirements and no idea what money comes from where is throwing me for a loop. I think we will delve deeper into it once we see what our other options become. We have had three more auditions since February 16. One was a scholarship audition after which he got a personal email from the head of the department that he needs to answer.
Congratulations to @“Pikachu’s Mom”. Sounds like our kids hit a couple of the same schools but not on the same day. Our days were a little different because different instruments, but I agree with your assessment at BW. It was very well run, well presented, and the way they guided the students through everything while having presentations for parents was nice. S made a friend who as it turns out was also auditioning at Lawrence same day as him. They are both male flute players so they bonded. A BW male student walked by and saw them with their flutes and stopped to talk to them. He said he was the only male flute player and was glad to see some auditioning.
Lawrence was a wonderful day. The music education workshop was so much fun and they got parents involved in it. They are working at expanding the music education program a bit. The auditions were 30 minutes so S played through all 3 of his pieces in full. As an aside, the con added a nice little snack station downstairs where lessons and practice rooms are since our last visit that has real food and takes swipes. Also the merit scholarships are changing next year. High end goes up by $2k over what is current and low end drops lower so there will be a wider range. Also they are going to start letting your scholarship travel with you for travel abroad which had previously not been the case. We were told acceptances would go out the second or third week of March but looks like some may be earlier since Pikachu’s D already got admitted. (Congratulations on vocal but sorry about Cello).
The order of preference for the rest of the schools has changed with the auditions he’s been through. and every school that did theory assessments he said were easy. He just got two non-audition acceptances that we decided to add last minute.
Thanks for the update @UniversityMomOf2. I am really glad you are on the mend but sounds like your illness dragged on way too long and was unbearable. Here’s to healthy days ahead! So happy that Lawrence and BW were such great audition experiences. Gotta love the well-organized, structured audition days that involve parents too! Always appreciated in my book! I was just talking to a few moms who were very impressed with BW for musical theatre but were nervous about their kids getting in.
Yes, College of Saint Rose has been very welcoming and generous and remains a potential contender. If nothing else, I’m glad my daughter applied and did EA because it’s been a confidence booster along the way and she feels good about having a nice offer to consider. She likes the Music Industry program and couldn’t believe how friendly both faculty and students are. Lots of pluses but also keeping an open mind to the other 8 on her list.
She received an email from CalArts (Herb Albert School of Music) today asking for some additional items related to her original songs. I’ll take that as a positive that they at least want to take a closer look. Not holding our breath since they only take 20% of applicants but she’d feel great if she were to be accepted. It hasn’t really been on our radar since the audition (you may recall that was the strange one in Chicago where we felt we entered the twilight zone with a combo of an escape room and ax throwing but no sign of the audition room! Lol) but I guess it would be worth exploring more if she got in and, by some miracle, was offered a decent amount of merit money. I think she’s the only one on this thread who applied there so I may have to do a little more research.
We are down to 2 local scholarship auditions and 2 final college auditions! Hoping to connect with @SpartanDrew’s daughter for her New School audition and the last one will be City College on March 9th.
A few year’s ago I ran the Biggest Loser 1/2 marathon so I guess this stage of the process is around mile 10. Sadly, I don’t recall a burst of energy and that runner’s high of “I’m almost there” that some experience at that point. Rather, I remember curse words I never even knew existed floating around in my brain and how very long those final two miles seemed to take. Please tell me my 1/2 marathon analogy won’t match up with these final 2 months! Hoping it goes fast and is painless with no foul language for ALL of us! ??
Thanks for the good wishes and the update, @UniversityMomOf2 ! So glad you are on the mend. Sending big hugs to those with auditions still ahead. Even though it’s a long wait for the final picture, S is so visibly thrilled to be done. He’s working on a cappella pieces for his “bro choir,” attending festivals and Adjudications with his honors choir, and performing with his high school jazz ensemble this week. He’s says it’s all like a vacation after the stress.
As things start to wind down, I just want to say how impressed I’ve been by the talent and focus of all our music kids. So excited to see where they find their “fit” — here’s to great admits and scholarships for all!
Yes I do remember the crazy audition in Chicago. What a bizarre experience. Sadly I’m one of those people who would put the 0.0 magnet on my car so kudos to you for running the 1/2 marathon. S runs so I’m sure he gets it. In fact he’s been running to de-stress. Hopefully these next few weeks won’t drag like that. Good luck on the final auditions. It’s great you have someone to meet up with.
@tripletmama I asked my son if there were any girls at the audition weekend a few weekends ago, he said there was one female vocalist. He has a friend there already that’s a girl. I read him part the part of your post about gigging on the side, etc., and he immediately knew who the instructor was, lol!
Quick question for you all: How much of an edge in college admissions, if any, do you get from summer programs? For example, is doing an Oberlin summer program (which seems to be taught by actual Oberlin faculty) a good idea if you plan to apply there? Has anyone here done the program and then felt your kid got in to Oberlin because of a connection made there? My D did Eastman for vocal studies last year, but sadly, none of the actual faculty were from Eastman, so there wasn’t that opportunity to make a connection, thus we’ll still probably need to set up a sample lesson if she intends to apply there. But do you think it helps at all for admission to have done the program? She’s going to Tanglewood this summer, which is going to be a pretty big financial sacrifice for our family, but Oberlin is her first choice college at the moment, so I’m wondering if we should be considering sending her there too for the 9-day summer program. (If we visit for a sample lesson, the cost for my plane ticket, two hotel nights, and a rental car would probably be 2/3 the cost of the program anyway… though we could potentially do trial lessons at one or two other schools in the area if she and I were just on visit to the area.)
Khill87———Is your child applying to college in classical, Jazz, Popular music or MT? As I read in past years of CC posts, Berklee 5-week summer program tends to give away more generous 4-year merit scholarship $$$ than actual admission process with an audition during HS senior year.
Welcome, @khill87 ! My D is a second year VP major at Oberlin. To your question regarding attending summer programs and the effect upon admission, I can confidently say it can be VERY helpful, although maybe not in the way one would expect! I think the biggest benefit is that students and teachers get to try one another on for size, (all this assuming that the summer program is fully staffed by the actual college professors…which is true for the Oberlin program). And students have a chance to try on programs/culture/fit on for size. SO HELPFUL! I know several Oberlin VP majors who attended the summer program, had a wonderful experience and made connections with faculty (and were subsequently offered admission to the BM program). I also know of several students who attended the summer program, had a wonderful experience and made connections with faculty and were bitterly disappointed at not being offered admission to the Conservatory. And this is true at every high level, college based competitive high school summer music program. College admissions for VP are kind of a crap shoot, lol!
My D applied to the Oberlin summer program for the summer before her Senior year and was rejected. (Yes, it’s true! Rejection is a singer’s friend.) She attended another summer program with a highly competitive MT and VP program, and was one of the lucky, say 2%, to receive an offer of admission for Undergrad. BUT she learned some very valuable things about herself that summer, and redefined her goals, and felt it wasn’t the perfect fit after all. And then, despite being rejected from the summer program at Oberlin, she was offered a place in the VP class at the Conservatory. So while I can’t say that attending a particular summer program gives you a leg up in college admissions, exactly, it is nonetheless very helpful!
If your D loves Oberlin, send her to the summer program! It will only help define her opinions about the faculty and program. Feel free to PM me for any Oberlin specific input, and @coloraturadad has a 2nd year Oberlin Soprano, as well, and @Scubachick has an Oberlin VP recent grad!
@khill87 There is no doubt there would be some advantages to doing a summer program at your child’s top college choice or choices. If there are program professors working with your child and she makes a positive impression/connection, that’s huge. I’m sure those faculty members would remember your kid and/or go to bat for her when admission time rolls around. If they do not use regular faculty for summer programs, it may still look good that they studied there because it shows an extra level of interest/commitment and would be easy for them to access skill assessments, levels, impressions from summer staff, etc. She could ask for a reference letter from the summer staff which would stand out at that college when she applies. It also allows your child to get a feel for the college, perhaps on a lower scale, but still a good vibe of how things run. She may have a great experience but decide it’s not the right fit for her. While it sounds negative, it actually could be a positive outcome to rule out the college. @SpartanDrew can speak to her daughter’s Berklee 5 Week experience which resulted in her taking it off her list. Again, not a bad thing at all! We didn’t really think to do such programs in Freshman and Sophomore year because my daughter was always involved in Summer Theatre. For post-Junior year summer, we considered Miami Frost (liked the shorter time options of just a few weeks and seemed well-structured and supervised, price tag wasn’t outrageous) but instead signed up for the Berklee 5 Week Program. However, due to some last minute unforeseen circumstances (including costly house issues) we decided we couldn’t justify the $9K price tag. Berklee was a dream school for my daughter so we wanted to give her that summer program advantage but it just didn’t work out. She still got in EA with $20K ($14K talent & $6K Grant) so I have no idea if she would have gotten more had she done the program, but we have no regrets. We know she will end up in the college home that’s meant to be. So if you can make the sacrifice to make it happen, great! There are definitely perks! But if you aren’t able to make it work, it won’t ruin her chances. She’ll be fine!
I wonder if you can arrange Skype lessons to save some money. I know some musical theatre kids who have done that. Obviously, not the same as a personal face to face lesson, but might still be helpful. We only arranged a vocal lesson at Roosevelt CCPA in Chicago and Miami Frost (the instructor happens to have a studio in NYC so we coordinated with a visit there which is only 6 hours by car.) The CCPA one went very well and she really connected with the vocal professor. She enjoyed the Frost lesson too but just wasn’t gushing as much, seemed more of a business-like lesson I guess. So those lessons can definitely be helpful too if you are able to arrange them!
Best of luck as you begin this journey!
@khill87 My D did the Oberlin summer program the summer before Jr year as a way to work with the faculty and check out the Oberlin campus. She had a great experience. She was later accepted to Oberlin’s UG program and graduated from there. She also attended Florida State’s summer program for 3 years and was accepted there as well. Is it helpful in order to get into Oberlin? Maybe/maybe not, but it can be a way to make some connections. One of the things to realize is that each year they are looking for a balanced class. They are not going to take all sopranos. So a student may not get a spot just due to trying to balance the number of each voice type. But, if your kid is interested in Oberlin or any other school, the summer program is a good way to get to know the faculty and school. Feel free to PM about Oberlin.