As for attaching the music resume, I think it’s fine as follows:
Don’t: As you can see from my music resume I have extensive experience. Take note of my latest accomplishment…
Do: I have attached my music resume in case you would find it helpful.
The first one assumes the professor will take the time to read the resume. The second one does not. I would always lean to short and sweet with a professor’s time.
Agreed and well said @bridgenail!
For VP it is often traditional to have a one page (only) resume AND a separate repertoire list (organized by language). My D compiled them in packets…an 8x10 head shot with the resume and rep list stapled (at the top corners) to the back. She brought these to every trial lesson and audition. Sometimes a professor would look through them and return them, but more often than not they kept them. This is very helpful after the fact, because one can easily look at the picture and remember very clearly the singer/audition. @MusakParent UGH, the. Common App!! We found it seriously lacking for musicians. I remember the LORs were a big issue, because different programs require LORs from different recommenders. On several occasions we had recommenders (especially the Primary Teacher) send their LOR directly to the school (vial snail or e mail), and were then careful to double check with admissions to be sure they had what they needed. And, yes! Pare down that resume; roles, recitals, competitions, teachers, summer programs, and that’s about it…
The Berklee site gives some guidance on a resume (which I believe is required for them) so we will probably use that as a model and determine if it makes sense to use as a supplemental for schools or to present to any professors if she gets a lesson. I believe that they suggested one page. I like the idea of including a head shot to put a face to the resume. I can’t imagine how many students these professors interact with in the coming months so good to help them remember you!
Is it common for professors to charge for lessons or are they usually complimentary? I assume you always offer to pay and some will expect and others will decline. My daughter visited Frost on Friday but the vocal professor we were told to contact was out of town. She was very nice and emailed apologizing when I inquired about setting up a lesson during her visit. She said, although teaching in Miami, she has a studio in NYC and would be happy to meet with her there when her schedule allows (much closer to us.) BTW my daughter loved Frost but is worried about her SAT/ACT scores being too weak for acceptance.
Thanks for all the input-very helpful!
Here is the Berklee resume link:
It’s been awhile for us, but I think the supplementary essay on the Common App asks what else you want the schools to know that they might not otherwise know, from the rest of the application. Isn’t that a good place to write about theater and other activities that were important to the kid but don’t get much attention elsewhere?
For BA applicants an arts supplement to the Common App is essential, and would include a recording, a resume, and additional recommendations from music teachers/directors. BM applicants need to get the same info to the schools but auditions and interviews provide opportunities that BA applicants don’t have.
My kid didn’t want to take professors’ time until accepted. That is probably unusual. My kid just stuck to admissions procedures without any meetings with professors. Admissions got the recordings, resume and letters, not the professors. To me it almost seems as if the norm now is to skirt admissions and deal directly with the teachers. It is really the exact opposite of what we did. My kid did well in the end. But things may have changed in 10 years.
I think it is fine to meet with a professor to see if the applicant can see him or herself studying with him or her. But to help gain admission, I think it can be iffy, because many people cannot afford to make that trip. It contributes to problems with fairness and equality in music. There are auditions for that purpose. But that’s me.
@compmom This year’s common app does not include a supplementary essay. Many colleges ask for one, but (at least for the ones we’ve seen) they specify the topic. Except for Berklee, I haven’t seen an application that includes the option of sending a resume.
I think your point about fairness and equity is a very good one. For us, meeting the teacher is a way of ruling out the truly bad fits before going through the audition. That said, we’ve only been able to do it in one case, when we were in the area for a visit anyway. In two other cases, he’d taken summer programs, which were great for connecting him to faculty.
Your comment does make me feel like it’s time to take a deep breath and step back. He’s doing applications and will then decide where/if to continue to the auditions (only one prescreen needed so far). More will be revealed…
What a thoughtful answer. I was a little scared writing that 
That’s terrible that they have taken out the open supplementary essay. One of my kids used that to write very briefly about a serious health issue. My kid wanted to write the main essay about something else like a “normal” person and the supplementary essay gave her a chance to avoid omitting it but not define herself by the illness.
For people with deep interests, the common app does not give applicants much chance to elaborate on interests and activities , resulting in a more superficial picture of any applicant.
I wonder if it would be good for people to call schools to ask how best to represent the whole kid and raise the issue of the now missing supplementary essay. And ask about resume, LOR’s etc. Perhaps they will restore an open supplementary section.
This is less important for conservatories because admission is so dependent on the audition, but still, there should be a better way to represent the “whole kid” and that essay was a great way to do that.
So a couple thoughts on the artistic resume and meeting the profs questions. The only school that I can recall that D applied to that asked for an artistic resume was NEC so we followed their format to the T. D had already had one, similar to the one mentioned earlier with a small headshot photo in the upper corner and performances. We took NEC’s format and combined the two into one. So she has a one-pager outlined like NEC wanted with the 2nd page dedicated to repertoire, current and in progress. Now we need to update her resume for job fairs at college next week. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? We need to include past employment on that one. We are trying to decide if she should have a regular resume with school and employment on it or one that is a bit combined with artistic as well as employment. Yikes, no idea.
On the “meeting the profs” question. I think it varied from college to college. D was well connected to the head of jazz voice at Frost/Miami because that prof had studied with D’s voice teacher back in college. IN hindsight, had we known she would apply to NEC earlier, we would have made an effort to have her meet with that prof as well in advance. For other schools, it didn’t matter. For New School where she is going, getting to know the guy in admissions very well was key. He also happens to be on the scholarship committee so that certainly didn’t hurt her either. So it varies from college to college.
I think if your kid is serious about a couple of schools I would do everything possible to get to know some of the key people in advance of the auditions. Then on audition day they get to reconnect and are 'known" to the faculty conducting the auditions. It certainly can’t hurt.
Here is the link to the NEC resume format:
http://www.necmusic.edu/sites/default/files/2017-07/NEC%20Sample%20Artistic%20Resume.pdf
It isn’t necessary to do so much at the undergrad level, in our experience, though grad level is another story. In general summer programs help. For the job fair combining work and music experience in one resume can work fine o think.
@SpartanDrew my D has approximately 4 versions of a resume…lol! Thankfully it’s fairly easy to do this now, with Google Drive. So, yes, I would say a more-normal-person-employment-style-resume is probably a good idea for the job fairs!
Just one more thought on resumes…We had an important Director (at a big college MT/VP program) reiterate multiple times in a parent/student talk that he doesn’t care AT ALL what roles your kid had in High School; that it is NO WAY a predictor of whether or not you’ll be found a fit for a program (again, audition and potential are key). So by all means, list such things (only the bigger, important ones), but without much fanfare, lol. And remember that it will serve more to show how S or D has been spending their time than how good they are ;). Of course, if they’ve had a role on Broadway or won a solo with a major orchestra or at a big summer festival, go ahead and highlight that (haha!!!)! After that talk, my D listed some of her roles and “accomplishments” almost apologetically… hehehe. All this is to say, don’t stress too much about the resume! As long as it’s short enough and not too self important (as @bridgenail suggests), you’re probably doing it right. Honestly, for the purposes of college admissions, the “teachers” section is likely the most important.
Totally agree @dramasopranomom!! We removed all of D’s piddly high school performances, highlighted her voice teacher who is well known among all of the jazz voice faculty everywhere we went, and only listed big performances like YoungArts and major paid gigs etc. One version of her resume we actually listed links to her website, social media pages and youtube channel if anyone was so inclined to check any of it out. Doubt they did but wanted to show that she has a lot of stuff out there.
Really interesting! A’s resume touched on teachers as well as “bigger” accomplishments like all-state jazz ensemble, and regional honors, but also mentioned his black belt in tae kwon do. We tried to list anything that showed exceptional perseverance and/or leadership. We kept it short and, to Bridgenail’s point, un-braggy – there’s always someone better than you! He ended up sending it with a note to several people. A few ignored it (so far), but one professor had a long phone convo with him (based on knowing his teacher) and personally invited him to audition, while a second helped him set up a day of visits that included meetings with two program heads. So I think it didn’t hurt.
First post on CC: daughter applying for music majors for the Class of 2023. We live in the MidWest, and visited 9 schools junior year, and one school has a week-long summer music program my daughter has attended the past 4 years. She has narrowed that list down a lot, maybe too much. I trust that her instincts about schools and teachers are right and also realize I am nowhere near the same person she is. I worry a little that her instrumental teachers are suggesting narrowing the field of schools while she is primarily interested in vocal performance (although she wants to double-major).
I am looking forward to our journey, but of course nervous about everything. Our list includes six schools (that with me arguing to keep two more than she’d wanted to keep). I look forward to posting about our adventures here after lurking through a season or so. While pure reason may not be our guide, my daughter’s love of music is. Trying my best to help her navigate this year of applications and auditions.
Welcome, @Pikachu’s Mom! So your D is doing a double major? WHich schools did she like best?
@Pikachu I PM’ed you.
She likes smaller schools, is primarily interested in vocal performance, with cello performance as a second major, has an interest in vocal pedagogy, and maybe music education. She liked many of the schools we visited. I also looked on College Navigator for the number of students who actually graduated with a music (performance) major, as I thought that too few students doing so (a year) would indicate a lack of a cohort that would be similarly excited and interested in the profession. She dropped a school she liked for vocal performance when it didn’t seem there were many instrumental performance majors there, for instance. She has Baldwin Wallace (OH), Lawrence U (WI), Luther (IA), DePauw (IN), NEC (MA), and the state university here in town on her list.
That’s a great list! My S is doing Lawrence as well…it’s a long trip for us from the east coast so he’ll probably do a regional audition. It sounds like your D is right on track. Keep us posted!
Pikachu’s Mom- Your D’s list looks good, but she will want to give some extended thought to what she really wants to study. Performance majors are fairly demanding, I don’t really see how one would go about double majoring in voice and cello. My D’s college counselor advised all his students to spend some quality time with themselves, in a park or at the beach or wherever, without distractions, in contemplation about what they really want to spend their time and concentration on in college before applying. I think it was good advice.
If she ends up prioritizing a vocal performance degree, she might want to take a look at Eastman, which despite being attached to the larger URochester, is a bit of a smaller island and community unto itself, and a very strong program.
Thanks, NYCMusicDad! Eastman is a School that almost made it, but we were unable to visit it last year. We know an instrumental major who is loving it there, though. And I think the experience of preparing and doing auditions will tell D much more about where her priorities lie. She’s also expecting to do a graduate degree, and so did say that some programs might be a good fit for that.