It was basically my fault. I pressured him to check. My son never really cares.
@sssulliv Is your daughter applying only to the Oberlin Conservatory or also to the College? Also, given your proximity, did you consider Baldwin-Wallace, CIM, or Miami University (Oxford)?? I ask because my daughter is a junior, but also voice performance, and we have at one point or another been considering all of the above, in addition to CCM, but on that list have so far only visited Oberlin and CIM. She’s also a soprano, though – so your report about the CCM numbers gives me a bit of pause! She LOVED Oberlin, and has applied for the vocal academy there this summer. (We live in the Southeast and are NOT within driving distance of most of the schools on her list at this point – but the list continues to evolve. I’m wondering about another foray into the midwest at some point, so I’d love to hear your thoughts about on the ones near you and their VP programs!)
Is anyone else absolutely anxious with anticipation while awaiting an answer from Oberlin? The wait is just killing us! My D auditioned for vocal performance around 6 weeks ago…Any idea when the notifications go out? As Canadians it’s the only US music school she has applied to but she really has her heart set on it. Her second choice is a Canadian school which accepted her on the spot with a generous merit scholarship. The school is now encouraging her to give them an answer as to whether she will accept.
Haha @khill87 Champagne is MUCH more appropriate! I really wish we could all meet up at a jazz club at the end of this madness and toast to surviving! We may have to rely on a virtual toast (while listening to great jazz music) but get ready to raise your glasses! Just a little longer! We can do this!!!
Still waiting here for three more schools - S heard through the percussion grapevine (FB group I think) that Jacobs has sent out their acceptances. McGill asked him for first semester grades, so that’s probably a good thing and BU doesn’t notify until 3/23. Going away over the weekend was a good thing, and we tried to get S to think about which school he’d want, but he is really torn. Going to be a long, agonizing few weeks.
As I mentioned the City College audition went very well on 3/9 and they told her “check your portal-you should get notified by the end of the week.” That would have been Friday 3/15. So I went onto to her portal and took a closer look. There was a small section that noted they had not received ACT scores (which we sent on 10/20 and have the receipt for) and an official transcript from her school (which I believe she requested a few months ago when she completed the application.) My daughter could not call during school so I called CUNY admissions and was on hold forever. They confirmed that they did not get those 2 items and that her application would be deemed “in process” until they checked them off, even if a decision by the jazz department was already submitted. The last person I spoke with at CUNY was very helpful and was able to download the ACT scores by email. He gave his personal email for the school to send her transcripts, which they did immediately as we spoke on the phone. So he told me it would take a few hours to get the computer system updated, but we should be all set and hopefully get a decision “soon” whatever that means. Really didn’t need that extra stress today but why would I assume the final part of this journey would be smooth. Ugh!
Hi, My D also auditioned for Oberlin. Audition for VP took place on February 2nd and we haven’t heard back yet either and the wait is so torturous. It’s my D’s first choice. I read somewhere on another thread on this forum that the decision date was going to be later this year. But when I looked through Conservatory website I couldn’t find any information about it.
Although I have posted a couple times when I felt I could answer a question from my limited experience I am an admitted lurker prior to now. I can’t tell you how valuable this thread in particular has been on my daughter’s journey which only became clear that she would even go through this arduous process in oh say December of 2018:) I intially wanted to preserve her privacy as I (disappointedly)learned from this forum how competitive admission to vocal performance programs can be. Fortunately, she has had 4 beautiful acceptances with scholarship money along with one early rejection that stung. We are still waiting on her top choice and what she felt was her best audition. You are all such wise and wonderful parents ~ it’s been inspiring and I have made it through every audition (in polar vortex’s , 17 inch predicted blizzards (both driving), and a couple plane flights that were frequently made easier and less stressful w/ the great advice from your posts). Now that she is going “somewhere” I am ready to post but want to thank you all for the continuation of this wonderfully supportive and intelligent thread. Congratulations on all acceptances and good luck to all the musicians wherever they end up and here’s to the parental celebration as this exhilarating process finally comes to a close. Never would have made it w/out you all so thanks.
@khill87 my D soprano applied to Jacobs (IU) and Ball State which are definitely within driving distance and then of course a couple of NY schoosl which are technically within driving. You might also look at Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern though academically very tough to get in. She took a lesson at Kentucky. Questions to ask is how many underclassmen get chances to perform in the Operas. The answers vary greatly from school to school. Unfortunately for soprano you definitely are competing with alot of other voices of the same type. SUNY Purchase takes 7-14 students per year for the whole voice program. We estimated 60-80 student auditioned so that math is scary. Northwestern told us 600 apply, 150 get on site audition, they take 50 for the program. You have to get into Northwestern though - no breaks for music we were told.
Still nothing from SFCM or UCLA. I thought they were going to announce last Friday! Anyone else heard from them?
@dsinha, I believe UCLA is coming out this Friday, 3/22. Has your son heard from USC?
Is it my imagination or are there mostly either vocal performers or jazz artists on this list? Are these two areas of music performance more abundant/popular than classical instruments these days? Just curious.
Can’t speak for jazz musicians but voice seems to outnumber most other groups if not all. When we were touring Curtis the admissions person told us they get about 1000 voice applications each year.
sbjdorlo——— There are always Classical / Orchestral / Opera music performance majors over the century and recently, Jazz, popular music, vocals are sure catching up (and getting tough to succeed without a degree)! My son wasn’t sure until second semester of Sophomore year which one to study at college level, Jazz or Orchestral. There are tons of jazz musicians who have been successful with serious classical much background. My son and I love Classical / Orchestral music. I would love to hear your son’s cello someday!
I noticed that we were much heavier jazz this year than previous years. Normally the classical folks answer in and add at the end of their thoughts “, but I don’t know if that’s the way it is for jazz.”
dsinha——— No results yet from SFCM even though my son received an email from SFCM last Tuesday that a result would be coming last Friday.
@sbjdorlo - FWIW, my own knowledge and experience and that of my wife is classical (both instrumental and vocal), but my S is a jazz musician. It’s definitely been an education this past 18-24 months learning about the similarities and differences between the two worlds.
The vocal performers and jazz artists dominate this thread but it’s not necessary to say that they are more popular or abundant than classical instrumentalists. When we were at USC’s and UCLA’s auditions, we saw a lot of instrumentalists and to my observation, a lot of string players are Asian. Since this thread runs by parents and most of the Asian parents are 1st generation immigrants and English is not their native language. It makes it difficult for them to go on a public group and share their experiences.
Classical musician’s mother here… who has ever heard of jazz french horn? hahahahaha improv is impossible on horn. LOL
@mperrine - Actually, Miles Davis’s iconic “Birth of the Cool” album features a horn in the combo, played by either Sandy Sigelstein or Junior Collins depending on the track, so there is some jazz horn. That said, neither played an improved solo, so I guess your point remains . . .