Thanks @sunnysar, with your link and note about the usefulness for music students recording classes, you’ve addressed our March birthday present quandaries for both of our musical kids (our USC engineering major is music director for his a Capella group and will use his more than his future music major sister).
As always I’m a week behind and reading pages at a time and making notes as I go.
Congratulations to all of the families who survived their first audition weekends, especially those dealing with the Midwest snow or @AmyIzzy who had the ax throwing going on. I was shaking my head at having to climb stairs and then immediately sing but smiling at your daughter’s triumph of having them singing her original song. I also enjoyed your post about your thoughts on safety schools combined with the discussion that has followed thus far (page 82 of thread).
Our definition of safety has changed many times over. On the one hand I realize no audition program is ever a safety. But for us I have termed safety as places where he is at the top of academics, or places more geographically appealing, or places offering more merit money or need based aid. I guess I have several categories of safety. But a gap year for us is a bad plan b financially since I have two in college back to back. If he takes a gap year next year my daughter will lose her need based aid that she is now eligibile for with her brother in college right behind her and on the other end, he won’t have the benefit of his sister being in college his junior year so that year costs him more. Maybe not the wisest reason to go to school but for us finances are a big obstacle. If his sister weren’t in college at same time I would absolutely go for gap year if he didn’t get his choice. But I don’t think it would make him happy academically.
Many know my son is a late bloomer musically and only at the very last minute chose this path so he isn’t as prepared as he should be for the entire process. That limits him some. Also he wants to teach. His current teachers feel that for teaching undergrad name isn’t important. Just get certified to teach and get into a program that will get you employed. They feel the name is more important at the graduate level. So that has guided our search a bit. Also many programs that interested us didn’t offer music Ed as a degree.
With respect to different music for pre-screens vs auditions, one pre-screen he did landed him acceptance to the program and an offer to audition for scholarship (I thought he would be auditioning for the major). But he just got an email from one of the music heads saying he was looking forward to hearing him play that piece at his audition. And another program wants two pieces for pre-screen, then if invited to audition, the same two pieces plus one additional. So although I am sure it varies by program and instrument that is what we have encountered.
@dsinha looking forward to the book.
@bridgenail love the story about dating and the car sickness analogy.
@MeritHopeful thank you for your posts. Wishing we had looked at a few of those. Ruled out UNC for price though.
@highnotes2018 congrats on passing Bienen. I know that’s been a real nail biter for many.
Off to Miami tomorrow for Frost on Friday. Hope the weather is good!
Good luck @highnotes2018! I’m sure the weather will be better than Philadelphia where we are off to on Friday! The nice folks at the Boyer School sent an email today about the impending weather ‘event’ to offer reschedules or video submissions if folks can’t make it.
Lots of folks going to Frost this weekend - good luck everyone!
My daughter’s jazz bassist friend sent in pre-screen auditions to Frost and they waived her in-person audition requirement and are offering her the world. My daughter is kicking herelf for not applying - she at least could have used it to leverage scholarships. Oh well! Her loss. Maybe she will listen to me next time! 
Good luck everyone doing auditions this weekend! I’ll be in Cabo in Mexico on a “work” trip. So looking forward to fun in the sun.
Got an email from NEC today saying that they hope parents are coming to the audition. Oh well. I’ll see what the flights look like when I return - but given that it’s only two weeks away, not holding my breath. Triplet sister to musician got a golf scholarship to one of her favored aviation school - so looks like she might be set. Helping two seniors at the same time is killing me!
My son has his first audition Saturday at Maryland. Previous contact with the music school has been pretty disorganized so hopefully there will be someone there to let him know where to go, lol. He did like the faculty member who gave him a trial lesson.
He has six auditions in the next five weekends and all-state auditions the weekend after that. He’s fitting in a snowboarding day Monday and I’m worried he’ll break his arm/hand/wrist/fingers.
Looking forward to the update on UMD @eh1234 . Good luck to your son!
Seems like we’re all hitting the road in the next week or so. This has been looming for so long that it’s hard to believe we’re here! Really appreciate the advice from veterans and the solidarity of this board. I’ll be enjoying the polar vortex on three, back-to-back, 4-6 hour (each way) drives from central New Jersey to upstate New York: Ithaca, Rochester, Syracuse. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Good luck to all on this weekend’s auditions! My S didn’t apply to Frost so we are missing out on Miami, but looking forward to a week in Los Angeles in early February. Curious – is anyone else going to be at the Berklee High School Jazz festival next weekend? It will be our 4th and last time time with our senior son, and the first time for my 8th grade drummer.
@tripletmama What does that mean exactly? I just want to make sure there is accurate information on here for the other Frost applicants. Either they are doing things vastly differently this year or that’s not accurate info. Is your D’s bassist friend an EA applicant with stellar elite top tier academics? With a 4.0 UW GPA and a 34 or higher ACT? Even then I don’t believe they offer any merit amounts this early on unless they are doing things differently this year than every other year. This school is a very elite academic school like USC and difficult to get in. I think @vistajay’s S last year was the only one from our group that was invited to a special scholarship event and even then I don’t believe they heard about merit money until the rest of us did.
Just want to clarify so others don’t panic about their kids chances for admission with merit money.
@tripletmama, although they didn’t have the new building back then, I think NEC did the least - with exception of New School - for parents on audition day. I don’t think you’ll be missing much. Also, there’s lots of contemporary music being played at NEC with not a lot of emphasis on genre which has been liberating for my S.
I thought the NEC email to parents was a really nice touch! I’m SURE you don’t have to be present on audition day, though. I just think it was a nice way to sound welcoming
@drummergirl : Good to heat about the genre/busting. That is really encouraging as it’s more akin to real world music/making.
@SpartanDrew Frost EA applicants got an email in December mentioning the result @tripletmama describes as one of three possibilities (though the least likely) for Frost EA folks after review of pre-screen videos. The most likely is deferred to Regular and an audition required (that was our result, hence the plane I’m on now), The others were based on the videos telling them what they needed to know to either admit EA or deny EA. The timing Frost set up was a little weird in that those required to audition got a note in early January. The others getting really good or really bad news got silence (not knowing which the camp they were in) for a few extra weeks.
I felt the same way. I hit reply on that note and wrote back saying thanks and looking forward to it etc and got a personal reply from Dean of Admissions whose name was on the earlier non-personalized email. There is definitely an open communication channel and that is very encouraging as well.
@SpartanDrew - owwww it’s unicorn time!! One of my favorite times of the year. Let the unbelievable acceptance and merit offer stories begin…right before you audition…lol. And don’t be surprised if someone walks around the audition area saying their kid got an offer on the spot! Full ride! They were “begging” the student to attend! And you walk in for the audition and it’s crickets.
Don’t play that game. Tell yourself its not true bc in 90%+ cases, it’s probably not. Sure…a few times maybe something happens…like they say “we loved to see you here”…not exactly begging. So this is the time for mental discipline…don’t get sucked in by these stories (true or not). It’s not helpful to you. Ignore.
Thanks, @bridgenail for the reality check. There will always be that parent who tells you that, following her kid’s Curtis audition, he was invited to be a full time section member of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
@MeritHopeful yes that is new this year for the EA kids. That being said I still don’t think Frost doles out talent merit money until everyone has auditioned and they are all done. Again, unless something has changed this year. I don’t recall if any of the EA kids who were accepted EA found out about academic money right away but again that’s a completely different pool of money and only for the seriously elite academic students.
@bridgenail I love it!!! Totally 100% agree! :-))
We just got details on the NYU audition: Ten minutes, including playing (3 pieces, they warn they will interrupt though) and interview questions. No room for warm ups so come ready to play.
I’m sorry, but how will this give them more information than the 20-minute video he sent them? And it’s not bad for us since NYC is fairly local, but what about kids flying in from goodness knows where for their ten minutes?
Am I overreacting or does this seem dismissive?
@akapiratequeen Honestly video doesn’t usually provide the level of fidelity necessary to really evaluate a musician. In speaking with people that have been on the other side of the audition table listening to auditionees they can usually tell in the first :30 whether the student is someone they want in their studio. Harsh? Maybe, but that is the reality of it.
Totally the reality. And yes, it’s hard to wrap your head around flights, cross-country drives, hotels, food, emergency therapy, all for ten minutes of playing time. Of which 9 1/2 minutes are superfluous because they CAN and WILL make their decision in the first 30 seconds.
:-S you’re right @TxSker — and when I told S about the ten minutes he said, “At least they’re not wasting my time.”