Congrats to all on what sounds like a very successful round of auditions this weekend!
I am with S in Boston at the Berklee High School Jazz Festival. In addition to his ensemble coming in 1st place, he also received a Judge’s choice award and an Outstanding Musicianship award. As all of his college applications are submitted, with auditions starting next week, what is the best way to get this information added to his file? Send an email to admissions? Should he also send an email to the head of the Jazz programs he’s applying to?
@lkbux64 - congratulations! That is fantastic news and I’m sure will help!! I would send it to the Admissions Counselor and also the head of the Jazz Programs. I’ve read that the musician should just update them on what he is up to and reaffirm his interest in the school. I’m sure that will boost his confidence for auditions as well. I hope to see you on the audition trail (our daughter is also a jazz musician).
Live from LA, ha ha. I want to let everyone now and in the future know the deal for UCLA. First of all, nothing is provided, you need to bring everything…yes that was a shocker for us too. The jazz section “looked” like they had a full band set up and then somehow each auditioned went in and played with them, they sounded amazing! But for everyone else you bring your instrument, or in our case her voice, and anything else. Some brought USBs to sing along to but my D had an accompaniment. They told her she would have 10 min so she opted to do all accoustic in the end but it ended up being as long as she needed. Super low key, very welcoming and she had a great audition and interview. Feel free to ask any questions. I know auditions are over for this year but anyone in the future can PM me.
Today, FROST, here we go!
And a BIG congrats to all the great news I’ve been reading, its fun and sweet to read about everyone’s experiences while I’m sitting there waiting for hours on end.
@BayAreaMom2016 great scoop! Best of luck to your D and will be interested to hear how the Frost audition goes in LA.
Non music related but we got the BEST news yesterday that #1 son has been admitted to a super competitive automotive engineering graduate program at Clemson! WooooHoooo! The college stuff continues on in this family. At least I know he has 100% ROI with his chosen major LOL.
Good luck to all of your amazing and talented kids. For any of you that are auditioning at New School feel free to reach out to me. D will be working auditions there for most of February and some in March including March 3rd for @DrummerDad18 and @tripletmama. She would be happy to show some of your kids around. Can’t wait to hear how they all do and where everyone ends up!
@akapiratequeen YOU’LL BE AT EASTMAN!!! so you will be at the 9 AM mandatory meeting? we should look for each other. we are arriving early a few days in case of delays… going through O’Hare… ugh… we are coming from CA so it will be a long haul… but flying most of the day 1/30. Snow is predicted… I have been watching the weather report as I am not used to the snow…hotel we are staying at has a shuttle from the airport so… no rental car. I hope they have Uber there. anyone know?
@everyone: thanks for the posts! Sorry not to have responded more. Congrats to those who are receiving acceptances (@Lendlees and @MeritHopeful) and congrats on the birthdays of your kids @tripletMama! My oldest (junior in college) turned 21 Saturday, which started a bit of new round of anxiety regarding post-ug plans!
So, to destress (w/tripletMama), I pay attention to my dog! This keeps me from overstressing my kids. Also, trying to accept D’s seeming priorities (stay close to home) while still pushing the boundaries (imagining life for her at these farther-away schools and communicating the benefits occasionally without nixing the closer options.
My S just had BM cello audition at USC yesterday. We had to fly one day prior to his audition day because he was strongly recommended to do audition with piano accompaniment and we had to rehearse before going to the audition. USC has provided a list of pianists and luckily we could find a kind and excellent pianist who mainly does accompaniment at USC and Colburn. USC was kind enough to provide practice room pass where auditionee could practice all the time and they just need to return the pass before they leave. It was a very useful system and my S could practice more than enough. Since cello/viola/bass audition started at 1 pm and my S was assigned for 4:35 pm, he took theory exam first which was on 11 am. ( followed by 12 pm and 2 pm.) He said theory exam was quite easy.
30 min. before his assigned audition time, warm up room was given to him which was just next to the audition room.
There were 4 faculties in the room and he played all 4 pieces he prepared for audition, of course not in full but just enough to judge the student. It took about 15 min.
My S said he was shaking his bow but I am relieved that he did not make any big noticeable mistake under the stressful situation. We will be heading to Rice next week and hope he will feel a bit more comfortable after this stressful audition.
@BayAreaMom 2016 - wow! UCLA sounds very chill! It’s our daughter’s Plan B - if she doesn’t get enough scholarshps to any of the 4 she applied to, then she’s going to do a community college program in LA that feeds into UCLA after a semester or two. JB Dyas told her about it. She wishes she had applied to UCLA this year - but she didn’t think her academics were good enough. Hindsight is always 20-20 as we have since heard that audition is king. Oh well - she says she’s ready for a change from LA for a few years. But there is nothing better than the LA music scene (except maybe NYC).
@pikachu - I wish I had a dog - cats will have to do!
@chollist - sounds like a great audition - I’m wondering what pianist you used? Our daughter has used one from USC and also goes to Colburn (she practices there every night).
@SpartanDrew - congrats to your son. Have you visited Clemson?? - it is amazing!!! Our eldest daughter is down the road in Colombia at USC (I saw that on someone’s audition list). Great area of the country. We might be moving back there (or Florida) if we get all 4 kids on the East Coast so come visit! And our daughter will definitely take you up on your kind offer of a personal tour of the New School. She loves it there! (thanks to you). Such a relief when they choose a profession that is a know and good ROI. As music parents, we are rolling the dice! As you know my hubby thinks we are investing too much in our music daughter so I’m now feeling the pressure to prove him wrong with auditions coming up - the pressure is palpable! It’s so hard sometimes to be the only one in our family that truly believes in our daughter.
@chollist - I second @tripletmama’s question on the USC/Colburn accompanist. Would you mind sharing the name? PM please if you don’t want to share publicly. Thanks much!
@mperrine YES I will be there! PMing you. Also I am shaking in my shoes because S just reviewed the requirements and he needs lead sheets for everything he plans to play! Apparently the jazz program includes a group audition, an individual audition, a theory test, a sight reading test and an interview. Plus he’s planning to double in music ed and there’s an interview for that as well.
The next day he has Syracuse U. – there’s not much overlap and apparently they expect him to sing his pieces as well as play them! It’s like everyone has some weird twist. Luckily he knows the pieces and his voice is pretty good. But come on!
Oh, and he just looked at the remaining two auditions and one requires ALL NEW PIECES. Luckily he’ll have a couple of weeks to focus on it after the Eastman/Syracuse double whammy is done.
@chollist —your son will be an expert at auditioning, sounds like! My D auditioned for a music scholarship with a professor she knew from a summer camp, with only one song (during a festival so there was not enough time to have students do more than one). She did very well, but I’m nervous for the first audition in front of a panel of faculty members. Your son has experience!
@chollist, sounds like your son did well under stress! My son, also a cellist, opted not to apply to USC. His cello teacher’s son (a bassist) went there, and my son and his cello teacher both agreed it wasn’t the right environment for my son (he’s looking for low stress). I agree that your son will be a pro at auditions by the time he’s done!
@chollist thanks for sharing the accompanist name and congratulations on your son’s successful audition. We’re given 3 names to choose from for the day of auditions and will reach out to you in case for some reason they’re not available.
@Pickachu’s Mom, @sbjdorlo, thank you for your encouraging words, hopefully he gets better managing stress as he keeps on auditioning. Actually faculties were all nice and smiling according to my S, they just couldn’t say much as the audition was running late. So I am sure your kids will be just fine!
