Well 2 down 1 to go! FROST in LA went great today. It was held at a very large high school in Huntington Beach in their studio and recording rooms. We arrived an hour early and she had to warm up in a waiting room in front of a few parents watching on, they were actually pretty sweet and supportive. The person before didn’t show up so they took her early. We found out they had a very small keyboard and mic set up so she left her keys in the waiting room. She performed her new original and they talked with her about it and then she performed a rearranged cover and the professor actually got up and started playing with her then asked her to riff back and forth. She loved it! Then more questions. They seemed to like her and she was thrilled coming out of there. The theory test lasted about 1/2 hour and was harder than she thought but she doesn’t have a lot of knowledge there.
All in all a successful weekend!
I hope this post is helpful for those auditioning next year, I feel silly writing it after the fact but I would have appreciated it this year so…good luck everyone!
Pop audition at USC is in the can! My D had the last possible slot of the two day session, tonight at 640pm. Which had her a little freaked out during the run up but ended up being great. Although it was a little like a ghost town by the time we got there. We arrived early and there were a couple of no-shows so they offered to take her early. Without anyone else around it was very chill. Chalked it up to having a last name that starts with a W.
Audition was pretty much what they said it would be. Rudiments, sight reading, prepared pieces, a couple of grooves/feels and then some questions.
She’s happy with how it went overall. Beat herself up on some rudiment and sight reading nits but got good feedback on her prepared pieces and grooves. And really liked the new dept head. Said she could really learn from him and loved his teaching style.
So that’s it for L.A. and now she can commence stressing about Frost lol. She’s sharing her mom’s margarita at the moment to celebrate getting this one done and unwind.
Congrats to everyone who gave their all this weekend and the parents who helped them get to this moment!
Huge congrats to everyone on a successful audition weekend! This is getting so exciting! I especially appreciate the feedback on Frost since my daughter auditions for the MADE/CAM program February 8th.
I’m a little behind so…
Happy Birthday to the triplets @tripletmama. I can’t imagine how that day 18 years ago changed your life forever! I have only 2 kids who are 4 years apart, so I feel like such a slacker mom compared to you! Lol.
Huge congratulations to @SpartanDrew - such a huge accomplishment for your son which, in addition to your daughter doing so well at New School and in all her musical efforts, is definitely a reflection of your awesome parenting!
It a bit early in the day for drinks (but who’s judging here? lol) but CHEERS to all!
Audition #2 is complete. S auditioned yesterday at Carnegie Mellon. We drove over from Ann Arbor on Friday evening in order to relax and check out the music school on Saturday without pressure. On Saturday we filled our day by S taking care of his voice in the morning (easy scale work and steaming) then off to campus. Special thanks to posters here about travel humidifiers. Ours worked great in the hotel room!
We started our time on campus at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History/Art Museum. Parking is fairly easy as there are two parking garages on campus. One off of Forbes Ave and one off of Neville St. Additionally, the museum has it’s own lot.
The museum is a huge building that could easily take a day to cover. We spent a couple of hours there within the natural history section without ever entering the Art side. We then walked two blocks to The Porch for lunch, a good restaurant that straddles the CMU and Pitt campuses.
After lunch we walked back to campus and went to the music school. The visit was a good choice as we found out that S was in the first block of voice candidates (11:08am) and he learned he could come in fairly early (anytime after 9:30) to access his assigned rehearsal room. Good info to have that we would not have known if we hadn’t decided to stop by the admissions office within the music school.
On Sunday we left the hotel around 9:20, parked and walked to the music school by 9:40. Upon entering there was a very easy to see table staffed by current CMU music students who were checking in auditioners. Upon checkin, a student personally walked S to his rehearsal room and got him all set up.
S did a brief 15 warmup. We then left and confirmed exactly where the audition was to be held and confirmed with the student working the audition site exactly when S should arrive for his audition. We then left the building for some fresh air and returned 15 min later for final warmup.
The audition itself went great according to S. A panel of five professors was present. S sang one song and then the panel requested another from his group of three songs. The panel then asked S to sight read, which also went well.
About an hour later there was a small panel discussion involving two current CMU music students and a staffer from admissions. The panel lasted one hour and was driven by questions from the small group of parents and students in attendance. S found it very helpful. All in all, an efficient, friendly day at CMU.
@new2music great intel! And sounds like a pretty ideal scenario. Great idea to allow extra time. Sounds like your S nailed the audition!
Looks like NYU Jazz pre-screen results finally came out this morning @lkbux64 @WestOfPCH
@dsinha – yes, S just got one too. March 5th for him. How about you?
@lkbux64 March 5th as well!
@dsinha- that’s great – with all of their overlap, it was bound to happen eventually! Hope to see you there!
Finally, FINALLY, heard back from NYU Jazz. S got invited March 6. Happy to get the confirmation. Wish it was a different day of the week so S wouldn’t be out of school for most of the week since we live in LA and we have a March 3 audition at New School. Oh well.
We spent the weekend in LA for my bassoonist’s audition at USC. Third audition of 8. He loves it but doesn’t want to fall in love as it’s so competitive… we did come home to an acceptance letter from Jacobs so that was a plus!
Congrats to your S @leejay22 — both on the good audition and the great admit!! Onward and upward!
Congrats to @leejay22 and S! Would you mind giving more of a description of audition day at USC, or pm if you prefer. My S is a hs junior bassoonist who I’m trying to convince to check out USC. I know it’s a great school for bassoon. Is the audition an all day event? I know that it’s sometimes the same weekend as Rice and UT Austin so wondering if it’s doable to do all three on the same weekend. I’m already anxious about trying to schedule next year’s auditions coming from the West coast. Thanks so much!
@tripletmama and everyone else who was interested, glad to say that Julliard did agree to schedule auditions, so it all worked out. All auditions scheduled except for Curtis … still waiting for them to release pre-screenings lol :), and the funny thing is I am already finished with 3 auditions (UCLA, ASU, and SFCM) !!
@akapiratequeen glad Ithaca went well. Sounds like a special place.
@sbjdorlo congrats on getting Chapman on the books. I will keep my fingers crossed on the scholarship.
@mperrine sounds like Rice went beautifully. Congratulations on that one. And you won’t be battling snow at O’Hare traveling to Eastman luckily. It ended yesterday (along with schools being closed from it). But you WILL be battling record low sub zero temps of windchill -50s. EVERYTHING is closed again beginning this afternoon. Been getting calls all day about high schools and colleges being closed until mid-mornings on Friday. Employees are also instructed to go home and they never get the time off. Please be careful. We will be traveling by car Thursday for a Friday audition. Honestly a bit concerned.
@new2music glad UMich went well. Just found out yesterday S’s classmate got in (not for music) but has zero desire to go. Funny how some of us pray while others dread.
@tripletmama so sorry you have to head to ND now of all times. But I guess it will be a testament as to whether your D can handle it. Upper Midwest is cold. ND is a special kind of frigid. They make hearty people in that state. This week is especially bad in the Midwest so triple those layers please.
@lkbux64 great news on the recognitions. I would definitely find a way to let admissions know. I’m trying to figure out how to have S notify a couple places of his accomplishments since acceptance although I doubt it will do any good at places where money was already awarded. He literally just walked in as I typed this to inform me he made another Honor Band. Won’t know chair placement until he gets there.
@SpartanDrew congrats on graduate program at Clemson! Fantastic news. And it’s so sweet your D is willing to show off New a school.
@pikachu good luck coming at Lawrence this weekend. We see them in a few weeks.
@chollist congrats on getting through the stressful USC and good luck on your upcoming Rice audition.
@bayareamom2016 congrats on the Frost audition. Sounds like it not only went well, but was unique in an encouraging kind of way. Fingers crossed for your D.
@DrummerDad18 Also congrats on USC. Sounds like those are going well for all of your talented children here on CC.
@new2music thanks for such a detailed audition weekend report. I’m glad it went well for you,
@leejay22 also could negates on a great USC weekend but a bigger congrats on the Jacobs acceptance. What an accomplishment!
Congrats to all who had good pre-screen news. Our second pre-screen failed but oh well. Onwards and upwards as they say. I think I’m more disappointed than S. But he had a good all-state weekend mostly (despite being incredibly sick). Had a mishap with leaving behind a garment bag with brand new audition clothes at the hotel which is now giving us the run around about it. His teacher went back for it a couple hours after check out after they did nothing about our calls. They gave him the run around in person. We have been trying for days but are getting nowhere. Not a good omen for what is coming I guess. I can’t see somebody wanting or even fitting in his clothes. His next audition is Friday and he has an interview and theory test as well. Then it’s going to be a busy month from here on out. I will pop in when I can but know my thoughts are with all of you.
@UniversityMomOf2 sorry to hear about the prescreen. Onward indeed! Sending positive vibes!
@Lyoder2051 - glad that Julliard could accommodate another day/time. Can you please shed some light on how SFCM was? Our daughter auditions there on Feb. 23/24. (I gather it’s a 2 day thing - how would you suggest to prepare for it?). Also - Curtis still hasn’t released results - wow! Are you auditioning at Colburn, too?
@UniversityMomof2 - I’m sorry about the lost audition clothes - oh my! Nag the hotel. That’s just wrong. And - sorry about the pre-screen reject. I didn’t talk about this at the time - but I had never heard of serious musicians not getting through pre-screens - but our daughter (who is a serious musician) didn’t get passed at MSM. (although she passed NEC, SFCM, Berklee and the New School). She was surprised and so was I. (she even wrote an email to them asking why). I think sometimes many things come into play (e.g. like your FAFSA, etc). It can be baffling. I hope that his audition goes well on Friday. Our daughter flies on Friday to NEC for her first audition. So many years of prep for the next few weeks…
@tripletmama yes it can be baffling on pre-screens but I feel like my child is late to the game (not too late for a good education but too late for some of the top programs). He is serious and dedicated and academically in a good place but for undergrad I’m trying not to be too worried. He keeps getting told (including at the Future Music Educator’s Seminar he attended last week) that the name of his undergrad isn’t all that important to employment as long as he gets teacher certification. If he goes to grad school then that is where he should try for the big name schools. I think by then he will be better prepared as well. I’m still hoping for a positive result from his number 1, but we have a good second option if it doesn’t pan out and who knows what else coming down the pipeline.
I have nagged the heck out of the hotel. They say his stuff is gone. Started reading reviews of the hotel and stuff disappearing seems to be the recurring theme. I left a review accordingly and contacted corporate. Not much more that I can do aside from replace it. He’s a difficult fit so it will be necessary. Everything has to be special ordered for him.
Oh my kid didn’t get through all his prescreens either. I really think there can be SO many reasons. One visit we did was fantastic. Kid had an extra long lesson with an amazing teacher. At the end he asked kid a few unusually probing questions I suspect was about figuring out if he was hoping for merit aid (very directed questions about in state programs he was applying to). He was not invited to audition there. And you know what - we do want merit aid. If the choice is state flagship or a private at 2-3X the price, well that’s a pretty easy choice. So perhaps smart filtering for a program that has a limited merit budget. We do have some give for the right program. I think it can be about money. I think it can be about other students are maybe more known to them through summer programming, etc. In VP especially I think it can just a numbers thing. Someone posted last year about 45 sopranos showing up to audition for some program with 4-5 spots. They probably had another 45 on a list that could have been invited. Maybe some of them were similar to students already in the program. Maybe yield was high last year. Who knows.
I have a pretty atypical VP music applicant that applied for all dual degree programs. From 2 or 3 schools in particular, we got all smiles and waves on dual degree from admissions and very negative vibe direct from music faculty on why that was not preferred. My kid is NOT necessarily attached to a BM. He is keeping BA’s on the table too if he can work with faculty or have a good teacher like in a metro area. We talked to many dual degree students who started a dual degree after establishing themselves in the music program. Talked to one who auditioned for music after starting a BA. Talked to one who called admissions every week as a BA accepted student on the BM waiting list. My kid also isn’t super physically or vocally mature like more opera performance based undergrad programs might prefer as well.
Anyway - leave those no gos in the dust! I actually think rolling with rejection is needed for people really wanting to go into music and especially performance. Experiencing it can be a positive thing to know your kid is rolling well with this process and that doesn’t shake them. Onward and upward! 
@UniversityMomOf2 Our flight into O’Hare got cancelled… so we had to re route through Charlotte, NC… and then go North to Rochester. Whoever suggested to go extra early to Eastern snowy places…thank you!! at least we have some wiggle room and yes it will be cold. I hope the runway isn’t iced over. Luckily the hotel we are staying at has a shuttle from the airport to the hotel and anywhere in a 3 mile area… so even getting to Eastman we can take the shuttle. They also hold your room if you call the night before…more adventures… I honestly feel more for those driving… the roads will be brutal… good luck all