@tripletmama I’d give you a hug if it wasn’t weird, and I wasn’t character strings. Still, I think your daughter will be fine, but the most important thing is to look after yourself.
S auditioned at BU this weekend. It was freezing but a bit warmer than home which was in the grips of the polar vortex. Somehow we both flew to Boston in sub zero temps without bothering to pack hats, and S forgot gloves. Luckily all music related items made the trip!
I did not have the opportunity to really get a much of a sense of the campus or the school during the trip. It was too cold to walk around campus and the music school tour and information session was during S audition time. They also had a reception that night but we had to catch our flight. I am guessing that it would have been helpful to attend these events. Since we could not, he basically warmed up, auditioned and then we left. S visited in the summer and did a lesson so he has a good sense of the campus and the school.
Practice rooms were on a first come first served basis with none specifically assigned or set aside for those auditioning. S managed to snag one without much trouble. However I saw a few students wandering around searching for an open room. From my perspective it adds another level of stress when they are not assigned a specific room, but S does not seem bothered by it at all.
S said his audition was good. He did have to do some sight reading which was a bit nerve wracking.
@tripletmama sending hugs from my temporary digs in Los Angeles.
@tripletmama - I’m a firm believer in ‘natural consequences’. I’m sure your D did great and if she doesn’t get a lot of $$ then maybe next time (grad school?) she’ll do more to make sure it happens. I have a very independent S and it drives me (control freak/consummate planner) crazy. We just have to let them learn.
@lkbux64 - I grew up near UCLA and your S will love it there. The area around campus is so nice and and it’s just a quick 15 minute ride to the beach…which sounds great as it’s snowing up here in the PNW.
@new2music - thanks for the heads up about BU. We don’t have a huge amount of time to spend there as we have a late afternoon flight to Cleveland. Hoping they’ve set aside enough rooms for percussionists (they usually do as these kids can’t bring their instruments with them).
Thanks for the hugs everyone…I’m feeling better. I guess it’s typical in the midst of all this stress (with teenagers!). Now - that’s a recipe for the odd freak out. @Lendless - I’m all for “natural consequences” but if that means that they have to live with us beyond senior year - well, I get panicked. It’s probably because we have 4 kids within 20 months of each other and I’m just tired 
Other triplet missed the deadline for 11 scholarships on Friday. Just tired of it all. And I recently got back from Mexico!!!
@lkbux64 - UCLA sounds like a great fit for your son! Did he happen to run into JB Dyas? I think he is involved with the jazz dept. there. He has been so helpful and generous with his time. Now the dreaded wait begins!
The terrific thing about this board is that it is a support group (unlike what I’ve seen on other fora on CC). I love the camaraderie, the shared experiences, meeting others in more or less the same boat - I’ve come across so many of you that are non musicians (like myself), with children aspiring to a career in music. And, what most people don’t understand, and this group does, is how much hard work our kids put into this, the passion they have for their choice in career, the burning in the stomach to succeed at something that is so hard. In comparison, that CS degree is a piece of cake (I am a techie myself). None of those other majors have to go up against a panel of superlative musicians and be judged. None of them have to pin their hopes on a 10 minutes of their lives. Wow !
Thank you all for being here and being supportive !
Tripletmama & dsinha———1st SFCM / RJAM audition weekend report (2/2-2/3)
It stared at 4PM on Saturday with Master Class. Parents are invited as well. Faculty ensemble performed first (Matt Wilson-Drums, Julian Lage-Guitar, Edward Simon-Piano, Carmen Bradford -Vocal and Jason Hainsworth-Tenor saxophone), then two students ensembles performed to receive feedback. We heard great music. After dinner break, Q & A, then applicants observed rehearsals for next day’s concert.
Sunday, applicants checked in between 8:30-9:00AM. An audition method is very diffrent / unique. Applicants are all divided into groups, then each group had a long jam session. There were three audition judges. My son wasn’t asked to play any of his 8 audition repertoire listed online application. Instead, he was asked to play tunes in other applocants’ repertoire list (he sounded like that). No private interviews, theory test or sight reading test. At 12:00PM, all parents were invited to meet and talk to Dean. Then, casual socializing lunch time (lunch provided) for students, parents, Dean and faculty. After lunch, facility and dorm tours started. Great facility but only 35-ish practice rooms (for 400+ music students) which were pretty much taken by piano / strings students (even on Sunday). Dorm building is located about 8-minute walk. Dorm room (double occupancy) is super tiny but modern and functional with fully-equipped kitchen for self-cooking / dishwasher and private bathroom. The new dorm building (will open in Fall 2020) is even better, in an amazing location surrounded by lots of music venues and comes with two more concert halls, TAC studios, practice rooms and dinning options inside of dorm building. Then, Side x side concert for all four ensembles (total 20 students) with a faculty performing with them (7:00-8:30PM). Again, we heard great music.
My best guess…There were14 or 15 applicants for this weekend. No pianists or bassists but a couple of singers. I heard that next audition will have 35-ish applicants. So, it might be different schedule. Plus some video / skype auditions for international students. According to them, RJAM took about 15 (or less) freshmen last two years but they may take more this time. Because their focus is combo tranings but they hope to form a big band if instrumentation works out (means they need trumpets and trombones). This weekend’s applicants will hear a result from SFCM between 3/15-3/20. Scholarship / financial offer will come 3-5 days later.
It is a serious jazz program in a very small community (about 1/10 of The New School-Jazz). Academic part is rigorous as well as music part per Dean. RJAM students require more performances than classical students, so RJAM students workload sounds like very heavy. Students seem like getting a lot of attention, communications, support and training by faculty. All students get a 50-minute private lesson weekly. Most RJAM faculty including SFJAZZ Collective members are world-class traveling performers. So students take private lessons and master classes from various faculty depending on who is in San Francisco that time. It sounds like working out well with students and faculty seems enjoying more time to work with students, not only private lessons but in ensembles.
According to Financial Department, 99% of students receive some scholarship and an average scholarship is 55% of tuition.
Tripletmama———Bassisits would get classcial bass lesson regularly from a SF Symhony bassists, too. Currently 3 bassists.
dsinha———Jullian Lage is just wonderful! Currently 3 guitarists.
For future consideration———Currently (Spring semester in 2019), 2 pianos, 3 drums, 1 percussion, 1(2) singer, 1 alto, 5 tenor and 1 trumpet. They are all freshmen / sophomore because it is RJAM’s 2nd year.
On the drive home Saturday, S began complaining of a painful lump in his jaw. Took him to the doc this morning and it’s a blocked salivary gland – a new one on me. Has anyone dealt with this? No fever and he said it doesn’t hurt more when he plays, but uncomfortable. He’s now on antibiotics and will also do salt water gargling and warm compresses.
I’m sorry he’s uncomfortable but also secretly relieved this didn’t come up until the drive home! His next audition is Saturday but the doctor says it should be fine by then.
On another note: now that auditions season is in full swing, thought it might be helpful to link directly to last year’s final admits post. Here you can see the date each school notified students that they were admitted. Some are rolling or EA/ED, but it’s still a very useful guide: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21541100/#Comment_21541100
@akapiratequeen - sorry about your S’ issue. Never heard of it, but nothing surprises me anymore. I’m feeling the same way (dodging bullet) that my S got his strep diagnosed in time for the antibiotics to do their trick. Now we are dealing with snow at home (rare occasion here in PNW) and hoping we can actually get out of town on Thursday.
Sorry about your son’s blocked salivary gland @akapiratequeen. I’m glad it was after this weekend’s auditions with enough time to recover before the next audition. Thanks, too, for posting the final admits post from last year. It’s a great reference. I haven’t been too focused on the dates, but now that I’ve checked them out, it does seem like an impossibly long time from now. . . .
@tripletmama, I don’t think that my son saw JB Dyas at his UCLA audition. I just looked him up and found the article you referred to. Very interesting.
Wow! Busy weekend for everyone! I don’t post a ton but it’s exciting to wonder how it will all turn out and to cheer on all these students, and to feel not alone in this crazy process.
@tripletmama I can certainly relate to the frustration of having all these expenses piling up while kid does things that make you think they aren’t doing everything they could be! And yet, it’s time to let them make their own mistakes as well as have their own successes. It’s just that I only want to fund the successes! My son has made a few decisions I’ve thought were questionable (choosing alternative repertoire not on the school’s list at the last minute, ditching his coat and tie and rolling up his sleeves for one audition, refusing to answer a professor’s email in what I thought was a timely manner, etc.) and things seem to be working in spite of my doubts. Time to trust his judgement just a little bit.
@akapiratequeen hope your son recovers quickly. I’m at the point of wanting to wear a mask so I don’t get sick from all the coughing people everywhere and share it with my son. So far so good but he needs to stay well till mid April at least! That’s a tall order.
Son has auditioned at ASU and UNT in the last two weeks, and we had our first flight with the cello. Thank you Southwest for making that easy, and thank you to the cc parent who messaged me and helped hugely with the ticketing process.
The two audition experiences were very different.
ASU was the bare bones show up and audition experience. There was an info session which we skipped in favor of lunch since he had done some sessions with the music department before. There were plenty for people around to make sure he got to the right places, and there were some cookies and lemonade. The music building at ASU is very pleasant, with a lovely courtyard, and the Arizona winter weather was beautiful. The voice audition was before the entire voice faculty, and the strings audition was in front of the strings faculty, so lots of people. He didn’t get much feedback beyond smiles and nods, and hearing that they liked his essay, and felt like his strings audition was not his best playing. There is no opportunity to rehearse with the voice accompanist beforehand, just a brief conversation, and the accompanist started him at far too slow a tempo on one piece and he had to deal with that but otherwise thought the voice audition went well. There was also a long music ed interview, which he felt great about (he was at the end of the day and had a nice long chat with the interviewer,). Overall I think he had a good experience and felt like he could do well there if admitted.
In contrast, UNT really rolled out the red carpet. We were sent a list of classes and performances the students could sit in on for the two days before auditions. S took advantage of that on Friday and I think it was really helpful. He sat in on a choir rehearsal, a large intro music history class, a couple of student showcases. These were grad students, and they were outstanding. I attended the strings showcase. Very impressive. Saturday there was a long table of fruit and pastries, several info sessions for various departments within the music department, an encouraging speech by the dean of the school of music, tables set up from housing, financial aid, music ed, various music fraternities and sororities, etc etc. They had some voice students sing at the intro session. Plenty of students around to help and chat and answer questions. Lots of auditioning students and nervous parents. Very short (allotted 7 min) music ed interview but with more focused questions than at ASU. Strings audition was in front of three faculty, two for his instrument and one other. This went very well with some direct, positive feedback. He was pulled aside after his audition by one professor and told he was admitted to professor’s studio pending approval from the music ed people. That was unexpected, very encouraging, and taken with a grain of salt pending an official notification. Voice was a panel of faculty again, even many more people than at ASU. He did get to rehearse with the accompanist beforehand and felt like that audition went great with less direct but very positive feedback again. Also a sight reading segment in another room, which, going by the general buzz among students, was very challenging. S had forgotten there was sight reading at this audition, but thought he did well—he’s not intimidated by sight reading. By the end of the visit, S could really see himself there, so could I, and I am finding myself rereading @GoForth journal with more attention to detail. We have family in the general area who are lobbying hard for this one as well. UNT said decisions are sent out by mid-March.
Two more schools to go. I’m finding myself very glad my son did not apply to more schools, but I really hope he does get admitted to one of them! Friday night I was kind of panicking, by Saturday evening getting rejected everywhere seemed less likely and it was easier to be hopeful. He hasn’t done summer camps and festivals, and this was the first foray out of our state. We came away feeling like his musical background and preparation are strong in the larger context. Very encouraging.
@Parentof2014grad wow wow wow! What great experiences! Sounds like S wowed them, especially at UNT. Thank you for providing so much detail I’ll be interested to see if these “you’re in pending academic admission” side conversations bear fruit (we had one as well). At the very least, what a great confidence booster. Congratulations to you both!
Wow, @Parentof2014grad, so your son is applying for a double degree in cello and voice? Or how does that work? And I so appreciate all the details! Congratulations on the offer for the UNT music studio!! I’m sure he’ll be admitted.
My son is a cellist and ASU was originally a high priority. Unfortunately, he had scheduled his audition on 2/16 many months ago and more recently found out that the cello professor wasn’t even going to be in town. The guy was very slow in communicating and in the end, they couldn’t work out a time for an audition or trial lesson because my son had scheduled all his other auditions already; so my son sent in a recording and basically wrote off the school since they prefer live auditions.
We looked at UNT and Texas Tech for my son, but in the end, my son’s schools were all closer to home.
@sbjdorlo thank you! I honestly don’t know how pursuing an instrument and voice will work out for him. I thought the audition process might narrow his options. Not so sure now. Maybe the decision process will force his hand? UNT seems more open to students pursuing a secondary instrument. It was easy to apply that way and no one was thrown by it on audition day. S really wants two primary instruments and I think that’s not totally realistic anywhere. But if he can take lessons on both and keep his hand in one while pursuing the other I think that might be doable, for music ed, depending on where he is accepted. Maybe the college experience will focus him a bit more.
At ASU, S has not had a sample lesson with the professor, only a grad student at a summer program more than a year ago. He hadn’t met the professor prior to the audition but did like him from the initial impression. If your son is admitted based on his video maybe you can schedule a lesson then. We had a hard time scheduling the ASU audition. All the dates conflicted with something else important and we just had to make one work. I don’t think a video audition is an option when you live in the Phoenix area.
@Parentof2014grad - Awesome! If you have any particular UNT questions, I may know something or can channel it to S. I haven’t been aware of restrictions there on pursuing other instruments. I know S is currently a bassist in one jazz choir and a singer in a lower-level jazz choir.
On the classical side, I am less in touch. Of course, S also takes classical bass lessons along with jazz bass lessons. In general, within the realm of what I hear, you can do as little or as much as you want, and it will reflect in where you get placed. It has been said, and I can see how it could be true, somewhat depending on you instrument, it is easier to get in than to stay in. That is I occasionally hear of certain folks on certain instruments are not auditioning (they audition each semester for placement) up as far as they need to make certain bands, and then they are faced with the prospect of dropping out. By the same token, it is easy to get in and accelerate youself, like, for example, Michael League did.
Re #1605
Sorry this passed a little but replies are coming in at blistering speed and I didn’t want to forget this one!
@lkbux64 What an amazing way to end an audition day! Your son must have aced that earlier sessions so much that the faculty felt comfortable putting him on the spot! I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t receive an admit from them. Such a confidence booster what happened there and good on your son pulling it off like a boss! Congratulations!
I like @GoForth’s comment: it’s easier to get in than to stay in.
While NOT an affirming “you can do everything” response, I think it reflects the reality for “multi-focused” kids…be it two instruments, dual degrees, a minor or whatever. In general, it does take a certain amount of attention and focus to achieve musical excellence in one area in a short 4 years (and that’s actually an understatement…it take a LOT, meaning most, of your attn and focus). While there certainly can be teachers/program/depts less enthusiastic for these students, there are also ones that will look for musically talent kids and trust them to figure out where they should focus during Freshman/Sophomore year…with some nudges from the teacher (my D’s case). I have heard many stories of this happening. You enter as one kind of musician and come out as another…and isn’t that what college is suppose to do?
And NOW let the courting process from schools begin…some give you roses…others play hard to get…and some you give you mixed messages…but the ones with the roses and promise notes are certainly hard to resist! It’s best to wait however…bc sometimes the “quiet ones” can come on strong at the end.
@Parentof2014grad - This richness of offerings that you saw seems to continue on. After S started at UNT, we learned they had an on-campus dentist office and pharmacy. There is a luthier who who can visit at-will to set up your instrument for free. There are doctors you can see for free for musical injury issues - at least for analyzing and recommending exercises for S’s slightly discloated rib, they did that for free - the TA actually asked S if something was hurting him, and S said yes, and the TA said go see Doc XYZ, and that worked out. Also, the food, if on a food plan, is ample, and there is the all-vegan cafe. It makes many things handy.