One time the only space available for my son to practice in at a hotel was a small fitness room. It worked great–he stood on the treadmill with his music propped up on the treadmill control display. There was a water cooler to keep him hydrated, and fortunately nobody came in to exercise that day! It was away from hotel rooms and so no complaints from anyone. Not ideal, but doable.
@BayAreaMom2016 and @dsinha, S and I will also be at USC for the jazz auditions, tour, and student panel on Saturday. Hope to see you there!
Yes, we have also used a small fitness room for practice until it closed at 11pm. There was another guest who had come from the pool area just to hear the music. It never occurred to us to check with the front desk first. Complaining about music at 7? I’m usually sensitive to noise complaints, so I tell my S to stop at 9 when practicing in the hotel room, but 7???
@“Bay Area Mom 2016” @drummerdad, @lkbux64 and my son also have USC on Saturday/Sunday. On Saturday we’re doing 2! CSU Northridge at 10am and USC Jazz at 2pm. Son’s also auditioning on Sunday for the Popular Music Guitar program ¯_(ツ)_/¯. This is it for us though. One local (SFCM) audition in a couple of weeks, but otherwise it’s all hurry up and wait from here 
We are at a hotel room in LA. My son is practicing with a huge mute and his viola sounds like mosquito. Nobody complains so far.
Jealous of you LA and FL types! Enjoy!
Clarimom, Busy_momma———Fitness room is a really good idea!
My son has a big ol’ practice mute for his cello. We asked for a room in a far off corner where no one would be bothered and that worked fine. He just didn’t practice late. I had a moment of panic when he started singing in the shower at 11pm. No practice mute for his giant voice. No one complained who wasn’t in our room, and I hope no one was secretly furious. At least he sings well…
CaraCoMO———I read and printed out the aritcle in summer after his 9th grade (If I remember correctly). He knew about it and he said that all of this jazz friends knew about it. But he has less than 100 tunes all completely memorized / chord changes, etc. It is too challenging to reach 200 tunes for teenage jazz musicians who must go to school five days a week, do homework and socialize while they play music everyday! And my son even doesn’t want to dress up for live auditions even though the article recommends…So, I try to forget about the article to avid last-minute “discussions” with my son…
@JeJeJe - yup - our daughter has taken a lesson or two from the guy who wrote the article. Here’s the deal - unless you’ve been playing jazz for years (e.g. 10 years+) I think it’s impossible to know 200 to memory. Our daughter, who just started in the jazz world 2 years ago, has struggled to reach 200. Her school in LA requires that they learn close to that and she just hasn’t been able to. She likely knows 120 or so…but the issue is that you learn them and then unless you play them all the time, you forget them so it’s like chasing sheep. Our daughter is having another lesson with the author of the article (JB Dyas) so I’m sure he will chide her this week. (btw, he’s at UCLA). Our kids can just do their best - and I agree with you JeJeJe - if they also go to school, play in ensembles, do gigs - when will they have the time to memorize 200? (just my opinion). It does help on the gig front, though - if someone calls a tune, it’s great to have it in your back pocket.
I think S said to me that he knew 45 tunes when he was auditioning. I think he is possibly close to 100 now. He actually has timeslots in his week where he reviews all “known” tunes. He can’t play them all in one session, so he rotates through his list during that timeslot. By “known”, it means its memorized.
I have to say that I am glad that I didn’t know about the 200 song “requirement” earlier in the process as it really would have been demoralizing. I would think that having that broad a repertoire at 17-18 years old would be the exception and not the rule.
CaraCoMO———So, I think that you shouldn’t bring up about 200 repertoire to your son.
Enjoy traveling with your son / daughter to support live auditions. I have been enjoying even though every single trip costs us $1000+…This is the last year before he takes off…
Choosing not to share that article with S as well—can’t do much about it in the next week! He’s probably in the 50-60 range at this point, but as @tripletmama says they come and go.
He’s had to learn a lot of songs (15 to date) for the auditions and I think it’s been a good experience in that regard. He’s got two new ones to add for next week but immediately identified similarities with ones he already knew and “shortcut” the learning process/adapted solo language with help from his teacher. Once he knows it’s (say) an F blues and learns the head, he now feels confident he can pull it off. He’s also learning how to efficiently give a new combo they information they need to back him in a song they don’t know well.
@JeJeJe He might have already seen the article. The had to switch to an earlier flight at the last minute for SFCM and he could not find his dress shoes anywhere. He ended up wearing his Vans ( :-< which I didn’t know about until after the fact (he went with his father). I think I might just print it out and highlight the parts that he can actually do something about at this point.
@akapiratequeen Good points! The SFCM was good for my son, it gave him a chance to see how the other people auditioning were instead of him by himself.
Thanks @CaraCoMO! Related and in case I wasn’t clear, S’s teacher says learning the songs becomes much faster and easier once they know the language. For most, this happens in college or during full-time professional play. So don’t sweat too much (he says) about getting from 100 to 200. Learn the building blocks and go from there.
Happy audition day to all of you lucky people at Miami/Frost! Enjoy the warmth and sunshine while some of us are suffering still in the polar vortex. :-((
If you see a black cat walking around by the Rat and the music building like he owns the place, his name is Bully and in fact he does own the place. He is anything but what his name suggests so love him up and say hello from us here in Michigan. I love the Frost cats, I think they are great therapy for stressed out kids.
Have a sangria on the picnic table swings at The Rat! I’m so jealous can you tell?!!! Break legs everyone! Can’t wait to hear how the day goes.
I also enjoyed the campus botanical garden that was a longer walk away from the Rat/pool. There are many little subdivisions on campus that are neat to see.
Enjoying our morning coffee overlooking the lake while my D and @AmyIzzy’s D take the theory test side by side. Will switch over to sangria for the audition. 