Great (and very full) day at Frost yesterday! Morning information session was well run and compelling. S said the 30 minute theory exam was not too challenging for him. After the test, the students were met outside by a great pep band and cheerleaders (and sun). Made you feel like you were at a “big time” university—very different feel than at a small LA college or stand alone music conservancy.
Q&A session for parents after that was good, although the asst. dean who led it was not well prepared to talk about the rest of the U outside Frost. I would recommend staying an extra half day if anyone is interested in learning more about the University of Miami for a separate tour and info session.
S did not have a problem finding warm up room (if anything, he may have done too much warming up). He arrived early to audition, which was good because the person before him was a no show and he was able to start a little early. Sang three and a half of his charts (out of the four he was asked to prepare), did some sight reading and then answered some questions. (Including where else he was auditioning). All in it ran about 20 minutes.
After lunch the different departments each had a forum and S and I went to a fantastic jazz session. Then on to a studio class for vocalists and then a tour of the Frost campus. S and I then did a very quick run around the rest of U of Miami before heading to the jam session a little sweaty at this point.
There were two jam sessions running simultaneously—one for trumpets, vocalists, and rhythm instruments and the other for sax and trombones and other rhythm players. Faculty asked the students what they played and brought them up 4-5 at a time. S loved the session and he sounded great—although his voice sounded a little raspy from a long day. It was really great to hear all these talented, young musicians. Faculty weren’t taking notes but they were clearly paying attention.
We literally ran out of there, drove through traffic back to airport and he just barely made his flight on to LA for Sunday’s audition at USC. I am staying an extra day in Miami and wife is meeting him in LA—the only way we were going to make this bi-coastal back-to-back auditioning work.
Thanks @akapiratequeen. All these great kids flying all over the country is really something! Hoping everyone stays healthy and makes it across the finish line in one piece!
@akapiratequeen - there’s something to be said for not having beautiful sunny days constantly beckoning you outside when you need to be practicing and studying a lot, just to stick up for the frozen North.
My son has two auditions next weekend (his last weekend). I wouldn’t mind if he dropped one, but I don’t think we would agree on which one he should drop, so I’m not saying anything!
Well, my son might not be nervous, but I kept waking up last night worried about his audition today for some reason. Probably because it’s his #2 and most affordable school. He worked with the teacher at his summer program and loved him so I’m hoping for the best.
@jazzboydad wow, sounds like a great, very full, day and I’m so impressed with your idea of splitting up!
It’s been a little rainy in LA but is warming up to a nice sunny day. We will be on campus most of the day doing theory, panel and maybe the tour then back Sunday for auditions.
All these stories of what these kids, and us parents, are just amazing. Hats off to everyone!!! And good luck to all auditioning this weekend wherever you are!
First impressions of CIM - super friendly security who told S to look around and use a practice room if he wanted. (Auditions aren’t until tomorrow)
The area is beautiful - CIM is nestled among museums and parks as well as Case Western University.
They even had a little welcome bag at the hotel for students who are auditoning this weekend. Really looking forward to tomorrow. S will definitely be well prepared!
@sbjdorlo@Eastman it was 40 questions and 2-3 pages long… about half an hour. Oral section… multiple choice and mainly intervals. good luck… this is the only one my D has taken so far
NYU Music Ed in the books! S arrived in their fabulously located, West Village building at 1:40 pm for a 2 pm slot. Signed up with the admissions counselor, who he liked, and was immediately given a practice room. A few people there but not a big crowd. Had about 20 minutes in the practice room, after which he was called to perform for a panel of three. He played two out of three prepared pieces – one classical, one jazz. He felt he played well. They didn’t ask for the third piece, and there was no theory or ear training test. This was followed by about 5 minutes of questions, starting with “Why NYU?”
After a nice conversation, he was out the door less than an hour after his arrival. He actually felt NYU jumped a bit in the list after this no-frills but positive experience.
I won’t repeat all the great and accurate details from @jazzboydad about the logistics and flow of the Frost Friday audition. It’s well run, polished and leaves a great impression of the school.
I will only add that the kids and staff we met and encountered throughout the day were super nice and very helpful and encouraging at every step of the day.
The private audition for drummers is exactly as described on their site. Ran through all the key feels and grooves with recorded tracks. And then did some improv over some additional grooves.
The jam session at end of day is a bit stressful due to the format. Nobody knows what the songs are until a singer calls one. And then hopefully the instrumentalists can fake their way through it with some coaching from faculty if they get stuck on a change. They made sure everyone got a chance to do their thing. And all the faculty were present and tuned in.
The thing with splitting the group in two may have been a peculiarity of having so many trumpets and sax players this particular Friday. My D was in the same room with @jazzboydad and in fact she played drums on his son’s song. A lovely take on “there will never be another you”. P.S. I have the whole tune on video of you want it
Anyway. That’s 3 down. One to go. Just New School left on March 3rd
I will echo @DrummerDad18 how extremely friendly everyone was at Miami Frost, from faculty, to administration, to students to fellow auditioners, and even the food court workers.
An added note: I didn’t realize this because I stepped away from the class just before the end (and she just told me this) but the songwriting professor who was in her audition called her over after the class (remembering her name) and chatted for a bit, pointing out the band students and how he vividly remembers each of their auditions. The current students joined in and talked to her for awhile. So no wonder she was glowing when I returned. Lol.
She knows that Miami Frost is a financial and academic reach and the programs she is applying to (MADE/CAM) are very competitive, but she said that Miami definitely moved up on her list after her positive audition experience. She is still open to all the schools on her list but it was interesting to see her increased enthusiasm as the audition day went on.
Bravo to Miami Frost for such a welcoming, organized audition day! Yes, it was long (especially for jazz kiddos) but very worthwhile.
Sounds like an amazing day in Miami! @jazzboydad@AmyIzzy@DrummerDad18 how great to see your kids interacting and thriving in that great environment. Drummerdad, I’d love to see the video! Congrats to all!
@Busy_Momma, I am from Seattle area and I am just experiencing this situation. I had a flight booked from SeaTac to Atlanta, GA at 2/9 leaving early on 6:25 am. It started to snow crazy on 2/8 so I booked a motel really near SeaTac and spent one night there. As I woke up early to leave the motel at 4 am, my car couldn’t drive out due to piled snow! I had to excuse the motel about the situation, telling them I will pick up my car on Sunday and had to take lyft to the airport. I managed to get to the destination in time for tomorrow’s audition. Lesson I learned from this experience, book a direct flight if there’s one going. Plan ahead of time but always be flexible and be prepared for unexpected situation. In case of weather problem, let the school know and they will work out with you. When I was unsure if we could make it to the audition, I emailed the school for heads up, and they replied that they will do all they can to make up his audition in case of weather problem. Hope this helped you a bit.
Chollist———Thank you for sharing. I am very sorry for your situation but glad you managed it! This is one main reason why I tried to book direct flights for live audition trips (my son has only 3 major trips). But I needed to choose one non-direct flight for one particular audition. In that case, I booked a flight with a stopover at absolutely “no-snow-risk airport” with minimum 2 hours of time. My son strongly prefers to get into the town two nights before of his audition day so he would be adjusted with weather and he can feel of the town and college. We needed to deal with extra “excused absences” with his high school (traditional public school) which wasn’t simple…
“Plan ahead of time but always be flexible and be prepared for unexpected situation” - @chollist, Wise words. I am so sorry that you had this ordeal today and last week’s as well when you had such a delayed flight and arrived back at SeaTac at 2am to snowy weather. I’m glad you were successful in flying out because I know a lot of flights were cancelled. Two weekends of this type of stress… yeah, I need to start practicing some breathing exercises. Good luck with auditions!
I already take direct flights wherever I go because quite frankly, I’ve just run through too many airports frantically trying to make connecting flights while not losing my belongings, much less any of my children ;-). Not worth the anxiety at my age. I know neither I nor my S will need that added stress with auditions next year.
@JeJeJe, getting into town 2 nights before to get a better feel for the school and the area is a great idea. I wish we could. My S does full IB, so while his school would excuse him all those days, it just wouldn’t be tenable. Fortunately, we made it a point to check out some midwest/east coast schools over the summer (and thankfully ruled out 2) and will be doing sample lessons over spring break in the east coast. Hoping to fit in a couple of more trips (to TX and CA) before the true craziness begins. Admittedly, one can’t really get a true feel for the schools over the summer, but it’s the best we can do.
