Thanks @lkbux64! Sounds manageable. We started with 10 favorites, narrowed down to 7 applications, dropped one near the beginning (S didn’t feel there was enough jazz emphasis), and he will end up doing 6 auditions including one EA in December and five during the main “season.” Four involved overnight travel while the other two were local.
@KatzHerder I hope your son is feeling better and will be 100% for his auditions next week. But don’t worry about the missed calculus at all. My daughter found it impossible to dig out from all of the calculus she missed during her undergrad audition tour and in the end it didn’t matter at all. Do everything you can to back the pressure off. 
S and my wife pulled into our driveway (in the snow) at 7 am this morning after taking a red-eye back from USC. He’s missing so much school that he went in today—he walked in the door, took a shower, changed clothes, had something to eat and I drove him to school at 8. He’s running on so much adrenaline that he didn’t seem too phased by it but I’m sure he will collapse tonight after his musical rehearsal. Two to go: Oberlin this Friday and Peabody next week. Hang in there everybody!
@buoyant, thanks! With rest, I hope (the no practice is killing the drummer), he’ll be fine. He’s trying to drop, had AB last semester, this is BC and totally unnecessary. But, he asked a Thursday, and last day to drop was the Monday before. They are still working on it.
Just keep swimming, everyone!
@akapiratequeen . . . we’re in the midpoint: 3 down, 3 to go. We fly out this weekend for Peabody audition on 2/19. . Then a week at home before the final two (New School and NYU) the first full week of March. . . . If the auditions go as smoothly and the overall school visits go as well as Miami and USC, S (and me and my wife) will be very happy.
Audition this weekend at Ball State - vocal performance they provide an accompanist for a fee of $35. There was an arranged time to meet with accompanist the day of the audition (for us just around lunch). D met with them for 10-15 minutes going through her 2 songs to get the timing down. Waiting for audition D took music theory test. For her this was very easy as she has had 3 years of music theory. There was a mixup with piano test. D will take at orientation if she gets in and goes there. Actual audition faculty was well represented. Probably 10 professors in a small performance hall. D sang 2 songs all the way through. Then a sight reading exercise. 3 lines of music to sight read. Said she messed up a little but was confident she did well enough to pass. Small interview. One question was is she auditioning anywhere else. D answered “Yes” but there was no follow up on where was she auditioning which she would have answered if asked. Feedback from one professor to her was she had good improvement from her visit last year when she took a lesson from him. This leaves 2 auditions left for her in NYC next week and to submit a video audition to FSU and then we wait.
@Lendlees, Hope you came home safely. Fortunately our flight departed on time and landed on almost planned time. Since it was already midnight and I previously parked my car at the near motel, I was planning to take Lyft home and come back the next day to dig out my car from the motel’s parking lot. There were tons of people at the Uber/Lyft stand and same amount of people waiting for the taxi. Taxi line was too long and share rides were not responding to calls. I decided to call Uber black which was twice expensive and the driver refused to go far to my home so we ended up asking him to bring us to the motel. Then me and my exhausted s had to dig out the snow from my car’s rear tires so that we could escape the snow. We were digging the snow out for about half an hour and finally managed to come home at 2 am. Today it’s snowing again but I am happy to be back home.
Audition at McDuffie Center for Strings went smooth, my s had practice room, they paired students with pianists to rehearse for 10 min. before their assigned audition time to see their collaborative skill. Pianist was very professional and my s felt very comfortable. There were 6 string faculties present at the audition. I heard from other students that there are 8 openings altogether in strings for this year. I could hear my s’s play from outside and he played pretty much the same he normally does so we felt ok. We have 13 days of audition free period which is really nice and then 1 local and 2 more away auditions left. Hope everybody has safe trips until their last audition.
@chollist - it was crazy. We were already about an hour delayed out of Pittsburgh (de-icing forever) and then had to circle SeaTac forever. Finally landed and seeemingly circled the gates trying to find an empty one. Luckily enough it allowed the highway to clear out so we could actually drive home. Even made it most of the way to our house (about a block+ away). Trudged through the snow to the house and collapsed. We are all happy for a snow day today.
Sounds like the audition went well. Interesting about pairing with a pianist to judge collaboration skills. Did he like the school? We too have almost two weeks off until the last trip and we will definitely enjoy it.
@KatzHerder, hope S is feeling better! , @chollist and @Lendlees what a mess! Glad you got home safely. My D lives in Ballard and says it’s crazy…impossible to get around. No plows or salting like we have in the east, and ice under the snow.
@Lendlees, glad you made home safely. I think the school was interesting and it felt more like Conservatory in east coast. My s was so tired going thru all those weather related issues so I don’t know if he felt anything about the school, he just auditioned like auto pilot. Hope you guys can have enough rest till next audition.
@akapiratequeen, NW is just not used to this kind of weather so yes, everybody is panicking. ?
I love reading all these adventures! @Lendlees - I think you were in the academic info session with me at CIM! It clicked when I read about the weather in Seattle. My son recognized a few people at both from his orchestra and Interlochen.
Sending get well vibes to those who are sick. My S and I talked about avoiding the flu (especially with travel and being run down).
We did Oberlin Fri/Sat and CIM Sun. Very different from the bigger schools he’s been looking at thus far. I LOVED CIM but the profs have 2 and 6 students respectively. So freaking competitive… It would be a big reach.
We went to the Cleveland Orchestra Saturday evening which was wonderful.
My S liked Oberlin, I fear that it’s a bit too small of a town for him. But right now he’s focusing on the programs and professors so that’s good.
Thursday we head to sunnier skies with Miami/Frost Friday and a special audition at FSU on Monday. Decided we’d have some fun and head to Universal Studios on the weekend (since we’re driving from one to the other!).
And before then, he’s got to do a video audition for BoCo since we got snowed out of that visit and can’t reschedule.
Next week is the state band audition and then maybe he can have a few days to breathe!
Wow @leejay22 sounds like a productive visit! I had no idea CIM was so competitive. We thought about Oberlin but S also felt the town was very small. That said, I know so many amazing people from that school, I kind of regret it!
Enjoy the Florida jaunt, here’s to great auditions and blue skies from here on in.
All the Oberlin grads I know speak about it poetically and lovingly. I think there are advantages to hunkering down and spending four years in a small town just perfecting one’s playing and having good solid conversations around the fire, Harry Potter-style, with one’s peers. But some people would prefer to be in a big city hearing AMAZING concerts and operas every night and feeling the buzz of all the activity. Gut instinct is all we got, i guess.
@leejay22 - yep that was me! We were at the Orchestra performance Saturday night as well - as I mentioned to my S, (and I think he agreed) I’m super glad to have seen the Busoni concerto and I don’t feel a need to see it ever again - who ever heard of a piano concerto with a men’s chorus? So nice it was close to campus and my S could see the professor in action.
We really liked CIM as well and realized it’s a total reach as well. The caliber of students that were there was really impressive.
Welcome @leejay22 ! Sounds like a great Florida trip. Let us know how those auditions go. My son is at FSU for voice and loves it.
SFCM RJAM Guitar Faculty Julian Lage’s latest album “Modern Lore” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental. Pretty cool.
My son received his official acceptance letter from UT Austin yesterday as the viola professor had told him on his audition day.
Congrats @pdxtigermom S!
Great news @pdxtigermom – congratulations!
Congratulations @pdxtigermom!!!