I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Two sets of prescreen recordings (for Bard and Oberlin) and two sets of video auditions (for App State and FSU) are submitted! I’m eager to see what happens with these four, but also a little nervous for my daughter. Her sound has improved leaps and bounds but the recordings were not perfect. From reading past threads I see that perfection has not been an absolute requirement. I just hope that’s still true these days when every applicant theoretically has infinite time to record and re-record. We simply ran out of gas.
She doesn’t have anything else due until 1/1, which is a welcome reprieve because with all the practicing she has fallen behind in schoolwork. Things really pick up for her in January.
Any students applying for grad school on here? You may want to include some schools where you pay for the grad degree by credit vs fixed tuition. (Of schools that meet your other requirements.)
When my daughter’s offers came in last year I learned that some grad programs charged per credit and some did not.
This can end up making a difference in how much a student pays out of pocket for grad school, since scholarships, in general, were a fixed dollar amount.
This will vary by school but she was able to test out of some classes, can take some “free” classes for credit and doesn’t need to pay for credits associated with opera theater productions she performs in.
She is still taking some very interesting and challenging coursework, but her main focus (MM VP) is related to performance - lessons, coachings, new rep…
I wish everyone well on their journey, as I’m sure it’s more complicated than ever this year.
It’s so quiet on here. How is everyone doing with their applications and prescreens?
My S25 had to step it up to finish his videos for various schools with early December deadlines. (He kept deleting them because he didn’t think they were good enough, making me more and more anxious as Dec. 1 crept closer.) He had just finished everything and had four videos he was somewhat satisfied with for SFCM when the admissions office sent an email extending their deadline by one week, to Dec. 7. Now he is sitting on the application a little and has the option to re-record.
A wrench was thrown into all his plans when doubling his practice time resulted in tendonitis in both wrists. He had to take a five-day break from playing right smack in the middle of his (last-minute) preparations. The mood around here was pretty bleak. After the wrist rest ended, he told me he’d “lost everything” and his hands felt like blocks of meat. Now he’s been diagnosed, been twice to physical therapy and is on a regimen of Advil and increased mindfulness about his body in general. In short, two lessons have come out of application season for him (so far …). I doubt he’ll ever procrastinate quite so badly again, for one. For another, he knows he’s not untouchable anymore and will certainly pace himself a lot better in the future. But unfortunately, he is still playing through pain right now because the prescreens do need to get done and the auditions proper prepared for.
I’m wondering what prompts the extension of the SFCM deadline − have applications really slowed this fall? − and if any other schools have followed suit.
Yikes! Glad he got a diagnosis and is working with a PT. There would have been tears around here if anything had gotten in the way of practice last week! I’m actually a little worried because I can see my daughter rolling and rubbing her shoulder after long practice sessions. She swears nothing is wrong. I hope that’s true.
Nearly half of the schools we are looking at have extended one deadline or another. Three extended their EA or ED deadline and one extended the recording submission deadline. Nothing longer than a week.
I’m glad to hear about a few “journeys”. My life, particularly now, is not very exciting.
I do keep hoping more people join in Dec as in past years. Pre-screen passes have generally brought out more questions (and maybe more confidence). Passing a lot of prescreens is always a good sign (even if you miss one or two). This year is different…but I would think that a good number of prescreen passes would still indicate that students are going to get offers.
And yes…the moving of the dates is different! I wonder too if numbers are down.
Rice is fantastic - Barnhill has established a really supportive but challenging environment. Our private teacher received his MM from Rice, but had a great undergrad experience at Northwestern too. Both will require top notch academics. Bard has some interesting new teachers tied to NYC. UNT has a HUGE trombone program - perhaps too big for some? But loved the lesson we had there. I think trombone may get good scholarship money at Peabody. Vanderbilt has a nice growing program. Also Western Michigan has been doing well in competitions. Would definitely choose Rice or UNT over UT in Texas.
Good to see some movements in this thread! I am having hard time with this new CC format so I might have missed some posts / questions. Why did CC make a big change in middle of appliance deadlines??
In 2018-2019, Juilliard extended my son’s application deadline. It’s pretty common every year but it may depend on programs / openings.
My D (17) sent a ton of apps and pre-screens out for the Dec 1 deadline and so now we wait.
She is looking at VP and possibly a double major.
To be honest, we both lost so much gusto for this whole process the past few months. Covid has really been a joy sucker. She’s the type of kid who loves performing so much and with everything canceled for the past months it has been a real adjustment. Zoom lessons are something but she really misses the in person aspect to singing.
All in all, she’s sent out about 12 (YIKES) apps so far and has a few more with later deadlines to get out.
So far she got acceptance to LSU and has to set up an audition for the School of Music. I don’t know much about their program, it was a suggestion by her voice teacher, whom I trust.
Longy ( affiliated with Bard) in Boston has reached out and she will be having a Zoom lesson. This is a small school, geographically it is a good fit for us, as we are not far away and love Boston.
Going off memory she sent out to:
CCM
BU
NEC
BC
OBERLIN
OHIO STATE
LONGY
HARTT
LSU
MIAMI FROST
NW
PEABODY
EASTMAN
JUILLIARD
Videos were a challenge as pianists were hard to come by. Our area is pretty much shut down due to COVID. We made a set of 4 videos a a month or two ago and we’ve been using those and they’ve served as pre-screen/audition for some schools.
All in all, this process is playing out much different than I expected it to. It’s sort of a numb feeling as we navigate it . I wonder if I am the only one feeling this way… I remember last year reading of people being stressed and it hasn’t been like that here, but wondering if that’s bc of Covid.
@Pl1277, LSU is local to us and has a nice VP program which has trained many working professionals. Of your list, it’s probably comparable to BC, OU, Longy, and Hartt. Definitely worth her checking out. Good luck!
That was part of the reason her teacher recommended LSU. She discouraged some other schools on our original list as she said there wasn’t as much professional opportunity after school coming from some of them.
It’s really a hard thing to navigate if you don’t have proper guidance. It’s so much $ to spend and that really is something to consider now, esp since the Performing Arts have been shut down during this whole ordeal. Really makes you think about how to be essential…but tell that to a kids whose one love is performing!
Hi! I’m applying to 7 grad schools for VP. So far, I’ve been invited to audition on zoom for Boston Conservatory. Anxiously waiting for more emails! sending positive vibes to everyone
@mezzothings, Good Luck! My son will be applying to VP grad programs next year, so I’m very curious what you think of the process. Please drop in to let us know how it’s going!
Hi all, I thought I would check in after my kid’s first live virtual audition. Miami/Frost sent detailed instructions for zoom settings, and she borrowed the newest laptop in the house, used a nice Blue Yeti usb microphone, and took over a big room for better sound. It’s impossible to know how it looked and sounded on their end, but I was eavesdropping (remainder of household had been not-too-gently shoved out the door for a long walk to keep them quiet and off the wifi) and there weren’t any awkward pauses that I could tell. They were basically on time and the tech on their end seemed to be working ok too. I’m happy to have one down, and curious if any other kiddos did Frost and how it went (I think it was all the EA applicants on one day). Would be great to know what worked/didn’t on the technology side. I don’t really have suggestions except for the next one, I might bring in additional lighting. I will say, auditions are always nerve-wracking of course, but it was also nice for her to get to perform for someone - these poor kids are missing out on so much of that.
It’s definitely been a scramble this fall, but at this point, she’s pretty much done, other than a few (IMO) random/different requests (Vanderbilt VP wants a specific monologue, ASU wants 60 seconds of “something unique,” etc.). She’s applying to VP and acting programs and I think the next thing to happen will be live virtual auditions for acting - suspect we won’t hear much about VP for a little while based on published timelines.
CU Boulder did reach out to say “no live virtual audition is required” - they say that they got enough info from the recorded prescreen and we should not read into this. That makes a TON of sense to me. What more would they get from a 15-minute zoom meeting that they can’t tell from a decent recording? I’m hoping more schools take this seemingly very sane approach, if they do feel they can make a decision either way based on the prescreen.
I see lots of people sharing their lists - my kid’s is:
Vocal Performance: ASU, BU, CU Boulder, Oklahoma, Miami/Frost, Vanderbilt/Blair
Dual degree/major: Northwestern, Yale
Acting BFA: Minnesota, University of British Columbia, USC
Acting BA: UCLA
A good mix of great programs, and she’d be happy with any of them.
@Pl1277 We were pretty stressed out around here getting recordings put together! But you’re right that it was a totally different vibe than what I thought we’d be feeling based on reading last year’s journey thread. In some ways the reduction in required travel is frustrating, but it is also a huge time saver. I wonder if it is slightly more “fair” too, since I imagine the cost of travel was something of a barrier to some musicians. There are new barriers though. I also wonder whether this year will constitute a permanent change in the process. I suppose it’ll depend on how effective this method is for the kids and for the schools… Anyhow, without good, representative visits, we are leaning hard on previous years’ information about schools, and for me it’s turned into even more of a leap of faith. (The whole idea of music school to begin with was a leap of faith for us as parents!)
@mezzothings , good luck on your Zoom audition! When is it? Let us know how it goes!
@MathandSinging congrats on being the first virtual audition on CC Music Major! Ooh, that’s good thinking about getting everyone off the wifi. I’m making a mental note for when January rolls around (that’s when my daughter’s virtual auditions will be, if she passes prescreens).
The stringbird household is pretty much in a holding pattern right now while my daughter polishes audition pieces and sorts out her disastrous homework situation. Happily, she has received a couple academic acceptances from her EA applications, but she won’t know for a while whether she got into the corresponding music programs. We don’t expect any prescreen results any time soon - though, trawling through old CC threads, I found that in the past, Oberlin has released as early as the third Tuesday in December. So we’ll be keeping an eye out next week!
