We heard prescreening results from NYU, Juilliard, MSM, Peabody, Ithaca, boco, nec, westminster and hartt.
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That’s a great list! Congrats! And they’re still saying live/in person? (Ithaca I know is- my S changed his to the virtual option since his others are virtual)
I’m wondering if more schools will decide to pivot in the next weeks.
I got my last audition invitation from Peabody (BM composition and piano performance) this afternoon. Hope everyone gets their results soon.
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I got my Vanderbilt/Blair audition invite (BM violin) this evening. Good luck everyone!
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Can anyone with experience elaborate on what might happen during a music ed virtual audition? I know he’ll need to play his instrument (he is actually doing that part recorded — percussion major), but what sort of things will they ask?
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Im still trying to sort out who is live and who is virtual live or recorded.
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DS just heard from Blair–invited to audition (recorded audition/zoom interview with sight reading) on clarinet. He’s just waiting on Bard now. He also got an e-mail from Peabody saying that they’re still planning on in person auditions.
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Have they told you about any events or activities beyond the audition/interview? My son’s email listed his schedule of events as check-in at the MAC lobby, and his audition time & date ~ nothing else. They mention he’ll get a packet when he checks in that will have info on his audition room, warm-up spaces, “and other important audition weekend information.”
When my son auditioned (2019 pre-pandemic) his music audition and music Ed interview were two separate events during his audition weekends. He recalls being asked why he wanted to be a teacher and what were the qualities a good teacher needed to have and being expected to elaborate for a bit on those topics. There may have been other questions as well but those are the ones that stood out.
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Hi, @zafacon! Exact same info for my daughter… I’m disappointed that they offering some Jacobs specific tours/info sessions. I mean, maybe they are, but they haven’t given us any info about it. She’s doing music comp, so she was invited to a class on Thursday night (but we won’t make it on time) and to visit the new music ensemble rehearsal. That info was in the email directly from the head of the department, though.
I’m hoping that there is more going on in that magical packet!! LOL
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Music Comp major daughter got emails that she passed prescreenings at Peabody and Blair yesterday! She was pretty excited about those! Now we are just waiting for Bard and Mason Gross.
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Ok…this is typical Jacobs behavior. Don’t expect a lot of rah rah or warm fuzzies to the parents. You usually can get discount/free tickets for a performance. I think that they’ll offer a music school tour too. You don’t have to show up first thing in the morning like silly me and my D. Jacobs was one of the most low key, least activity visit we did…ever. BUT it did produce some great results and follow-up (more so than other schools in our case).
A small school like Lawrence (when we visited many moons ago) does a really good job with the parents. Jacobs…they don’t seem to worry about the parents too much. This is your first introduction into what atmosphere you and/or your kid likes best. BUT be careful as a parent to hold your opinion a bit. Your kid will be meeting with teachers and developing relationships. It could be a hit or miss…but you only know if you try.
Hoping maybe @songbirdmama and/or @mom2amazingkids will chime in to back me up.
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Sorry I can’t expand on what @bridgenail has said, but “our” situation was different since D was applying as a MM student. She had a friend at Jacobs already, and arranged her own music/campus tour, and travelled there by herself. It was in February 2020, right before the world shut down for COVID, so she was lucky to have even had a live audition. She will finish her MM this spring, and cannot say enough good things about her time at Jacobs.
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I have not been following closely as my musician is already a second year MM student. The audition days were incredibly different at each school. The Vandy/Blair audition back in '16 was over the top welcoming. They really turned on the southern charm, with a banquet dinner for all the kids and their parents where they showcased student performers, and had faculty at each table to mingle and answer questions. This was in the evening after audition day (which entailed theory tests, auditory skills, the audition, individual faculty meetings, and a music school tour). I doubt that in these Covid times they will still have such events, but they were really trying to impress. At the other end of the spectrum was Rice - Beyond showing up for the audition and theory test, it was all up to you. However, if you asked, they would let you sit in on a class. Both great programs, with very different approaches to audition day. Other programs fell somewhere in between.
My advice is if there are not formal opportunities, make your own! Look at the events calendar and attend a performance, ask the office about undergrad classes and if you can sit in on one. Stop someone in the hall and ask how they like the school. And let your student lead. This is their rodeo, and they have to start riding!
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Thanks for that info and advice @bridgenail and @songbirdmama. I went back and reread the email from the professor who reached out and I forgot that there is actually a “reception” for the music comp students at Jacobs who are interviewing with the department. The composition department faculty will be present along with a few students. That’s actually very cool and will be a really great opportunity for her to get to know them better. The email was actually very long and informative and a very nice touch!
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DS just found out tonight that he’s first chair bass clarinet for all-state, too…so a very good news day for him overall!
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D23 had a visit with Rice about a month ago and they let us sit in on a class, they will accommodate your request if they can. We were offered to come to a couple of recitals too, but daughter wanted to see chamber group rehearsal that run at the same time. We are not, however, in the audition mode yet, as she will apply next year. Just wanted to chime in. Blair visit was less accommodating, in a sense of attending and experiencing things, but they have stricter Covid-19 policies in place, and we appreciates that. We saw an outdoor choral rehearsal - students and faculty working with kids, community outreach or pre-college project.
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NEC just sent an email that February auditions will be recorded. We are wondering how to make this the best recording possible while still doing the recording ourselves. We did prescreens on the Zoom Q2n camera and the quality was good, but I didn’t see a great difference between that and my iphone. (Maybe I am doing something wrong.) Would it be worth our while to get some outside help in recording? Any past experience with this?
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Difference in the video quality or the sound? the sound quality of the Zoom is hugely better. my understanding is the video quality is actually worse than any of the newer model Iphones so we use an Iphone 13 for the video or a digital camera with video and a zoom H4n for audio and edit them together using something like imovie. The limiting factor on this is the listening device. You have to listen with high quality earphones or good speakers to hear the difference.
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Thank you. Yes, the audio. I think it must be the listening device that is making it seem not as high quality as I had hoped. The video is actually pretty good compared to iphone now-it’s the newer version with 4K video. I will do some testing and listen through our home stereo rather than the iphone or the Zoom camera itself.