It is so clearly a key moment, I would imagine it’s really hard to stay calm and show the joy one gets from music along with their skill. It’s nice to know, according to my kid’s own report, that his audition was warm and welcoming. He played together with the instructor and improvised with him. (It makes me nervous just thinking about it.)
It is hard to fathom that for all intents and purposes everything comes down to a very few minutes in an audition for the student to shine. In my opinion, this mind boggling idea is what makes us as parents try to control the situation or figure out the odds.
But it helped me to know that my stress a few years ago was because I was not my musician kid. For him, it was a situation he COULD control, by excellent preparation for the audition, practicing talking to adults about himself, his music, his goals.
My advice is to trust your kid. Know that they will be ready for their moment and that they will show their talent and their joy for music. Even in 10 minutes! And do whatever you as a parent can do to minimize any other factors that would keep them from being at their very best.
They will all shine in their own ways. The audition and acceptance/rejection system really does work and kids end up where they are happy and thrive.
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When you reference the “big 12” do you mean the Big 12 athletic conference? Or is it a reference to top music schools? Sorry for silly question; just trying to keep up!
I used the term to refer to music schools! Not silly at all! This isn’t an official term, just my own phrase for the 12 school to which she applied. Her list is not the top 12 ranked schools either: she did not choose to apply to a couple of really large universities with music schools nor a few others for various reasons. But ultimately all were ranked within the top 20 and offered what she wants in a VP program.
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Things happened in our process today!!! Finally!! Eastman received our package and reached out to give her her last choice of date. She had reached out to Rice to see if she could get her audition on another of their weekends in order to match it up with U of Houston - they replied and were able to help. SO now we have trips booked to Rochester and Houston on back to back weekends. Still waiting to hear from Yale and Curtis.
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D just got the Peabody invitation!
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Woohoo! Congrats.
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Regarding virtual tours, I think I came off as rather cynical. Someone pointed out to me that they are good for getting real information and a feel for the schools. I totally agree. We’ve learned so much while constructing my kid’s list.
I was wondering if they make a difference after he’s applied, during the consideration period, because of demonstrating interest. I’m sure we’ll watch all kinds of videos and take all the virtual tours to learn all we can when the time comes to decide. I just wanted to clear that up a little.
Is anyone else doing any 1/15 deadlines, or are you finished? My son has two. I wish he would just do them tomorrow!
Best wishes to our sons and daughters! Not at all easy juggling the meaty prescreen requirements, with normal course load - respect!
Auditions are starting for pianist son. No matter where he is fortunate to go, just this journey alone has taught him a ton!
He plans to travel to UCLA, USC, Michigan and Vanderbilt. Not sure about going to Peabody (they do accept recordings) yet. Anyone else planning to be in UCLA, USC, UM, Vandy or JHU during their audition weeks?
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I’m not sure of the date, but we’ll be at USC some time soon! I hope we get an answer on a date change soon.
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USC is still out on winter break. Classes start up on Monday so hopefully you will get an answer next week.
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They should be back - we got a response back today on the date change. You should hear from them soon.
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Congrats!
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My D may have applied to one more school from a plane—she is on her way to Vienna for the Luther College orchestra’s three-week residency there! We’ll see if that worked, but I know she’s on her way to have so much fun!
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That’s great!
Has anyone here done the online interview for Boston Conservatory? My son passed the pre-screen and needs to do the recorded interview this weekend. I’m just wondering what he should expect. There’s plenty of information from the school on preparing for Berklee interviews in general, but I can’t find anything for BC in particular. He not great at putting his thoughts together quickly, so I thought he should prepare a few notes ahead of time. Any tips?
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Anyone heard from Boston University? Audition dates seem to be listed but my cellist has heard nothing.
Yes, on December 28th for voice.
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This is conjecture, but perhaps they’ll ask why he wants to study there, and what kinds of things he has been or wants to work on. I can also imagine them asking if he has questions for them, so it might be good to have one of those on hand.
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