College Visits, Sample Lessons, etc.

College Majors Music Major
1

I know many of you are in the midst of auditions and it is so helpful to read about the experiences. My D is a junior and we are preparing for trip to visit music schools this spring. She hopes to be a vocal performance major. At this point, we have set up tours and have a few classes for her observe. Is there anything else we should try to do? Any other tips?

I have read a great deal here about sample lessons. The websites suggest emailing the professors directly. D has emailed a few but has only heard back from one. How important are the sample lessons? Should D politely try again or maybe wait until a few weeks before the visit? Or perhaps try another professor? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

2

Keep asking. After 6 sample lessons in 10 days, about 3 stood out. That is really helpful and I wish we’d done more festivals to narrow down schools

3

We emailed directly and included in the message something to the effect of “I don’t know if you do this in house or on the side” and asked about their rate if it was on the side getting at the idea that we understood that there would be payment. On my son’s instrument the instructors are largely adjunct so lessons is part of how they make a living.

4

I agree. We always offered to pay and my son wrote in his musical goals.

5

My other suggestion would be to see if any of the schools your daughter is interested in have summer programs where she might be able to get a feel for the school and the teachers.

6

Those school programs tend to be cheaper too. The level of playing isn’t always high across the board because it’s regional but they still were able to match my son for chamber and it was a great way to get to know the other faculty as well.

7

Thanks for the advice, we will keep trying! Maybe we should call the admissions office to see if they can help us connect with a voice teacher. Poto - she is applying to a summer program of one of the schools. I agree that this will be a great way for her to learn more about the school and the teachers.

8

Out of the 6 schools S ended up applying at, he did summer programs at 3 of them. That gave him a great chance to get to meet the faculty at all of them and actually utilize the facilities, stay in the dorms, eat the food, meet students, etc. At other school visits, after we had set up a tour with the admissions department, he contacted the individual departments and they were almost all very accommodating with setting up classes for him to sit in on and lessons/meetings with faculty.