<p>My daughter has a heavy practice mute that makes her violin sound like a mosquito (she actually did use it for few more moments at the Peabody Inn after Miss Clavel banged on the door, but I wanted to cut the story short.) But in a regular hotel room, before 9 PM, no one minds if you practice. In NYC you can also rent practice studios by the hour (there was a recent thread on violinist.com).</p>
<p>I practiced in a hotel one time… We had compaints. I had to stop.</p>
<p>I suspect that if the inn at peabody is primarily an elder hostel, that that is why they have the no practice rule. While I have run into many an older person who would enjoy hearing someone practice, who would understand, I also run into many who seem to find joy in complaining about everything, ‘rude behavior’, making too much noise, etc. I would be willing to bet that they have had enough complaints over the years that it was easier to ban practicing. </p>
<p>Guess if our S ever decides to audition at peabody, we will make sure to get a hotel someplace else, preferably one that if we ask would allow him to practice either in the room or in an event room.</p>
<p>My son is a trumpet player. He also was able to get practice places in every hotel by simply asking at the front desk. Most hotels have conference rooms and the like and these are not used in the evenings on weekdays. DS actually practiced in a ballroom at one place. Ask at the desk. We found they were very accommodating.</p>
<p>Thanks, violadad, for referring us to the other thread.</p>
<p>musicprnt, the Peabody Inn is not used as an Elderhostel during audition week. The no-practice signs were freshly-printed. I do not think that the Elderhostel overlaps with the audition week. I would definitely not stay in this place again, although the location was close and the price was low. However, parents of pianists, percussionists, harpists, and composers would probably find it a good deal. Just stay away from room G-2, with the Very Loud Buzz.</p>
<p>My s auditioned at Peabody yesterday (Thur). He found the audition experience at Peabody to be the most sterile and least personal that he has experienced, yet. (He’s also been to Oberlin, Northwestern, NEC, & NYU - so not a huge number for comparison). He was in and out within 20 minutes, no questions from the panel; felt like he was on an assembly line for the exams. My husband, on the other hand, attended the morning session held for parents and was impressed by the depth of information provided as well as the warmth conveyed. My husband thought my son would have benefited from attending the parents session.</p>
<p>Overall, they found the audition process to be well organized and my son had no problems finding a warm-up room or with lost applications. Maybe by Thursday, the conservatory staff was limbered up and had smoothed the bumps people encountered earlier in the week.</p>
<p>They also stayed at the Peabody Inn and, thankfully, did not land in a buzzing room. They mentioned that several people on their floor came in from abroad and were on very different time zones. Perhaps this is one reason for the “no practicing” rule in the rooms? </p>
<p>They’re off to McGill this weekend.</p>
<p>I was just wondering…does it affect your chances of admission if you audition during the first week vs the latter weeks of the audition period?</p>
<p>I don’t think so, Jazzdrummermom. My son auditioned at various points in schools’ audition periods and did fine.</p>
<p>Jazzdrummermom- I think the key is to do as well as you can at each and every audition and hope for the best. Try not to sweat the small stuff :)</p>
<p>glassharmonica- I was amazed by the difference in our experiences at Peabody! I understand why you would be reluctant to stay there again. I applaud your D for trying to practice in the room. I was close to doing that myself, but I wasn’t brave enough.</p>
<p>lastroseofsummer, my daughter had a lesson with her private teacher the day after the Peabody audition and her teacher told her that Peabody has top-notch teachers and a first-rate chamber music staff. My shaggy dog story of our mishaps with the Inn notwithstanding, we do agree with you that it is a great conservatory. :-)</p>
<p>Just a follow up to my posts of last week. D was accepted into Mason Gross, so I guess the comment “we’ve heard enough” was a positive one. Too bad though - the audition process left a bad taste in her mouth.</p>
<p>Does anyone know about the music programs at UNC Chapel Hill or Brandeis?</p>
<p>NJ Mom of 2. Congratulations to your D on her acceptance at Mason Gross. Re: your questions about UNC Chapel Hill and Brandeis, you should pm Skie. She’ll have good first hand information on both schools.</p>
<p>Hi NJ Mom of 2 - I answered your question about Brandeis on another thread. I’m not sure they even hold formal auditions, as they don’t offer a perfornmance degree. Their BA is an intense one, though, with heavy requirements in music history, theory, and composition. For a small school the performance opportunities are quite good, but they can’t really compare to a large University or conservatory. In the academic music world, Brandeis is considered one of the best, and they have some very good private teachers (I don’t know about flute), but it’s not the same as a BM program.</p>
<p>UNC is a great mix of top-notch liberal arts, great music academics and very strong performance. The flute professor Brooks deWetter Smith is a very nice guy and excellent teacher who has been sending students to top graduate programs for years. The orchestra is very good and getting even better in recent years with the new Kenan scholarships, which give a full ride to four music students a year and have attracted some amazing talent.</p>
<p>In general the UNC faculty is very friendly and accessible. The auditions are well-organized, with times assigned, practice rooms available, info sessions and tours held, and the possibility of arranging a lesson with the teacher (sometimes the same day as the audition, more likely the day before). The voice students are asked for three pieces and are all heard from beginning to end. The year my son auditioned on piano, he played all of the pieces he had prepared (20 minutes’ worth) and had a short interview that he found conversational and encouraging, not at all intimidating.</p>
<p>One of the reasons students are asked about other schools and their top choice is to try to determine their seriousness about attending the school where they’re auditioning. In some cases, once admission or money is offered to a music student, it can’t be offered to anyone else, even if the first student decides to go somewhere else. So some schools can only afford to admit/finance a music student who is likely to go there.</p>
<p>Audition at BoCo today. Was coughing and sneezing a lot, could hardly breathe. My voice kept cracking, very weak. However, I just tried to act over it and perform my best. I didn’t mention my cold, and neither did they. They asked a few questions about where I lived (which is right outside of Boston) and about my musical experiences. They asked if I was applying to a lot of other schools, but they didn’t ask which ones, so I didn’t say. They all seemed very nice. Not at formal as NEC, but a bit more rigorous than Purchase.</p>
<p>Auditioned at CCM today in Werner Hall. Only 6 (vocal) undergrads on the audition schedule. Today was the last audition day. Barbara Honn is retiring this year and I was assured that a new teacher (soprano) would be on staff by summer. I asked whether they would know who it was by commitment time. Possibly. They are taking approximately 10 freshman singers this year.</p>
<p>Auditioned at BU today. As noted elsewhere, the practice rooms are plentiful and beautiful, much the best practice envt I have seen anywhere yet. At 2pm on a Saturday a significant percentage of them were unused. Auditions were running right on time, the students running the check-in were friendly and helpful. Good thing I remembered to check the website again before the audition and realized that they provide an accompanist to all violin, viola and cello applicants, so you have to bring the piano music along. I have to say that it also made the audition very much more pleasant because it felt like I was playing chamber music! It was a viola/cello audition day, so there was one viola prof and 2 cello profs in the room (according to the current student I was talking to outside). I only had to play 2 pieces out of the 3 I prepared, I think they were doing that to keep things running on schedule. The panel was also quite friendly. All in all rather quick and painless.</p>
<p>I wish Friday’s Eastman audition had been quick and painless! A 9 am group meeting (which was in fact warm and funny), a 9:30 theory test, an 11:30 meeting with some of the voice faculty, a mid-afternoon group interview with an admissions counselor, and an early evening audition (which ran late). Since they knew they wouldn’t be hearing the undergraduate VP candidates til after 3, they could easily have scheduled things differently for them so they could have had down time at the hotel. Oh, and getting locked in the practice room was a nice adrenaline boost.</p>
<p>Locked in the practice room? Guess they’re serious about putting in those hours up at Eastman! (Glad she got sprung!)</p>
<p>At Eastman on Friday, my D, who was auditioning for the double major in voice performance and music ed/voice, had this schedule: 9 am group meeting, 9;30 theory test, 11:30 meeting with voice faculty, 12:15 voice audition (she had 15 minutes to warm up, which she did in a bathroom on an upper floor), followed by an interview with the head of music education, then an extensive musical skills test, then another interview with admissions. She was finished at 4:00. Since she was busy the whole day, we missed all the tours, so a kind volunteer took us on a private tour after that. It was a busy but wonderful day. We really felt that applicants had the opportunity to show their skills and aptitudes to their fullest. Whatever the final decision will be, D felt that Eastman had a the chance to evaluate her to the fullest possible extent. She felt she did her best, so that was great. </p>
<p>We had arrived two days early, since we had never before visited. She observed lessons with several different voice teachers, and had a short lesson with one. Also saw a vocal pedagogy class and a studio class. All in all it was a great experience, and now the waiting continues.</p>