Fall Cycle 2010 Audition Experiences

College Majors Music Major
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<p>DS auditioned today at McGill with the jazz faculty. He loved the conservatory and was impressed with the depth of the jazz program. From his perspective, the audition was relatively formal but he felt as if the faculty provided good feedback and asked relevant questions about how and why he approached certain selections the way he did. </p>

<p>We stayed at the University Bed & Breakfast which we <em>highly</em> recommend. Located just 2 blocks from the conservatory, it is in a vibrant neighborhood that is fun to explore and has loads of interesting restaurants and 2 jazz clubs. It’s also a bit cheaper than the standard chain hotels in the area and has so much more character. What more could you ask for? </p>

<p>This was the last of his auditions. As SopranoMom92 says, now the waiting begins! Thanks to you all for your moral support in helping me prepare for and get through the audition phase!</p>

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<p>Auditioned at BoCo today. It was a bit of a nightmare. I used the directions from the BoCo website, which directed me to the back entrances, which were completely sealed off for renovations. So we had to walk quite a ways round to the front entrance on the Fenway. Practice rooms were on the 5th and 6th floors of one side of the building while the audition itself was in the opera studio on the 4th floor of the other side, so there’s a fair amount of navigating to do just getting to the audition from the warm-up practice room. For another, the elevator to the practice rooms was incredibly small and very slow (took 4 people max). There were 8-10 people waiting with me. Nobody wants to climb to the 5th or 6th floor right before an audition. And then, when you got there, the practice rooms were very few in number and all occupied, some with current BoCo students practising for indefinite periods of time (you could tell because they would put their student IDs in the window). So there were all these auditioning people wandering the corridors looking in hopefully but not being able to find a place to warm-up. We finally happened to be in front of one room when the guy went off for his audition. By that point it was less than 20 min before my audition time, so I basically only had time to tune up and play for 5 minutes before I had to go off to the audition room (which was, as noted, rather far away).</p>

<p>The rest of the audition went fine, but really, by that point I was rather put off. The practice rooms were also in pretty dismal condition… the room I wound up in was L-shaped and a string player would not have room to bow except standing in the corner of the L. Looked more like a small store room than anything.</p>

<p>Audition itself was ok, I guess. 4 viola faculty in the room plus the chair of the string department, and someone operating a video camera. I played my 3 pieces plus an orchestral excerpt. I then had to go to another room where their graduate students conducted sightreading tests on the instrument as well as some music skills tests (look at intervals on a sheet of paper and verbally name them, sing rhythms while conducting yourself, simple sightsinging). That was also videotaped.</p>

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<p>For BoCo, I too was in a little area outside the door where about 10 people were waiting. They scheduled about that many people from 10-11. I was the last one to go in the time session, so I waited there for about 40 minutes, and then around quarter to 11, it was my turn.</p>

<p>So sorry about the disappointment in the rest of it. I don’t know about the directions – I live right outside of Boston, so it was a very short ride for me. But I will admit, those staircases were tough!!</p>

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<p>I had my SUNY Purchase audition yesterday. It was pretty quick. I arrived an hour ahead of time, checked in at the strings table with some friendly students, attended an informal info session, and got a practice room. The practice room was freezing, while the choir room used for string auditions was exceedingly warm. That was tough on my fingers, but I don’t think it affected my performance at all. The two violin teachers and a cello teacher were the auditioners, and they were all very friendly. They asked me questions about my private teacher (she is on faculty at several big-name NYC schools), and heard 2/3 prepared pieces. Amazingly, I have not been asked for Paganini at any of my auditions so far, and I only have one left! I don’t know what to make of it: is it just that they form opinions quickly? If so, I hope they are positive opinions! After the audition, I didn’t stick around, so all in all I was there for about an hour and ten minutes. I didn’t like the campus so much, but the students/faculty were welcoming and Purchase is only a 20 min. drive from my house, so commuting would be an option.</p>

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<p>You’d think that these schools could come to some sort of working agreement on who gets what rooms on audition days! At CIM, current students are barred from using practice rooms until after 5PM on audition days and at BoCO, those auditioning have to fight for space. The kids there for auditions aren’t around for very long, so it seems only reasonable to set restrictions for others or at least reserve a block of them for prospective students. Good luck to those of you with auditions yet to come!</p>

246

<p>There are no other auditions on campus, but for anyone who might look at this thread next year… here goes… </p>

<p>The audition took place in Werner Hall. There were about 8 adjudicators. All the students auditioning were taken to a room backstage at the same time. After they sang, they could leave. The audition was fairly formal, according to S. They did not ask questions. </p>

<p>The day ran like this</p>

<p>9:30 check in
10:30 audition
12:00 theory test (parents go to admissions meeting)
1:00 meeting wth vocal faculty</p>

<p>There was a meeting with the vocal department which was very informative. There was also a meeting with admissions staff for parents.</p>

247

<p>NEC audition. This seemed to be very well-organized. My daughter checked in an hour early, as suggested, and had half an hour to kill. She spent it changing into her audition outfit-- then off to the warm-up room, which was mercifully on the same floor as the audition room. Like CIM (and unlike Indiana and Peabody) the rooms were assigned so she did not have to seek one out. It was vacant, and included a piano, although she did not bring an accompanist. The walls were thin and it was a little hard to concentrate with someone warming up in the next room. The auditions were on time. The panel was cordial. She played a bit less of her concerto and first Bach movement, and only about 2 pages of her fugue, and a bit of the sonata. There were no theory or ear-training tests. After, we went to an info session, although, weirdly, we were the only ones who showed up. The info session was mentioned in everyone’s sign-in packed so I have no idea why no one else came. The session was scheduled for a beautiful room on the second floor- “The President’s Library”. We had an informal chat with the admissions director, who was very personable-- it was like talking to a friend. We had a few questions, such as what happens if you do well in your audition but are not accepted by the teacher you list, and how the financial aid/merit scholarship system works, and she answered everything very thoroughly. </p>

<p>We had a tour a couple of months ago but were not taken to the dorms. My daughter did visit the dorms this time, with a friend who is a freshman there. They were not NEARLY as bad as we had been told. My daughter really loves the place and teacher, so fingers are crossed.</p>

248

<p>i wonder why BOCO secheduled a one hour audition for me , regional in LA…</p>

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<p>D auditioned there on Friday (wife drove out with her). Faculty concert on Thursday night apparently was a mixed bag, but flute professor Amy Porter stole the show. My wife is still talking about her performance. She also mentioned being very impressed with the trombone professor (among others).</p>

<p>The audition day activities were very well organized. D warmed up in a basement practice room, then went to a 3rd floor audition room, which was heated to a rather extreme temperature. Her clarinet reed, which worked flawlessly downstairs, performed much differently in the heat, resulting in upper register intonation issues. She isn’t one to make excuses, so kept her mouth shut about it. Otherwise, said it was the most laid-back audition imaginable. Profs Gilbert and Burrough are absolutely top-notch. She left happy, hopeful, and a bit wistful.</p>

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<p>BoCo schedules a number of people in each 1-hour slot that they have – I imagine the actual number varies with the type of instrument and the program being applied for, but I can’t be sure. There is a printed sequence outside the door that you only find out on the actual day, I happened to be first in my hour, it may have something to do with the sequence of signing up online. Sopranorose mentions 10 people being scheduled in her 1-hour slot. There were only 4 people scheduled in mine.</p>

251

<p>LU isn’t discussed much here so I do not think many on this board have it on their “list”, but maybe someone will be auditioning on Feb 27 … or next year. LU was a very positive experience. We flew into Milwaukee, rented a car and drove to Appleton (about two hours). Another option would be to fly to Appleton from Milwaukee. We were lucky with the weather – it was sunny and about 30 F during our trip. On Friday we did a campus tour; of particular note was the brand new student center, perched on the Fox River. Also of interest were the classrooms — which were notable due to the fact that the majority of them had seats/tables arranged in seminar style to accommodate about 12-15 students. Our tour guide said this term her largest class had seven students! We learned during the day that Bobby McFerrin was performing in the evening but also that it had been sold out for weeks. My son, who is a big fan of the 8 time grammy award winner, insisted that we show up and try to obtain tickets. Without going into detail, we got lucky and attended the show, the debut of a jazz-infused orchestral works featuring the student orchestra and jazz ensemble. It was, in a word, fantastic – both McFerrin and the student performers were impressive. </p>

<p>We stayed at the Copper Leaf Hotel which I recommend, in part because it is located in the heart of Appleton (very nice town!), within walking distance of campus (about 5-10 mins). At the 8:30 AM info session we learned that they typically have 170-180 voice applicants and admit about 50, with a target of enrolling about 15-20. LU only has a total of about 1450 students, with about 350 or so being in the conservatory. There was a voice info session at 9 AM which included almost all of the faculty. Like everyone else at LU, they all seemed genuinely nice. S easily obtained a practice room to warm-up for his audition, with the audition itself going quite well. His singing was followed by a relaxed conversation about S’s current vocal teacher, etc. (again, the faculty were very warm and friendly). Next was a musical skills test, an informal Q&A with the didgeridoo-playing Dean of the Conservatory (what an interesting career he has had!), a discussion of finances and then brunch. LU provided passes for the musicians and their entourage to eat brunch at the new student center. The food was a major plus – lot’s of options including things like grilled veggies, custom-made gourmet omelets, ratatouille, pizza (my son, a “pizza snob”, said it was “very good”), etc., etc. </p>

<p>LU, of course, has gained recognition in Loren Pope’s book as a “College that Changes Lives”. For musicians, it has a clear emphasis on a liberal arts education to broaden or complement training in performance. Given its size (e.g., the entire school has fewer students than Indiana’s Jacobs School of Music) and location, it’s probably not for everyone, but our visit sure piqued my S’s interest!</p>

252

<p>Thanks for sharing your D’s experience at the NEC audition. I was unable to accompany my D to the audition,and she had had to go by herself. She described quite an intimidating experience, with nearly 10 members of the string faculty attending. Was it so at your D’s audition too?</p>

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<p>A lot of people have described the NEC audition as ‘formal’ or ‘intimidating’. I don’t know about strings in particular, but I know mu audition (voice) was very organized, down to the minute, and I auditioned for about 6 or 7 people who were quite far away at a long panel. They did not ask any questions - it was sing, and goodbye.</p>

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<p>Muimui, this was my daughter’s 4th audition (violin). She did not find it intimidating, but maybe that is because she had already been through IU (where the room for auditions was in a different building from the room for orientation, which was in different building from the theory test, which was in a different building than warm-ups), and the panel was very formal and did not really speak to her at all, and Peabody, where logistics were similarly flustering in terms of finding rooms and buildings. </p>

<p>The NEC experience was all in one place and so well-organized (like CIM) but not as friendly. They were running auditions on time to the minute, as Sopranorose says. My daughter had about 6 professors in the room, including the professor she listed as first choice. Some faculty members were not there; maybe because it was Sunday morning. The were not cheerfully friendly the way the panels were at CIM and Peabody, but not unfriendly, just professionally distant. My daughter did not bring an accompanist. She stood in the center of the room and after her first piece (concerto) two of the professors asked her to step backwards towards the piano “for better acoustics”. Other than telling her when to start and stop her pieces, that is pretty much the only interaction. Two friends auditioned within the same hour. One was asked to return later to meet with a teacher, one was not. My daughter had met with the teacher she requested a couple months ago, and was not asked to come back to meet again. I don’t know what any of this means.</p>

255

<p>I know that most of the auditions at Ithaca are over, but I highly suggest staying at the Country Inn and Suites and having dinner at Zaza’s Cucina. Without a doubt, it is the best Italian food I have ever had.</p>

256

<p>I was very interested to read about your experiences at NEC, glassharmonica and muimui. My S auditioned there several weeks ago for jazz drumset, and although he has been involved in their community program for a couple years, found it to be his most intimidating audition. He went alone (his choice) as we are very local. He played his pieces with a pianist and bassist, both current students and had some nice comments from the drum faculty. Then they asked him to do some ear training/chord identification, which he felt he “bombed”, and then had to do some sight singing…he sang the phrase an octave lower than played and although he sang it correctly, they then asked him to sing it in the origional key, which he attempted, but was just too high for him. He told me that they all laughed at that point and said something like…“I guess you are a baritone” and that was the end, at which point, S leaves with tail between legs, wanders disconsolantly around Boston, and seeks solice with GF who is a student at Northeastern.
Another reason for parents to attend auditions!</p>

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<p>Thanks, flutegirl. We’ll be in Ithaca this weekend!</p>

<p>D had same experience at NEC as others. Very formal, sing and good-bye. Info session was very good. Tour guide did not impress my daughter in the least. (In fact, the worst I’ve seen in college visits with my 3 kids…) </p>

<p>BU audition was similar. Nice practice rooms but piano was badly out of tune, and acoustics were very flat/no resonance. BU offered a tour, but no info session or opportunity for questions from other than tour guide.</p>

258

<p>Saturday (evening before auditions): The strings students performed Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Glass’s “American Four Seasons” with Robert McDuffie as soloist. The performance was excellent; the students’ enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment of the music were evident and infectious. Auditionees were given complimentary tickets and invited to a cheesecake reception across the street after the concert. For any music school, the proof is in the pudding and the pudding is the music that is made. Here the pudding was very good, especially considering that the program is only in its third year.</p>

<p>Sunday: plenty of warm-up rooms (Mercer students were probably still sleeping on a Sunday morning or away for the weekend). A theory/aural test was held at 10:00 for placement purposes only. Auditions were in front of the 7 or 8 string faculty in the Fickling Hall which is acoustically excellent for strings, so auditionees all felt that they sounded good. The Center’s accompanist played for everyone’s concerto (free of charge) and did an excellent job. The day seemed to run smoothly and I didn’t feel the tension that I think exists at many other places during auditions. Beverages and bananas were freely available for students and parents.</p>

<p>The faculty is very friendly and genuinely interested in each student. All of the students that we talked to were happy with the program and felt that they got a lot of individual attention. Faculty members are well-connected with Aspen, Brevard, and a chamber music program in Rome; this is very helpful for students. The program is not yet at capacity (capacity is 26 string players: 12 violinists, 6 violists, 6 cellists, and 2 basses) and they will only take players who are of a calibre to benefit from the opporunities, in order to keep the level of playing high.</p>

<p>Full-campus tours were offered on Saturday, but we didn’t arrive until just before the concert so we didn’t take an official tour. However, a current Center student volunteered to give us a personal tour on Sunday. This was probably better than the packaged public tours because we were able to ask lots of questions and get honest answers rather than the sanitized politically correct ones that offical tour guides must always give.</p>

<p>Everyone admitted to the McDuffie Center gets full tuition (and some might get more). The music building was completed in 2002 and is very nice. The program is still growing and I have no doubt it will only get better. The students in the McDuffie Center have a couple of road trips on a bus this year: they went to the Guarerius Quartet’s final concert at Amelia Island together. They will be taking the Vivaldi/Glass concert to Charlotte.</p>

<p>Macon is a small city (about 200 000), an easy 70-minute interstate drive from Atlanta’s airport. It has some outstanding heritage buildings: charming southern mansions (columns/classical architecture abound). </p>

<p>The vision for the Center for Strings is to provide a conservatory-level program in a liberal arts college environment and to ensure that students develop not just their playing chops, but also all those other abilities required for a successful career in music (for example, marketing, publicity, website management, public speaking, finance/accounting as these pertain to a musician’s career). </p>

<p>Given the location, small size and philosophy, the program is not for everyone, but I think serious string students should at least consider whether it might be a good fit for them. The McDuffie Center offers a Labor Day Weekend program (a mini summer music program) for high school string players which gives them an opporunity to become familiar with the faculty, the Center, and Mercer University.</p>

<p>Sorry if I sound like an advertisement! I really was impressed with the whole spirit and direction of the program, the genuineness of the faculty, and music-making that I heard.</p>

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<p>S went to Montreal on his own for this audition, flying cross-border and making tight flight connections, using Montreal transit, buses and cabs on his own to get from airport to hotel to accompanist’s house to university etc. (he did much better than I did yesterday with planes: I got home at 3:30 am after an extensive delay at an airport). </p>

<p>Schulich obviously runs string auditions well because he seemed to find everything and do everything on his own (no small feat for a somewhat absent-minded adolescent male). Schulich provided a good accompanist for free (and a charge of $40 for an hour of rehearsal if one wants rehearsal). The audition involved playing almost all of a long concerto first movement and all of one Bach movement. All four violin instructors were at the audition. </p>

<p>He had a lesson with one of the violin teachers this morning prior to auditions. S’s request for a lesson was made just this weekend and the teacher was back to him in a flash with 4 lesson time choices even though the teacher is in the midst of entrance auditions and scholarship auditions. S raved about this morning’s lesson (and S has had lessons with some excellent teachers from around the world). He has worked previously with two of the other three teachers, both of whom are very good teachers and humane people. </p>

<p>Some of the string auditionees from the last three days have been chosen to play in tonight’s scholarship round ($10 000 per year; this is significant given that tuition at McGill for out-of-province students is only a bit more than $5 000).</p>

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<p>Violindad, after reading what you wrote I do wish we had gone to the McDuffie audition day. It was on the same day as my daughter’s NEC audition so we sent them a video instead. It sounds great. My daughter has been to their Labor Day festival twice but I have never seen it. If she gets in, we will probably fly down there to meet them.</p>