Hi all - For a music supplement playing a classical piece on a string instrument, some schools helpfully set forth their length limits in minutes. But others specify limits in MB, often no more than 250MB (or sometimes 500MB) for video and 30MB (or sometimes 60MB) for audio.
Two questions:
I would think most string players submit audio of their excerpts, not video of them playing the excerpt. True?
Approximately how many minutes would a 30 MB audio recording hold? And I guess if video is sometimes submitted of a string excerpt, how many minutes would 250MB of video be?
No, the supplement should be an unedited video, just like the one you’d submit for an audition for a conservatory. You should be able to upload an entire movement of a romantic/modern concerto and one of a Bach Partita, which is what is typically asked for. Good luck!
I may be looking in all the wrong places, but I wish more colleges would just plain say that — “If possible, submit an unedited video.” The ones I’ve seen don’t specify a preferred format.
And thanks for the sorts of pieces expected too!!!
“- I would think most string players submit audio of their excerpts, not video of them playing the excerpt. True?”
Unless the instruction clearly states “Audio” submission without any mention of “Video,” then only submit your audio. If it does allow video submission, then I’d do so if you think your “stage presence” is pretty strong. Video expresses more than your audio. My son submitted video excerpts whenever the instruction allowed; otherwise, only audio.
“- Approximately how many minutes would a 30 MB audio recording hold? And I guess if video is sometimes submitted of a string excerpt, how many minutes would 250MB of video be?”
A movement of Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is about 28-29 MB in MP3 format in audio. If it’s a longer piece, then simply record in lowered quality. For normal hearing, you can’t really tell the difference in quality. For video submission, 250MB should be good for only 5-6 minutes in MP4 format. That’s approximately 720p quality which should be the minimum.
It’s very important that you submit two contrasting works. My son, for example, submitted an excerpt from Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and an excerpt from The Red Violin Caprices. Contrasting could be from different musical eras, Romantic and Modern, for example, or from musicality stand point, something virtuosic and technical (Paganini Caprice 24, say).
Thanks for the pm offer worriestoomuch! And thanks for the reply Tiggerdad!
Tigger, thanks for the audio vs. video considerations, very helpful. We’ll look carefully at each school. I think most do not specify. Some say “recording(s),” which I take to mean either audio or video is accepted. We can always check with the individual school where ambiguous. I’ll have to defer to her instructor as to her stage presence - I’d say it’s great, but I am not only biased but as untrained in such assessments as one can be.
As to the length question…
If I am reading your reply correctly, it sounds like 30MB audio should be enough to audio-record a suitable movement.
For 250MB video at 720p, it sounds like it will depend on whether the movement is 5-6 minutes or less.
And I’ll definitely pass along to the instructor the emphasis on contrasting works and the suggestions of you and worriestoomuch. I am not sure how much the instructor has worked with music supplement submissions.
“For 250MB video at 720p, it sounds like it will depend on whether the movement is 5-6 minutes or less.”
You should be thinking excerpt and not the whole movement. It’s typical that they ask for an excerpt. If they don’t, then I’d recommend submitting audio only.
Excellent, thanks. I am sure I am jumbling up the terminology. The supplement is to augment the app as a non-music major, and so the listed requirements tend to be more vague, I think, than the requirements set forth for those auditioning as music majors or for a BM. They don’t require an entire movement. So, especially given the time/MB limits, I am sure excerpts suffice. For those that are not entirely clear, we’ll give the colleges a shout.
So very helpful, thank you for sharing your experience and expertise!
TiggerDad has had different experiences with submitting audition pieces online than mine. That’s not to say audio only isn’t acceptable.Submission requirements will probably vary depending on the type of program one is applying to. However, the only online audition material I have ever been asked to submit are unedited videos. Why? Because this way, teachers who watch them can be certain the submissions haven’t been cut/spliced or performed by someone other than the person applying.
Also, while the faculty won’t listen to or watch the entire video, they will want to see/hear that the student has mastered the entire movement, and may in fact skip around to determine the student’s technical and expressive strengths in different parts of the composition. And even if the applicant is not applying as a performance major, the level of performance recorded on the video should be very high. Again, most audition tapes/videos will include two contrasting pieces. For string players, this usually means a technically challenging - first or third - movement from a major concerto, and a piece from a different historical period, say, a Bach solo sonata or partita. Hope this helps! Best of luck!
You advised the student to submit excerpts - I advised the student to submit recordings of entire movements. You said the student should submit an audio-only recording unless the program requires video or unless the video reflects good performance skills.I said that I’ve always been required to submit videos to ensure that no editing of the performance has been undertaken, so that performance skills can be readily confirmed, and that the person submitting the video is the person recorded by the video. But i did say that while colleges may accept audio tapes, students who perform at a very high level, i.e., can perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, will probably be prepared to submit videos.
Okay, I guess your experience was indeed different than mine, then. You do realize that the video quality suffers dreadfully when you try to squeeze a 12-15 minute full movement of a major concerto within the 250MB limitation, right?
The bottom line is that the applicant should follow the instruction carefully and do as what it asks.
By the way, my son, with his excerpted video submissions, had ZERO issues being admitted to seven highly selective schools. He has never seen a college arts supplement that instructed to submit “full video.” If the instruction doesn’t specifically state “full video,” then you can either submit an excerpt OR a full video at your discretion. If the performance quality is very high – and it should be for any arts supplement submissions – the admissions won’t care as long as there’s enough and plenty of evidences of the applicant’s ability.
You both are very helpful, and I think your perspectives do complement one another. The most variable, limiting factor in what schools are permitting is length. Some say no more than 10 minutes total (whether one piece or two); some say 1-2 pieces of no more than 5 minutes each; some say 250MB video/30MB audio; and some say 500MB video/60MB audio.
So I think when the length limitations allow, a full movement of an appropriate piece is best, and I’ve come to realize from your comments that video is better than audio for all the reason you both have mentioned. On the other hand, length limitations will not always permit a full movement, and so excerpts will have to suffice.
To be honest, one of my biggest interest is trying to see if most or all schools can be satisfied with the same one or two recordings. Like all seniors, my D has way too much to do between essays, other app requirements, school, and ECs. It is kind of frustrating that there is not more uniformity in the length requirements, but of course there is all sorts of disuniformity in various colleges’ requirements - so it goes.
So probably what makes sense is she record a full movement and a shorter, contrasting piece. Then edit down the full movement to an excerpt for those schools when length limitations dictate something less than a full movement.
In any event, you have both been exceptionally helpful, and I think your advice dovetails within the confines of one length limitation or another.
As far as what pieces to submit, we ended up using the same two contrasting pieces for all applications. It was the busiest and the most stressful time, so using the same two pieces worked out fine.
We had actually preferred to submit full length videos. The only reason why we decided against it was the fact that the quality of video suffered dramatically given the length of the major concerto movement that my son was submitting. For Tchaikovskly Violin Concerto, mvmt 1, which I believe is about 12-13 minutes long, it went over I GB for our desired video image quality. Bringing it down to even 500 GB limit, the image quality suffered to unacceptable level for us. But play with it for yourself and adjust as you go and see. If the video image quality is acceptable at full length and within the specified limitation, then all’s good.
