<p>Has anyone ever sent a tape for the From The Top national radio show? My son is interested in doing this and wondering how incredibly competitive it is.</p>
<p>A bit of past info here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/589686-top-any-anecdotes-about-trying-out.html?highlight=from+the+top[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/589686-top-any-anecdotes-about-trying-out.html?highlight=from+the+top</a></p>
<p>Although I’ve said this before, I will say it again because it bears repeating. They move very slowly there. They say 3 months to review, but that is the minimum. They also need several more months to put it into the schedule. You should always apply as a junior or younger- possibly at the beginning of senior year at the latest. Several years ago D sent in her audition after NFAA in January of senior year, and was told that by the time they got around to hearing her application, it was too late to schedule her in until the fall, and she would no longer qualify, so it would not work.</p>
<p>S’s Juilliard pre-college chamber coach applied, in January of his senior year, and we ran into the same thing again. The coach was told they could play next fall. S will no longer qualify since he will be in college, so no From The Top. </p>
<p>There are lots of BUTI and summer program chamber groups that also send in music and get accepted. Something else to think about.</p>
<p>Well, my son is just finishing his freshman year in high school so time is not a problem. He’s not very quirky, tho. We’ll have to come up with some gimmick.</p>
<p>They love younger musicians. Freshman in high school is an excellent time to apply, if he is at the top of his instrument. It is definitely competitive.</p>
<p>From my take, from the top is a kind of quirkly program.While it obviously features talented musicians, it is also part vaudeville show in the sense that they seem to be looking for ‘gimmicks’ as well as talent (as Gypsy Rose Lee was taught in the musical Gypsy “ya gotta have a gimmick”:). </p>
<p>For example, Chad Hoops, the kid who took the Menuhin juniors last year, got onto the program doing chamber music, with his sisters…</p>
<p>A girl my son knows got on because she according to the show is the penultimate city girl, grew up in a brooklyn apartment house that between that and the neighborhood have a lot of family members who have lived there for several generations, etc (though I noticed looking at a tape of the show they made her take out her nose ring <em>lol</em>…guess that was too city girl). </p>
<p>Another girl got on because she is both an accomplished violinist and also a competitive swimmer, others get on because of unique backgrounds and so forth. So if applying, it would be wise to think of things musical and non musical that might set you aside from others as well as putting together a demo tape:)</p>
<p>I think it is less a matter of quirkiness than trying to put together a fun and entertaining show; they seem to look for highly talented kids who are unpretentious and have engaging personalities or compelling stories.</p>
<p>Compositions cannot be too long, and should have easy-to-arrange instrumentation, such as, perhaps, the composer playing his or her own piece on the piano.</p>