That’s wonderful! Eastman seems like a great fit for your S. My S will be a senior at NEC. I think he really gravitated to what he perceived was a more experimental atmosphere there. But he knows some amazing horn players (since graduated) that were extremely happy at Eastman. We did just what you did regarding audition requirements - made a chart and looked for places where he could overlap selections. And ultimately discarding a few schools off the list if they had a specific tune/requirement that was an outlier. Looking back, he could have had fewer eggs in the basket but that’s hindsight. The audition process was really helpful in clarifying what he wanted.
My son is still finalizing his list (!) but so far, it looks like there is a lot of overlap. He’s just practicing, practicing, practicing, I’m a little worried about time management once school starts but he swears his AP classes won’t have too much homework and he’s not very studious anyway.
He did four master classes and two private lessons at a recent summer program and has some feedback that will help him moving forward. Somewhere along the line, I need to scrape together the funds for a new bow.
I just try to remind myself that he still has 6+ months since there are no pre-screen requirements.
I can safely say my kid is not practicing enough! He is going to audition voice. I can say he is singing a ton but not specifically prepping for auditions. I think he has most rep covered with review songs if need be. I do have some regrets about not having him do a voice intensive this summer. He did a regional musical theater production that has a 6 week run but obviously that isn’t the same kind of prep even though I think it has been a great experience. His voice teacher has him filling a role for a one act musical production later in the summer too. That is definitely good solo experience.
Time will tell! I’m just going to try and continue to find my zen with the process and what will be will be. He is always pretty zen and auditions do not bother him a bit so I guess they should not bother me. LOL.
@MusakParent - oh my. I could have written the above. Your son sounds just like my daughter! He’s getting good experience and once summer is over I’m sure he and his voice teacher will begin working on prescreens and auditions. Enjoy the zen!
I am speaking more from a jazz background but all those varied experiences and relaxed attitudes will serve your kids well in auditions. Also, those prepared audition tunes can get pretty tired after 6 months!
I was interested to hear how the vocal auditions work. In most cases, instrumentalists don’t seem to choose their own repertoire. The few exceptions, like Berklee, prove the rule. We may end up cutting back on some auditions because there’s just too much to get to.
I kind of forget this but my kid put together his own 50 minute recital earlier in June to complete participation in a music program. It was a mix of vocal, piano, guitar, some collaboration. But with that material alone he has most of his bases covered for vocal with the exception of an English art song of some type(he sang musical theater in English but had an Italian, German, and French song covered).
In case anyone hasn’t gotten 250 e-mails today, the common app is open! LOL. :))
@MusakParent ha!! So is the Berklee application, if anyone was waiting.
@akapiratequeen, generally the auditioner needs to have 3-4 selections ready to perform covering various bases. The student gets to pick one to sing first, then the panel requests a second selection of their choice. There may also be some sight singing, keyboard skill, or a theory test. Vanderbilt, uniquely among the schools my D audioned for, has VP students perform a short acting monologue as well.
Thanks @NYCMusicDad! It’s a bit different for instrumentalists. Generally they choose from a list for classical auditions, preparing three pieces of various types. Then for jazz the requirements range from very specific to “give us your best work.” Several places also require transcription of a famous solo (written and played); lots of improvisation of course; call and response on both the instrument and singing; sight reading and of course all the scales. I wish there was more standardization. He will end up dropping schools where the requirements are outliers unless they are at the top of his list.
S got his first audition date! Dec. 1 at Berklee. It’s getting real now!
Hoping to get some feedback in December and maybe cut the list of Jan/Feb auditions a little bit…