<p>8 applications, 7 live auditions, 3 down, 4 to go.</p>
<p>D plays flute</p>
<p>9 = total auditions (spread out early November - early March)
8 = live on site
1 = we had to send a cd because of date conflict</p>
<p>7 total auditions; 5 on-site; 1 DVD; 1 regional audition</p>
<p>D is doing 7 – 2 regional, and 5 on campus.</p>
<p>D (trumpet) had 7 auditions scheduled (5 campus, 2 regional) in a six week period.</p>
<p>She’ll end up doing 6, all on campus (in 5 different states). One of her regional auditions was canceled due to weather and she decided to drop it from the list and the second was so close to another audition with different required repertoire that she asked to reschedule it for a later campus date and was successful.</p>
<p>S did 4, including one regional (but he’d already been on that campus a week or two earlier for an academic scholarship competition).</p>
<p>D did 2 on campus and one by DVD. In addition, two other schools considered her meeting with the teacher as her “audition”. All of her auditions were for scholarship purposes only, as she wasn’t applying as a music major (even though that’s what she ended up as).</p>
<p>I saw an earlier post about safeties and wanted to add to it. First, any school that requires an audition is probably not a safety, unless you already have some sort of understanding with them. An early audition, resulting in an early acceptance, can meet this. Second, any school you don’t want to attend or can’t afford is not a safety. Third, a safety doesn’t have to be a school. It can be a planned gap year. All of my s’s schools were in the “reach” category. His “safety” was to be going abroad for a year to study with a teacher who’d invited him there. An ideal safety is a back up plan that keeps you headed the direction you ultimately want to go. The important thing is that a safety has to be something you are willing to do, and can afford to do, and have quite a good chance of being allowed to do.</p>
<p>(This is simply a restatement of collective wisdom on these boards, posted here for the sake of new members and lurkers.)</p>
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<p>I don’t disagree with that, but don’t almost all BM programs require auditions? </p>
<p>My son is probably not at the level that most posters on this forum are, and is not applying to any conservatories or top music schools, but all four of the colleges that he applied to, plus every other one that we considered applying to require auditions. </p>
<p>One of the schools didn’t require an audition to enter the music BA program, but even if the student didn’t audition for acceptance to the BA Music program, they still had to audition and test for placement in music theory, piano, and ensembles.</p>
<p>So are you saying that due to the possibility that the student is not on the expected music level of a particular school (or the possibility that the student may simply “blow” his/her audition) that no school should be considered as a “safe bet”? I could definately see nerves, or an illness, or just a “bad hair day” or a “woke up on the wrong side of the bed day” ruining an audition at even the “easiest” schools.</p>
<p>I did 2 auditions, because I already knew where I wanted to go - the second audition was a backup in case I didn’t get in. I ended up at my first choice, Penn State, and because it wasn’t a conservatory-type environment, I felt that I didn’t need to do more than 2. I spoke with my lesson teacher and he agreed. I was actually accepted at both schools. Though if you are applying to more than one conservatory, I would recommend auditioning at some non-conservatory schools as well.</p>
<p>@imagep - Yes, that’s what I mean. That performance majors don’t really get to have a safety - a sure bet - if they are applying to audition-only schools. There are all sorts of things that can and do go wrong at auditions. We hear about those who blow their Curtis audition, but what about those who are sick or snowbound for their Podunk U audition?</p>
<p>Having a safety - “love they safety” - is almost a mantra on CC. But to a certain extent, I believe that it is more important to have a handful of schools that are very closely matched with the student’s ability, than it is to have a safety. Audition-only schools run the gamut from very high level to much lower, and it’s important to understand how many of them, on a “typical” day, are a match with the student’s own skills. If the homework has been done in advance, and you’ve selected schools where the performance level is appropriate, chances are good that at least one - and probably more - of the 4 or 5 auditions will be successful. </p>
<p>One thing that fits under “homework” is making sure the student has received some candid and objective evaluations of his ability and/or potential. These can come from sample lessons at the college visits, but it’s nice if they start earlier - at camps and master classes and such.</p>
<p>During school visits you can sometimes get a feel for what might be an easier admit for you - Does the school need your instrument? Are they building up their music program? Schools with marching bands are often eager for more wind instruments, for example. Trying to figure out the level of playing of the current students can help you see where you fit in. Sure, it might be more “safe” to apply to a school where you’re better than everyone, but would you learn enough to make it worthwhile?</p>
<p>My D had 5 auditions (all on sites) done and 2 to go.
She had first one early in December, and disappointedly rejected at music school and accepted academically.
She liked the school, saying OK to go there only academically. However, “my” feeling was hurt so much ;-).</p>
<p>“I” (not my d!) was getting nervous that she might not get into “any” music school, kind of panic mode, trying so hard not to show it to my d.</p>
<p>Here comes Audition prime time in Feb. She has packed 2 auditions in the last week and 3 in this week with 2 places needs air plane trip.</p>
<p>At one of the audition far away (6 hours flight), she insisted going alone (and it was her top choice!), which I agreed since she has a friend and it’s very expensive for two of us (I regret this decision now). She could not eat anything since breakfast on the day, and could not get practice room and sit on the floor for an hour… and bombed the audition.
Oh well, she’s safely home now, and did local one yesterday. Which was nice and quick one.
I could take her to her favorite bubble-tea place after the audition.</p>
<p>Two more to go! Hope I could survive it through. phew…</p>
<p>My son has done 5 auditions with one more scheduled for this weekend! (I’m having champagne when we are back at the hotel!) 5 were on site and 1 a regional. The best advice he received was to schedule his favorites toward the end so he could get used to the audition process. I’ve seen tremendous growth and confidence since we started the process. At one school, the teacher came out of the audition room to tell me that he was amazed at how much DS had grown as a performer and with incredible depth since his sample lesson in the fall. (We’re still waiting to hear if this growth was enough to secure a spot in the studio. 36 auditioning basses for 3 spots.)</p>
<p>Binx,</p>
<p>talking about things going wrong, my son just called and told me that the college that he just drove to with a friend who was also supposed to be auditioning there this weekend told BOTH of them that they were registered to audition the NEXT weekend and not this weekend. I have no way to prove which weekend that he registered for because the registration process was online and returned no confirmation.</p>
<p>Both of the students are attending the high school honors band clinic at the college this weekend and I know for a fact that at least my son had registered for this weekend since he was going to be their anyway (and they honors band literature said that they could audition during the honors band clinic).</p>
<p>Well, in 20/20 hindsight, this is probably a case where having a parent along might have helped. For some reason, administrators (or teachers or secretaries, or college kids helping out) are less willing to look a parent in the eye and tell them they’re wrong. </p>
<p>A kid is stuck - he’s nervous and eager to make a good impression, and the person he is trying to impress is already telling him he screwed up before he even started. Hard to feel assertive in that situation.</p>
<p>I don’t know if he has been able to work something out or not. You still may be able to salvage something from home. Try calling and explaining “there must have been a computer glitch or something” because your son purposely selected to audition the weekend that he was going to be there anyway. Could they double check their records, or at least fit him in if they have any no-shows. </p>
<p>At this point, although your son has to audition, he - and you - are still the “customer”, and to a certain extent, their treatment of you is going to influence your final decision of where to send the big bucks. They may want to work with you to solve this, to stay in the running. If your son insists on solving this alone (and good for him if he does!) he can always simply state that there must have been a computer error, and then ask who can he talk to, please, who has the authority to fix this. (If he has a relationship with a teacher already, take advantage of that, too.)</p>
<p>Be careful that you don’t treat the other kid and yours as a package deal. Who knows what the other kid actually signed up for. </p>
<p>Good luck. Hope it works out. Let us know.</p>
<p>They ended up re-scheduling both their auditions to lunch time today. (although the everyone elses auditions will be on Sat). </p>
<p>It really wasn’t that big of a deal one way or another, worst that could have happened is he would have had to have gone back the next week. It was just more convienient for him to audition this weekend since he was already there. </p>
<p>He called about 10:30 last night whining about being hungry, apparently the college took up everones car keys and told them that they cant leave their hotel rooms past 11pm. He was really p’o’ed and told me that he had “just crossed that college off of his list”. Chair auditions for the clinic took hours longer than expected and many of the students apparently missed their evening meal do to it. I told him to order a pizza and have it delivered to his room. </p>
<p>Its only a two hour drive, and yes, you have better believe that I would have gone with him the second time around. I wasn’t origionally planning on doing this, but I do believe though that I will stay with him Sunday night and go with him to the other audition that he has on Monday (about 3 hours away from the college that his is at right now).</p>
<p>My son also had to audition for the band clinic last night, he made 1st chair, so maybe he is on an audition roll. I suspect that after finding out this morning that he made 1st chair he might rethink crossing this college off his list.</p>
<p>My daughter is nearly at the end of her audition process. Shes completed 5 auditions so far, has been accepted to 4, waiting to hear on the one she did earlier this week, and has one audition left to go. She dropped one of her originally scheduled auditions due to her being admitted to a school she liked better. So her beginning number of auditions was 7, but she will end up doing 6, all in person, on site. Its been a very crazy last month or so.</p>
<p>It was interesting that at several schools even though collectively the auditioners were told it would be several weeks til they heard if they got in or not, my daughter was thrilled to be told at the conclusion of her audition, congratulations, youre in. That sure beat the waiting!</p>
<p>Many schools did reveal how many saxophones they planned to take and that number was anywhere from 3 to 5. Other schools were not so forthright. I dont believe any of the schools told her how many people she was competing against for a spot. For this reason, she took glassharmonicas advice and cast a wide net, not assuming any school could be considered a safety.</p>
<p>She awaits notification about any possible music scholarships. She plans to do music education. She had received academic acceptance to all schools before auditioning.</p>
<p>Audition reflections from a parent:
When given a choice, my daughter preferred to do the theory test BEFORE the audition, with ample time in between to relax and then warm up. Most of the audition programs ran right on time, (with her audition exactly at the time they stated) one ran early and another ran just a few minutes behind. </p>
<p>One interesting exercise she was asked to do at one audition was to turn away from the professor, who then played a note on the piano and she had to play that same note on her saxophone. Hed then jump to another note and she had to quickly match his pitch. Another school asked her to match tones vocally. (She was not auditioning on voice) </p>
<p>I just tried to stay quiet and supportive of my daughter throughout the process. She didnt want me in the practice room for her warm-ups, but was happy to have me standing by as needed, to offer water, hold her coat, drag around her boots and other clothes and bags. Best to read your child and know what will help rather than irritate them. </p>
<p>Many of the schools had programs for parents while their students auditioned. Question and answer periods with current students were the most informative and entertaining. Campus tours, financial aid information and presentations about honors programs were most common.</p>
<p>One of the schools offered a sample lesson with the applied professor as part of the audition day. This served as a nice refresher since she had already done a sample lesson months before. Can’t stress enough the importance of the sample lesson. This was key in the equation for my daughter. Several schools she did not even apply to because she felt so strongly negative about the applied professor.</p>
<p>Thank you notes she sent after her auditions were warmly received, often with some nice feedback in return.</p>
<p>Much thanks to everyone on this site who gave great advice and suggestions. Were coming into the home stretch!!!</p>