<p>I see that others are sending performance DVDs etc. and that some schools request online links to same. Is it important to submit these things? At what level of performance ability is this info welcome? My daughter is a serious voice student and my son is a talented but decidedly unserious trumpet player, but they are only 13 and neither is a virtuoso. I would feel a little pushy asking anyone to watch their performances. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what “decidedly unserious” means. </p>
<p>How about this? If your children are devoted enough to a musical activity to continue it at boarding school, and their talent may be strong enough to make a difference, it does no harm to send a link to a recording of a performance. </p>
<p>The admissions people will likely send the link to the teachers in charge of the activity for feedback. You have no way of knowing what the school needs this year. Last year might have been a year for tuba players, and this year they need piccolo players. It can’t hurt, it might help. You can send a link to one recording to multiple schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, Periwinkle. I guess I should put something together. “Decidedly unserious” means he never practices the trumpet and complains a lot about jazz band interfering with tennis, but yet is in the selective jazz band, performs well, and will continue in high school if anyone tells him he has to. :-)</p>
<p>No one will tell him he has to play in a band at boarding school. Legions of kids drop instruments once they enter high school.</p>
<p>Remember, some of the other children applying will have spent lots of time practicing, will have participated in regional orchestras, will have already won state-level awards. </p>
<p>So, not knowing your children, I would lean to preparing a recording for your daughter, but not your son. </p>
<p>For your son, have you all made contact with the tennis coaches?</p>
<p>I guess I would say it doesn’t hurt to send something, but I think it’s not that likely to help in the “unserious” case. Lots of kids do some music as an extra-curricular, and of course the schools will love that he’ll be involved, but the reason to send material is if you think it’s really a “hook” for your children-- that they’re accomplished enough for the music director to maybe flag their file as someone they particularly want to be admitted, as long as they are otherwise qualified (like coaches do for particularly talented athletes). Maybe that would fit your daughter more (“serious voice student”). Again, it’s not that it would hurt, but you don’t want the admissions office to feel like your inundating them with lots of extraneous material. In your daughter’s case, however, if you think she’d stand out, go for it. Periwinkle is right, of course-- you never know what the school might be looking for (including a trumpet player), so certainly let the schools know on the application what both kids’ talents are and the level at which they play, whether or not you send a DVD or music link.</p>
<p>I heard some good advice once, which was related to college admissions, but also applies in this case. Unless your child is REALLY outstanding, it is often better to list the activity than it is to show it via recording or portfolio. “Played trumpet for four years” may appear more impressive than a so-so recording of a performance, for example.</p>
<p>hth!</p>
<p>I don’t really know what to say to tennis coaches. I don’t know how my son compares with others because he never wanted to get involved in tournaments until this past fall, and even this fall it was only in team tennis. He was undefeated, but they never recorded any of the tournaments on the USTA web site. None of this would bother me, except that I now know that a lot of kids have been competing for a long time. My son is probably as good as many of them, but he doesn’t have anything to back that up. He’s also probably as good a musician as some other kids who put more effort into it and try out for select orchestras, so maybe I will make a video and let the music teachers decide what they think of him. Thank you both for the input!</p>
<p>And thanks, Rellielou - I’ll see how the video turns out. :-)</p>
<p>Good luck, TW. I am contemplating submitting music for my dd. Her chorus has recorded Christmas albums that sound terrific, and I just don’t know how much of that to include. I am probably going to record a solo vocal piece as well and see if we feel it is good enough quality to submit. I’m leaving off her piano for now! ;)</p>
<p>FWIW, ChoatieKid played trumpet for many years (jazz band, honors band). One school highly encouraged him to send a recording as that school’s music director had specifically told the AO to be on the lookout for trumpet players. CK didn’t think he was good enough to make an impression (not a prodigy), so he didn’t send anything in. Was not admitted to that school. We’ll never know if it would have made a difference. Later, he was invited to play in the jazz band at Choate, but dropped trumpet after first year due to time constraints.</p>
<p>Looking back, I wish we had understood the idea of “community building” and had taken the AO’s suggestion as a hint that perhaps CK’s trumpet playing would have been a mark in his favor. We made the incorrect assumption that every musician at BS was some kind of professional or prodigy and that a merely good player would look pathetic to the music director. Certainly, having been told to submit a sample and then not doing it was a mistake.</p>
<p>Thanks, CM, I’ll show your post to my son. He thinks all BS musical applicants must be better than he is.</p>
<p>The boarding school I’m at isn’t one of the larger ones (we’re under 500), and our orchestra is decidedly average. If it helps at all, take it from someone who works there that not every musician who boards is a virtuoso…</p>
<p>As far as video or music clips, our admissions office does dutifully send them along to arts faculty, but even if our arts people were to jump up and down and rent billboards supporting the admission of a particular applicant, it wouldn’t carry even half the weight of a coach’s nod. Then again, (as a bitter colleague of mine who teaches in the arts department pointed out,) there are zero arts people on our admissions staff. It works out pretty well for those of us who coach, though, because they read athletic recommendations and watch sports videos with a keen appreciation and eye for detail.</p>
<p>I do not speak for the large boarding schools that are inundated with applications. In smaller schools, arts supplements will not be picked apart by hyper-critical “judges” with the power to admit or deny. These are middle- and high school kids, and boarding school arts faculty are familiar with the wide range of abilities of kids this age. Personally, I’m in favor of sending supplemental materials only for kids who honestly plan to continue their sport/art in boarding school. You can probably imagine how many fake claims and padded arts resumes get sent in…</p>
<p>I would agree with #6 above. </p>
<p>DC is a concertmaster and pianist, practices both 6-10 hours a week depending on other commitments, is a member of county honors orchestra, which includes high school students, and has won a few awards. DC is not a “virtuoso,” however, and she has no intention to becoming one. She simply expect music to be part of her life, and has her passion elsewhere. We recorded her violin and piano performance carefully last year and submitted youtube links. I don’t think it made much difference at all. </p>
<p>I guess there is no shortage of violinist or pianist at any high schools–BS or not, so a trumpeter would have a relative advantage in getting noticed, but I’m not sure by how much. A vocalist fares no better than violinist or pianist in a sense that school orchestra or chorus would run without much hiccup with or without one more performer. </p>
<p>There was an interesting article on arts/sports admission process published two years agao in Choate student newspaper:</p>
<p>[The</a> Art of Admission: Painting A Picture of Artistic Recruitment | The News](<a href=“http://thenews.choate.edu/article/art-admission-painting-picture-artistic-recruitment]The”>http://thenews.choate.edu/article/art-admission-painting-picture-artistic-recruitment)</p>
<p>Lastly, if OP has a choice of sending youtube link or usb drive/CD, I would recommend the latter… for a tactical reason. While a URL/email could be overlooked by AO or art teacher (tell me if you never miss following up on every email you receive), it’s hard to ignore something physical on one’s desk.</p>
<p>Interesting. I probably should have looked into Choate more (for the other kid, who is an artiste). Maybe I will spare my son and just submit a video for my daughter because I have one and because she is serious about her art, although as a singer she will never be necessary in the way a tuba player might.</p>
<p>We sent a YouTube link in January. It was marked to have been seen 40 times within a couple of weeks, so I do think they are seen by the schools.</p>
<p>Some schools emailed, specifically music faculty, to even send a scale, ( a desperate orchestra?) so I’d send one of your son’s. It wouldn’t hurt.</p>