<p>Hi there, I've posted a few times over the last few years for information pertaining to a young musician and have always gotten excellent help. Well, my young musician is now a high school junior and it strikes me (very hard!) that it's time to consider the C word for him. That being college. I am not a musician, myself, and am not knowledgeable AT ALL, so I was wondering if there is a thread anyone could point me to that would be along the lines of Applying to Music Programs for Dummies. Any information would be gratefully received.</p>
<p>If you go to the top of the thread list, you will see a section called “featured Discussions” or something like that. If you click “view all” you can scroll down and find “So you want to be a music major-one family’s experience.” That would be a good place to start. </p>
<p>It is good you are starting to look now, because the process of applying to schools for music majors is very different from normal college applications. You should have a pretty firm list of schools that he is thinking of applying to by September of next year. That means you are going to want to think about visits and possible sample lessons in the winter/spring on this year. </p>
<p>You will also want to think about things he can do this year and over the summer to enhance his application. For example, my son plays jazz bass, and he attended the Berklee 5 week program the summer between junior and senior year. He started as an electric bassist, but picked up upright in high school. He didn’t start private instruction on upright until his senior year. If I had it to do over again, we would have started those lessons earlier. </p>
<p>What does your son play? Does he want to do a performance degree? </p>
<p>Holy cannoli. Sample lessons? Who knew? Thank you for the advice. I have been closing my eyes with my fingers in my ears and whistling to avoid this. I guess no more.</p>
<p>He plays clarinet, his particular love is jazz clarinet a la Benny Goodman and goes to a school with an amazing program which focuses on that type of music, rather than Latin Jazz. He’s been taking lessons for about 9 years and his private teacher usually teaches college and post-college students. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it very much.</p>
<p>I had no idea about that featured discussion option at the top! And after all these years. Here’s the link that @electricbassmom is referring to - the first page of which is mandatory reading: <a href=“So You Want To Be Music Major - One Family's Experience - Music Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-to-be-music-major-one-familys-experience-p1.html</a></p>
<p>I’m very grateful!</p>
<p>There is a thread on here about “so you want to be a music major” that had a lot of information in it, I am sure you can find it. </p>
<p>I don’t know if he is an instrumental or voice student, but here is my condensed version I am sure others will comment on. I am going to do this from the instrumental viewpoint, some of it will apply to voice, others will not:</p>
<p>1)In Junior year at this time, the student should be talking to their primary teacher about what to use for audition rep. The process for this should be looking at what the schools you might be interested in and from their websites, pull down their requirements. The trick to this is listing the requirements, then figuring out among the requirements what they have in common (or can be common) and what is unique, then seeing what you can do to minimize what your prepare. For example, on violin curtis requires knowing an entire solo partita or sonata by bach, whereas other schools tend to be contrasting movements of one, so if you applied to curtis, you would be set for other schools. Or if a program wants a 20th century piece after 1940, and you choose let’s say a sonata done by prokofiev (assuming that meets the requirement), you might be able to use that at another school to fulfilll the requirement of a sonata. Build a matrix in excel and then process it, and hopefully you will find the X pieces the student needs to prepare. </p>
<p>Discussions with the teacher at this point are about pieces that fit the student best, that demonstrate their ability (where there is a choice), and then also assess where the student is. If the piece is near ready, than the student might simply have to tweak it to keep it up to standard or to make it more refined. If the student hasn’t done the piece or is not in great shape, then a roadmap should be worked out with the teacher to try and get it into shape.</p>
<p>2)By spring of junior year, I recommend having the repertoire you want to use not only chosen, but mostly at a level where you think you could audition on it right then. Obviously this is an ideal, and the best laid schemes happen (my son switched his concerto the summer before auditions, figuring out the piece he had been playing didn’t work for him), but I recommend shooting for this. The reason is then you can spend time with your teaching fine tuning it, making it better, with the idea that you get it to a level 20% higher than it was in the spring. Why 20%? Because on an audition, you will likely not play at your very best, most people because of nerves and so forth lose a certain amount…by targeting higher, you likely will be playing at a level where you were in the spring:). </p>
<p>You also might want to do this for pre screen requirements, to see how many or few recordings you need to do. Many schools are requiring a pre screen recording. </p>
<p>Again, not set in stone, and all kinds of things happen.</p>
<p>3)By late summer you should have the list of schools you want to apply to pretty much set, and have charted out the requirements, and also the key dates (I’ll talk about them below in more detail), things like dates, standardized tests, etc. Also, even more important, get an idea by this time of the teachers you would like to study with (if they have more than 1). </p>
<p>4)If you can, travel to the schools and try to arrange sample lessons, to get an idea of the teachers. This is not easy and it isn’t a requirement, but the spring, summer and fall of junior year is a great time to do this, will be too crazy later.</p>
<p>Okay, now you have the schools charted out, it is fall of Senior year, what do you do?</p>
<p>-Look at the requirements, and see if you need letters of recommendation. If you do, then get them as early as possible, it seems trivial, but it can be like herding cats.</p>
<p>-You likely will be filing for financial aid, and I highly recommend your parents go through the process of setting up an account in the FAFSA website, so when it comes time to apply and you need to fill out the finaical aid stuff, you are ready. FAFSA can be a pain, and you usually have two accounts, one for the student, one for the parent. Also, it won’t hurt to have your financial information ready, things like tax return from current year, cost of living information, etc…</p>
<p>-Many schools are going to require a pre screen recording and at start of school year, you should arrange to do the recordings needed, however you plan on doing them. If recording it yourself, find a decent recorder (like the Zoom HQ models, for example), if doing it professionally line up a studio. Get this done as soon as possible, don’t wait, because you may find you record your stuff, and then don’t like it…and it is a lot easier to redo stuff in September or October then it will be in Novemember…</p>
<p>-Get your applications done early as well, most schools deadline is December 1st…seems a long time off from September 1st, but it isn’t, time goes into hyperdrive in the fall…I would make it a goal to try and have the prescreens and the applications done and all information needed, like recommendation letters, financial information, etc, done no later than the end of October. Among other things, it will leave November free for all the ‘gotchas’, like realizing you didn’t record something needed for the pre screen, you don’t have a letter of recommendation, etc. If you have questions, it also will be easier to talk to admissions early then it is as December 1st comes up.</p>
<p>-Submit the application well before December 1st, you aren’t the only one rushing! And take the time to make sure the school got everything, touch base with them. Validate that Fafsa got submitted correctly. Note that with schools with rolling auditions, there may be an earlier date, I am using standard dates here, so if rolling admissions, it should be based on when you plan on auditioning. </p>
<p>-As the pre screen processing happens (if required), the next major milestone is going to be the auditions, which will come with the pre screen acceptance usually. Check the dates, and see if there are any conflicts with that date, whether it be another audition or if some other life event conflicts that can’t be shifted. In my experience schools are very good at adjusting dates if need be, but the sooner you do this the better (for example, my S had an audition scheduled for the morning and another one across the country in the afternoon!). </p>
<p>-Once you know the audition dates, make arrangements on how to get there, if a parent is going with the child, airline flights, trains, hotels, etc. Again, the earlier the better, to have everything locked in. Among other things, if they are like my S, they will be fretting about everything. Also, try and make it if at all possible so there is some time to decompress after traveling, one of my S’s auditions required a red eye flight the night before and had an audition early afternoon, after flying all night without sleep. </p>
<p>-If you haven’t been able before, try and book sample lessons with teachers when you are on campus for auditions. While this isn’t a necessity, it can give you an idea if the person is the right teacher for you and they you. </p>
<p>-Once done with the audition, there isn’t that much to do with that school, other than waiting to hear by May 1st. Don’t take too much out of the audition, don’t assume because they talked to you it meant they liked you better than other students, if they don’t talk it doesn’t mean anything, if it is 15 minutes or 8, don’t over analyze it, focus on the next audition…</p>
<p>(Continued)
-Once the audition results come in, take a deep breath and don’t let any particular result make you feel bad. Some schools you thought should be doable may not be, reaches may happen. If a school waitlists you, contact the school to see if you can get any info. Sometimes, ti could be the two teachers you requested had full studios, and were waiting to see if they had any openings, or they may be willing to let you talk to other teachers to see if they would work with you, depends on the school. </p>
<p>If the financial aid package isn’t strong enough, contact the school and appeal it. </p>
<p>Then comes the fun part, weighing the acceptances,. what teacher accepted them, financial aid, and making a decision…and it can be the most tense part of it. My take is to relax, and if you have questions, call the school, they generally are really good about questions and issues, very few of them have the attitude of people working the DMV or people working at Carnegie Hall:)</p>
<p>Thank you so much . Phew that is a lot of information and I am going to take notes. I appreciate your help very much.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.juilliard.edu/apply-audition/events-college-fairs/fall-2014-campus-event-information”>http://www.juilliard.edu/apply-audition/events-college-fairs/fall-2014-campus-event-information</a>
<a href=“Applying to Music Schools: A Joint Admission Presentation”>http://www.esm.rochester.edu/joint</a>
/Juilliard and Eastman are teaming up to present college fair info. You might want to check out the link.</p>
<p>I found it helpful in fall of junior year to take a look at the websites of all the schools that my D was interested in and check to see when their auditions were. This often is the same from year to year, i.e. College X might always have its woodwind auditions the second and third weekends of February. Write those dates down and store them somewhere. If that school is still on the list next summer you can start figuring out what makes sense for traveling (or whether it makes sense to do a local audition, or to send a recording). We did the midwest schools in one trip, and east coast conservatories in another trip. It just helps planning, especially when next August your S thinks he knows where he would like to apply, but you find that all the schools have taken down their audition dates. Save your list and when your son is filling out applications next fall and asks “Mom, School Y wants me to pick an audition date if I make it past prescreens.” Then you tell him “February 4!” and he can go on applying. You can be in charge of logistics. 
</p>
<p>First off, the most basic decision is conservatory/music school or college/university, BM or BA.</p>
<p>A BM will be 2/3-3/4 music classes with lessons, lots of practice and performance. A BA will be 1/4-1/3 music classes. Music is considered an academic major at many colleges (as opposed to conservatory) and includes theory, aural skills, music history, composition, ethnomusicology, and technology in music. Conservatory will also have many of these classes, of course.</p>
<p>Often BA programs do not involve auditions for admission, but a music supplement with recording can be submitted as part of the application, totally optional.</p>
<p>So the options range from conservatory with focus on clarinet (would your son want a jazz program?), to music major at a college, to majoring in something else entirely and doing music as an extracurricular or outside of school. Lessons can be continued in any of these options.</p>
<p>Then there is the option of a minor, a double major or double degree.</p>
<p>I always think this is helpful (you may have seen it): <a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html”>http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html</a></p>
<p>I think you will get better advice if your son has an idea of what he wants in terms of these basic options. And he can apply to both conservatory and college and decide in April of senior year if he so chooses.</p>
<p>Conservatory deadlines tend to be Dec. 1, though some are as late as Jan. 15. College deadlines tend to be Dec. 31. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that freestanding conservatories often don’t have the financial resources to offer much aid, financial or merit. Grades won’t matter as much at those schools; at music schools that are part of universities you have to get into both the university and the music school/conservatory.</p>
<p>Good luck and keep coming back!</p>
<p>We found that visiting the Visual and Performing Arts College Fair was helpful. We met representatives from many different music programs and were able to get many questions answered. The representatives varied from admissions reps, music professors and department staff. This was a good first step for my son to see what programs were out there and it opened his eyes to seeing how each had their unique qualities. The fairs run throughout the fall at locations across the US and are free to families. Link: <a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/college-fairs/PVA-College-Fairs/Pages/default.aspx”>http://www.nacacnet.org/college-fairs/PVA-College-Fairs/Pages/default.aspx</a></p>
<p>also this might be of help
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Music-Parents-Survival-Parent-Parent/dp/0199837147”>http://www.amazon.com/Music-Parents-Survival-Parent-Parent/dp/0199837147</a></p>
<p>And one bit of advice that everyone forgot…enjoy listening to your son practice and play </p>
<p>Definitely try to go to a college fair for music. We learned so much at the Classical Singer one… We did it at the end of my D sophomore year and then spent her Jr year narrowing down schools, making visits, etc.</p>
<p>I suggest this one. Complete, concise and she knows her stuff!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.karenrile.com/a-parents-guide-to-conservatory-auditions/”>http://www.karenrile.com/a-parents-guide-to-conservatory-auditions/</a></p>
<p>I’d also recommend organizing yourself/son with a grid that lists each school and all requirements and deadlines. S had a grid for repertoire by school, and another with application/prescreen, audition dates, letters of rec, tests scores, midyear report, FAFSA/CSS Profile deadline. We also made a folder for each school to keep communications and travel arrangements. Don’t be too frightened by the process–it wasn’t half as scary as I thought it would be. I’d second the recommendation to get as many visits in junior year as possible.</p>
<p>Just want to reiterate that it is possible to study and perform music in a college BA program that does not have auditions. Just one choice among many. But the original post mentions “college” so I wanted to say that one more time:) There is a good book available online entitled “Creative Colleges” that lists both conservatories and colleges.</p>
<p>@Mezzo’sMama I love that blog. She really does know her stuff. And for parents who are feeling fraught about the process there are really good insights; she’s quite humane about it. </p>
<p>@zoosermom - One more comment about junior year, which is that depending on how your son’s high school handles college guidance, they will begin speaking with him (and you) as early as…now, but likely no later than January. They are unlikely to have any useful info about the requirements for music programs, so it will help you and your son in the process if you can communicate your goals and even pull together a preliminary list of schools, especially if you are looking at BM rather than BA programs. If you do pursue the route that requires live auditions, it will also be helpful to make sure your son’s school is aware of the potential absences required (though not till senior year) for this process. Your son is more likely to be excused and not have that additional worry hanging over his head as he goes through the application and admissions seasons.</p>
<p>In the blog that mezzosmama linked to, I think Part 6 is talking about the Music Major forum on a certain website we all know. About 4 weeks ago my daughter declared, for the first time in no uncertain terms, that she is definitely going to be a performance major (a road we suspected for years but we had to let her officially decide on her own timetable). I shudder to think where I’d be right now without having spent parts of the last two years snooping around here in preparation for what lies ahead in the next 18 months. Thank you all!</p>