My daughter is applying to BM programs for vocal performance this year. Can anyone share a bit regarding their experiences with (or knowledge of) on-campus lessons with faculty prior to pre-screening and/or auditions? Is the common? Is it helpful? Would she walk away with a heightened understanding of whether she’s a strong candidate or not what they’re looking for? I’m just trying to figure out how much to invest in this process compared to what she can expect to get out of it. TIA!
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It’s been a while since my kid did trial lessons. He did not do them to get a sense of whether he was a strong candidate or not. He did these trial lessons to get a feel for the applied teacher. In his opinion, the private teacher drove where he applied. That and the strength of the ensembles and their conductors. So…when he went for a trial lesson or visit, he tried to coordinate with an ensemble rehearsal or performance.
But back to the trial lesson. The relationship between the student and teacher is a key element. I know you can’t totally figure that out in one lesson, but you can certainly get a feel for the instruction, and personality of the teacher.
And yes, my kid did take some trial lessons at places and decided not to apply there. He just didn’t click with the teachers.
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Thank you! This is very helpful. Can I ask how you knew which teacher to have the lesson with? My daughter’s voice teacher put her in touch with two instructors at the same school. I guess I’m not sure if we should be trying to get in with one in particular? I’m assuming he recommended both because they’re both suitable for her. Would it be improper to take trial lessons from two teachers at one school? If you can’t tell, I’m very “green” to this. I honestly thought my daughter would do a BA with a music major. However, she did a summer college program in vocal performance, and came home 100 percent sure that this was what she wanted…
Every teacher my kid did a lesson with was recommended by his private instrument teacher who was a principal player with our orchestra….so a good source. Plus he had my kid as a student for a few years so knew him well. My kid also did several summer programs, and the teachers there also recommended applied teachers at various colleges. For my kid, there was a considerable amount of overlap in those recommendations…so he went with the ones recommended most. He applied no where that wasn’t recommended to him.
My kid did have lessons with two teachers at one school…but that was a fluke. In most cases, he had lessons with only one teacher at a school.
I’m sure others will comment.
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@ProudDramaMama, you might want to check out this thread out for 2027/2025 cycle and earlier ones similar to it:
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My D is a current Senior in Vocal Performance - when she was starting to apply to schools she made a list of all the schools she wanted to visit and contacted faculty for a voice lesson. Sometimes the person was recommended by her voice teacher sometimes is was purely off the website of the school. I know for a fact some of these lessons results in her prescreening video being waved (so she got an invite to audition live). I also know for a fact that one of those lessons lead directly to an offer for admission to the school (after the live audition in front of the panel). It is definitely worth going through the lesson to get a feel of the school and potential dynamics of the department. The lesson is a combo of voice as well as discussion about the school. Also most of the lesson we had to pay for. Just be sure to know the fee up so your kid can have the cash on hand during the lesson.
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My S22 is now a voice major (you can probably guess where based on my icon lol). The summer before senior year we visited two schools that were flights for us but driving distance between them. He had a lesson at each. One was with a faculty member who had been an instructor at a summer program my S attended, and the other was the teacher of a recent graduate of that school who my S’s voice teacher connected him with to get advice on the application process and what the program was like at that school.
My S asked each of them what they charge and what method of payment they prefer. The first said he would waive the fee since he knew my S from the summer program. The other charged us even though the school’s website and their music school information session said they do not charge for sample lessons, so you never know!
My S felt that he could work with either teacher. He is more comfortable with male voice teachers, so this was one way he narrowed down who he would seek out for lessons. He treated it as a way to visit the school itself, with the bonus of assessing how the teachers run their lessons. It was very valuable.
Then, once he was admitted, he went to visit again and had one more lesson- at the second lesson he decided. He also saw an opera performance, which really impressed him.
I would stress that these lessons are more for the applicant-- it’s a great time to ask questions like, what would your plan be for my development as a singer (or musician)? How many students are in your studio? How many lessons per week would I have? What are the opportunities for performing for first year students?
Also, there is no guarantee that your student would be assigned the teacher with whom they had the lesson. The process differs from school to school- whether they can request who they want to study with or the school assigns the studio.
Another thing your student can do is virtual lessons! If mine had had more schools on his list, he would have done a few of those just to get some more experience with various faculty.
Best of luck and feel very free to DM me if you want to ask any specific questions.
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Lots of great information above from various parents. At larger schools, there will often be more than one teacher for a particular instrument or voice. It is absolutely OK to have a trial lesson with two teachers at the same school. I will say, that it can be helpful to have your student be aware of the working relationship between teachers if possible. At some programs, teachers are very collaborative but we found at times that two teachers were not particularly friendly with each other and my kid needed to be diplomatic about having lessons with both. His private teacher was able to give him the background on the situation. Not to stress you out, but welcome to the world of music where very high level teachers can have very big personalities. My kid is adept at reading a situation and remaining professional and a good communicator. But really helpful to know what politics you are walking into.
Also, it cannot be overemphasized that all communication should be from the student, not a parent. This includes (in my opinion) asking about lesson cost and method of payment. While this is sometimes new to a high school age student, teachers want to see that they are really confident on their own.
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Just want to emphasize there is no guarantee that your daughter will get into a certain studio. And over the course of 4 years, there is the potential for a teacher to leave for one reason or another. Still, assessing fit with teachers is important.
We actually waited until after acceptances to schedule meetings with faculty. My kid also came back from a summer program fired up for a BM but ended up doing a BA in music. They applied to both options and the preference changed over senior year. This kid now has a doctorate in music. Lots of ways to go.
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Thank you all so much. All of this is extremely helpful. And believe me—I will be taking you up on any offers for additional advice;)
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Hi, I am late to this thread but I have a daughter applying to VP programs this fall and have a son that did so several years ago (he is currently a senior VP/STEM double degree student).
Anyway, my daughter in the past month has done 3 sample lessons and has one more to schedule (and has worked with a music prof at her safest option). My son scheduled a number of sample lessons as well. My daughter has had a very positive experience with all of hers so far - liked all the teachers and they gave her positive feedback.
My son had mixed experiences, though he was an unusual applicant and not every teacher is excited about double degree students when they have a boat load of other applicants. Anyway, hind sight, I actually wished we had followed more of my son’s initial impressions on prioritizing and maybe diversifying the app list based on where he got positive feedback. He really needed a flexible program and that’s where he is.
Anyway - both my students were asked about other schools they were applying to. I encouraged them to have a short list in mind to mention. I will say, I do think they are assessing a number of things when they ask this. One prof in particular told my kid in not quite so many words after finding out his other options, he would love to work with him but straight up they weren’t in a position to do scholarships for his area that year and to consider them again for grad school.
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6 posts were split to a new thread: Trial Lesson Feedback
Is he applying only to BM programs? Is he applying to freestanding conservatories or to university-based performance BM’s?
Has he considered a double degree? Any academic interests? (See the Double Degree Dilemma essay in the Read Me thread here on the music major forum.)
With his grades and scores, plus the piano, he could consider some very selective schools, like Harvard, Princeton (Princeton has a performance certificate and exchange program with the Royal Academy as I remember), Yale. He could do a double degree at Harvard or Yale.
If he does apply to a non-BM school he could submit an arts supplement with video/recording, music resume and music letters of recommendation, if accepted by the school.
Oberlin, Lawrence, Tufts and Bard are also good places for a double degree. Tufts has a BA/BM with NEC and Harvard has a BA/MM.
He may want immersion in music but some kids apply to all of these options- BM, BA, double degree and then decide later.
The positive comments are certainly better than no comments or critical ones. The teacher may not know how many spots or who else is going to be applying. But yes, very encouraging!
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