<p>I'm currently a high school senior in the middle of the application process. I'm interested in being a Jazz Performance major with guitar.</p>
<p>I have a question regarding the extracurricular activities section of the application for most schools.</p>
<p>Should I list my time spent practicing guitar as separate from other music-related activities? For example, if I participated in my schools Jazz Ensemble and Chamber Singers, should I list those and then have a separate 'guitar practice' activity? Or should I just assume that it's understood that I spent a lot of time practicing because I'm planning to be music major?</p>
<p>Let me know. Thanks.</p>
<p>My son listed his years of “private lessons” in piano and guitar in a separate heading from his school ensembles. He also had a separate listing for his non-school band, including some major performance venues. I think the practice time can be assumed, but perhaps others did it differently. </p>
<p>He also had a listing for the guitar lessons he gave to elementary school kids, including hours per week - so if you’ve done anything like that, definitely include it.</p>
<p>On his LAC/BA applications (non-audition), however, I believe he did include something about his total hours of lessons and practice every week in the “tells us anything else we need to know” section.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you want to demonstrate the extent of your practice in your playing, not on paper. I’m having a hard time coming up with a scenario in which putting that number down on paper will work to your benefit when it is not explicitly requested. If your number is too low, it could reflect poorly on your work ethic and leave people wondering how much better you would be if you practiced more. If it is too high, people might wonder if you were stretching the truth or if you have not developed effective rehearsal habits. If it is within the expected range, it probably will not have much impact one way or the other if you play well at your audition, and it is not very likely to help if you don’t.</p>
<p>List your school ECs and anything important that you have done outside of school, but not your individual practice hours. Practice as many hours as needed to do your best at your auditions. Be prepared to answer the practice hour question should anyone ask, but don’t volunteer that number at the first opportunity. Once you have been accepted and have started lessons in a teacher’s studio, the issue of how much you will be expected to practice going forward will come up very soon indeed.</p>
<p>If you are applying at non-auditioned programs, then it may help to include practice hours to show a total commitment to an activity. You have to be a little careful if you practice a lot, because you do not want to appear to be inflating the numbers even if what you put down is accurate.</p>
<p>I would not put down the number of hours spent practicing. Think of it as a sport. You would put down played Varsity Soccer, but not list every game and hour spent practicing. I think most teachers would assume that if you take private lessons and play in ensembles, then a certain amount of time is spent practicing.</p>