^ I must specify that I only know the situation at LACs, where professors tend to reply to emails and work closely with students. What I describe here would be appropriate at St Olaf, Lawrence… and is on fact very common for rising seniors who are talented in music.
Large universities and conservatories may work differently.
I just don’t want anyone to nix a school from a list because a teacher doesn’t get back. I don’t want to be specific but sometimes faculty at conservatories that we knew barely looked at emails and would have been aghast if a lack of response meant the student didn’t apply or accept. We were indeed told to reach that teacher via admissions, not personal email. I am sure MYOS1634 is correct but just wanted to share that view, even if it may be an outlier. I don’t know if it is an outlier or not!!
We’ve visited bigger schools and smaller schools now and have definitely had an easier time setting up sample lessons at smaller schools. We did a road trip to visit 5 schools last February and only got a sample lesson at 1. The other ones were apologetic when I could get a response and we did have worthwhile visits everywhere and did get to talk 1-1 with faculty a couple places. I definitely felt like at these bigger programs, don’t take offense if they can’t get back to you. When we did talk with someone, they encourage a fall visit for a sample lesson. We also might make a trip after acceptance for a sample lesson.
We easily got set up with 2 sample lessons at Lawrence (vocal/piano).
I have also heard that at larger public schools, like U Mass Amherst on flute, professors may try to arrange to meet a potential student but then fail to be there when the student arrives! . It may be best to go through the audition process, at the schools with auditions, and not contact teachers. But with schools like Case Western, and others with a BA in music, those music faculty are less busy and anxious to meet potential music majors, and the faculty may well respond.
Any top music program offering BM, MM and doctorates, the music professors are less likely to write back, probably. Those type of music focused programs, and U of Colorado Boulder offers this type of music school, focus on the audition as the bar, and then the teacher is assigned based on openings and talent. Its a well established process, and calling or emailing will not change that audition process. However a student will have a chance to meet the professor or professors at the audition time, probably.
One other caveat, at big universities, music professors take sabbaticals. If your student is in that studio, they will be assigned to a DIFFERENT teacher for a semester or year, if their teacher goes on sabbatical. That can really throw
some students, or even end their music careers, if they do not bond with the second teacher.
In UG my D’s teacher would have a student assistant each year. My D did it one year. She was instructed to delete requests for sample lessons. Her teacher did not do them prior to auditions. At that school we had our 1 trial lesson 2 hrs prior to the audition. It lasted less than 10 min. We did not do others as we were overwhelmed by then.
For the one lesson, we were told by admissions to contact the head of the voice dept. it was her job to do it or suggest a teacher. Some teachers did them. Some did not. My D would have received no response from the teacher that offered her a studio spot. My D met her teacher for the first time the first week of school. They are still in contact.
I would imagine it’s very different depending on how undergraduate-focused and student-focused the university is. At large universities, there are so many would-be applicants it must be totally impossible to handle.
I guess it’s a good way to differentiate between programs, though - especially if the student wants to major in something else.
Well I was actually implying it is even less likely to get a sample lesson at a BA program. The music supplement is enough for the admissions folks (and music folks if they hear/see it) and then once accepted, the tables turn and the faculty wants to see you, and the school is courting you. My thought at the time was, what if every applicant to X college requested a meeting or lesson with music dept. faculty? (And performance faculty are often part-time).
That said, a number of people have written me over the years on this forum, that they did not agree.
For a BM program, there were certainly people having private lessons before the audition, or during visits. For a BM choosing a studio to apply for is really really key. Some conservatories even ask which studio you want to be in on the application. A meeting or lesson can be helpful with that but again, imagine if everyone did that- they would never have time to teach or perform. So I am not really sure what to say on that. Ideally there are other ways to choose a teacher, or meet teachers at summer programs, that kind of thing.
I may be in a minority with this view.
I was talking of email correspondence 
so we weren’t talking about the same thing. :d
This is interesting- I’m surprised to see institutions not do lessons b/c my daughter found it very easy to arrange for sample lessons. She had them at Boston, NEC, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Oberlin. She didn’t seek any at Michigan or USC due to timing. Some preferred payment while others just asked that the accompanist be compensated. And, yes, several colleges asked her teacher preferences at auditions, so it was helpful to have an idea.
@momzhood What time of the year did your daughter do the lessons? A few months ago S tried to ask for private lessons with NEC and Oberlin by sending emails to either the faculty or the admissions but received no replies.
email is not the best way to communicate, in many instances…call admissions instead…
Thanks for the advice. We’ll definitely take a more proactive approach in establishing contact before the audition season begins:)
@Compojazzmom , I actually think email is an excellent form of communication for trial lessons! We absolutely received communications back from every faculty member D reached out to in this way. I suspect you may be running into several roadblocks:
- It’s summer! Lots of faculty are busy and off doing summer festivals and/or vacating.
- I’m guessing your child has not yet applied for admission?! You are MUCH more likely to receive communications back AFTER fully applying for admission and passing any pre-screens. Faculty have very limited time, as @compmom suggested upthread, so they have to prioritize current year applicants and those who have already shown the interest and ability to apply and pass any talent and academic pre-screening. So don’t be too discouraged. The lessons will likely need to take place in a more condensed time period, surrounding audition season.
@Compojazzmom If I remember correctly, she did a lesson at BU in spring of her junior year and auditioned in December of senior year. NEC lesson was in December of senior year and she then auditioned in February. Vandy was the summer before senior year with the audition during the following February. Oberlin was right after her audition in March, but she had worked with several profs during the summer program before her senior year. Northwestern was August before senior year with the audition scheduled for February, I think. She always emailed profs directly, but this was in 2015/16 - perhaps profs are less inclined to do sample lessons these days?
With smaller LAC BA programs, when we did not have time to set up a meeting beforehand, we simply wandered into the music building and explored, read the bulletin board, etc…Invariably, someone would ask if we needed assistance, and we would be directed to a music admissions staffer or a faculty member who happened to be around. It was surprising how nice and welcoming everyone was. We had several impromptu, guided tours that way. At Rhodes, the voice coordinator introduced herself in the hallway, chatted with us for a while and then let us sit in on her private lesson with a student.