<p>This is a slightly related but different question about meeting with faculty that others have asked.</p>
<p>DS is about to enter the audition scene -- he is applying for Voice Performance. We visited several schools during his junior year and this summer, and he had some productive and helpful meetings with faculty (this included singing for the faculty and getting their feedback -- I am not sure it falls in the category of a trial lesson). </p>
<p>So, the question for this esteemed and experienced group is whether it is OK/accepted to attempt to have individual meetings with faculty when the student is in town for the audition. My sense from some other threads is that faculty are reluctant to engage at this point because it is too close to the admission decision, or maybe they are just too busy dealing with the review of the auditions?</p>
<p>Does it hurt to at least ask? Should DS just wait until he gets admitted (if he does!) and talk to faculty then? Any thoughts here would be very helpful. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>You really to ask, and the same standards/criteria MAY apply.</p>
<p>Some instructors will not have issues, some will. Some schools/departments may have formal policies that prohibit or limit close pre-audition contact. They may also allow for immediate POST audition meetings. </p>
<p>It’s really instructor, school specific. Unfortunately, you do have to ask. Again, contacting/arranging a meeting as early as feasible is the “easiest” for all concerned.</p>
<p>Thanks, that is helpful — asking may be useful if for no other reason that lodging your name and identity in the mind of the faculty I suppose.</p>
<p>JugglingMom–</p>
<p>My son had several lessons with teachers on the day before his auditions. The reason was that he hadn’t had the time or money to visit the schools earlier and/or his application process was quite scattered for a variety of personal reasons. In these cases, the audition also constituted his visit to the school. Only one teacher he asked turned him down (simply said he didn’t have the time) although a couple never answered. In all instances where he did this, it helped him a lot because the feedback was good and it increased his confidence level for the audition. The teachers were very careful to be supportive of his audition prep and told him not to try to overly incorporate their critique into his already-prepared audition pieces. I suppose there was a risk that bad feedback would have spoiled his nerves for the audition. This is worth thinking about. That said, most of these teachers are pretty sensitive people and they understand that a negative attitute could ruin an audition - they know how important these auditions are for the kids. But for my son, we felt that it was both useful and very helpful.</p>
<p>Stringfollies and I have different experiences here (which we have noted before), so I will just provide another perspective. My son’s classical teacher advised him NOT to have practice lessons before an audition, because she was concerned that teachers might offer suggestions which could interfere with how he had already prepared for his auditions. In fact, if I think about the practice lessons he did have, teachers gave lots of advice about different technique (teeny tiny things, but I know he would think about these during an audition, because he surely thought about and tried to employ these suggestions when we got home). An audition is so important, that even having had someone comment about fingering of a tiny phrase could throw a kid…</p>
<p>I don’t know a thing about voice lessons, so it might not be the same at all, but thought I would throw this perspective out there, just to think about.</p>
<p>And your son can definitely ask for lessons after he has been admitted!</p>
<p>I would side with Allmusic here. Just for reference,my son is a jazz guitar player. My feeling was that too much information before that all-important audition could be confusing. On the other hand, I think stringfollies seems to have had a good experience with it. I do believe based on my experience of a typical round of auditions at five schools, the faculty are very professional and caring. More than once it was said to son: “no one wants you to fail here. We want you to have a successful audition.”</p>
<p>I think that when playing for a teacher right before an audition, the teachers gave fewer comments and really acted more like audition coaches (another important role they fill!). In every case they told him that things they would have him work on should be ignored for the audition. He had great auditions at these schools and got in. I do think it helped him, for what it’s worth.</p>