<p>I have a few questions about auditioning and sample lessons that are a little different than what I have read here already. </p>
<p>First, when a student who are arranging a sample lesson with an instrumental or vocal teacher that the student hopes to /might want to study with, is the interest/potential interest in studying with the teacher mentioned directly at any point before, during or after the lesson, or is the preference for a teacher only indicated on the teacher preference sheet? (Not mentioning it would avoid the awkward situation of the teacher expressing a lack of interest in the student, but the more direct approach would be more informative.)</p>
<p>Second, in some schools, only a subset of the faculty for the student's instrument may be present at the audition. In a school like Indiana or North Texas, for example, with really large number of faculty for some instruments, they are not all likely to be there for the same auditions. As far as I know, students are not told who is going to be present, and I suppose there are situations in which a student may have a strong interest in a teacher who he/she had never met or studied with who does not end up being at the audition and would have no basis for having a preference or willingness to accept a student who was totally unknown. </p>
<p>In general, how long after the auditions are the decisions of studio assignments made? I know this varies but I am wondering if there was a situation that a student had hoped a certain teacher would be present but had not ever met or had a lesson with that teacher, a sample lesson could be arranged in the weeks following the audition, if the school was not too far away. I can see why so many people who post here have arranged these visits/lessons a year or more in advance.</p>
<p>Information on any/all of these topics would be appreciated, especially the first question, in which there is a lot of potential for awkwardness and misunderstanding. </p>
<p>If you happened to have a great lesson with a teacher, I see no harm in telling them at the end of the lesson that you hope you will have the opportunity to study with them. Telling them so beforehand would be premature and it could be an interruption during the lesson, so wait for the end. Note that when you say that you hope to have the opportunity to study with them, that is exactly what you should mean. You hope to be accepted by the school and into their studio (thus giving you the opportunity that you said you wanted), but you have made no promise that you would not also consider other opportunities that may come your way. You may or may not get much of a response, depending on how the lesson went from the teacher’s point of view and on the way they normally do things. In the unlikely event that you get a strong negative response, well at least you know where you stand.</p>
<p>If the lesson was not so great from your point of view, there is no need to say anything other than to thank the teacher for their time and pay their fee, if any. They may ask if you intend on applying, and you can say that you are considering it but need to have lessons at another school or two before making up your mind.</p>
<p>The only way to guarantee meeting a particular teacher is to make arrangements yourself to do so. You cannot count on a particular teacher being present at your audition.</p>
<p>There is no general rule for studio assignments. Some schools accept or reject on a studio-by-studio basis and you know right away. Others accept to a general pool of students and wait as long as they can before assigning those who matriculate to a particular studio. At such schools, you may be asked for a deposit months before you know who your teacher will be. If that decision matters to you, you may be able to enlist the teacher’s aid in getting you assigned to their studio before sending in your decision.</p>
<p>It is possible to request a sample lesson either before or after your audition. In general, the more time you leave yourself to find a mutually acceptable appointment, the better your chances of actually getting that lesson. In other words, if you want to arrange a sample lesson with a particular teacher, contact them as soon as you can, ask what the best time would be for them and do what is necessary to work that into your schedule.</p>
<p>Yes - I agree with BassDad - the main purpose of a sample lesson is to find out how you mesh with the teacher. To suggest during the lesson that you want to study with that teacher turns the lesson into a sales pitch, and may put the teacher in an awkward situation. However, I have no problem with saying something at the end that amounts to thank you, I enjoyed working with you, with the connotation that this is something you would like to do again! Teachers are not in position to make any promises at that point, and shouldn’t feel pressured to do so.</p>
<p>Ok I see that I was not clear in I was trying to ask. It seems to me that if a student requested a sample lesson within a day of the audition at that school, it would suggest to the teacher that the student was considering or possibly wanting to be considered by that teacher for studio placement. Of course it would be presumptuous to say anything that would suggest an assumption of admission or likelihood of placement in that particular studio. </p>
<p>I would be interested in hearing any examples of when students heard about their teacher assignments relative to their admission to a school. Did it come at the same time as the admission, months later, not til the beginning of school? In those situations in which there was a delay, did accepted students arrange lessons with faculty within a school or did the sample lessons generally occur before the audition? I realize this probably varies a lot, but it would be interesting to hear about the situations in which the student was accepted to a school but was not going to learn about teacher assignment for an extended length of time after admission. Thanks!</p>
<p>I asked at Indiana recently, after my daughter auditioned, and they told us that although admissions decisions are made quickly, on a rolling basis, studio assignments are much later, and some students enroll without a studio assignment; they find their teachers when they arrive in September. The admissions person (I forget who was speaking) said that they expect students to be “proactive” with regard to studio assignment-- in other words, to contact the teacher themselves and I assume arrange to come to campus and play for them.</p>
<p>My son’s admission letters to Juilliard and CIM included teacher assignment in the acceptance letter. In all other cases for both S and D, the school only had one teacher for their instrument and was a non-issue.</p>
<p>I think the logical presumption, no matter when the appointment is made, is that a student who is asking for a sample lesson is doing so to try to determine whether further lessons with that teacher would be beneficial. Why would you ever ask for a sample lesson from a teacher if you were not at least considering entering their studio?</p>
<p>In my daughter’s case, she had a studio assignment from NEC along with the acceptance. That information did not come with her Peabody acceptance and we did not push on that one because she decided not to attend there. Oberlin wanted her to wait until August for a studio assignment when her decision was due May 1. She had a sample lesson with one of the bass teachers there before her audition and arranged for a sample lesson with the other classical bass teacher after her audition. She ultimately decided on the second one and got them to confirm that assignment before mailing in her acceptance. While she had her primary lessons with the one she requested, the two teachers split up the repertory classes, meaning that pretty much everyone works with both of them in some capacity.</p>
<p>She was not accepted at Curtis, but their bass students all study with both the bass teachers there.</p>
<p>When my son was accepted to Eastman, there was no studio assignment. They stated in the letter that all assignments would be made in June. This was not acceptable to us. Son had had 2 lessons with a teacher there and very much wanted to study with him. If he was not going to be able to, he wanted to explore his other option, NEC (also no studio assignment). We contacted directly the teacher he liked at Eastman and asked if it would be possible for son to be in that studio. Teacher said he would get back to us. He called the next day to state that son would be assigned to him. </p>
<p>For a variety of reasons, we were not going to send a deposit anywhere until we knew with whom he would study. It was critical to our decision. If we had not gotten the response son wanted from Eastman, then we would have tried to arrange lessons at both Eastman and NEC and get one of them to commit to a studio before we committed to a school. Fortunately, we didn’t have to do that.</p>
<p>Things seem to vary a lot. My son got studio assignments from some schools upon acceptance, and not others. He had lessons everywhere, and that did not seem to make a difference on whether he got an assignment at admission or not. I think getting a commitment to a specific studio teacher before sending a deposit is very important.</p>
<p>Also, the number of adjudicators varied widely! At one school, my son had every member of the department (I think there were nine teachers) sitting in on his audition. It was his very first audition, and I think that number of people threw him a little (although I was in the hall, and he did well). Other schools had panels of three or four usually. Some adjudicators were very friendly, some were all business. Made not a hill of beans difference in the admissions outcome.</p>