<p>We have 4 in January and I’ll be glad to report back :)</p>
<p>We did these in the Fall for S (flute)</p>
<p>Oberlin
Eastman
Crane
CMU
Hartt
CIM</p>
<p>Going in the Spring to
NEC
BU
BOCO
University of Michigan
Possibly Bard</p>
<p>If anyone wants an honest review of the completed visits, just PM</p>
<p>Bumping because 'tis the season for music school auditions :)</p>
<p>Audition #1 - Bowling Green College of Musical Arts (in our case, jazz, but comp, ed and classical performance prospects were all there)</p>
<p>Everyone checked in between noon and 1PM, got a packet with audition room and time, schedule, info specific to major (list of classes, req’s, etc).</p>
<p>All activities took place in the Moore Musical Arts Building, which was good since it was snowing, about 15 degrees and very windy out. </p>
<p>Parents and kids went to a presentation about the music college, then kids left to take a written theory test. Parents stayed for a Q&A with head of college, profs and a few upperclassmen. Informative.</p>
<p>Auditions were scheduled from 3 on, so kids had plenty of time to find a practice room and get warmed up. Some practice rooms were set aside, kids were invited to use any empty classroom they came across. I don’t think anyone had trouble finding a space with a piano or whatever they needed.</p>
<p>Parents were invited to hang out in the Green Room where there was coffee, sweet stuff and chairs. Music Ed prospects had another meeting in there but we aren’t so didn’t attend. </p>
<p>Whole shebang was done by 4:30 for us.</p>
<p>Just got back from IU Jacobs for Recording Arts.</p>
<p>My sister graduated from IU (not the music school) so I know the campus pretty well. Simply put, it’s a gorgeous campus and the perfect college town, though this weekend it was covered in snow and about 10 degrees, so it was pretty miserable. Still, it sure does look pretty from inside a warm building! :D</p>
<p>Lady who greeted us for check-in was very sweet and extremely enthusiastic. We had a Recording Arts info session later that day, and all the Recording Arts faculty spoke apart from Konrad Strauss, who is on sabbatical this semester. Some current students (all juniors if I recall correctly) also spoke a bit and played us some of their work. Two of the students’ work sounded absolutely fantastic. The third was a bit meh, but oh well. One thing I noticed was that the students all seemed very comfortable with the faculty and every Recording Arts student we met absolutely raved about how good they were. One said something along the lines of, “there are professors you can be friendly with and refer to by their first name, and there are professors who will get on you hard and push you to be your best. These guys are both.”</p>
<p>The next morning there was a tour of the Recording Arts facilities conducted by another current student. He was a little quiet at first but quickly warmed up and was pretty friendly and a good guide. Recording facilities at IU are absolutely top-notch. There are two post-production rooms and two full studios complete with isolation booths, a VERY full mic cabinet, etc…the works! The newer of the two studios is simply beautiful and the impression I got was it’s used more for recording sessions the music school actually needs. The other one is a little old and battered but it has a massive selection of microphones and is still very nice. That studio is where students complete most of their assignments. Apparently each student reserves 8 hours per week in the studio at specific time slots. And of course Jacobs has a plethora of concert halls ranging from huge to not-so-huge (including the massive Musical Arts Center, which is a sight to behold, especially from the eagle-eye view of the mixing room where we were!) all outfitted with mixing and recording gear.</p>
<p>My interview was scheduled for immediately after the tour. All the faculty were present. Long story short it was much shorter than expected and I ended up feeling like I got grilled a little bit. I made a comment about how I enjoyed the challenge of figuring things out for myself in the context of recording and one of them immediately said, “well if you like figuring things out yourself why do you want to go to college for it?” and followed that up with “we have some challenging classes, do you think you would be able to handle them?” It’s important to note he certainly didn’t say this in a rude or aggressive manner- these things can come across wrongly through text I’m sure- but I still don’t think I responded as well as I should or could have. Oh well. :(</p>
<p>Overall though I was impressed. The program appears to be very well put together and supported by the entire music school. I was concerned that Recording Arts might fall to the wayside in such a strong instrumental performance school, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue. My only concern is that there seems to be a very, very strong focus on solely recording rather than other types of electronic music manipulation or composition (and of course no acoustics/engineering whatsoever). Predictably so, of course, but even more so than I expected. </p>
<p>Now all I can do is wait ~5 weeks…goodness. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand it, especially after my probably less-than-stellar interview. </p>
<p>I know that there probably aren’t many recording students on here but hopefully this will be of help to somebody!</p>
<p>Thanks for the report!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CCM has a brand new major for Fall '12 that might interest you: </p>
<p>“The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is now accepting applications for an innovative new bachelor of music degree in Commercial Music Production (CMP) that will be offered beginning fall semester 2012. This unique program combines core training in music theory, composition, arranging and musicianship with recording studio techniques, commercial music, songwriting, film scoring and media technologies.”</p>
<p>[New</a> Undergraduate Major Offered in Commercial Music Production](<a href=“Error | University of Cincinnati”>http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=14810)</p>
<p>
RoKr93, my sympathies-- you must have felt very much on the spot! It seems that the auditor almost intentionally twisted your words, which were undoubtedly only intended to show that you are a self-starter and enthusiastic about learning. But I’m sure whatever you said demonstrated your grace under pressure. Most professors will appreciate a student who does not want to sit around being spoon-fed.</p>
<p>
Thank you very much for the suggestion. However, I ruled out BM programs because I wanted to double major in computer science (I’m looking into audio/music for digital media as a career).</p>
<p>My #1 choice as of now is UMichigan, and I interview there in February. Hopefully I can take the lessons I learned from this interview and use them to make my next one better!</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>The purpose of college is to teach you how to think within your area. It is not to provide you with answers. That allows you figure things out yourself. If you have that kind of ambush question again just say that I will learn the foundation in college to allow me to determine the issue and propose the solution. Good luck.</p>
<p>My vp daughter had her audition for vp in the middle of January. They had a special rate with the Marriott nearby, but I didn’t get a room in time. There is a brand new, very nice Hampton Inn right near the Marriott and we stayed there. It was reasonable, but you do have to pay $9 for parking.</p>
<p>Parking at CCM was easy as there is a below ground parking garage for the building where auditions took place. We did have to pay $10 to park, though.</p>
<p>She checked in and proceeded to a practice room to warm up. </p>
<p>They had a waiting Lounge set up in the building for the parents and kids, couches, coffee and the music sorority had a table there. We spent quite a bit of time talking to the lovely ladies at that table and even got an email address from one to correspond with her. </p>
<p>My daughter went to the audition space herself, which was a performance hall. One of the girls had told her that she would not be able to hear herself when she sang, so she was prepared for that. She was asked what she was going to sing first, and after her first song they also asked what her second song would be. They asked questions about piano and her age. My daughter said that singing in the hall was absolutely wonderful, she loved it.</p>
<p>After that we returned to the waiting lounge area and waited for the Theory test. There were all kinds of music majors in the theory test, not just vp.</p>
<p>While they were in the theory test, they had a parent meeting to talk about the basics like tuition, financial aid, housing and the like.</p>
<p>After the theory test, there was a Q&A session for the vp students with the voice faculty. My daughter loved this as it gave her a good feel/see how the faculty is. One thing we found out in that meeting was that each student has a base line vocal cord scope done to make sure everything is good. I thought that was pretty cool, since you know before the really intense work starts if there is a physical problem or not.</p>
<p>All of the faculty were very kind, and seemed very genuine. They also made the kids in there feel great by saying if you are here, you should congratulate yourself, because out of hundreds of applications, we only are hearing 35 auditions total grad and undergrad, you are one of those 35. </p>
<p>We left with a great feeling. We don’t know much about the city Cincinnati and will be going back there over spring break to see more of the school, do some lessons, and check out the city.</p>
<p>Thanks for the report. I really liked CCM when we visited. My S opted not to audition and I was sad.</p>
<p>We have now done Bowling Green, Duquesne and Capital auditions, as well as a scholarship audition for the College of Wooster. If anyone would like more info just ask, I know these are somewhat rarer music schools on CC.</p>
<p>Just got home from the University of Michigan. Visit to the music school for their PAT program went very well.</p>
<p>Michigan’s campus is curiously laid out. The bulk of the campus is located in downtown Ann Arbor (this is known as Central Campus). Med school and college of liberal arts are located here. However, if you’re a music student, you probably won’t be spending much time there. Michigan has a rather isolated North Campus, which is where Engineering and Music are located. It’s about a 5-10 minute bus ride to get from North to Central.</p>
<p>I actually enjoyed the separation immensely. The North campus is beautiful and very cozy. One can quickly forget that they attend a school of 40,000+ students there, as it feels small and intimate. However, the bustle of downtown Ann Arbor is only 5 minutes away (and public transportation, including what seems to be an excellent bus system, is free for all UMich students), so it’s very much a best-of-both worlds deal. It was snowy and ~20 degrees during our visit, so I didn’t get to explore downtown, but I loved what I saw and even with the dreary weather it seemed like a vibrant place. Everyone we met was really nice and super laid-back.</p>
<p>The Earl V Moore Building houses the music school. It looks deceptively small from the from but extends back (and down, being built on a hillside) seemingly interminably! For all you performance majors, there’s a crap-ton of practice rooms and facilities look great.</p>
<p>Now for the PAT stuff…the crown jewel of the program is the Duderstadt Center, a large building that houses several audio studios, post-production rooms, design labs, etc. Quite simply, UMich’s audio facilities are the best I have ever laid eyes on. They’re simply astounding. There’s really not much else I can say about them. What I was most impressed by was that the faculty took the time to conduct our tour rather than just delegating it to students. They were extremely friendly, receptive to any and all questions, and seemed to stress above anything else that the field of music technology is extremely broad, and they want to help each student pursue his or her own individual interests. I was thoroughly impressed. The collaboration that the PAT program has with the film school, the theater department, and the engineering school is incredible. They are very aware that their great music school is surrounded by a wealth of other great academic departments and seem very inclined to provide their students with every opportunity to take advantage of that.</p>
<p>They were also extremely friendly during my interview, and I think it went really well. They remarked at the end that their program “would be really good for a student like you,” so hopefully that’s a positive! Very hopeful to hear back from them.</p>
<p>Eastman audition is done for my vp daughter.</p>
<p>Rochester, as many say, is not the greatest city, especially where Eastman is located. Walking back and forth to our hotel took us by a rather deserted run down area with the bus stations always busy. I really didn’t feel all that safe at first, but that is probably b/c I am a life long suburbanite. Didn’t bother my d at all.</p>
<p>The Eastman audition is an all day affair, and there is a lot of time that can be downright boring. They start the day with a parent/kid meeting, then the kids go to take a theory test, then a meeting for them with the faculty. The do give the kids a schedule for the day, and that is good, overall very organized.</p>
<p>We were disappointed at the faculty meeting b/c there were only 3 faculty members there. They did mention several times how they were the top school for vp etc… Didn’t walk away from that meeting with a great, gee I want to go here feeling. We did see a guy that d did a summer program with and some of his colleagues and talked with them quite a bit. Eastman does have tons of kids around in Eastman shirts that are there to answer any questions you might have all day long, which is definitely a plus.</p>
<p>Audition was in the lovely Hatch theater. We didn’t really like being in the green room with the others prior to the audition, but that is just my daughter, she likes to be quiet and in a busy atmosphere b4 the audition. My daughter was not happy with the accompanist she had, unable or unwilling to follow her, which is surprising b/c all of the other auditions have had very good accompanists. It threw her to have to deal with the accomp. not following her and having to be worried about it the whole time Hopefully, like everyone says, they are looking for talent that they can works with, and I have to believe that if they are the level of music professional you would expect, that those listening to the audition could tell that the accomp. was not doing such a great job.</p>
<p>We left after the audition, it was a long day of waiting. We did go back that evening though for a concert by the Eastman symphony orchestra in the Kodak theater which was wonderful.</p>
<p>Overall, the main building of Eastman is very cool, artsy. most everything is connected, and that can be a little confusing, but again, had a very artsy feel to it. Left there feeling like don’t know if could spend 4 years here. Yes, you can go over to the University of Rochester and do stuff, or take classes, but that is a bus ride away, and wouldn’t be all that easy. One of the kids said, you can spend almost all your time in the building there on the corner and not even leave. It did feel very small and insular, D is not sure if that would be a good fit for her. Funny, b/c she thought she wanted a very small conservatory environment, but now she is leaning more University! You just don’t know until you get in there and start looking.</p>
<p>So, now we wait.</p>
<p>Just had my CCM audition today. Not going to go into too much detail because I’m by no means the first person to post about CCM on this thread but I’ll give my basic impressions.</p>
<p>First of all, the facilities are fantastic; they’re on par with Eastman and Oberlin, both of which I visited in August but ultimately decided not to apply to. The biggest difference, however, is that it lacks the cold, cut-throat, competitive feeling of Eastman. To someone who hasn’t been in every concerto competition possible since middle school that’s a very good thing. Not to say that CCM is quite as welcoming as Lawrence or Oberlin since, frankly, there are too many students and people auditioning there (with graduate and doctoral students and whatnot) for them to have that same warm, small conservatory feel.</p>
<p>Secondly, the campus is very interesting and the immediately surrounding area is not so bad from what I can see from my hotel window but when we drove in it was pretty obvious that the majority of Cincinnati at large is not so great. I think the incidences I’ve read about of people being robbed and such are probably the result of dumb decisions. As long as you don’t walk around by yourself late at night and don’t flash your money around I think it’s fine.</p>
<p>All in all, I got good vibes from this place and after having visited I’m no longer dead-set on Lawrence, which is saying something given that I’m really not much of a big school guy (CCM has 1,500 students and UC has 42,000 in total). Also, for anyone yet to do their undergrad audition, the theory test is remedial and the music education interview for those double majoring or just doing music ed is pretty low-key and I doubt one would have a hard time with it.</p>
<p>My S had his composition audition today at University of Colorado, Boulder. Composition students auditioned on their primary instrument (piano for my son). The day featured information sessions for parents and students and tours of the music facilities and the campus. It was very well-organized; everything ran on time and the staff was welcoming.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the composition faculty wasn’t well represented and so we only met one of the teachers. He did give an overview of the program - stating that there were many opportunities for student composers’ work to be performed and that the level of musicianship was high. He said that they had 30 applications for composition majors and 2 undergrads would be accepted.</p>
<p>The campus is lovely (covered in snow right now) and quite large. The setting in Boulder is simply stunning. A creek running through town, towering mountains all along the Western edge of town, 300 days with sun a year. We both enjoyed the atmosphere of the town as well.</p>
<p>Logistically speaking, it was great to be able to take a city bus ($13) from the Denver airport right to our motel in Boulder a couple of blocks from campus. We stayed at the University Inn which was clean and inexpensive with very pleasant and helpful staff.</p>
<p>All in all, a nice way to start off the audition season.</p>
<p>My son just reported by phone about his trip to the interview and audition for SF Conservatory. He said that the composition staff was all present, except for one, and they heard his piano playing and then interviewed him about the prescreening materials he had sent in. He was impressed at how familiar they were with his pieces. He felt the staff were nice and put him at ease. (He mentioned they asked “none of the dumb questions” - like "why do you want to go to this school? Rather, they focused on his process and his writing.) He has also had the opportunity to meet some composition students which was helpful.</p>
<p>He mentioned that the concert hall was one of the most beautiful he had ever seen.</p>
<p>Anyone have thoughts on the Capital University Music Technology (BM or BA) & Indiana University Recording Arts (BS) programs? My child is looking at these 2 schools in addition to several other but I want to hear about these 2 programs. Though Capital is a smaller school their music technology program is much larger than Indiana University’s program. Is anyone else comparing these 2 programs? Comments please.</p>
<p>^Rockr93, nice report, and one which pretty much echos our experience a few years ago. I will keep my fingers crossed for you ;)</p>
<p>My S is seriously considering Music Tech at Capital, and there is a poster here (18karat) who is a freshman there, but in jazz guitar, I think. </p>
<p>My S been accepted to the BM program and would begin there but is glad there is a BA option if he decides to change. He has felt really good about Capital since our first visit in fall, and we’ve now been 3 times (visit, academic scholarship competition, audition day). He’s also been accepted into the honors program there, which brings some nice perks. We live only 40 minutes away and their MT program is very well known around here…not sure it has the national rep IU does? I know he likes the feel there, but he also really likes that there are tons of ensemble opportunities (he plays bass guitar) in jazz, rock, funk…not typical for smaller schools.</p>
<p>We didn’t look at Indiana, the only other MT program he considered was Duquesne in Pittsburgh.</p>