<p>Luckily, I am the one who has stressed nerves! D actually enjoys auditioning. We are in the northeast, so weather is also a concern of mine!<br>
I found out today that one of her schools only offers an audition date for flute the same date that we are in Austin..ugh. Does anyone know if they have perfected cloning yet? :}</p>
<p>This audition thing is harrowing, not to mention expensive: most of S's auditions will be in February. All jazz auditions have to be in person, no tapes allowed. We live on the west coast, and will have to travel to Ohio, NYC, upstate NY, Montreal, and Baltimore. Also safety Oregon school music audition in Jan. Yikes.</p>
<p>I still remember our 1000 mile driving week with four auditions. Talk about harrowing! </p>
<p>And MSM and NEC had scheduled their auditions for one of my son's instruments on the SAME DAY! I couldn't believe that they hadn't coordinated this better, and that no one else was in the same position (turns out, we saw several of the same kids at both the NEC and then rescheduled second MSM audition day...). They were really nice about it, and rescheduled him to 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning, with the theory test beforehand...;) Awesome time for a jazz musician---NOT! (actually turned out fine, but could have been disasterous, especially since they had technical problems with the rest of their combo on that end).</p>
<p>I can't imagine flying in from the west coast for all these auditions though. We only had one audition requiring air travel, fortunately. Will be thinking of you all, as you navigate winter travel. Remember to enjoy the experience as much as possible, no matter how stressful. It really is a wonderful time with your kids, and I will never forget it.</p>
<p>notfromme,</p>
<p>Re your question about tapes - my experience is violin primarily, but it may apply.</p>
<p>I would not send a tape to any school that your D really wants to attend if that school is highly competitive. (She's flute, right? Everything may be highly compeititive!) Often schools indicate they will take CDs, but if it come down to choosing between a CD and a player who came in person and played just as well, guess who they'll take. I've known violinists who were competitive for places like CIM who thought a CD would be just as good and save travel time. The students were waitlisted. I have no doubt that they would have been accepted outright if they'd showed in person. </p>
<p>Do any of your D's schools have regional auditions? In the past Peabody, Northwestern and several others have done this. I have seen violin kids accepted from regionals - I've thought those results were what I would have expected.</p>
<p>I would call the Admissions Offices and talk to someone other than a student work study "helper" about conflicts. Maybe something can be done to reschedule.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you. Travel concerns and scheduling problems that the auditioner can't control are the last things anyone wants to upset this venture!</p>
<p>Thank you fiddlestix...
Yes, flute is incredibly competitive. Most of her schools require a live, on campus audition...and most give only one day for flutes. The school she may have to send a cd to is Iowa. She loves the teacher there and has worked with her over the summer. But, their audition date is the 20th, and Texas is the 19th. Texas requires you to be there live on the 19th, and it is one of my d's top picks. D loves the teacher at both Texas and Iowa...just cannot be two places at once. Indiana has only three audition weekends, but they are do-able. And, IU offers ad hoc if you cannot be there those weekends. Boston Conservatory is the school that has me most worried. The date that they offer is a date that my d has a very improtant performance that she really cannot miss. (not school related...) I do hope they will work with us. You would think that NEC and BoCo would at least try to work together with their dates! The only two schools in the same city that seemed to work together is CIM and Oberlin...(thank you, thank you, thank you!!!) They have auditions the same weekend. Of course, some of these auditions depend on her passing the pre screening.....
She will be attending two auditions in NYC. We live a short distance from the city...it is a very easy day trip for us. Other than that, we will be vacationing in "Newclevebloomauston" this year!! :)</p>
<p>If you are contemplating a "regional audition", be aware that it may not be an actual audition at all, but merely a taping of an audition. We live on the west coast and arranged for DS to audition for Eastman's regional audition in Portland (a 5 hour drive for us).</p>
<p>When we got there, we discovered there was one representative from Eastman (the admissions's director) with his video camera set up on the stage in a school auditorium.
It was a horrible experience. A bright photographer's floodlight was shining on the student, and a video cam placed close by. (It was so hot that son was dripping w/ sweat when he came out). Unfortunately, this was also his first audition, so it was a "perfect storm" for failure. My kid is a good performer and his nerves rarely get the best of him, but this was beyond an unfriendly environment. He played very poorly and knew when he left that he didn't stand a chance. If he had auditioned in person for the violin faculty (and the teacher he was hoping to study with), then who knows. I would second fiddlestix's advice: by all means, audition in person for your top choices. You only get that one chance to sell yourself and your abilities and personality, etc.</p>
<p>Fortunately, DS is doing very well where he is, and we often wondered how we would have financially managed 4 years at Eastman if he HAD been admitted.</p>
<p>taped auditions actually aren't so bad (i.e. regional auditions). a friend of mine got into msm that way...</p>
<p>Yes, regional auditions are video taped. We spoke to a California school about sending in a dvd/cd and they preferred us to attend the NYC audition. Thanks Cosmos for sharing the knowledge that some do get in with taped auditions!! And Eastman...wow! D is just hoping to get past their pre screening for now! She had some issues with her recording...
Anyone have any input on sending in a cd for an audition?? (ie: know anyone who has been accepted via taped audition...) I suppose I should contact the woodwinds chair at the school and see what they say.</p>
<p>I don't know if this is analogous, but I heard from one of the faculty members at the Tanglewood fellowship program that they usually accept about half of the summer's fellows from recorded auditions and half from live auditions.</p>
<p>I found that schools were good about rescheduling auditions.</p>
<p>Some live auditions are also taped (or stored on some digital medium these days) for later viewing. You need to be prepared for hot lights and a camera in your face either way.</p>
<p>Yes - my son auditioned at IU-Jacobs onstage in a darkened hall with full stagelights. Not all auditions there were like this, but some were.</p>
<p>My son did a regional audition for Eastman in Chicago for cello. His audition, too, was taped by the admissions director but he did not find the playing conditions unreasonable. It was not too hot and he didn't comment to me about lights or anything. He was accepted to the school with a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! You have put my mind somewhat at ease! I did hear back from Boston and they seem to be willing to work with us. We will wait and see what her pre-screening results are for NEC and perhaps she can audition for Boston then also!</p>
<p>D heard from CIM today--she will be auditioning in February!</p>
<p>Congrats to your D bluepearl</p>
<p>and to all those college admission people....we're trying to be patient....we know you have
bags of unopened mail you are working feverishly on trying to get processed.</p>
<p>Hang in there, Opera-Mom! I remember one of my son's schools last year describing the "buckets and buckets" of pre-screen tapes they had to get through. I envisioned these CDs everywhere; that probably wasn't far off, from how harried the admissions people sounded! You will hear soon, and best of luck!</p>
<p>congrats bluepearl! We will be there in Feb also! Lets hope the weather is on our side!</p>
<p>Yes, the weather is a worry. We will be driving to most of the auditions. It certainly is a relief to have heard from CIM, I just wish the other schools would be as prompt!</p>
<p>Congrats Bluepearl and Notfromme to your Ds!!</p>
<p>CIM is a personal favorite of mine.... (Not that aren't many great schools out there!)</p>