<p>Experienced voice teachers know and understand how physical maturity is a factor in how voices develop. While teens may look like adults, they are still growing, internally if not externally (bone ossification). Different systems may mature at different rates, and some things cannot be addressed in a healthy manner until these things have finished evolving. There are a rare few voices who do naturally sound mature very early (Grace Bumbry is an example), but most voices mature and change considerably as the body finishes its growth process. The larger, more dramatic voices and the lower voices achieve full functionality at a later phase, while light, high voices may be fully functional very early, in the late teens…though this does not mean that there is no room for improvement in technique and control. </p>
<p>So if an 18 year old soprano appears at her undergraduate audition trying to satisfy the sounds of an Aida or Butterfly, or the 19 year old tenor is trying to be a Duca (Rigoletto) or Don Jose, or the 17 year old mezzo is singing Carmen and Dalilah, or the young baritone is trying out Don Giovanni or the Toreador, there is a problem. The key issue here is if they are trying to sound like mature singers of these pieces…it cannot be done 99.9% of the time in a healthy way. And BTW: Mozart is very difficult to sing, not a good fall back aria option for singers at any age. Handel has a better range of possibilities.</p>
<p>Lorelei2702–Would you say that Mannes being more selective applies more to just voice majors, or others as well? The teacher I spoke to there seemed to imply the voice program was bigger, but I’m curious about how it compares to other schools for wind instruments.</p>
<p>I need people’s advice that audition trip isn’t waste of money?
It’s really frustrating how we students have to spend approximately 500 dollars per audition trip (you and mom or dad) that will only last about 20 minute with no guaranteed acceptance.
Some schools even have auditions knowing they can’t accept any students or even less than 10 students.
I can’t stop thinking about how waste of a money this is.
Anybody’s comment?</p>
<p>wktk222, I hear what you are saying, and it’s easy to feel taken advantage of, especially when you learn afterwards that there are no slots or hardly any slots. I have heard that the school’s rationale for holding auditions in such circumstances is that they don’t know who among currently enrolled students might drop out or transfer, so they want to maintain a viable wait-list. I suppose the only way to maintain sanity is to try to think of all audition expenses as a total investment in your eventual career. If one of these impossible auditions is early in your audition experience you can rationalize it as valuable experience, although being told you have spent $500 (or often more, considering airfares) for “experience” can feel a little insulting. I do wish there were a way of learning the number of spaces open before committing to an audition. Some schools will reveal this information; others are not.</p>
<p>I know the string faculty have limited studio spaces. I do not know about wind instruments. wktk22: this is the advantage of applying for prescreened auditions, no guarantees, but they think you are worth considering. If you are close to a strong university music program with graduate students, a consultation with a teacher there would be a worthwhile investment. The teacher should be able to listen to the musician, discuss their plans, and give them honest advice about what to expect…easier to do when there is no ongoing relationship.</p>
<p>Guess I should still be paying attention to some of this - ah, the beauty of having everything done but the check sent</p>
<p>EastEve - my D has been accepted at WCC and plans on attending. She is NOT someone who pays attention to social cues. She’s very kind and empathetic, but not at all formal, and more of a music/theater geek than anything else. I’d assumed WCC would be very traditional because of its proximity to Princeton. I was very pleasantly surprised during one of the parent sessions at how technically current they are with their teaching ideas. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed her audition and interview day because the faculty was making sure the students were comfortable in order to get the best read on them. She feels extremely comfortable there - which is why we’re saying yes!</p>
<p>D just got her invitation to audition for Eastman in voice by email yesterday–no date confirmation or any other details, just that she had passed the prescreen. Her Peabody invitation came by postal mail last weekend. Still nothing from Juilliard.</p>
<p>Congrats on the Eastman audition! The second email comes pretty fast. D got hers on the 9th of Jan for a Feb 5 audition. They will want you to send the music and accompanist fee ASAP - heads up. Presumably they won’t guarantee you an accompanist if your music doesn’t arrive at least 2 weeks prior to audition.</p>
<p>There must have been a confusion since both Violin performance and voice performance share the same initial!
I am going for MM-violin performance.
For instrumentalists (especially for strings?), I am not sure if Mannes is more competitive than NEC, MSM, or Juilliard…</p>
<p>While they do share the same initial, most of the regulars in the Music Majors section of CC (that’s College Confidential, to be totally clear) will interpret VP to mean vocal performance or voice performance. That is simply the way things have evolved, probably because there seem to be more vocal performance majors (and parents thereof) in this discussion group than violin majors and parents. That particular abbreviation appeared years ago and has since passed into common usage. In several years of posting here, aychoi84’s post is the only one I can recall that has used VP to mean violin performance, so any confusion among those of us who have been here for a while is easily explained. Of course, there is no way for someone new here to know that without doing a lot of reading…</p>
<p>makes sense…
This is my first year joining CC, so I had no idea about the tradition!!
I’ve also noticed that there are SO MANY voice majors here…</p>
<p>Would love to know if anyone hears one way or the other from Curtis today for VP. (Yes, thank goodness there’s a lot of VPs on CC - YAY - opera rocks).</p>
<p>My daughter just received her MSM audition date and time and it is EXACTLY the same as her Juilliard date and time. What are the chances? Now, although they say they will not change anything, we must write back to MSM and request a change.</p>
<p>Glassharmonica - hope it turns out well. The same thing happened to us - CIM gave us a date (the one we’d requested, actually), and then Juilliard gave us the same date. Since CIM offered several dates, and Juilliard had only one, we requested the change from CIM. We had to pay a fee for the change, but they did it, and were quite nice about it.</p>
<p>Since MSM usually purposely plans their auditions at the same weekend as Juilliard and Curtis (and Mannes?), I’m sure this happens a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good luck wish. It must have worked. Got the audition at Curtis. YIPPEE. Would appreciate anybody with experience telling us what to expect.</p>
<p>Had to cancel my audition at WCC for the 5th, as that’s the date of my surgery. I’m really disappointed, I liked that school, but there is no possible dates for me to audition for them. I still have not heard from Eastman. I’m calling again tomorrow. This makes the 7th time I have called! Oh well. I am not so enthusiastic about that school anymore, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I also got a brief confirm for my Crane audition, and I’m definitely excited about that one! This makes 6 auditions still… Busy month.</p>
