Prescreen results

College Majors Music Major
121

<p>Don’t know how accurate my take is, but figured I would throw this out. My direct experience is with a very high level pre college program on an extremely competitive instrument (violin), but also is based on conversations with the head of the program who is also a member of the college faculty there.</p>

<p>1)I agree with others, if there are specific teachers you may be interested in, it may be really, really wise to have sample lessons with them, both to evaluate them, and also potentially to get them interested in you. One thing I know for sure, pre college or college, is that the way it works is a teacher has to be interested in teaching you, or you don’t get in. If teachers know you already it makes that part much, much easier, so if you pass the audition you a)know who you are getting and b) have someone who is willing to say they will take you. In other words, you can pass an audition and not get in because no teacher who had openings wanted to work with you. </p>

<p>2)With teachers, be careful about the ‘famous teachers’. For example, Itzak Perlman teaches at Juilliard, but probably accepts 1 student every several years, same for the other high profile people. It sounds great, but besides the fact that famous people may not be great teachers, they have even more kids wanting to study with them, which cuts the odds of making it even more. Be better finding a teacher who has a reputation and you can work with, who isn’t the ‘name person’ in many cases.</p>

<p>3)Teachers are great, but I believe it is also important to look at the school and program as well. Some really well known teachers teach at a wide variety of programs, so for example someone might teach at Juilliard, Mannes and let’s say a SUNY school in NY. They may be a great teacher, but the program itself counts, too, if you are a ‘big fish in a small school’ it may be better to be a ‘small fish in a big sea’, because a less challenging environment may be less beneficial then one where everyone is at the high level. </p>

<p>4)As far as pre screening goes, I can speak about the pre college level, but from what I have been led to believe there are similar numbers accepted after the pre screen at both levels as a percentage. On the competitive instruments in pre college they receive about 130-140 applications and agree to hear about 40, so about 30% (I am sure it fluctuates with how many openings, how good the applicants are)</p>

<p>5)I think in terms of looking at the number of applicants, you in fact can discount some percentage of them as people who aren’t going to get past the prescreening, but I think the percentage is hard to discern. I would argue that you should assume that, especially for schools like Juilliard and NEC, that almost all of them are at a really high level, and tailor your work towards the pre screen with that in mind, to make sure you hit your best on it. </p>

<p>One thing I am learning, is that audition processes are not scientific, that they are combinations of ‘objective’ auditions and also factors of teacher availability, willingness to work with a student and luck.</p>

122

<p>And then there’s the factor you have absolutely no control over, and that’s the depth and quality of this year’s applicant pool in one’s particular major. There are so many permutations- a lot of kids but not very many real top-notch applicants, fewer “bodies” but a lot of really good prospects,etc. A student who may have been a stand-out in “Year A” may not fare so well when evaluated against the pool for “Year B”. That’s not within your control and is something which can’t even be quantified on a school’s web site or view book. Sure, they may say that they take “2-3” students for, say, trumpet, each year, but if the applicants one year aren’t up to the standard the school expects, no one may be admitted but they may take 5 the next time around. I’ve seen this happen and although it may cause some “overcrowding” for a while, things have a way of evening out through graduation, transfers and dropping out. Music isn’t like ski racing, there’s no clock, no disqualification if you miss a gate… the statements about a teacher “wanting to work with you” are very true, and you also have to fit into the “master plan” for a department, especially true for VP. And it’s not always the obvious, such as the need for male voices. They may have a number of sopranos, but are short on lyric coloraturas or full lyrics who may go dramatic. The bottom line is, “You just never know”, so all you can do is your very best and take your chances!</p>

123

<p>Juilliard for violin is out, according to a few emails forwarded to my email account and a few excited text messages from several violin friends. Just FYI!</p>

<p>(I play piano, so still waiting anxiously…)</p>

124

<p>Got a YES from prescreening at SUNY Purchase! My audition is on the 15th. My NEC audition is on the 14th, which is kind of close… I’ll have to make speedy travel arrangments. But still! Four auditions, only two rejections… I’m getting nervous!</p>

125

<p>DS has violin auditions at Juilliard (got the email this afternoon), Cleveland, NEC, Rice, and McGill (no prescreens required for the last two). Lots of travelling coming up.</p>

126

<p>I recall that when my daughter, a coloratura soprano auditioned at Carnegie Mellon there was an information session earlier that morning and they told us that they received 1000 pre-screen CD’s, auditioned 400 or so for a class of 20, with four voice types. Juilliard if I recall, looked to admit 3 sopranos and had probably double the amount of pre-screen CD’s submitted. When my daughter auditioned at Peabody the girl ahead of her had done pre-college summer voice program at CMU with very enthusiastic faculty feedback only to have her CD not selected for audition.</p>

127

<p>Called Peabody yesterday. They said that they are “working on it” and that prescreen results for voice were being sent out this week. So the waiting continues ;-)</p>

128

<p>Tenormama;
bet he’s selected since D’s “no” came a week ago snail mail.</p>

129

<p>If I still haven’t heard from Eastman yet, do you think it’s a NO for prescreening?</p>

130

<p>Sopranorose - If you don’t remember what audition date you chose, why don’t you call and ask about your status? My D chose 2/5, so I am assuming that they are still evaluating the 2/19 requests. I have found the admissions office to be very nice and accommodating.</p>

<p>For those waiting on Curtis VP prescreen - they will send out an email by mid next week.</p>

131

<p>eastave, thanks for the encouragement and I am sorry about the “no,” but it sounds like your D has other great opportunities, particularly Eastman. This is such a grueling process, isn’t it? Being new to this arena, we are continually awed by this whole thing and by how gracefully the kids seem to handle it.</p>

132

<p>And nobody’s heard from Oberlin yet? It seems late this year…</p>

133

<p>S got a “no” from Oberlin. He called the admissions office last week to see what the situation was, and the person he spoke with said that letters had gone out December 21. They said he was not the first person to report that he had not received the letter. The resent letter finally arrived this week. He will now have 4 auditions for jazz piano - Temple, IU, Eastman, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Eastman is the only one with a prescreen.</p>

134

<p>All of these things are so subjective- one never knows what a school is looking for at any given time. These are the times that make you wish your D or S had taken up ski racing!
Rose, call Eastman if you are really concerned and have to co-ordinate travel plans. That school has traditionally been late with notifications and buried somewhere deep within their web site it says that they “reserve the right to let (you) know up to two weeks before the audition date”. They know people have to make plans, they just aren’t in the business of worrying about it. I’ve always found the ladies in the office to be kind and helpful though, to the extent that they can be, so it doesn’t hurt to call and make a polite inquiry.</p>

135

<p>Musicprnt has a really good point.</p>

<p>I really hate the “system” of audition where if the referred teacher has no openings for you, you just get rejected. And the fact that I know friends who prepare for year and half for the audition.
Of course they will be perfect.
So what exactly are the faculty members looking for during audition besides perfection?</p>

136

<p>I don’t know if this really answers your question, wktk222, but I have a friend who went to Juilliard. She also auditioned at Eastman, Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, and SUNY Purchase for voice. She made all of them. She did not, however, make Westminster Choir College. Isn’t that funny? She makes all the top schools of the world, but not Westminster. She had privately worked with one of the teacher’s there, too. It was practically ompossible for her NOT to get in.</p>

<p>Later, she talked to the teacher, and the teacher said that she thought the admissions office thought that there was nothing they could teach her. Her skills were too advanced.</p>

<p>She initially didn’t believe this, but it didn’t really matter, because she got accepted to Juilliard, so she glady went there instead.</p>

<p>This girl was literally perfection. But maybe Westminster wasn’t looking for perfection, maybe they were looking for someone they could train with a different voice type.</p>

137

<p>wktk222-
We talked with one of the students a school we visited before my son had a lesson with one of the teachers there. The student said that one thing the faculty looks for is to see whether the student is “teachable.” So during the lesson if the teacher tells you to try doing something a different way than you usually do it, can you do it? How flexible are you? How easily do you pick it up? We hadn’t thought of that before so we were interested to hear that. Hope this helps.</p>

138

<p>“Teachable” is a bit of a euphemism for whether the singer wants to work technique and/or be stylistically coached, or just want to strut his/her stuff. No one should be trying to make changes in a singer right before an audition, especially in technical issues. It is irresponsible and unethical. A reasonable dialogue would be for the teacher to ask the singer what they think needs work, what has given them problems, were they think their voice is going, what kind of music they particularly feel suited for, etc. The teacher could then, after hearing them, advise as to what issues they would want to address, and they might give examples of repertory it would be appropriate to sing at this point in the singer’s development, and why. This leaves the singer with a perspective on what this teacher likes, what they would want the singer to learn and/or change, and a more thoughtful awareness of the student/teacher goals would be part of the admissions decision. Much more important than the teacher’s “name” and personality, IMHO.</p>

139

<p>Eastman said they should have all prescreening results about by tomorrow, if anyone is still waiting… like me…</p>

140

<p>Lorelei - Thank you for clarifying. I don’t think the student meant to imply. nor did I mean to imply, that any teacher would try to make any major modifications in a student’s voice in twenty-minute lesson. I think that she meant what you said … that teachers like to see that students are willing to work on technique. As I said before, we are new to to this arena and certainly do not have the “lingo” down as you would. So, thanks again!</p>