<p>Ahh there we go! 
sorry i didn’t know you guys were talking about voice major</p>
<p>
It is hard to generalize. But at Rice it sems that many but not all of the Masters students took time off between degrees. But for every generalization there is the exception. When DD was a freshman one of the masters students in her studio not only was a young masters, but also won the Met competition that year. So, no hard and fast rules. </p>
<p>DD is taking time off because she feels she needs it. Low voice seems to take longer to develop and she is seeing some amazing change right now that would not have been in her pre-screening DVDs.</p>
<p>From what can be judged based on the singers I have heard, the singers I know, and what NYC teachers are telling me: MSM is not a difficult prescreen pass, and they admit far more singers than can be given performance opportunities…beware. MSM students are paying lots of $$ to participate in other programs and classes in the city to enhance their education and experience. OTOH, Mannes strictly limits its incoming class of singers, and the standards are very high, on a par with Juilliard, though fewer apply to Mannes. Curtis accepts singers who have star potential and those who are good enough to fill in the blanks for casting purposes. If they can find the superstars-to-be, great, but they have to be able to cast their operas.</p>
<p>Anyone know if it’s hard to pass CIM or Eastman’s prescreen?</p>
<p>The height of the bar for passing the prescreen at schools like CIM and Eastman will vary among instruments and from year to year. I believe that you are a violinist, lovely: last year at CIM the prescreen violin bar seemed quite high given the quality of a couple of excellent violinists we knew that did not pass the CIM prescreen. CIM has a very strong strings program.</p>
<p>Thank you violindad. This whole prescreen process is driving me crazy. I hope the schools are not giving me any false hope.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it helps, but my D asked how many students would be granted auditions at Rice, Eastman and CMU. In general, each school told her about 100 students will audition for the 1 to 2 spots. So for flutes, we know that we still have a LONG way to go.</p>
<p>flute1298, there must have been some misunderstanding-- at Rice, about 30 people are usually advanced from prescreening for flute (but this varies a lot from instrument to instrument-- the one violin teacher who screens only advances 10-12). 100 sounds like the number of applicants before screening. I doubt that any school in the country is advancing 100 flutists past screening-- that’s only a reasonable number if there are 10-20 spots, which no flute studio has!</p>
<p>Congratulations to all students who have passed prescreens at every school. It is a significant accomplishment and you should feel proud of yourself. Teachers at every school are busy and do not want to waste time hearing students who are completely unqualified to make it in their school, so don’t let anyone, however knowledgeable they may seem, diminish your comfort in this step toward success. Of course it’s not a guarantee of acceptance, but you are part way there and further along than if you had NOT passed the prescreen! Now keep practicing and ace those auditions!!! Congratulations!!!</p>
<p>Thanks Fiddle…I know my D asked. I was not there for the discussion at Rice or Eastman, but I was there when the flute teacher, Mr. A, from CMU said he would be hearing about 120 flutes on the audition weekend. My D said the teachers told her 25-30 flutes for each of the audition weekends.</p>
<p>I don’t think they’re only taking 1-2 students though…i mean at least for violin, we have at least a few teachers, and each would take a few students…i hope it’s definitely more than 1 or 2.</p>
<p>thelovelybones: The reference to 1 or 2 students was for flute and for a single studio. Places like CIM and Eastman and NEC (all of which have many violin studios) will be accepting at least 10 violinists each year and probably closer to 20 or more. An orchestra usually has 2 or 3 flutes and 15 to 30 violinists, so the ratio of acceptances is similar at the orchestra-based schools. Schools that have a stronger music ed focus and have more of a band than orchestra focus will have a ratio that is more favourable for the flutes than the top conservatories.</p>
<p>Hearing 120 auditions in one weekend does seem like a lot: that is 60 on Saturday and 60 on Sunday. If the school does 15-minute auditions rather than 20-minute auditions, and starts at 9:30 am (after the usual dean’s/president’s marketing spiel and instructions from the director of admissions) and goes until 5:30 pm with two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch, then the day can fit in 28 auditions. To get the other 32 in that day would require no supper or further breaks and auditioning until 3:30 am. </p>
<p>I suspect that to fit in 60 auditions per day school must use the cattle call approach with no scheduled times. A parent last year described auditions in which students stampeded a sign-up sheet for their order, then waited in a line of dozens outside a door, and then some played for only a couple minutes after travelling hundreds of miles. If the faculty has large bladders and does a bag lunch while listening, and limits students to about 6 minutes of playing each (in addition to 2 minutes for students to rush into the room, tune, and rush out), then the 60 auditions could fit into a normal day between breakfast and a late evening meal.</p>
<p>Perhaps the prof that talked about 120 auditions merely meant that it felt like he had listened to 120 auditions when the weekend was over.</p>
<p>CMU auditions are over a 3 day period…Fri/Sat/Sun so I think it is more like 40 per day. I know they are scheduled every 10 minutes because CMU is one of the few schools that lets you schedule your own time on their website. I do agree that even this seems like way too many auditions, and if I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have believed my D. Perhaps we were both mistaken. I guess we’ll get a better feel for it when we get there.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who passed prescreens. It is a big deal because there is so much competition and so many talented musicians. Woo Hoo for you!!! </p>
<p>My daughter decided late in the game to study vocal performance and has slightly under a year of private classical training under her belt. She passed 1 of 3 prescreens. We are learning so much during this process.</p>
<p>Has anyone received e-mail From Eastman about prescreen results for Jazz instruments?</p>
<p>I am not knowledgeable about voice at all, but what I’ve heard from DS (who finished his masters at Mannes and lives/performs/socializes in the city) seems consistent with lorelei’s post. </p>
<p>It seems MSM is awash in female vocalists. Recent admits have been skewed in certain instrumental areas as well, forcing some of his friends to seek performance opportunities outside the school. Again, this is purely anecdotal, but DS has been hearing quite a few complaints from his peers on the other side of the bridge. </p>
<p>As for Mannes - again, I know next to nothing regarding voice, but I did catch their production of La Traviata conducted by Joseph Colaneri two years ago and was blown away. It was exceptionally well done, IMHO. (I think there may still be audio clips up on the school’s Facebook page.) Saw Cosi this spring as well, and that too was good.</p>
<p>Also, I believe they had/have a National Council finalist in attendance, for what that is worth.</p>
<p>Mannes does get a lot of applicants from overseas - DS worked in admissions (among his many jobs while a student) and said that the ratio of foreign applicants to domestic was high. Not sure how that affects prescreens, but I thought it was worth mentioning.</p>
<p>D just heard from Peabody, she passed the pre-screening (piano). I sure y’all heard the squeal. I’m currently looking into flights, etc. We are very excited.</p>
<p>Hoorah! Congrats to you and your D Mthoma!
it’s lovely to share the excitement with y’all.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what percentage of students who passed their prescreen ended up getting accepted to the following programs? I passed all of mine, and I hope it’s a good sign that I’ll be accepted to at least one of them!</p>
<p>University of Southern California - Popular Music (voice)
University of Southern California - Music Industry (jazz voice)
University of Miami - Music Business (contemporary voice)
University of Miami - Jazz Voice
The New School - Jazz Voice</p>
<p>I’m also applying for Berklee College of Music, as well as NYU’s Recorded Music program, but those don’t require a prescreen.</p>
<p>D passed SUNY Purchase for BM/voice. Congrats to everyone for making it to the next step!</p>