<p>I'm really confused about what Juilliard wants on their prescreening CD. Actually, I understand everything except for this part, here's the exact wording:</p>
<p>"Two contrasting movements selected from works of different styles or periods"</p>
<p>Does that mean one movement each from two works, two movements each from two works... or what? I tried calling them and they told me to email the admissions office... and when I did that, I got an automated email saying I'd get a response in 7-10 days and to email them again if I didn't (huh? haha.) </p>
<p>I'd love it if someone could clear this up for me (December 1st is closer than ever!)</p>
<p>“Two contrasting movements selected from works of different styles or periods”</p>
<p>You are right to contact Juilliard for their interpretation, but in the meantime, the only plausible interpretation seems to be two movements in total (one from each of two different works). The “two movements each from two works” does not seem justified by the text anymore than “two movements each from seventeen works” would be, since there is no numerical adjective preceding “works.” I think that their wording could be clarified by the following: Two movements which are from works of different styles and periods and which are contrasting. In other words, be certain that your two movements are from different periods/styles (e.g. a Baroque movement and a Romantic movement) and that they are contrasting in nature (i.e. one fast and one slow). So, a slow lyrical Baroque movement and a slow lyrical Romantic movement would not fit the bill because they are not contrasting.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to some schools that used very similar wording. In her case, what was wanted is precisely what violindad describes. Two movements total, differing from each other both in period and mood. </p>
<p>Unless you are specifically applying to an Early Music program, they most likely do not want anything earlier than Baroque, so the periods in question are generally Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern. Choose two movements from different time periods. Picking one from near the end of one of those periods and another from near the start of the very next period is not a good idea because it is possible that both could be considered as being representative of the transition between the two periods. You might even want to consider avoiding pieces from consecutive periods entirely.</p>
<p>Normally, music schools want a relatively fast piece and a relatively slow piece, because each places different demands on technique and musicianship. Note that fast and slow depend not only on the metronome markings, but on the predominant note values used in the piece. Choose one piece that will let you spin and color the tone on individual notes while producing long, liquid, musical phrases. Choose the other to demonstrate agility and clean technique without letting all those short notes get in the way of making music.</p>
<p>Now you just need a cellodad to chime in and you will have collected the entire set of stringdad opinions. Of course the opinion that counts most is Juilliard’s, so feel free to ignore us entirely if they tell you something different.</p>
<p>sprstr, please talk with your teacher about this. He/She will have the answers for you and you should definitely not be trying to deal with the pre-screeing stuff on your own, especially not with a school such as Julliard.
I concur with the advice given to you by the “dads”, but I am worried that youd flute teacher might be sitting back and letting you do this on your own, and that should NOT be happening.
Good luck to you!,</p>
<p>I have some more questions, actually…
Do any of you know whether playing one movement of a concerto in lieu of an entire piece would count against me a lot? It’s about 3 or 4 minutes long, I think.
And would submitting something without an accompaniment when a school said to do it with accompaniment disqualify me? What about if it’s a flute-only work to begin with?</p>
<p>And would including an extra track be considered obnoxious? Haha a school requires a piece with accompaniment, but thanks to miscommunication with my flute teacher, I don’t have one anymore as of right now. So I was thinking of putting that in without an accompaniment and putting in a slightly weaker piece with accompaniment…
I don’t know if any of that makes sense. Sorry about all the questions. Honestly I’m really lost and confused. Now that you mention my teacher sitting back and letting me do this on my own… Yeah. I mean she’s been really helpful, but she literally told me TODAY that she’s going away on vacation three days from now–and my recordings are due December 1st. And she was supposed to get someone to do the accompaniments, but he didn’t learn the one piece I was positive he was going to accompany me on. I’m kind of screwed… These are all my top choice schools, too…</p>
<p>sprstr, if they ask for accompaniment, it needs to be accompanied. They’re not expecting accompaniment in an etude or other work for solo flute as none exists.</p>
<p>Extra tracks are fine–orchestral excerpts, or whatever–but in a highly selective program you do not want to give the institution simple justification for disqualifying you. If your playing is truly peerless, and virtuosic in the highest degree, they will overlook your not meeting their prescreening requirements, but that’s a really serious gamble. I don’t know where you live but a competent accompanist might be closer than you think. Call around, post on craigslist, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Were you expecting your teacher to work with you over the Thanksgiving holiday?</p>
<p>I don’t know flute or the schools you’re auditioning for, so the following is conjecture.</p>
<p>1) If it was my student sending a violin pre-screen to Juilliard - or any other school requiring accompaniment on the CD - I would not advise them to send without accompaniment. Juilliard may choose to listen to a CD not including accompanied solo/concerto, but they may also choose not to - the CD may go straight into the “circular file”. This pre-screen is part of the audition “test” - can you follow directions, act timely, play decently, etc. Your CD is all part of how you present yourself, sorry. </p>
<p>2) What does your mom think (professional musician, right??) You can try calling the school - ask the Admissions Dept. I had a student call Juilliard earlier this month - talked with someone in Admissions, didn’t have to send an e-mail or wait for an answer.</p>
<p>3) My guess - An extra track will probably not be listened to. Another question to ask. I don’t think an extra track would be held against you although I’ve heard some Admissions Director’s claim they like to see that applicants can “follow directions”…</p>
<p>4) I’m obviously not looking at the pre-screen requirements list, but if it was violin, a work for violin solo (no accompaniment composed) would be fine it met all the other criteria. Usually the language on the requirements page indicates that any “accompanied” work should be presented with accompaniment, not that solo works without written accompaniment aren’t allowed. </p>
<p>5) One movement from a concerto is probably fine presuming the requirements want “contrasting works” and don’t explicitly say an entire concerto. Is 3-4 minutes short for flute? (It would be on the short side for violin concerto mvt.) Ask your teacher about that.</p>
<p>Good luck - check also - is the December 1 date a “received by” date or a “postmark” date. Don’t mess that one up!!!</p>
<p>If a composition was written for solo flute only without accompaniment, then it should be recorded as intended to be performed: no accompaniment. </p>
<p>If a school wants an entire concerto recorded, then you should definitely record the entire concerto rather than a single movement from it. However, if your questions are about Juilliard as your title and quotations from their requirements suggest, then I don’t see how an entire concerto would fit in their prescreening requirements:<br>
The expositions of the 1st and 2nd movements of either the G or D major Mozart concertos (unaccompanied). The exposition is, of course, just one part of each movement.
Two contrasting movements selected from works of different styles or periods (accompanied). Even if you happened to choose to use concerto movements here, they must be from two different works, so you will be recording only one movement from each of the two works.
The compulsory orchestral excerpt and the two excerpts chosen from the four listed. No concerto possibility here and no entire movement either.
I must conclude that your question regarding the single movement of the concerto is in regards to a school other than Juilliard.</p>
<p>As to your questions regarding a) whether you will be disqualified for submitting an unaccompanied track, and b) whether you can add an extra track, I would suggest that you contact Juilliard or whatever school(s) are in question. Try phoning rather than emailing. If their admissions department is unable to help you, then ask if you can try contacting one of the flute instructors that is involved with the prescreening. If you have had a trial lesson or other contact with an instructor at the school, then try contacting them. No one here can give you a definitive answer to those questions (unless they happen to be a Juilliard official). </p>
<p>I could speculate that your chances of making it past the prescreen could be diminished by not adhering to the school’s requirements and that if you are the next flute superstar, you might be given some leeway, but this is just speculation. Juilliard does tend to be quite specific about their requirements. They want the repertoire recorded in a specific order. I would follow their requirements as closely as possible. </p>
<p>As to the accompanist issue, if I were you, I would immediately contact another accompanist and attempt to arrange rehearsal and recording sessions with them. It is not too late if you do so immediately. If you are ready to head off to college, you need to be prepared to make arrangements with accompanists on your own (as well as do many other things on your own). Ask your teacher for other accompanist recommendations. Ask the previous accompanist for other recommendations for other accompanists. If there are no local accompanists that can handle the repertoire on short notice and if you are serious about Juilliard, then be prepared to travel to get to an accompanist that can handle the repertoire. When my son’s two local accompanists were both unavailable, we travelled 250 miles for rehearsals (and in the opposite direction from where we travel even further for lessons).</p>
<p>Flute is very competitive at Juilliard and they get many excellent applicants that have fulfilled their requirements. I would be disinclined to possibly put myself at a disadvantage by not taking their requirements seriously.</p>
<p>My daughter is a flautist and I can definitely say that if they are asking specifically for two accompanied movements then they are asking for you to choose two movements that are written for an accompaniment. If you choose a piece that is written to be unaccompanied, while they might listen to it you will definitely not be fulfilling their requirements.</p>
<p>When you say:</p>
<p>" Haha a school requires a piece with accompaniment, but thanks to miscommunication with my flute teacher, I don’t have one anymore as of right now."</p>
<p>Do you mean a piece of music you can do or an accompanist ? I guess everyone is assuming it’s the accompanist that’s missing and that’s probably doable if you can track one down that’s wiling to work on such short notice and over a holiday week. I’d say if you are talking about the piece itself, I can’t imagine you’d be able to learn one, practice with an accompanist and record it before December 1 but I guess if you are that good it’s doable as well. If you’ve been working towards auditions, surely there are pieces you know that have piano accompaniments. </p>
<p>Both of my kids teachers had them print-out the requirements straight from the schools in their Junior year of HS and we held planning sessions where pieces were chosen, filled in, practice schedules and calendars created, contacting accompanists etc., all were arranged before the senior HS summer. Some were changed, some dropped etc.</p>
<p>To say that flute is competitive nowadays isn’t coming close to the truth. It is as competitive as voice, violin, etc. As violindad as I would be disinclined to not follow requirements seriously and to the letter.</p>
<p>Excellent advice from those above. Specific repertoire instructions should not be ignored. Nebulous points requiring clarification require direct answers from a knowledgeable source at the specific institution.</p>
<p>Do not go outside the box, unless the instructions give you rein to do so.</p>
<p>When I have considered even slight possibly deviations from the rules, I try to put myself into the shoes of the person (or perhaps panel, although I’m inclined to think it is a single person) who listens to the prescreens:</p>
<p>They are overworked and underpaid (and I mean that sincerely considering their talent, education, and time invested in their career) and already have more than enough work to fill their weeks. Then in November and December, along come dozens of CD’s day after day to listen to and make recommendations concerning. Because this is a very well-known school, they get many times the prescreens of schools that are as good but not as well known. Because flute is such a popular instrument and is so well-played by tens of thousands of high school students around the world, the flute screener gets many times the prescreens that the bassoon screener does. </p>
<p>It is very difficult to fairly compare and assess so many CD’s heard over such a period of time and it just would not be possible to listen to them all in a couple of days and do them justice. One gets sensory overload after a while, even when one listens to only excerpts and can make a few of the rejections in a matter of seconds.</p>
<p>The difficulty of comparing and assessing is compounded when the requirements are not followed by everyone. It is just too tough to justly compare apples with oranges. With the huge quantity of applicants, there are certain to be many sets of several CD’s demonstrating equal levels of ability. If the screener has to reject one or two of them from a set, guess what an easy basis for rejection might be. </p>
<p>As other posters have noted, schools want students who not only excel in their performance, but who also can and will follow directions and stay organized and on top of the myriad of details in a musician’s life. Your questions here indicate that you do care about the details and are taking the initiative to ensure that things are done right. I hope that you have the chance to show that in the recording that you submit.</p>
<p>Wow! Great minds think alike! (Referring to the three simultaneous posts earlier today.) violindad, you have a good grasp of the situation, in the sense that conservatory admission (or the college admission process in general) is indeed a human process.</p>
<p>I found this little tidbit on the Juilliard website, which is quite a detailed breakdown of prescreening in general, as well as some Juilliard-specific stuff that also mentions flute (the Mozart is NOT to be accompanied, actually, and the tracks have to go in a specific order. Who knew?). Here’s the link:
[Office</a> of Admissions Blog Blog Archive Pre-Screening putting your best musical foot forward](<a href=“http://blog.juilliard.edu/?p=13]Office”>http://blog.juilliard.edu/?p=13)</p>
<p>And, at the risk of looking a bit self-serving, I wrote a blog entry where my thesis is that applying to a conservatory is actually a part-time job your senior year. But I do think I say some things that are germane to this thread, both for the OP but more importantly for others this year and next, who scramble to compile a dizzying amount of information to send on to some admissions office at the other end of the country:
[Hopson</a> Cottage Blog Blog Archive The undeclared part-time job](<a href=“http://www.bard.edu/admission/blog/?p=158]Hopson”>http://www.bard.edu/admission/blog/?p=158)</p>
<p>(Can we link to blogs if they are part of an official college website, instead of a personal blog? Trying to remember the TOS here).</p>
<p>N8Ma, to answer you TOS question albeit in an unofficial capacity, I think your blog falls within acceptable parameters. </p>
<p>(I knew SOMEBODY required sequential or specifically sequenced recordings. This is one of the reasons it is always best to read, reread and verify specific instructions at each institution. It can all begin to blend, and the mind will boggle. Don’t rely on memory or hearsay.)</p>
<p>sprstr, given the problems you are having with the pre-screening CD at this late date, I am hoping that your list of schools also includes some legitimate “safeties”. The top schools-and the top programs (violin, flute, voice,etc)- honestly do expect their directions to be followed and they also expect that applicants would have had everything planned, completed and submitted on time. I am afraid that you may run into real difficulties trying to wrap things up this week, especially since it’s a holiday as well. It was up to you to have the information you needed for each school and to make arrangements for the recordings. Your teacher could have been more helpful, but you should have gone over everything with her months ago and made a schedule.Did she not know the dates things were needed and is she aware that you have not done the recording yet? The calendar is not friendly this year, but can you work with the accompanist that was lined up? If there is a college nearby with a music major, call them tomorrow (Tuesday) in the morning (you can go to your school’s Guidance Dept and I’m sure that they will let you have some queiet place to work) and see if they can reccomend a student who could accompany you. There are a lot of students who don’t go home for this holiday, so you may get lucky. Do you have the recording place lined up? Again, you are looking at the “big leagues” and the quality of the recording needs to be appropriate and to show you at your absolute best. Since your mother is a musician, I would go to her at once and see how she can help.</p>
<p>“Both of my kids teachers had them print-out the requirements straight from the schools in their Junior year of HS and we held planning sessions where pieces were chosen, filled in, practice schedules and calendars created, contacting accompanists etc., all were arranged before the senior HS summer. Some were changed, some dropped etc.”</p>
<p>I REALLY wish I’d done this. Anyway, I basically just finished my CD. I got an accompanist for the one piece (so lucky!) but my other choice piece was for solo flute. Oh well. I’m hoping to pass pre-screens. If not, I could always take a year off–next year would be a great time to go to Harry Potter World.</p>
<p>This might seem like a silly question, kind of confirming the “you’re so disorganized you don’t deserve to audition at a conservatory!” thing some people seem to have going here, but… Does anyone know the exact address where to send my pre-screening CD for Juilliard? I’ve found the address for every school but them, and my vision’s literally blurring over and I still can’t figure out anything more specific than the one in their “Contact Us” section. Thanks everyone!!</p>
If not, I could always take a year off–next year would be a great time to go to Harry Potter World.</p>