<p>What exactly are they looking for in the essay? If you're unfamiliar with the prompt, here it is:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Bring a 300-500 word essay to the audition. The essay needs to address the following:
Consider a significant issue in education and reflect on its importance to you as a teacher/learner. As you consider an issue develop an argument that addresses some of the following aspects of education:
-curriculum development
-teaching practices
-assessment
-race/class/gender
-the role of education/music education in society
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Also, how selective are the music education auditions?</p>
<p>Never mind. Misread.</p>
<p>Basically they are looking for prospective music ed candidates with a firm commitment to k-12 education as a career choice. The essay, drawing from your experience and observations is meant to get an idea of your thought processes and outlook on some of the aspects involved in the teaching/learning experience. These can be based on your own experiences either as a student or a teacher/mentor if you have had any of that experience (many prospective music ed students have taught/mentored peers and younger students, or have acted as coaches, instructors in music and other areas). </p>
<p>If you can get your hands on American String Teacher (available to ASTA members), or the professional journals of MENC or MTNA, thumbing through a few of the articles will give you an idea of the breath and scope of the general issues facing current and future music educators. Ask your orchestra leader, private instructor as I don’t know if these are available in libraries, as they are membership based publications. If your school has Tri-M ask your advisor as well. </p>
<p>As for selectivity, NYU is a solid, nationally recognized school for music ed. Expect a high level of play to be competitive, and you will be up against some talent that will be competitive at any number of top performance programs applying as music ed majors. To the best of my recollection, NYU does not apply the higher bar they would expect of straight performance candidates to their music ed applicants, but you will still face some considerable talent. Equally important are academic stats and to some extent the essay/interview as that can specifically help to define your commitment to be a successful music ed student.</p>
<p>Hope that helped. Good luck.</p>
<p>Ah, sorry! I forgot to say that I’m a chorus nerd, haha.</p>
<p>But nonetheless, that was very helpful and definitely cleared up some of the thoughts I had. Thank you :).</p>
I have my Music Ed audition for NYU Steinhardt on Saturday, and was just wondering what to expect besides singing what I’ve prepared and handing in my essay. I’m really kinda freaking out so pls help!!