Plus of course using “electronic” auditions - probably the wrong word - but you know what I mean. I commented earlier on that. That is always a possibility.
Thoughtful posts, bridgenail, and I totally agree about the in-state options. D has already applied.
You can show interest with talking to them, too. Use the phone not just email. Write down the things you want to ask so you can remember and not be too nervous. Call the admissions office and also see if you can reach out to the professors. Let them know of your interest and constraints. If it really is impossible, consider more local schools for your undergrad and save the others for grad school. A good teacher can be in many unexpected places and will get you where you need to be for grad school auditions. By grad school DD had a network of people she could stay with, cutting the expense of auditions considerably.
The harp world is actually fairly small and I would expect your teacher knows some of the teachers at the schools? Can your harp teacher help you connect with the conservatory teachers? I am actually quite surprised to hear they want you to bring your own harp at places you need to fly. The other auditioning harpists will have the exact same issue. You might be able to find a harp to borrow from posting some place like Harp Column online or looking at regional online site of American Harp Society but honestly I think your harp teacher is your best connection and I would expect the schools would let you use their school harps. but you would need to know what kind they are as I know the spacing and pedals can feel a little different company to company. Did you ask admissions people or the harp teacher if you could use one of their harps to audition on?
I totally understand the high cost of this. This year I have one kid auditioning for undergrad and one for grad. school and one of them is a cellist which means buying an airline extra seat. Because they are auditioning at some of the same schools we are going to try to drive when possibly but some of the schools are VERY far away and it will be winter. Plus driving requires more time away from their other obligations. They both have to pass prescreening so the timing of this will be interesting. I thought one kid auditioning was stressful when we did this the first time. Plan is go finish prescreens and applications this week. Stressful time at our house.
Unfortunately, classical music is not exactly the egalitarian thing we would wish, it generally requires resources to get a kid to the point where they can audition for a top level music school. Maybe at some point a kid could go to a public school music program and do well enough with the teaching there to get into a decent program, these days it generally takes private resources to do it (and this varies by instrument and area, voice is going to be different than brass/woodwinds as they are different from violin or piano). If you live in a more rural area it can be hard to find teachers, and it is expensive. I have known families with limited resources who got their kids into high level programs before college and such, but it took a lot of work to get aid, to borrow instruments, etc.
It is also unfair because you have for example, the kids going through state programs in China, where they are identified early and where they are pressured into working long and hard from an early age, there is an advantage. On Violin, there are Korean girls from well off families who are tutored at home, who have lessons 4,5 times a week, and practice from the time they are very young 3,4,5 hours a day and up.
In many ways, it is very elitist, and yes the audition process is also very, very expensive, or can be (we were fortunately, besides being able to afford it, my son only applied to a relatively few programs, and because of where we live only one really involved serious outlay of money). With all this, you can only do what you can do. I understand the frustration and I sympathize, there should be a way for kids with the passion and talent who may not have the family means to be able to follow their dreams, and music schools don’t exactly make it easy, either, with the audition process and with things like financial aid being hard to get if the kid gets in.
Thank you everyone. These have been some great and insightful replies. It’s definitely very frustrating that these schools prefer students of higher social standard but worrying about it is going to get me no where. I’ve decided that if they don’t accept me to the music school but have accepted me in the academic school (I’m double majoring) then I can just go to the school and transfer in the SOM next year when I’m already on campus.
@cellocompmom I have asked my harp teacher and she is going to contact the rice harp professor and ask her about this situation, hopefully it can apply to the other schools. My teacher does know some, but not most of the professors or at least know of them and their style.
I honestly haven’t called and asked about using a campus harp because I set my mind on a recorded audition pretty early in the process. Now when I realized that I should be doing a live and traveling over there I realize I can’t.
What mostly saddens me about this situation is like what @greatchoir says, even by the very slim chance I can get accepted through recorded auditions, they won’t award me scholarships. I could still get the financial aid, but that is never enough. I guess I’m stuck but I want to prove somehow to these schools that I really am serious about them. I’m going to try @Singersmom07’s idea. Anyone know anything else I can do?
If you can afford 2 or 3 trips pick the schools you care about the most and do your live auditions there. I am fairly certain most conservatoires have school harps you can use for your auditions if you make arrangements with harp faculty in advance. If you do use a different harp that make sure you have allowed enough time to get to know the instrument. There are way less harpists auditioning for these spots than violinists and I expect the schools realize not everyone can drive. I know students that have gotten scholarships from regional auditions. Not harpists but several other instrumentalists. Have you looked at regional auditions? I do not think it is true that schools prefer students of higher social standings at all although what Music Print has to say is true. Have you ever been to a summer program where you have already worked with any of these teachers or had a lesson with any of these teachers? If so, that might help.
Because I was curious I went to the Oberlin website and in about 1 minute I saw that you can use a harp at Oberlin to audition on.There was also a lot of other harp specific information. I would guess the this is true for the other schools. I suggest a closer look at the websites.
I posted much earlier that I talked it with my parents and we can’t go AT ALL to ANY school, even one trip is too expensive. For the schools I’m auditioning for, there are no regional auditions in my city or even in my state. I have done a summer program with UM but I did it with a different instrument. UM is not that much of a priority to me right now though.
I’m really hoping that just because I play an instrument that people rarely play could benefit me in terms of the recorded auditions. I know many colleges have a problem where it takes years for even ONE harp student to enroll. My harp teacher has told me that sometimes schools get desperate searching for at least one student. I remember there was this harp student who went to Vanderbilt and everyone was absolutely in shock of there being seven undergrads, it was supposedly miraculous to have so many.
XxMU51CxX, You should know that UMich, Oberlin and Rice are very sought after music schools with great harp teachers and there will be many very qualified harpists applying there. Do not know so much about the other schools for harp and who teaches harp there. Good luck to you.
Maybe not the level of the schools you are considering…but I know of a harpist at Hartt that is there on a full scholarship from a recorded audition. It can happen.
One suggestion I have is that when you apply to the schools, if you submit a recorded audition let the school know why in your application, it may help. It isn’t that schools prefer students from higher economic and social backgrounds, if anything, they do make an effort to get non traditional students, students from non represented minorities like black or hispanic kids, and they do want to try and help those who aren’t as well off. The problem is that the whole way they audition kids and what they are looking for these days has been so heavily skewed towards students that are playing at an entirely high level, that it favors those with the resources to get to that level.
A generation or two ago, it was a bit different, I am pretty certain that kids who had the potential but simply didn’t have the kind of background, could get into the major music schools, but these days that is rare IMO if not impossible. As I have recounted on here, one of my son’s teachers was a casual player in high school, but decided to go to music school and got into one of the top conservatories, today I doubt she could get into a second tier school playing the way she did.
Don’t be so sure that if you audition by video you won’t get in, kids do, and you never know, which is true across the board. If your folks have relatively modest means, then many schools offer non merit financial aid, so that can help, and you never know with merit aid, which in many programs is tied to family income as well. If you absolutely can’t do live or regional auditions, then submit what you have and note why on your application, you may be surprised what comes out of it. Schools aren’t heartless, and there are still people on the other end of that application, the admissions people, the teachers, and you never know what they will see in an applicant. One thing I know for certain, if you don’t apply, you won’t get in:). People do get in with video auditions and you can only do what you can. It is why students apply to schools they think are reaches or next to impossible, my son got into the studio of a teacher he thought was going to be impossible (teacher rarely takes in freshman, mostly takes grad students, and in a given year takes maybe a handful of new students…), if he didn’t bother to apply, wouldn’t have gotten in:).
The other thing is apply to a spread of schools, maybe you won’t get into a U michigan or vanderbilt level, but maybe you could get into another school that has a strong program that isn’t quite as ‘known’ or whatnot. Given that a lot of kids go to grad school, you could go there for a BM then get an MM at a ‘big’ school, and maybe the slightly less known program will jump at you:)
Tenacity, perseverance, networking, an ability to advocate for yourself, an ability to balance dreams with financial realities, an ability to manage scarce resources (time and money), a certain amount of cunning and self-belief when you aren’t at “the” program for school, summer festival etc…are part of the game. You don’t fly around to expensive auditions, go to “the” selective school, sail on through and get hired at your dream orchestra. In most cases no matter what school you attend you’ll get the opportunity to struggle in some way after college.
You are just starting the game and it can be played many ways at many places. The worst thing is to give up or predict your demise before you even try.
You have much good advice here. Now pick up the darn phone and start advocating for yourself. Everyone has to…maybe you just get to learn this lesson a little earlier than others. And ignore your doubts. Everyone has them. They aren’t that interesting. What you’ll learn by talking with the schools and students will be far more interesting and positive (in most cases) than what you worried mind will be busy telling you (and mostly likely far, far more accurate).
Good luck.
So, do you have a budget of any kind for prescreens and auditions? If you have some, one suggestion I’d make is to research professional recording studios in your area for recording your auditions. We used one for prescreens and were really surprised how reasonable their rates are considering all the equipment involved and the quality of the end-product. We live in a college town with a good music school (a good place to look for one), and the studio rates are well under $100 per hour. It took us 4 hours to record 7-8 jazz pieces with a quartet, totally unrehearsed. With just one accompanist and well-rehearsed, I think you could be much more efficient. For instance, they did multiple takes of one song just to get it down under the 4-minute max time stipulated by one of the schools. The audio quality is superb. If I only had a few hundred dollars to put toward the audition process, this would get serious consideration from me.
I definitely feel for you. My son plays the double bass and we are kind of in the same boat that we are only looking at schools we can drive to (partly his preference). Auditions are expensive but having to bring a really large instrument adds to the expense and stress. We are lucky in that there are some good options near us. You might want to look to see if there are other schools that you haven’t thought about that are within a days drive. University of Miami and University of Florida are both good options. You could probably drive to Houston for Rice. Have you considered the University of North Texas? I don’t know about their harp program, but their music program in general is very good. There may be some excellent harp teachers at schools that otherwise are not top tier for music. Also, I agree that paying for a good recording might help.
@swipersmom - I feel the same way. We are forecasting the audition travel plan for double bass, coming out of the midwest. Pre-screen success needed: UNT is on the list. Frost school is on the list. We are thinking of driving. East coast would seem like there must be the right cluster somewhere. A couple Chicago options seem more attractive audition-wise. The travel logisitce are definitely going to shape a few of the selections and the quantity of the selections of schools for auditioning. But, we might pre-screen more than that and see what comes back.
Check out some UNT harp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR-TmkutCzg
@swipersmom and @GoForth, travel with the double bass is a challenge to be sure. To fly with it, you have to buy or rent a flight case. The bass flies as oversized luggage. I cannot say enough about SW airlines in regards to bass travel. They only charge $75 each way for the bass. Other bassists we know say Alaska does the same. Other airlines charge up to $400! Also, the bass cannot fly into smaller airports on the smaller commuter planes.
@momsings and @goforth we haven’t had to fly with the bass yet - but my son took Amtrak with his bass to all-state last week and it went really well. We sent him with an additional ticket (the published Amtrak policy) but the conductor never asked for it and it is fully refundable. It is nice to have an option besides driving 
Hey guys it’s been a long while and let me tell you, it’s been one hell of a learning experience. I feel that after all of this incredible advice and help I should follow up on what has happened. I have learned so much about music schools and college in general in these few short months that have made me mature a bit in dealing with all of this.
My parents and I ended up in the consensus that we could only visit 1 school (outside of my state), since we could only afford 1. I ended up choosing Vanderbilt because I have visited it before, it has stellar academics, they would give me tons of fin aid, and it is the second closest one to my home. I did a recorded audition for 4 out of the 6 music schools I ended up applying to. My audition at Vanderbilt went incredible, I loved the atmosphere and the teacher so much already. Such a bummer she is retiring this year. She was so nice and eccentric, nicest college professor I have ever met! This also creates a problem that even if I get in, absolutely no one knows what to expect of this new teacher. I am still awaiting decisions (they come out tomorrow actually!).
All of my recordings were okay except for my recording to Peabody Conservatory, I was a little iffy with one of the songs. I got rejected by Johns Hopkins itself though recently so even if I did get in for Peabody, there is no hope since I have to be accepted at the actual school AND the music school.
In good news, a while back I was accepted to University of Michigan AND to SMTD. I was so happy and it was my first acceptance. The teacher was incredibly nice to me (at least through email) and I plan to visit soon and actually meet her in person. Michigan is definitely one of my top choices right now, if by some miracle I get a decent merit scholarship it would make the school affordable and definitely attend-able (is this a word?). Considering I applied to this school with a recording, I am extremely lucky and grateful to have my audition taken into account,
I am awaiting decisions for Oberlin (I know I really should not get my hopes up for it), Rice, and official ones for UM (it’s looking good).
In terms of how I did the recordings. Absolutely nothing fancy. Because I have limited means, I could only use my phone’s camera (to be fair, it has a great camera!), a tripod, and my own home. No professional equipment, no fancy backgrounds, no editing stuff, just raw video. I tried to obviously make the best with what I have, I think it worked out very well in the end since I got into SMTD!
Prior to sending these auditions, I did contact the harp teachers at SMTD, Rice, and Peabody about if a recorded audition puts me at a disadvantage and even bringing up the idea of maybe doing a Skype audition. The teachers at Peabody and SMTD were so incredible nice and understanding, words cannot begin to explain. They said that they had no idea what I was talking about and that any teacher who thought otherwise was crazy. They said they understand the financial hardship of having to fly all away across the country several times and that they will take me into account live or not, without viewing me differently. Rice on the other hand, was not so kind. I am not going to name names but a certain person at the admissions department for Shepherd school of music replied to me extremely rude and condescendingly stating that I could not possibly be a serious applicant if I did not go and since her son went to the school to audition I should be able to as well. The content was much more rude than the summary I gave here and bottom-line, I do not want to go to Rice anymore because if this is the person who reviews my application, I am done for. Even if I get in, I would not want to surround myself with such elitist and rude adults.
Through this experience, I have met many awesome people and can put this down as one of the most arduous plights of my life. I made some of the most difficult choices of my life along the way as well and I feel like in general this has been positive. I hope that more good news will follow in the next few days. Thank you all so much for your kind-hearted answers and advice, you have no idea how much it has helped me out in this process. Without a thread like this or the musicians I have met on the way, I would still be completely lost. Once again, thank you.