My son is a jazz guitarist with auditions coming up at Eastman, Oberlin, NEC etc. Apparently, his New Years resolution is to grow a beard - a pretty scraggly one so far. Any opinions? He’s not opposed to shaving if it might make a better impression but he thinks it’s completely unimportant. Is it?!
Haha. Two of my son’s cello friends did the same thing. One is in music school with a good scholarship and the other is applying this year so I’m sure he is fine. I don’t get it. Of course, my son is growing out his “musician solo hair”. It is really moldable and he can swish it up and back.
Have you looked around any college campus lately? Scraggly beards seem to be issued with acceptances. I wouldn’t worry about it in the least!
For the record, I like beards. Somehow, this one makes my son look both more ordinary and less eager - not necessarily the vibe you want to give off in an audition. But maybe I’ll just start focusing on my own resolutions!
Scraggly beards and man-buns seem to be the trend. Be happy for the scraggly beard! 
Hah, we’ve got both man buns and scraggly beards here.
Ok. What’s a man bun? Also, I don’t think having a scraggly beard has any bearing on auditions. They’re musicians and kids!
My son is a sophomore at Eastman. Beards, scraggly ones at that, are the norm there. I wouldn’t worry, the professors see it all day long.
Ha! Such a funny thing. DS went back and forth with the scraggy beard until he decided that his “bromance” friend group thought beards were way cooler than girls did. Teenage guys admire you just for the ability to grow one 
My son still has peach fuzz. I’m sure once he gets facial hair, he will be sporting a scraggly beard too…eew.
S was sporting mutton chops for a couple of months. He shaved them off because he said they were pokey when he slept with his face against his pillow.
A man-bun is where a guy puts his long hair up with a rubber band in a sloppy bun at the back of his head, like a ballet-dancer’s bun, only more messy. 
Ah well…we love them even if they don’t take style tips from us…
My concern is just the opposite. Son has had long hair since 8th grade and a growing collection of scraggly facial growth in recent years. He wanted to appear more respectable and taken seriously (also, hair was beginning to get caught in upright bass strings)…cut the hair to a standard man’s haircut and shaved.
He looks way too “normal”…almost nerdy. Auditions begin this weekend, so hoping his playing will be all they care about!
Nerdy is ok, too!
If a school is picking their music students based on their facial hair–then that is a school to avoid. 
I wouldn’t worry too much about that, besides the fact that it could be those listening to it are even ‘less shorn’, I doubt very much what you are wearing or how you present would do much in terms of the audition, it is going to be mostly done on playing ability. Put it this way, a kid in jeans and a sweatshirt who played well would get admitted to the kid who came in a three piece suit and played like a robot:). People ask this all the time, and I tell people to dress neatly, but that this is not a job interview with a Wall Street investment bank.
Beards at NEC are in. My son and all his friends suddenly all have beards. A few years ago none of them did. I just don’t get it. But for some odd reason it is totally trendy right now. So your son is just following the meme. He will totally blend in, in Boston where I am now seeing any guy who can grow a beard with a beard. I have this weird feeling it is the Game of Thrones effect. Somehow these kids all want to look like one of the handsome Stark boys.
Ha! Game of Thrones beards!!