<p>Momzie, I must take issue with your “unfairness” of having an only child. Not all only children are a choice. I would gladly split my time and money between my two daughters. However, only one is living. How is that for fair?</p>
<p>Our daughter had her first (piano) audition this morning at NEC. All went smoothly and on time. She was very happy with her audition. Thanks be to God! Her first and second choice teachers were there and the first choice teacher greeted her and thanked her. One down, four to go!</p>
<p>Now, the next hurdle is to get out of Boston later this afternoon and fly to Rochester for her Eastman audition tomorrow! So far, the flight is still scheduled, thankfully!!! ;-)) </p>
<p>And pray the weather holds for the 3rd stop… with a 4.5 hour drive from Rochester to Cleveland Fri night or Sat. morning!</p>
<p>Best wishes to you all and safe travels!!! God bless!</p>
<p>Scubachick: I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m not implying that parents of onlies are gaming the system. I’m just observing the fact that in the circles I travel in (fellow academics, mostly), I know a lot of two career academic families with only one child who have A LOT of resources and time – one child has an obscure sport that takes her all over the country, etc. Their lives are just different from ours – and there were a lot of them at the auditions we were at.</p>
<p>Momzie, I think and hope that the schools are looking for talent, teachability, and potential. My daughter is from a public school and has only been taking lessons for two and a half years but she passed the pre-screens just like the kids with connections and musical parents (I can’t read a note) and three voice teachers and vocal coaches etc. You get the picture. She’s going into these auditions, Oberlin included, and doing her best and I think and hope the faculty hears her talent, teachablily and potential. Tell your son to go get it!</p>
<p>Well, flights cancelled, inc ours to Rochester! Can’t get to Eastman until tomorrow night at the earliest 7:30pm. Her audition was tomorrow. All flights are now full for tomorrow. Husband talking with Eastman now. They are very nice and have a lot of students in the same situation. Will see what happens.</p>
<p>Momzie, I feel your frustration. I’ve been to competitions many times and experienced the same each time. S is a pianist. In piano, OMG, the level of performance of kids from China and Korea is just incredible. One year I was with S at a comp in NYC and we struggled to get him there because it was the final exam week in his public school so I had to plead with the principal … The young girl played after my S flew in from Beijing, her teacher came with her, and coached her until the second that she went in. Her performance was so beautiful, much better technique, polished, details, mature, etc… I learned from her mom that she doesn’t go to regular school, practice 8+ hours a day, had 4 piano concertos at her finger tip at the age of 13, etc. etc. I wonder, do we even belong to this group? Fortunately S has been able to hang in there.</p>
<p>The kids we know in our area who do go on to the top conservatories are mostly home schooled. </p>
<p>My D plays the flute and we have started to see the similar competition. </p>
<p>Both kids’ teachers have said over the years that in order to be a better musician, do it whole-heartedly, and leave no back-up plans. Judging from the level of talent pool that we have experienced, I am not so sure. </p>
<p>Wow. These last few posts have me down. We leave this afternoon to pick up S and head for Chicago (Depaul), then Cleveland (CIM), then Ann Arbor (U of Mich) for grad auditions. He did SFCM a couple weeks ago. He’s worked very hard, has talent, wants to be in music, but certainly doesn’t fit the profile of the students that are filling the top schools, based on posts above. I guess he’ll have a better idea of the scene after this week. Strange business, this: dire news on a daily basis regarding classical music’s future, and yet it appears the numbers of students pursuing careers is growing and growing. What’s going on?</p>
<p>I just want to add that while DD plays a less common instrument, she is was a regular public school kid, with a strenuous academic schedule. No homeschooling and she almost never practiced more than an hour a day. She got into every school and conservatory she auditioned at, so do not lose hope! She too said if she did not get into a top program, she was going in another direction, and we had no expectation that she would do as well as she did. I wish you all the best! I remember auditions last year, and it was really stressful for the whole family, and the weather was not nearly as bad. Hang in there everybody!</p>
<p>Another reality check: D3 (clearly not an only child!) was not homeschooled and only got serious about music during high school. She did NOT get into every school and conservatory she auditioned at. But she did get into enough programs to be able to make a choice based on the best fit for her and to receive merit money. It’s pretty clear that she’s not going to be the next international star soloist and there are tons of folks - many posters here or their kids - who are “better” than she is. But she’s hoping to make a career in music anyway, somehow, because she loves it.</p>
<p>There is an old saying that if everyone hung out their troubles on a line to dry you would turn around and take your own. Lots of kids don’t have perfect childhoods. Some have parents who are distracted and financially strained because of another sibling who needs their time and money (that was us btw). Others have job-loss, illness, etc etc……The child whose parents gave them every opportunity and made their life leading up to their college audition perfectly smooth and whose parents helped set the stage for their child’s success, might not have the resilience and the sticking power to prevail. </p>
<p>A child who has struggled to get to lessons, find the resources to pay for those lessons and worked hard on their own motivation to prepare and do an audition is going to value where ever they end up in school. They are going to work hard and not waste the opportunity they have been given. They will also have life experience and emotional wells to dip into when they need to be creative and generate something. I used to remind all three of my kids when they were applying for college: College is not an end point. You are playing the LONG game not the short game. </p>
<p>BTW, Olympic Skier Ted LIgety was not a prodigy and was far behind many of his peers even in college when it came to skiing. Now look where he is
<a href=“Told to Be ‘Realistic,’ Ted Ligety Defied His Doubters - The New York Times”>Told to Be ‘Realistic,’ Ted Ligety Defied His Doubters - The New York Times;
<p>I did call Eastman today about our cancelled flights. They were super nice. They said that they’ve had lots of similar calls with plane cancellations for the 2/14 auditions. They said that the piano audition coordinator will notify us early next week about alternatives. I wonder if they will hold regional auditions or have new dates. </p>
<p>Eastman must’ve had many cancellations for tomorrow. When my husband spoke with them earlier today thinking daughter couldn’t get there for tomorrow (cancelled flights) , he was told if you don’t make it, you will have to send in an audition DVD as both the other audition dates were full. So maybe they are now reconsidering ? That would only be fair.
Thankfully and by a miracle, my husband managed to get our daughter to Rochester late tonight by taking one of the few flights out of Boston (after the NEC audition today) to Buffalo, where they drove through the snow to get to Rochester. Loooong day!!! But they are thankful to be there.
Hope everything works out for everyone! It is a tough situation.</p>
<p>Gald to hear MuzikaMom. I was a mean mom and did not want to go to Eastman having lived in upstate NY at one point in my life. Fortunately my son had a good friend who was also auditioning and the father drove them both. The ride to Rochester was fine but the ride home was harrowing. </p>
<p>Very happy to hear that everyone is safe and that schools are trying to work with families. Sometimes things are just not not within our control and the weather has not been cooperative this season.
For those auditioning at CIM this weekend, Saturday’s weather is going to be very cold (high in the teens), but mostly clear. Snow showers on Sunday of 3-6’. There is a lot of snow on the ground now and sidewalks and streets are snow covered- be alert for black ice (trust me on this one!).
Travel safely and best of luck to everyone!</p>
<p>We were among the lucky Eastman auditioners, coming from the midwest instead of the east. Auditions went smoothly: morning convocation with an amazing wind quintet performance, audition, short instrument meeting and group interview. Not a lot for parents to do and, sadly, no doughnuts or coffee! One down, three to go!</p>
<p>Prospies at Oberlin this weekend were treated to a Marilyn Horne masterclass this evening. Watched it live streaming. There will be another one on Sunday afternoon if you are interested. There are a full contingent of auditioners for tomorrow.</p>
<p>Hello! 
I landed in Pittsburgh yesterday early evening (my dad switched me from a Thursday flight to a Friday flight, being paranoid but nice haha). Audition is tomorrow at 11:15 am! I visited Carnegie back in October and had a lesson with the viola professor here, and we definitely clicked, and he offered me a lesson when I’m back up here. Unfortunately, his studio is being used today for precollege auditions, so he said we’ll chat about having a lesson after my audition at my audition. I hope we get to have a lesson, it makes me feel so happy being here.</p>
<p>On a random side note, I remember my private teacher always telling me I should feel some excitement before an audition, because I’ll have worked hard and prepared and now I’ll be able to let people hear me. For the first time, I’m feeling excitement instead of nerves. I guess this is the first time I truly feel prepared for an audition. It’s really exciting, knowing this could be the start for me at Carnegie. Hopefully I’ll be accepted to music and computer science here. Fingers crossed!</p>
<p><a href=“Time since Apr 1, 2014 8:00 am started in Huntsville”>Time since Apr 1, 2014 8:00 am started in Huntsville;
Foe everybody waiting on the April 1 notifications :)</p>
<p>This is hilarious Scubachick! Tx. </p>
<p>Just got back from CCM. We drove down there from Chicago Friday. What a nightmare! Our 4.5 hour drive turned into 8 hours. Literally through a storm. Found out the school had closed early on Friday due to the weather. Cars and trucks turned over and skidded off the road everywhere. The ride home was much better. lol</p>
<p>Unfortunately my daughter’s throat started hurting Friday morning. We did all we could to try to sooth it and one of the panel asked her if she was sick. But she did what she could and afterward asked her if she had taken theory, how long she had studied and if she had applied elsewhere. This was their last audition weekend. But no fanfare just meetings on financial aid and another to introduce the faculty. There were only five auditioning for undergrad and an overwhelming number auditioning for graduate school. I don’t know how I feel about that really. But anyway the decisions will be available this Friday.</p>