@SpartanDrew, congratulations to you and your D! Haven’t contributed to this thread previously but love hearing your and everyone else’s stories. By any chance is your D going to hear Carmen Lundy at the Jazz Standard tonight? It’s probably my favorite jazz venue in the city - great food and drink, good space and acoustics - and Carmen is an amazing singer (and one of my son’s friends plays in her group).
@jazzpianodad where is the Jazz Standard? D and Melodyminor’s D are planning on hitting Smalls but I’ll mention the Jazz Standard to them as well.
Jazz Standard is on East 27th between Park and Lexington. Small’s is cool too - definitely great jazz vibe - but it’s a bit more cramped and they don’t have food (maybe just some snacks). There are a couple of good groups playing there as well (too bad the timing didn’t work out, as my son’s playing at Small’s next week). But given that your D is a singer, thought she might be interested in seeing Carmen.
We went to Birdland last night and saw Tierney Sutton who was great. Her band was amazing. Interesting story on that. Indiana has her out there as their new jazz voice faculty. Makes it sound really impressive. So I mentioned it to her when I spoke to her last night and said what a great grab for Indiana. She seemed really ambivalent and said she’s hardly ever there since she is touring so much. Huh. I thought that was interesting. Especially of someone thinks they are going to study with her and chooses IU based on that and then finds out she’s not ever there. I imagine that happens at a lot of different schools but something to keep in mind as the kids make their decisions.
Should probably also say that if she is interested in the Jazz Standard, she should call ahead for reservations. They do sometimes sell out, particularly for the 7:30 set (there’s also a 9:30 set which I expect would not be sold out). I wouldn’t want to send her there only to have her be turned away. Smalls doesn’t take reservations, so you just show up there.
@vistajay and @SpartanDrew I know a little about the scholarship situation at Frost as my son that graduated from there last year was a recipient. The Stamps ensembles are a total full ride (tuition and room and board) but the avaiabliity based on “instrument” varies each year (it’s a 2-4 year cycle). I checked and my daughter will be out of luck for consideration this year as there is not a clarinet opening for that until the following year. But each department (woodwind, brass, vocal etc etc) gets to give a full tuition scholarship and that is fought for between the different profs. That’s what my son was lucky enough to get. They are also generous with other scholarships
And an update on our “do we go to FSU” audition. We just returned from her audition today. Ironically her worst audition (but still pretty darn good). But as I told her, if you were going to have a slightly off day, better a school you are less keen on!! Next week is her last (Oberlin). Then we can both crash
That’s awesome @NYsaxmom! D and I are back at our VRBO apartment after hanging out with @Melodyminor and her D for a celebratory dinner tonight in West Village. We had a great time. We have been friends for the past year traveling this journey together. It’s so wonderful all of the friends I have made as a result of this site. This is a crazy process and can feel very isolating for parents, and kids, in the music world that don’t come from a PA school or are alone in this journey. It’s so nice to have others that get it and can cheer each other on and commiserate as well.
So…THATS A WRAP!!! We head to the airport tomorrow and head home and I can’t wait. D actually is capping her audition streak off with one more trip next weekend to Memphis to reunite with her Grammy camp band to record some new originals in the studio with them. She is so excited to see them and make some great music. God help us with her French and math classes though. The amount of school missed is no joke and she will miss another entire week in April for YoungArts. Yikes. Oh well…it will all work out.
Best of luck to all that still have auditions left and for those parents reading this that have kids going through this next year. It will all be OK! Don’t panic! Just stock up the wine fridge…it’s gonna be a long bumpy ride.
Wow! It feels great to be finished. @oboemom65 Always better to have two great options! @SpartanDrew I couldn’t agree more. It is a strange, anxiety producing journey, but the rewards are great.
D finished her audition schedule with Long Beach today. While I don’t think it is a music safety for anyone, they were explicit that music has pull in the admissions even if you are under the gpa/test score cutoffs. So for California residents with spotty academics, this might be a place to consider. The day was well organized, there were a lot of music students who helped out, and the orientation to the school was done well.
The audition went well “lovely voice” until she had to sight read. All down hill from there. Apparently, it ended awkwardly with the panel looking down and writing while my D tried to figure out if she was supposed to leave the room or not. Her comment to me was “I’ve never been to an audition where they didn’t thank me for singing or auditioning.” Apparently, there was no closing conversation at all. Just “we’re done now” or something to that effect. Whatever momentum may have been built up prior to the audition for CSULB, was lost after that.
However, it is all good. After 8 in-person auditions and 2 video auditions, I have a pretty good idea of where she wants to go and what she is looking for. Now I guess we wait until it is all sorted out.
I don’t understand the whole “can’t offer scholarship to someone else if you turn it down” thing either.
I agree with bridgenail above that departmental scholarships like the ones mentioned above, especially at large public universities, probably account for expected yield across the entire school of music. If every single applicant who was offered a departmental scholarship accepted it, they probably couldn’t afford it and would be way over budget. Since only top applicants are offered scholarships, these are often kids who have many offers including some at very prestigious programs and the money is meant to attract that level of musician. They know that every year a healthy percentage of those kids will go elsewhere, so the school can afford the ones that do accept the scholarships and who will bring a high level of talent to the program. Applicants ranked a little lower on the list in each department are likely to be more “typical” students at that school and are much more likely to attend the school anyway so the school as a whole doesn’t need or want (or can’t afford) to spend the money to attract them.
So glad to read that so many of you are done (or nearly) done with the audition circuit. My daughter is a Junior but many of her friends are done (or nearly done) as well. She knows of one bassist that got a nod from NEC already (informally) but the bassist is seriously talented - and I’m sure one of the top contenders on the audition circuit (glad that our daughter won’t be up against him next year 
He has won every award known to man - auditioning for both classical and jazz. His father has been incredibly helpful in answering (plus more) my questions.
I had anxiety about the whole process of next year - but reading this thread has made it so much less mysterious and anxiety ridden.
Related to the money questions above: I know that this is a basic question - but why do schools offer music scholarships in the first place? Is it that they want to improve the reputation of their program to attract more top students in the future? It would seem, though, that it would take a long time to raise the reputation of a school, would it not? It’s much easier to understand why colleges offer athletic scholarship - a winning team get alumni excited about their school’s success leading them to contribute to their alma mater…but it’s harder for me to follow the money trail with music - since many fewer musicians would have less visible success (vs. a football player getting recruited into the pros).
I’m happy to report that our daughter is finally dropping classical (for the time being anyway) - she was burning the candle at both ends, straining her shoulder with bowing (must be a posture issue that we tried to solve for the last 2 years). As she puts it - she would have continued to strain her shoulder and tried to get through the pain if she truly loved it - but jazz is her love now - likely always was - but after moving to LA she now has good jazz instruction that has fueled her passion. Having said that - she was asked to play and do a West Coast tour with a rock band (playing both upright and electric). I’m a bit concerned that she’s heading toward another “spreading herself too thin” - but I think that taking the glamour out of the idea of touring is likely a good thing (poor thing asked me if she would be flying with her bass - and I had to break the news to her that she will be traveling in a van and will likely be coach surfing The musicians in the band are very good and play some very complex music - and I even like their music which is a plus. (they play psychelic rock). Although I’m a novice at the college application thing - I would think that some schools would like it that she’s not afraid to try out different genres - collaborating and composing?? I had one music parent tell me that at this point she should only be focused on her audition pre-screens for next year - but my gut tells me otherwise. Thoughts?
I’m sure I’ll be full of more questions over the next month - hopefully enough for you all to take your minds off the stress of waiting for results.
What do you mean by “composing?”
Is it possible that your daughter will not want to go to school at all, since she is already touring? I wonder if parents run into that in the jazz or popular/contemporary fields.
@tripletmama I would absolutely reach out to @GoForth. He will have a lot of very useful and helpful perspective.
We are HOME SWEET HOME and it feels great. To me anyway. D is sad and loved the constant action, travel and excitement of auditions. High school can’t end quickly enough for her so she can get out there and start collaborating with some of these fabulous musicians she met on her travels. She has a renewed excitement for writing new music which is great as well. I can’t wait to hear what she and her GC band put together this coming weekend in the studio.
Dear doggie is doing so much better and we are so happy to have some downtime at home to decompress. I feel like the next several weeks waiting for results won’t even be so bad. Well remind me I said that in a week when I am being impatient! Haha!
Glad your pup is recovering well, @SpartanDrew . Enjoy the time off the road and congrats on getting through audition season unscathed! Can’t wait to hear about your talented D’s choices in a month.
We are now officially retired from the college audition track as well. S18 likes his options so far and so decided to cancel his ASU audition and to cancel the scholarship audition and weekend at Trinity-TX. Predictably, he stayed up too late this weekend, did not perform great at a musical theatre audition Saturday due to lack of sleep, and this morning complained of an oncoming cold. Oh well, at least we got him through college auditions healthy!
@tripletmama I think schools offer music scholarships for several reasons, but primarily to attract high level talent for the purposes of a) filling ensembles and roles with great musicians in the immediate and b) to have an excellent alumni pool. How did all of us help our kids find excellent programs to shoot for? Reputation! Excellent teachers want excellent students with big career potential. High level students want to work with other super talented young adults! Programs want graduates representing their college in a stellar way; every Graduate is representing the institution! It’s definitely a long game, in comparison to athletics, but most of these programs have been around a LONG time (and will continue to be)…think 100 plus years! Also, it doesn’t hurt if you can eventually produce some stars to come back and give masterclasses and endow scholarships! And full pay families want to feel there is a value for what they are paying for, which is always trickier in a field filled with intangibles; highly competitive current students and famous alumni provide this “proof”.
@compmom There is no way that I’ll let our daughter forego further quality training to tour with a rock band. If it was someone who was currently top of the charts - maybe. But not one that is performing in bars (I haven’t seen their tour list yet but that’s my assumption). I view it as a way for her to earn some money for lessons/instruments, etc. without working in a restaurant (although I suspect that they make more in a restaurant when you take into consideration the hours of rehearsals etc.). I also view it as a way for her to work on composing (which she only just started). The rub will be if she snags one of the Berklee scholarships for this summer. If that happens, she is going to be torn, for sure.
@SpartanDrew Glad to hear that you are back at home with the pups. Now the dreaded wait begins. What can you two do to distract yourself? I don’t think I’ve ever been as stressed as I was last summer when our son had a 5 week audition (OMG) - they graded him in every ballet class and it was a program that he desperately wanted. To make matters worse - it was a rolling admit thing - so dancers were being asked to stay after Week 2. Our son was asked at the end of Week 4 and by that time he was a blithering mess and had resigned himself to not going. I don’t drink that much but I probably should have! Does your daughter have a clear top choice? I would imagine you both probably try not to have a clear choice in case the money doesn’t follow…
@dramasopranomom Thanks for answering my question about scholarships. As part of all your research (any others on the audition trail) - is it possible to find out how many and rough approx amount that the school’s tend to offer so that you at least know the odds? Or is it a mystery until you get the letter/email?
@dramasopranomom , in our experience if you go to a sample lesson and chat with a teacher, they will tell you the scholarship amount range though you may not get “odds” out of them. Also, if the music school has a dedicated admissions rep they will tell you sometimes. We found that general admissions personnel with the university (where the music school was part of a larger university) were tighter lipped. Don’t be afraid to ask.
@SpartanDrew glad the pup is on the mend!
We got first bad news today. Rejection from Michigan 
It was her reach school and she knew there was a small chance of admission and an even smaller chance of going there (she would need a large scholarship) but it still yucky.
Now we wait for scholarship letters from the three acceptances to see where she’ll land next year.
My D referred to Juilliard as J-tard when she didn’t even pass their pre-screen. You can’t win them all. Most students get rejections and if they don’t get them for undergrad I can guarantee they’ll get them later. No big deal in the long run. She’s had a successful audition circuit. Chin up.