<p>A note for vocalists. If you can spread the auditions out, get a few in early and one late, it may help when (not if) you get the inevitable cold, flu or strep throat. DD had one audition right after a bout with strep throat and one at the end of a cold. The one at the end of strep throat had her only do a very small part of the audition. She was still admitted. She traveled with her CD so that she could bow out if needed. The stress and travel seem to hit most of the singers pretty hard. (Also a good time to resurrect the threads about vocal health :))</p>
<p>Yes, my son is a singer (a senior), and we already had our disease trauma for the year -- he was singing two Vaughan Williams songs at two school music performance and also was planning to do a recital of five Italian pieces he was working on. He was clearly not feeling well or getting sick. He tried the Vaughan Williams at performance number one and it was not up to his high standards (and I could tell it was definitely not right, although many people thought it was fine). So, he cancelled the recital and second round of Vaughan Williams. The bug hung on for quite a while and it started to threaten his screening CD. His voice teacher (who is also a doctor!) ordered him to the doctor and he got a diagnosis of bronchitis and a prescription for antibiotics. Fortunately, he has gotten much better and the screening CD went very well. The other thing we did was to be sure he has a humidifier working away as the air gets drier in New England in the late fall and winter.</p>
<p>As a result of all this, I think we are going to try to give ourselves some time and try to relax on the trips for the auditions (and avoid airplanes that are hosts to all sorts of bugs and full of dry air!).</p>
<p>I am doing 6 as well.
I had seven but we had a problem with the DVD.
Is everyone as anxious as I am!?
I still need to finish the online apps. but once everything is done... phew.
I'm doing 3 in state that do not require CDs and 3 that do.</p>
<p>A little off topic, but having just paid considerable money to fly to a 20 minute audition, how do families afford to do these many auditions? Between flights, hotel to arrive the night before, food etc., it seems sad that so many families might not even be able to afford the audition process, let alone the school!</p>
<p>We were fortunate that all of my D's auditions were within driving distance and one was so close, we didn't have to spend the night. I used both Priceline and Hotwire to save on hotel stays - there are websites to help you figure out which hotels are which on Priceline so there was less guesswork. We found there to be a wealth of good vocal programs throughout the country, so while everyone may not be able to travel to the East Coast for the top conservatories, there are excellent state and regional schools. The good (and bad) thing about vocal performance is that a graduate program is more important than the undergrad so those who can't afford auditions at the top schools can do as well in the long run as those who can afford them. The bad part is that this only delays the process so funds will still need to be available for grad school auditions.</p>
<p>My D has applied to 5. She's doing her first audition on Dec 5 at WCC where she applied EA. The others depend on who wants to hear her. She has a couple of "if-all-else-fails" schools but it's still hectic right now with no feedback yet.</p>
<p>All her schools are in drivable distances but, since we live in the Philly area, we're mulling whether to drive, take Amtrak, or fly Southwest if she gets invited to audition in Boston. I-95 is a pain from NYC to the Rhode Island state line.</p>
<p>D, who is traveling coast to coast for her graduate auditions, is getting my 150,000 frequent flyer miles that I have been hoarding since we spent them on her freshman auditions. She will be traveling solo, and is staying on the couches of vocalists and musicians she has met at a YAP that she attended, as well as the couches of the friends of her teachers. This audition tour will be a lot cheaper than the first, when I was "allowed" to tag along.</p>
<p>Though my Boston and Providence-located sons took the train this vacation, they also have the option to take the Peter Pan or Chinatown bus service to New York City at a huge savings. 25 dollars Boston to New York as opposed to 150 dollars on the train when we wait too long and get stuck with business class. The bus can be grueling on a holiday weekend--but, the savings in cost is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Jazzzmomm, there's also the new Megabus service in the east through New York and in the Midwest. They feature point-to-point service between cities for a very good price. Check out megabus.com</a> - low cost, daily, express bus service in the US</p>
<p>Thanks for the info don!</p>
<p>My only issue is booking plane tickets to some of the schools that I hope to get auditions at. Living in northern New England is not exactly easy to fly from in the dead of winter...I just hope these vocal pre-screens are announced ASAP. </p>
<p>Anybody have experience with schools possibly changing your audition date, due to weather?</p>
<p>They very rarely cancel for weather (see the thread on Oberlin's blizzard weekend auditions last year which were not cancelled!). It is a good idea to fly early in the day before your audition. This allows plenty of time for you to both be delayed and also to then settle down again once there.</p>
<p>Prescreening results should generally be in by the end of December. Some will come almost right away. One exception last year was IU (don't know if you're applying there). They were very slow about it and basically they sent out prescreening results for each audition date sometimes as late as a week before the audition. If you are applying there, PM me and I'll share some advice about that.</p>
<p>I think its a matter of what kind of person you are...My son knew he wanted to go to Oberlin since he was a freshman in HS....It was the only school he intended to apply to!! We had to insist he at least apply to a second school, so if he didn't get into Oberlin he would have another option. So his second choice was Eastman School of Music. He auditioned on a Friday at Eastman and was offered a scholarship at the audition!! He was still dead set on Oberlin. That audition was the following morning at 9:30 am in Oberlin...we had to make the drive from Rochester to Oberlin on Friday night....UGH!! Those were the days!! Well, luckily for him he was also accepted at Oberlin..where he's spent a very happy 3 1/2 yrs!! He's now in the process of sending out his audition cd's to different grad schools...this time, he has a much broader list. Money is a bigger issue for him this time, because we aren't paying anymore, though he did get a nice scholarship and award from Oberlin. I think at this point, he is very well educated in the direction he needs to go, and knows much better then we do, what is best for him. Thanks to the very intense education he's gotten as an undergrad. We will help him of course..but he'll need to take out loans. Somehow it all works out. I think most of the kids somehow find the perfect school for them. It seems like thats how its been for my son and his friends.</p>
<p>Good luck to all you kids waiting right now to hear from the schools of your choice!!!</p>
<p>One down! My D auditioned at WCC on Friday. I was unable to attend but my wife said the admissions folks said it was the largest group of auditioners they'd ever had. </p>
<p>The kid was a bit surprised by the interview she had prior to singing but felt like she didn't fumble on that part and was happy with her singing. We'll let you know how WCC liked it.</p>
<p>My daughter is having a hard time scheduling auditions, competitions and performances. She managed to get in one early audition in December, then all the rest of them are January & February. She has either an audition, competition or performance every single weekend of Jan. & Feb.. She's even flying to Iowa and then Connecticut both in one weekend for 2 college auditions. In the months of Jan & Feb, she will only get in 3 college auditions. Most colleges says scholarship auditions have to be done by the end of February. She wants to get in at least 1 or 2 more auditions, but has run out of calendar, for scholarship purposes. Has anyone else had/have this problem? Has anyone tried (and had success) contacting schools and asking for a special weekday audition? </p>
<p>This schedule will only give her 4 college auditions. She's a first soprano, so she probably needs 6 or 7 schools, just to insure she gets into a least one. She's applying to schools that are only taking 3 - 7 sopranos each year. Yikes!! Anyone else feeling the "soprano pinch"? Sometimes I wish she was an alto....</p>
<p>I would think she would want a couple more auditions too. What are the performances and competitions - can she get out of those? My daughter had 6 auditions - one in November and the rest in January and February, and even without any other performances or competitions, it was a tough schedule. Her school declined the invitation to go further in all state chorus comps since the kids were so involved in auditions. We were very grateful for that.</p>
<p>DD declined participation in the district chorus and all state chorus since auditions conflicted with college auditions. Her chorus director was furious since her reputation was on how many she could get into those choruses. Tough - DD did 7 college auditions. </p>
<p>One of the colleges did allow the competition audition to count for the college one since the competition was held on campus and the professors were the judges. You could check if you are doing the Classical Singer one many of schools will work around it that way.</p>
<p>Classical Singer is one of the competitions, and there should be some college exposure and scholarship opportunities there. Another competition is a scholarship competition.</p>
<p>If you surely feel she is strong enough to win a scholarship in the competitions then she is probably strong enough to get into one of six selective schools. Just came back from D's graduation (yeah!) but several years ago, her teacher told her to drop ALL competitions during her audition semester and I think it was very good advise.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Classical Singer is better for Juniors than Seniors. By the time they make any decision at the end of May you are already done with decisions as a Senior. I am not sure how much good the college scholarships would do. Maybe someone who did well in that one could advise.</p>
<p>From their FAQ:
Scholarships are given completely at the discretion of the school offering it. The majority of the scholarships will go to juniors or sophomores since schools are not allowed to offer scholarships to seniors after May 1.</p>