<p>I am thinking ahead. I saw the post about females and singers but what should a male cellist wear who is also having composition interviews likely on same day? A suit? A nice shirt and tie? A sports coat? He also needs to be able to move to play the cello in. Thanks.</p>
<p>Many of the young men we saw were wearing dress pants/khakis with a button down collar shirt with or without a tie. Several went for the black/black combo.</p>
<p>Also, this past season many of the male instrumentalists went with colored long sleeve shirts with or without a tie and dark slacks. There were also several in suits. Son was told to wear a suit into the audition, shake hands then remove the jacket before playing. It worked well for him since he didn’t worry about a winter coat if he needed to go to a different building on audition day. (At one school, he went to 3 different buildings for auditions, tests and interview all on the same day.)</p>
<p>I agree with MomofBassist. Suit/Sports coat is always a good idea for classical music auditions.</p>
<p>My two cents. No one will penalize you for being nicely dressed. You may be penalized for being underdressed.</p>
<p>Just as a note - my son was severely underdressed for one of his auditions - it didn’t occur to us that it wasn’t just like an audition for one of his youth orchestras or meeting with his composition professors and we were more concerned about the winter weather than fashion. (I was mortified when I saw what everyone else was wearing, but my son couldn’t have cared less.) The professors did ask him (in a kindly tone - as if to make him feel comfortable about his faux pas) about the graphic on his t-shirt. He was accepted nonetheless - and he certainly stood out from the crowd.</p>
<p>DS wore slacks or khakis and a sport coat. If he stood for the audition he kept the jacket on, if he sat he took it off and hung it behind the seat.</p>
<p>I must say, these young men who can juggle an instrument, music, and paperwork for the committee while suavely taking off their suitcoats would impress me before they even started to play - I’d be dropping things all over the place! :)</p>
<p>Don’t forget, the “staff” was outside holding everything else!</p>
<p>My son is a cellist. He has always worn black pants and a nice black shirt - no tie, no jacket. He hates wearing a jacket when he plays and avoids it when he can. If your son wants to add a tie, that would be fine, but I would skip the jacket.</p>
<p>My son is a violinist and he wore dress pants and a dress shirt (blue or green; no tie because it interferes with the violin) at Juilliard, CIM, Rice etc. and was accepted at all. Jackets/suits were a minority among instrumentalists (but majority amongst vocalists who usually are more appearance-concerned for auditions and performances).</p>
<p>D had male friend who went to first vocal performance college audition in traditional navy jacket and khaki pants and was told he was inappropriately dressed - that the appropriate dress for a male vocalist was a suit.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Very interesting the answers are full of variety. We spend our Sat. mornings at a college music school and over the years we have noticed a wide variety of dress amongst the young men on audition days and this is why I asked the question. Wonder if this kid who is hard to talk into a hair cut will go willingly for audition time.</p>
<p>I would forgo the haircut - just make sure it’s clean. My feeling is that at an audition your son will want to present to them a true picture of who he is - because that is the person they will be working intimately with for the next four years. You want to be sure they like the real him - not one disguised in some way for the occasion. If they need him to be someone he isn’t - it’s the wrong school for him.</p>
<p>Sprit Manager-I love what you just wrote. I will remember that.
I also want to thank you for the information you gave us earlier in year about Bard. We went and looked at the school and really liked it but there is no way you can double major in music there and that is really what my son wants. Too bad. I can see him there. But I think we found other good fits. I cannot believe how much we learned in a year of doing this. Thanks to you all.</p>
<p>The few on this board who have seen my son are smiling at the idea of needing a haircut to audition… :)</p>
<p>Agmom - It seems to be generally true that vocalists dress up more for auditions than instrumentalists. That’s probably why your friend’s son got the feedback he did.</p>
<p>I also have to comment on this thread simply because it was a question of what to wear that brought me initially to CC so many years ago. (The date under my name is simply when the “new” CC board opened. I was here before that!)</p>
<p>My cellist son had his hair in a ponytail for all of his auditions. Maybe they have that in common, Binx?</p>
<p>The perception that vocalists dress differently than instrumentalists is correct. A dark suit, with a tie, is the usual attire for the young men, while the young women wear a nice dress (NOT floor length!) or suit. Pants are acceptable for a mezzo auditioning with strict mezzo rep and that would be more likely to be seen at the grad school audition level. For singers, I would definitely suggest a haircut for the guys!</p>
<p><em>thread drift</em> Shennie - he wasn’t wearing a ponytail then - just long, thick, and loose. Last summer was the first time I ever saw him in a ponytail. Then last Dec he cut it all off. I’m still getting used to it.</p>
<p>Yeah, mine kid’s pony tail is long gone. Hair isn’t short, but not long enough to pull back. I like his current look better.</p>