When should one visit conservatories/colleges?

<p>For the experienced out there...when should my junior son visit the universities and conservatories he's interested in attending? We have Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, a week in February and a week in April. I'd like him to experience winter...so I guess I'd tend more towards February...Will he run into auditions? Is that good or bad (ie is the atmosphere more tense?)
Thanks very much!</p>

<p>Audition time is, for me, less desirable, if only because many of the faculty will have VERY little time to give out lessons and meet with prospective students individually, as they will be busy with listening to auditions on top of their normal workload. Audition dates can be found on most schools' websites, and if not, I'm sure the admissions people at the various schools would be more than happy to forward an audition calendar.</p>

<p>February and April will probably be your best options, as you will want to go at a time when the schools will be in session. They will probably be pretty dead around Thanksgiving and Christmas.</p>

<p>Good points! Thanks so much (my son is, by the way, a Mahler fanatic:) I've heard good and bad things about taking lessons in advance. It makes sense to me, but a few guys at music camp told my son that their auditions were a waste of time because after the lessons the teachers had their minds made up after they had given them lessons. They told him that it was like auditioning twice and the lesson was far more important. I think it makes a huge amount of sense because he will want to make sure the teacher is a good fit for him. Any advice? One of the schools he's interested in only has a graduate program in music and he'd want to make sure the teacher would take him as an undergraduate, so in that case he'll definitely take a lesson.</p>

<p>To ensure acceptance, it's important to have a good lesson AND a good audition. They tell different things about the student - the lesson tells how the student responds to criticism, the audition tells how the student responds to pressure (especially when the audition is NOT in a lesson format). The lesson may be more important in that it is the opportunity for a student to make a good (or bad) first impression, but that is no excuse to blow off the audition. Would you accept a student who had a good lesson but completely blew his audition over a student who was marginally less proficient but was consistent?</p>

<p>I'm also curious what you've heard that's bad about taking lessons in advance - I can't see any drawbacks.</p>

<p>Mahler is awesome :-)</p>

<p>February is undoubtably audition month, so you're probably limited to April. Universal breaks like Thanksgiving and Christmas are usually not very good either.</p>

<p>If you have can make any 3 or 4 day weekends in the fall work, then that would be good too.</p>

<p>Lessons critical as a vehicle to meet and learn teaching styles. At the competitive schools, the audition still critical to get in. At some less competitive schools, the lesson is often enough for an instructor to say, "You'll get in," but you still have to audition and at a minimum, the quality of the audition is used to judge any potential merit awards.</p>

<p>This is great! Thank you! I sort of figured Feb would be audition month at some of the schools. I think a couple of the guys my son spoke with had very early morning lessons with teachers. Because they play brass instruments and weren't fully awake, they thought the lessons didn't go as well as their auditions. The interation with the teachers at the audition gave them the sense that their minds were already made up. I agree with you...I think if you are going to spend four years with a teacher, the chemistry had better be right, and there's no better way than to take a lesson.
So when does one schedule lessons? In the fall of senior year or the spring of junior year?
I hear Mahler 5 all day every day....sometimes 2 and other times 7. I like the guy, but a little Vivaldi now then would be a nice break:)</p>

<p>I should let the caffeine hit my bloodstream before posting....</p>

<p>To the "when" question, the answer is probably "both..."</p>

<p>We did our first round based on geography in the spring of Junior Year. I wish that we had started fall of Junior Year, but we were new to this game and I didn't realize this place exisited. Since out of state travel is involved, the earlier the better, but I think the earliest one can realistically do this is fall of Junior Year...</p>

<p>In the fall of Senior Year we hit a couple of schools newly added to "the list" and re-visited two that were strong desires just to get an additional lesson and some additional audition tips.</p>

<p>To organize lessons we directly emailed the instructors we wanted to meet with. One question we asked upfront was regarding charges for lessons. We didn't want any awkward moments at the lesson. Lesson costs (clarinet) ranged from $0 to $140 and were totally dependent on the instructor not the institution. </p>

<p>Bring lots of music, but have your son concentrate on one or two of the "standard" audition repetoire pieces. This way the instructors can provide exact feedback on what they like to hear in the audition. There is added benefit here if you get to do a second lesson prior to audition. If an instructor gave specific areas for improvement the first go around and hears that his suggestions were incorporated at the second lesson, the instructor is assured that the student does listen and respond to their instruction.</p>

<p>We visited our first school with D in January of junior year. She had a winter break or long weekend. She did have a lesson on that trip. During March spring break of junior year we visited Oberlin, Indiana, Cleveland Institute and Wake. She didn't have lessons but did sit in on a studio class and meet her preferred teacher at Oberlin. We visited BU (drive-by), NEC and Tufts the summer after junior year and Rice in June right after the end of junior year. She had a lesson with her preferred teacher at Rice. She didn't do any visits fall of senior year. She relied on audition trips to Indiana, Cleveland, Rice and Julliard to solidify her impressions of the schools. She auditioned for Oberlin at her school (Interlochen) but it had fallen pretty far down on the list. I think she visited Northwestern in late summer going into senior year. By the time they go on the audition trips they have a much better idea of what is important to them in a college/conservatory. She visited Rice reluctantly and only because her voice teacher at Interlochen insisted. It shortly became her first choice and she is now a senior.</p>

<p>Is it absolutely essential to visit BEFORE auditions? Will it hurt my chances of acceptance at music schools if I can't arrange a lesson with a teacher?</p>

<p>I'm a vocalist, and I've visited one school, and had one sample coaching session. The other schools I'm interested in are across the country, and my family won't allow me to make that many trips out there. I can either visit the schools and have sample lessons, OR do live auditions. We don't have the money or the time to do both. Is that very bad?</p>

<p>Not absolutely vital, but lessons are nice if it they be arranged or budgeted for. In our case, that's why God invented frequent flyer miles...</p>

<p>There's no question in my mind that an on-site audition is much more important than a lesson. If your time and/or budget will only allow one, then go for the live audition. </p>

<p>An unfortunate fact of life is that some of your "competition" are visiting schools and having lessons prior to auditions, but there's always more than one way to skin a cat. Don't forget that you can communicate with instructors via email and telephone, so you still can make "first contact" prior to auditions without physically visiting a school. Also consider going to a nearby summer program/ master class that may have instructors from some of the schools you're considering.</p>

<p>My son didn't visit before auditions. In fact, he didn't visit FOR auditions, which I know is not the recommended way to go, but it worked out fine for him. He did visit his four top choices after acceptances and had lessons then to help him decide which college to attend.</p>

<p>My son had lessons with quite a few teachers, most during junior year. A big reason for him to do this was that he has some special physical issues and we both wanted to know how a teacher would this before he decided if he wanted to study with that teacher. It was very helpful for him to do this and he is currently going to do the same thing for graduate school inspite of the expense involved. (He is paying for this round of visits himself.)</p>

<p>For those of you who cannot travel and have lessons, look into summer programs. My son has become aquainted with a number of teachers and had lessons with them at his various summer programs. Also, if you live near a big city or near a larger university, it is possible that teachers that you are interested in will be in your area and you can arrange to meet them at that time. My son did this with one teacher his senior year in high school. He will also be able to meet with another teacher this fall who is coming to our town whom he might be interested in for grad school. Communicate with the teachers and find out if they might be anywhere close to you in the next year or so.</p>

<p>Summer programs are indeed a great way to get to know college teachers in a setting that has less pressure than a sample lesson and much less pressure than an audition. If things go well and the logistics work out, the student might be so bold as to inquire about the possibility of additional private lessons at the teacher's usual fee.</p>

<p>Best times for school visits are when school is in session, excepting audition, exam and orientation periods. Mid-September through mid-November and mid-March through mid-to-late-April work well at most schools. In senior year, the March/April time frame is often used for second visits to schools where a student has already been accepted. (You have a slightly different take on the place when you know it is a real possibility.) Try to contact teachers in August or January to set up later lesson times and ask them about department recitals and open houses. Some schools give brownie points for visits, so make sure the admissions department knows that you are coming.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone! This is terrific! My son loved his summer program teacher and feels good about that program. Maybe next year he'll choose summer programs with the teachers in mind. I'll pass along the information for my son...he's the one who will be contacting the teachers.<br>
BassDad...did your daughter take sample lessons? What do you think of spring vs fall lessons? It seems as if the teacher might remember the student more if he auditioned in the fall...I'll have to figure out...his school has some sort of onerous policy for missed days.</p>

<p>Daughter had sample lessons with several different teachers. Most of them were through summer programs, both before junior year and before senior year. A couple of others were on a trip we made during spring break of her junior year (which was not spring break week for the colleges involved.) She then had a couple more during spring break of her senior year at schools where she was accepted.</p>

<p>Our school district gives students four excused absence days in both junior and senior year for the purpose of visiting schools. They have to bring back a signed note from the admissions office. We used the days in junior year for exploration and the days in senior year for auditions. You may have to work around his school's onerous policies somehow if your son intends to audition in person. Many places audition on weekends, but some are during the week.</p>

<p>Absence policies can be a real nightmare...I had to spend four Saturdays in detention to make up the time I had missed this past year just so that I could graduate. I have a lot of friends (including a class valedictorian) whose high schools tried to stop them from graduating because they had to be out so much senior year. Make sure that the school officials realize that you are auditioning, and that you cannot possibly be accepted without doing so.</p>

<p>When you narrow down your dates for a campus visit, you might also try to arrange a time when one or more of the ensembles are performing so you get an idea of the quality and size of the orchestra, concert band, jazz ensembles or opera theatre, etc. Our budget did not allow for lots of travel either, and so my son was able to arrange a trial lesson with a few violin teachers (no charge) when he auditioned. If your son has a definite first choice school and teacher, I would encourage him to audition in person. While regional auditions are available and some students are admitted through them, the ideal is to audition in person.</p>

<p>"What do you think of spring vs fall lessons? It seems as if the teacher might remember the student more if he auditioned in the fall..."</p>

<p>I don't know if it will make much of a difference. My son did visits starting in fall of junior year through fall of senior year and was remembered at auditions by all the teachers he auditioned for. Find something that will fit your schedule and minimizes the time off. Remember, the purpose for visiting teachers is really for the student to get a feel for the teacher. It is true that it is a pre-audition of sorts as well and the student wants to play well, but you really should be more concerned at this point about finding a good fit for with a teacher.</p>