I am debating whether or not to submit a music supplement to Yale. I know the work must be conservatory level, otherwise it will inevitably deter my application and ruin any chance I might have. What are some piano pieces, if performed impeccably, that would be considered suitable for submission? Thank you!
I’m not sure I agree with
Maybe Yale is an exception, but most of the top-tier colleges told me that the supplement can only help your case (i.e. if it’s not good they’ll just ignore it). If you’re good at piano and it’s something you’ve been involved in for a while then do an arts supplement (especially if it’s a big part of your resume). Piano might not help you as much as other instruments since it’s quite common and they don’t exactly need to go out of their way to find piano players for their class, but I’d be surprised if a well-made recording hurt your chances.
No pieces to recommend, sorry! Checking in with your teacher would probably help find a piece that works well for you.
@Lagging, I’m sure that you’re well-intentioned, but “if it’s not good they’ll just ignore it” is not good advice for a Yale applicant. Would you make the same recommendation for a piece of writing? Yale’s holistic admissions means that they can draw negative inferences if you submit something of only moderate quality.
@IxnayBob I can’t speak to specifics about Yale but at similarly competitive schools they often explicitly say that it won’t be used against you. At many schools they send the recording to the professor in the music department. If the professor likes it then they tell the department to tell admissions that it was particularly impressive. If the prof doesn’t think it’s good enough they ignore it (and probably wouldn’t take you as a student if you did get in) and you’re left competing with kids who didn’t submit supplements. At least that’s what I was told when I applied to colleges.
Of course if it was pretty awful then maybe they would feel obligated to tell the school to not accept you. It’s quite possible that admissions officers are not being truthful when they say it won’t hurt you, but if you take them at their word then most of these schools recommend you submit a supplement if music is a big component of your ECs and most of your honors/awards.
Yale says
Yale sends the submission to the music department. What I’m not sure about is what feedback is given if the piece is competent but not impressive, and how AOs would interpret the feedback.
We’re echoing the same ideas here mostly. I’m saying if a big selling point OP’s app is musical prowess then submitting a supplement makes sense. If OP has music awards/honors filling their resume then it would be both “strong and important” for their application. I’d also expect that the quality would be good considering the awards although of course that’s not always the case.
OP - you could always call Yale’s music department and ask directly whether “competent but not impressive” would hurt you. I did that with other elite schools when I was applying and was always told that it wouldn’t.
@Lagging But what if one doesn’t have any particular notable awards and there “focus” isn’t specifically towards music but performing arts as a whole (such as classical dance and saxophone jazz), but is amazingly talented (such as the level of Julliard musicians, for example)?
@blessupbro In that case I’d send an arts supplement. If you’re Julliard quality then that’s something you want to showcase, especially if you’re lacking in awards/focus. It shows that you must be dedicated (and likely passionate) to be that talented.
If you have multiple high-level talents and a school only lets you submit one supplement then it’d be a hard call. If they were equally as impressive I’d go with the rarer one just because if they are aiming for a diverse class you’ll likely stand out more.
@dakotacr - My son, who is a current junior studying computing and the arts, did submit a music supplement (both composition - 2 original scores & 2 recordings of said scores & the third movement of a piano concerto). I do know that based on the compositions that he submitted, he received an invitation to a summer composition program run by one of the professors in the undergrad composition department. He also auditioned in the fall of his freshman year for piano lessons for credit (classical) at Yale School of Music. According to him, his audition was mediocre and he wasn’t accepted. He did take piano lessons his freshman year, just not for credit. His sophomore year, he took voice lessons for credit.
If you have any more specific questions, pm me.