| Rice Auditions
I can't seem to find a Rice-specific thread so I thought it might be useful to create one in which to share our experiences there last weekend for those who don't know about it.
Shepherd School is a small (350?) music school which has only 125 undergrads. The focus is on graduates who are by and large stellar on their instruments and go there for the outstanding faculty. The same faculty each take a few undergrads (some take more than others) and for the few who are accepted, it is a unique experience. The undergrads play in an orchestra with already-trained musicians and the orchestra is fabulous beyond belief. They also play with the grad students in chamber groups and are generally not treated differently from the grads except vis-a-vis curriculum (theory, aural skills, etc).
My S applied for violin performance. He had to choose only one teacher to audition for although the auditions are videotaped. Evidently, if the audition goes very well, but the teacher doesn't choose you, they can recommend you for other studios by video - don't know how often this happens in practise. This whole system makes applying quite a long shot, but if he were accepted, it would be a great program. The music students are accepted only if they are pretty good academically because they take core academics in the University which is at an extremely high level. If admitted, they can double major (no double degree option though) with an academic major so it isn't unheard of for music students to also do premed.
The winter in Houston is beautiful (it was in the 70's last weekend - a relief after Rochester, Ann Arbor, Madison, etc) and the grounds are modern and immaculate. The school is in a wealthy Houston suburb and feels very safe and secure. The music students live in dorms with students in other fields so they aren't at all isolated. The dorm room we saw was a suite for 8 students. It had 2 spacious common rooms and 4 tiny bedrooms with bunkbeds. One shared bathroom for all 8. It was not very nice, but maybe some of the other dorms are better.
The audition process was a little weird since you only play for one teacher in that teacher's studio. Apparently each teacher runs the auditions differently so it depends whom you are auditioning for whether you play for 10 minutes or 90. My S played for 10-15 minutes and then the teacher came out to speak to both of us. It went well, but she reminded us of the huge list of competitors (50-60) for her 3-4 slots for next year. About 2/3 of them were grad students. So it doesn't seem very likely that he'll get in, but who knows?
They had a short information session and then auditions. Finding a practise room on audition day (and on the day before) was no problem at all - nice after our experience last week at Eastman where practise rooms were very hard to get into. You could do a complete self-tour of the building as all the facilities are unlocked. Gorgeous theatres, charming practise rooms with views into trees. Very clean, but a little antiseptic in the hallways (there was very little on the walls). They also provided a schedule of classes and you were free to attend any that you chose. My S only wanted to hear the orchestra. He is usually antsy to leave once finished with an audition.
Good luck to any others applying there. It's a very cool place. |