Auditions are FINISHED! - Page 2

stringfollies · 03-04-2008, 08:52 AM

Neumes --

Those shoes are definitely the key! Call them good luck charms.

Good luck to all of our kids. We've worked and so have they.

hrnobmom · 03-04-2008, 09:10 AM

Binx, may I ask what your S's grad school list is? Whatever the list, I am certain he will have choices! And best of luck with the professional auditions! AND congrats on the summer program acceptance and waitlists!
My oldest D is a first yr. MM oboe performance candidate at DePaul--she went thru the grad auditions last yr., and of course she takes pro auditions when she can...stress will never cease. She is now having to consider if she will audition and continue with school after her MM degree. Also last year we went thru undergrad auditions with youngest D, who is now studying horn at CIM.

hrnobmom · 03-04-2008, 09:12 AM

Congrats to all who have "finished" with auditions...for now!!!
And best of luck with results and college choices!!!

BEK · 03-04-2008, 10:34 AM

We have completed 8 of 9 auditions and have the last one this Friday. They have been up and down...some very good and some not so great. I cannot believe the stress. Now we need to wait until end of March beginning of April to hear results. I keep reminding myself that there are always options...even if she doesn't get accepted to any of her schools.

The whole time we auditioned, I just saw the numbers of talented, talented musicians for so few spots. When you go outside into the bigger venue, you really see that.

binx · 03-04-2008, 10:47 AM

hornobmom - My S has an extensive list of grad school options: Juilliard and Rice.

Not only does he have to get in; he also needs money. So it is a shot in the dark. What he really needs at this point is not more schooling, but some real experience. And we all know the chances of landing a "real" job after undergrad. He is on a wire without a net at the moment.

His back up plan is to stay in NYC and gig.

rcmama · 03-04-2008, 11:51 AM

Congrats, -Allmusic- (and all you other parents), on surviving the process! I found this board right around the time you started to post all of your questions, so I really hope your son finds success.

While the enormous logistical planning process may be over, I agree that the worry and angst continue. Every year the summer program application process is a mini-version of this. But we continue to have lots of fun and build more memories by planning our summer vacations around what D decides to do.

MomOf3Stars · 03-04-2008, 12:25 PM

I, too, am suffering a little of the PAD. For just awhile I was needed, an integral part of the support system.

NYU was such a blast, with both D's auditioning for something that day simultaneously (youngest D auditioned for School of American Ballet's summer program - did not get in but a great experience). You cannot replace the excitement of NYC and adding the excitement, tension of auditioning just made such a memorable trip.

I doubt that oldest D and I will ever have so much time spent alone together again. The memories of our other trips are so nice, I will hold them forever.

And yes, the daily mail is like an event. Even though she has had acceptances from 3 of her 5 schools we wait now, for financial packages and on the holy grails of acceptance, the 2 toughest schools Eastman and NYU. NYU we know won't let us know til April 1st at the earliest and Eastman we are hoping to hear from any day.

I thought the stress was over!!

cjm · 03-04-2008, 01:14 PM

S auditioned in jazz piano at Eastman. I thought they said late March, early April. You expect to hear sooner!! That would be great! I know the waiting is harder on me than DS. He also applied to UR as Dual Degree so I guess we have to wait for them too.

jazzzmomm · 03-04-2008, 01:18 PM

This is my question, and it probably showcases my extreme neurotic obsessive approach to this process. Do your kids come out of auditions feeling confident or not--probably a combination of the two? Commitment-like comments from auditioners, such as, "you'd do great here" or "I'd love to see what you could do here"--are those to be trusted? How about the neutral auditioners? The two top conservatories my S applied to had that kind of neutral response after he auditioned, toe-tapping while he played aside! --though he came out of the auditons feeling he had done well. What have been your experiences with the actual auditions? Maybe some parents whose kids have gone through the process and gotten into schools could comment on how the student feels about the audition and whether or not it has correlated with acceptances. Or is this too much random speculation that will make us all more nervous than we need to be at this point??

I'm sure there are some kids who worry that they weren't perfect no matter what. It would be interesting to hear about that aspect of it from others of you.

violadad · 03-04-2008, 01:38 PM

Jazzzmom

From son's experiences at summer programs, undergrad and regional pro auditions, he seems to find no way to read the panel. Friendliness or neutrality of the panel seems to not have had a bearing on his outcomes, albeit he has been prepared enough or "lucky" enough to gain more acceptances than rejections, at least in undergrad and festival programs.

He relies on his own post audition assessment to rate his chances, and is usually accurate about predicting the outcome. If he's played his best, he's happy with the audition, regardless of the outcome. His first regional pro audition he made the final round, yet had a brain f*rt during the final elmination. He knew it, and it cost him the chair and he ended up as an alternate. This is the only time I've seen him disappointed with his audition results.

stringfollies · 03-04-2008, 01:54 PM

Very limited experience here, but my son's first audition: he played really well, knew it and one of the professors said "very nice" at the end. He was accepted in about 8 days. He's only had one other that he felt that good about (without the comment at the end) - just last weekend, so he hasn't heard yet. The only other audition where he got comments was at Rice where only one teacher hears the violin audition. She said he had done "very well", but went on to talk about how competitive the numbers are, etc. etc. leaving us with little hope that he'll get in. Every other audition has been commentless and affectless - a couple of encouraging smiles is the most he's had. I think we all just have to take a deep breath and wait. It's painful!

BassDad · 03-04-2008, 02:14 PM

My daughter was pretty sure that her videotaped audition was going to be a non-starter and she was correct. She did not express much feeling one way or the other on her five live auditions. I asked how things went after each one and the response was always the same: "OK...I think." She wound up with three acceptances and two rejections. There were no commitment-like comments made at any of her auditions, but at least two of the schools wanted her enough to come up with decent merit scholarship money.

Auditions are never going to be perfect. Learn what you can from the inevitable (and hopefully small) mistakes so that the next audition will be better. Obsessing and second guessing over what is already done is generally just a waste of perfectly good practice time. Waiting is hard, but trying to read the potential admissions implications of every nuance of conversation is only going to make March seem a lot longer.

nasi · 03-04-2008, 02:15 PM

My D's auditions are done also. She had 7 in total. Her first one she was nervous and said she did ok but didn't play her best. There was no interaction with the panel. Since it had a rolling admission we know she was accepted already. The next five she felt good about and came out smiling. She received positive comments. Her last one was Sunday at Juilliard. She was told they do not interact with you. She felt she did good for most of it but had a brain fart on an excerpt and came out saying "well I know I didn't get in here." Overall a busy two months and now the wait begins. Nancy

jazzzmomm · 03-04-2008, 02:35 PM

I can only imagine how tough this is on kids--and people doing pro auditions, violadad! My son is a bit of a sphinx, and perversely seemed to love each audition. I say perversely with great irony because of course that's a wonderful quality to have--to enjoy the process and not sweat the outcome. Not sure that is really what is going with him exactly, but I am glad he didn't eat himself up over any audition.

So, let's all say a collective: "OMMM" for the next few weeks!

-Allmusic- · 03-04-2008, 02:35 PM

Son felt all of his auditions went well overall, although he had some complaint with a few ("the sight reading could have gone better", ) but they were minor.

Very little feedback from anyone. Friendly adjudicators who mostly held their cards close to their chest. They made conversation, some of them at least, but it would be impossible to read too much into their reactions.