A few questions about college auditions/schools! (Flute)

astewa57
Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:58:17 +0000

I am a flute performance major and just finished applying to about 10 schools last year for entrance into the Fall of '09. I sympathize with your fear about not getting in anywhere because that basically happened to me. First of all, I’d like to say that having a safety school is very important. Secondly, I’ll share my story about how I eventually found success. I applied to ALL great schools- NEC, Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, University of Colorado, and then University of New Mexico as my safety (I’m from NM). I didn’t make the live audition at NEC, but did make it for Carnegie Mellon and CU. Oberlin I did a regional audition. At CM, Jeanne Baxtresser complimented me saying that my breath support was very good. Having finished everything except my excerpt, she asked me where all I was applying and then said “Well, you’re doing REALLY well.” I was very encouraged by that but didn’t get in. I didn’t even get into CU Boulder (they have a fabulous flute teacher there and I really wanted to go there). Finally, I was so exhausted that when I played my audition for my safety school, I played all the right notes but my tone wasn’t great and I didn’t get that much money. At moments like these, you have to search deep. What I realized was that I had applied to schools that were out of my league. (this is just my story). Here’s what I did: I applied to middle-of-the road schools using compilations of my pre-screening CD’s for a late audition. I found schools such as West-Texas A & M, where our local high school band director had connections to the flute prof and I got what they said was one of their highest scholarships. Then I remembered that at my regional audition for Oberlin in Colorado I had visited a beautiful campus at the Univ. of Denver and ended up applying there and getting a $28,000 scholarship! And now I’m there on a full ride, and I LOVE IT!

I hope this gives you hope for “seeing beyond the bump” of that potential fate of not getting in to anywhere out of this world.


Quickly, I studied this summer with teachers from UMich, BU, and Eastman and loved them all. Amy Porter is amazing, she can transform anybody’s playing in minutes. Linda Toote was great with piccolo, intonation, and keeping her focus on a positive teacher/ student relationship. And Bonnie Boyd had a perspective of applying singing to playing the flute, and creating resonance on every note we play by finding ease/ relaxation and alignment in our body.

astewa57