Yay, @SweetStrings! So glad she liked Eastman! If you (or she) would like to see the students in action, there are several concerts coming up on the livestream site: https://www.esm.rochester.edu/live/
(And don’t miss my freshman blowing tenor with the Eastman Jazz Lab Band next Wednesday 10/23 at 7:30 pm!) ?
Where else did you go? Please share impressions!
What a wonderful report, @SweetStrings! Such a great feeling to have some real possibilities! I had similar thoughts about Eastman during our visit. Totally caught me off guard when tears sprang to my eyes as we walked into Kilbourn Hall. Where did THAT come from?!? Lol.
Jumping on the Eastman bandwagon, we all loved that school when we visited it! My husband and I both wanted to go there right after visiting- but of course we, unlike S, have no talent. So it was with great sadness that we received their beautiful info packet last month in the mail only to recycle it. I was so sad. S removed that from his list (as if he had one!) because he does want a music school that’s more integrated with a university. I had to keep asking him if he was sure before I finally put it in recycling.
@Busy_Momma ? Lol about the hesitation to add those great schools to the recycling bin. Totally feel you on that one! Do we REALLY have to let them decide? I think they could at least consider our desire to vacation in cool towns, attend music school with them (also despite a lack of talent in my case), etc. when making these lists. ?
I’m just so glad that this trip has helped D to shorten her application list of schools. She’s finally got a sense of what she’s really looking for. I love throwing out all of the college junk mail flooding my mailbox. D doesn’t want to look at it anymore either. She’d be so happy if we could just fast forward to those live auditions.
How is everyone? My S is still submitting his recordings, pieces , essays etc. What is going on February 17th? Seems like most school’s audition date is on February 17th. At least for composition majors. We are trying to schedule tentative audition dates. Such a process. Good luck to all.
February 17th is Presidents Day so all students have that day off and many have the entire week (mid-winter break) so it works well for both sides of the equation. Good luck everyone!!
Doransa,
My S is also still finishing up his essays etc and unfortunately due to availability of his accompanists, will not record prescreens until Nov 20th. Cutting it close in my opinion but it’s his deal and there’s only so many times I can push. Yikes can’t wait until this process is over haha,
@raincat He recorded his prescreening videos last week and one turned out to be useless. He will try to record it again this weekend. 
Essays are also seems to be a lot of work + he is moving his pieces to Finale. it is a very slow process. He is applying to music composition and he writes by hand. Hopefully he will get everything submitted by the thanksgiving weekend. After the submissions he still needs to prepare for auditions / interviews. 
Hopefully it will be over by the end of March.
Doransa, will any of his schools accept a handwritten score? It used to be a requirement that at least one piece be handwritten but that has probably changed. (Moving to Finale is indeed a pain. If he ever becomes successful he can hire a grad student to do it!)
Is he only applying to schools that require a performance prescreen for composers? Some schools don’t and some don’t have performance auditions either, just interviews, for composition applicants. It sounds like he has chosen schools that do have these requirements, which is fine, but sympathies for the added stress 
Finally heard back from the videographer/recording engineer regarding pre-screens scheduling! I’ve been coaching with an accompanist and have my first audition on Monday. First quarter grades are in. I’m feeling like everything is finally falling into place!!! How wonderful!!
I’m going camping this weekend…so it’s gonna be a nice time to relax after a tough first quarter of senior year (and hopefully keep my voice in good shape :P)
Very exciting @Racingfan53 ! I’ve got everything crossed for you. Have a wonderful weekend!
Good luck to @raincat and @Doransa ’s kids as well. I remember the applications seemed to move so slow … and then things moved so fast…until March, when they slowed to a crawl again. It’s a crazy journey!
Compmom,
From what i see they all want a clean finished version to be uploaded. From CIM web site
" Composition Applicants: Please upload the scores to your compositions and the complete list of your compositions with date of composition, instrumentation, duration and any performances below. Scores should be formatted to print on 8 ½" x 11" paper."
When he goes to interviews, he is planning to take his hand written scores. Right now putting everything into finale is a lot of work. Hopefully he will be ready before the December 1st deadline.
As far as auditions: Some schools want recordings with primary instrument. Some (like Eastman) requiring a live audition with primary instrument and interview on the same day. All have different requirements + essays. He seems not stressed at all and very composed. Hopefully he will get all ready.
Why can’t he scan the handwritten scores and upload them as pdf’s formatted to 8.5” x 11”? It would be the same result as Finale pdf’s. What is the issue?
@SpiritManager i should tell this to him. Good idea. We can surely scan the pages.
So, I need to rant a little. I apologize in advance. I’m just feeling very annoyed with my daughters music reacher at school. My daughter auditioned for all state Horus earlier in the year. At the time I cautioned her that it would most likely conflict with college auditions. She went ahead and auditioned anyway,. Now she has submitted six college applications and guess what? Six scheduled auditions. And yes one conflicts with all state chorus. And Yes she did get in to all state. It is basically impossible to reschedule the audition. And that audition is for one of her top choices. She is disappointed but realizes that she needs to bow out of all state and head to the audition.
This morning she told her teacher. The teacher made her feel guilty about not being able to reschedule her college audition. Then the teacher proceeded get extremely judgemental about some of the schools she is applying to and Where they rank in her list. She felt that my daughters least favorite school should be closer to the top and that on of her top schools should be at the bottom.
I’m sorry but this whole process is stressful. Each studen’s situation is different. Each of my daughters music teachers seem to have different opinions about this. She is doing the best she can and juggling a lot. She just can’t make it work.
I resent this. Ok. I’m done ranting Thank you for listening.
When I was watching a DCI brass instructor talk to his horn sections, he said that if a new part of the music is coming in, that there sounds/volume should be given precedence over the horns that are finishing up the part that is wrapping up, such that if the horns on the wrapping up part hear the new horns coming in, the old horns should just back off and cut out. I think the same applies here - high school is wrapping up, and college is coming in.
@Musicmom2two I hear ya, mama! I remember everyone having an opinion. One teacher told my S he was applying too “low,” another felt he was kidding himself if he thought he’d get in to his top choices. In what way is any of that helpful? Re: conflicting schedules, we had the same problem and ultimately (after reading a lot of CC!) agreed that S should not take AP courses, not apply for all-states, and not play in the pit band for the high school musical senior year because all of those things conflicted in a substantive way with auditions. I had a huge amount of angst over that but it was absolutely the right decision. Some of his teachers had a problem with it but with our support, S just motored right past them. This too will pass!
On the subject of prescreens, I don’t think any of you are late! I went back and looked at last year and we did our prescreen recordings on November 26. Here’s my post from late October on the 2023 journey:
“Applications are done except Eastman (due 12/1, prescreen not done yet—that will be a nail biter) and NYU, which needs another essay as well as the prescreen. Prescreens will be recorded 11/26 and sent by the 30th if not earlier. In the end, he got it to three songs which will work for both prescreens as well as the EA audition. He’ll have about five more to perfect for the other auditions, but he’ll have until mid-January to get those under his belt. Then four more auditions scheduled for Jan 11 through Feb 16, plus two more if he passes the prescreens.”
S ended up with his first audition (EA) December 1 and his last (local flagship) March 16. Man that was a long season! He definitely got better as he went along, although by March he was over it. He hit his peak in late January/early February.
Thanks for that! S will record prescreens Nov 25 and it’s only 4 songs since he can use the same for most schools. He plans to submit before the 30th for the 12/1 deadline and is aware that there could be tech difficulties.
Anyway, He flew out this a.m. for a tour of his top pick today (he’s been twice before so is familiar with campus) and sample lesson tomorrow and I felt bad for him because he is very stressed about the sample lesson. Apparently his private teacher told him that one of her former students did a sample lesson years ago with this same Prof and he called her and begged her to get the student to attend this particular school. I think she meant the story to be encouraging but I know my son feels pressure to get a similar positive reaction (or at least not blow it haha). The former student went to a different conservatory and now has a successful career. We have no idea what his playing was like out of HS because it was before out time.
There is so much talk of the possible advantages of having a sample lesson with profs but no one talks about the pressure on the kid-- I know this is good practice, I know that he will be auditioning for the rest of his life etc etc but it’s still fair to say that being in a room for an hour or more with a teacher you’ve never meant but want so much to study with, and having to “perform” with no idea of what they will ask of you, can be STRESSFUL for some of our kids lol.