@raincat A positive/fun audition IS a positive/fun audition. There is no correlation between a positive audition and failure!
You were probably joking a bit…but just in case for those lurking…a teacher may say something positive like…“looking forward to having you in my studio” or “see you next fall” or “you’d be a perfect fit”…bc they are really impressed. I do feel that these are genuine sentiments. The issue comes when the “administration” gets involved. There are only so many spots…and on occasion it seems that a particular teacher’s request may not be granted…due to the needs of the whole dept. It would be best for teachers NOT to do this. But it happens. So people should be aware of that.
Still a good/positive/fun audition should be the aim right now (with no tea leaf reading…even though you will do it anyway…how couldn’t you). Just remember that you NEVER have an offer until it’s IN WRITING.
And…there are plenty of times that teachers do say or indicate a possible acceptance…and it happens! So for this “part” of the journey, it’s about auditions. Let your kid embrace the positives…a teacher really liked him and he had a great experience!! Yay!! That builds so much confidence. Now give it to the admission gods…and let them do what is necessary.
Finally, some of the worst auditions (or neutral auditions) can produce acceptances too. For classical vocalists, you may get 5 - 10 minutes in front of a panel that doesn’t say much…at all! You leave with NO feeling about it. Some times things go wrong…like the accompanist making errors or goes too slow or fast. You leave feeling it was bad…and you get accepted. So it really is best again to leave each audition with a wait and see attitude.
My D has a friend who has some basics about each audition on a piece of paper. As he leaves the audition, he crumbles up the piece of paper and throws it away. It’s his way of “physically” letting go. He’s doesn’t want to ruminate on it. All performers have to come up with ways to manage auditioning. I thought that was an interesting idea.
@arkham i think my son was at the concert! As a jazz player, I think the one thing he doesn’t like about Eastman is that there’s no jazz vocal program. He misses having vocalists!
So glad the Frost, Berklee and Loyola auditions went well. Fingers crossed for all.
And @bridgenail is 1000% right, of course. Your kids have done their part, now it’s up to forces we can’t control.
@bridgenail I absolutely agree with everything you said! It’s not over til it’s over and all our kids can do is audition and wait. As someone from one of these threads said, they have worked for years and now they show what they can do and their potential, and everyone usually ends up where they are meant to be. And no use ruminating about it once the audition is done.
We know there are so many factors and (to us), unknowns. It will be nice when it’s all settled, but for now we are trying to enjoy the ride. I must admit tho that I will be glad to get back home and concentrate on my other kids and my pets and getting ready for the holiday season. Life goes on.
@arkham I will second the endorsement of museums in Rochester. Two summers ago when we were there, I went to the George Eastman House and Museum and it was fascinating! (Both the history of photography and his life/influence in Rochester).
@khill87 Yup! we went to that one and the Strong Museum of Play which was great for a history of toys and bringing up feelings of nostalgia for whatever era you may have interacted with these items. enjoyed some local eats too - swan market, fishers station, nick tahou’s.
We got stranded in Rochester after Thanksgiving break and had two days of museums – luckily there are some great ones! Susan B. Anthony house and the Memorial Art Gallery are also excellent. My son also discovered a nearby rock climbing gym, if you are looking for something different.
Hi, new to this thread. I have a D16 Junior interested in a VP major. She did a summer soloist program at Westminster Choir College last year, but was wondering if there were any summer programs that would give her exposure to Professors from more than one school, and even better the ability to get an idea of award money she might be able to expect at different schools?
My VP daughter (current senior) did summer vocalist programs at Eastman in 2018 and Oberlin and Tanglewood in 2019. All three were fantastic programs, but in terms of getting to know professors, at Eastman, virtually no regular Eastman professors were involved in the vocal program – though there were excellent instructors who are tenured faculty at other, less well-known universities. At Oberlin, it was the Oberlin faculty – so a great chance to get to know them. And at Tanglewood, there were Boston U professors plus a number of professional vocalists who were also excellent, but who are not affiliated with universities. (My daughter’s voice teacher at BUTI was AMAZING and my D would follow her to any college she was teaching at, but she’s makes her living as a full-time performer and only teaches in the summer). I imagine there might be some other programs where there are professors from multiple schools, especially if you look across all the instruments, but I’m not sure there is any single program that has a wide variety of universities represented among just the vocal faculty. I’d look up places like Interlochen, Brevard, and others take a look at some of the prior years’ faculty if you can find a list online. My guess is also that there may be smaller, lesser known programs at many schools that are run directly by their faculty and might be a good way to get to know the school – so you could zero-in on some of the programs she may be considering and see what they have available. (For example, our state flagship university has a weeklong summer institute for vocalists and it includes two one-on-one lessons with a faculty member – in our case, my daughter’s regular voice teacher! D did that one in 2018 also.)
An alternative way to get to know some faculty might be through scheduling some sample lessons – in person if possible, or via Skype or a similar platform.
As far as getting an idea of potential award money, Berklee is the only summer program that I’m aware of where you can audition for scholarships at the end, but I know for some students on this site, it seems like the summer offer is just a starting point and they often go back to Berklee during the admissions process to audition again and try for more money. Since Berklee is focused on contemporary music and D is a classical vocalist, it was never on our radar screen.
I hope Westminster was a good experience for your daughter! It was on our list of possibilities for the summer, too, but we ended up going in a different direction. Would love to hear more about it – I haven’t heard it mentioned by anyone else on this site, but I’m sure there are other families here who would be interested in details!
Also: See the “time to think about summer” thread here, plus maybe some older summer threads from prior years.
@jim33h Vocalists are VERY young. For instrumentalist, meeting professors at summer programs may be important. For vocalists, in my honest opinion, it’s not so important (that doesn’t mean its not worth it…it simply means it not necessary to acceptances). I only know of the Oberlin summer program as being good for meeting their professors. I’m not sure of a program with a wide variety of teachers (others may know however). And @khill87 addressed the scholarship issue…I don’t know any for VP.
I think that the most important element of a summer program for a vocalist can be seeing where you stand against the competition. Any good professor/teacher at any program can help your D with this. And musician usually have a general sense of where they belong in the pecking order. And of course it would give her a good taste of music curriculum, expands repertoire etc. I’m sure that she already got some of this. So I would suggest looking for an affordable, fun program that “speaks” to her interests…in order to meet other like-minded students and work with the teachers at the program. Classical VP is a small world … and many teachers know other programs and could definitely make some recommendations of the right schools for her.
Two other notes:
My D’s UG teacher would not meet or work with students prior to auditions. She simply wanted to hear candidates at an audition and select from there (no personal contacts involved). So don’t think that a contact is necessary. Many students don’t have the resources for summer programs and teachers understand that…and really look to the audition. For VP, they are often listening for potential more than a finished product. So any program to give her more opportunities to understand “her instrument” and sing age appropriate pieces would be best.
My D never did a summer program. She did do a lot in her city. She did a Sat music school. She did competitions, honors choir etc through her high school. She did a lot of performing (MT and plays) in the summer. But she came a bit late to VP. She still got accepted at all schools with scholarships. So…just FYI on that so you know that while summer programs can be fun and helpful…they are not necessary to acceptances and scholarships particularly for VP.
Received daughter’s acceptance to Loyola, yay! It also came with a nice scholarship offer. Will have to wait a few weeks for the total financial aid package to make sure it is doable, but I ran the NPC and we should be good if it holds. In the meantime, happy dance!
I’m going a little stir crazy today hoping that Berklee releases EA decisions this week. I am reading the 2023 journey thread and it looks like today was the day last year. It would be nice to have some good news before Christmas! I hope everyone is hanging in there!
Thank you @SweetStrings it definitely relieves some pressure, especially since it’s one of her top choices. If the numbers work out right, we can drop a couple later auditions.
@DramaMama603 fingers crossed for some good news from Berklee this week!
D applied / auditioned EA at Temple (Boyer). Accepted today!!! Amidst the anxiety and uncertainty of this process (which is far from over!), its nice to have a solid option in hand. Thanks to previous years’ families who suggested an early audition to work out the nerves and hopefully get an early acceptance. Here’s hoping everyone gets the news they’re wishing for this week!
@mom2clarinetobsessedkid wonderful! That’s a great option! Hope they give you loads of
$ as well.
I’ve been enjoying all the great prescreen news today as well. As all the veterans knew they would, your kids are killin’ it! It’s hard to see the forest when you’re lost in the process, but from here there’s no surprise…just lots of happy dancing!
