@thisgal thank you. She is super excited to attend Berklee in the fall.
She has either already told Frost of her decision or will be doing so very shortly.
I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but we’re starting to get pooped out… and she’s only halfway through her live auditions. The CMU audition was very organized - we loved that they had assigned practice rooms and times with a student to knock on the door and tell the auditioning students when to head down. My daughter sang three songs and felt good about how it went. I’m happy that she’s been confident about her auditions so far. I’d rather that she doesn’t get an offer after doing well than to make a mistake and then wonder if that cost her an acceptance. CMU also gave the auditioning students an opportunity to visit classes, which my daughter found very helpful.
UT/Butler is this weekend. Two more weekends of travel before we get a break!
@runninglate Take this with a grain of salt: You’ve been to a lot of paces already. You can cancel an audition and withdraw the application, or send in video auditions for schools where she is not as enthused. No point in getting tired out on schools she isn’t very interested in when she has others later on that are more important to her.
This is fairly common…both getting pooped and canceling auditions! My S signed up for eight auditions and canceled two of them once it was clear he’d be getting at least two offers. It wasn’t worth the stress for schools that were low on the list. One caveat: he had to have at least one offer we could afford (for him it was our in-state option). Good luck and happy travels!
D just inquired about sending in a video for one of our state schools- they offered two audition dates for undergrads and one weekend we are at Northwestern and the other Vanderbilt. When she emailed the state school to inquire about a video submission, they sort of semi scoffed about it because we aren’t out of state or even that far of a distance. To be honest, though, they waited so long to send out the date options and signup, that it couldn’t be helped. D has 15 auditions- something has to give! We have trip two this weekend, and that’s out of five. One more is still to be booked but I am waiting to see how it goes. We may very well be done by then and have to do a video submission. D is fighting a fever this week as it is. The next four weeks will be rough- we have two of these weeks with multiple flights. We have stocked up on the airborne and zicam!
The numbers/emotions go something like this:
Summer prior - 12 - 15 schools! - we’ll audition at all, at least 10 look great!
Fall - Ok we got 8 or 9 apps/pre-screens done before pooping out…
December - passed 9 pre-screens - OK a little scary but we can do this!
January/early Feb - doing it…doing it…doing it…
Early to mid February - exhausted and looking at video submission for 2 schools
Mid to late Feb - cancelling an audition for 1 school - not going there anyways
March - waiting on your 5 target school for acceptances and money (but the number is really now 3 or 4 bc one or 2 are not what you thought)
April - you got 2 real contenders bc the other 2 didn’t give the money or teacher you like…and the others just aren’t that interesting. WAIT…shouldn’t there be a few other choices!!! You have so few now!!!
In the end you can only go to ONE school…so it’s all good. Maybe time to start “targeting” the true contenders…and letting a few go…to video submission. You can get offers off videos submissions. It happens every year (and my D did too).
@coloraturagirl - Fifteen auditions is so many! I think a video audition is a good idea - my daughter did that for three of the schools (plus she has one BA program that didn’t require an audition) where we had already spent some time. From what I’ve heard, students are still accepted with scholarships from videos. I hope that your daughter’s fever gets better soon and that some clarity about the schedule comes, as well.
My daughter has loved the actual school visits and auditions, but the plane flights and restaurant food are getting old. So far she doesn’t want to cancel any, and the plane tickets are all purchased so we’re rolling with it. My hat is off to people who travel for a living! I think we’re going to make more of an effort to find healthy restaurants and do some yoga in the hotel room on our remaining three trips.
@bridgenail BWAHAHAHA! This is genius. That’s exactly how it goes.
@runninglate looking for healthy food or even staying in AirBnbs where you can cook your own is a great idea. Re: exercise, the hotel gyms were great, and if the weather is good, runs or long walks are good options as well. Really changes your view of things.
Ain’t that the truth? We ate so much cold, prepackaged airport food during our last trip (5 flights in 3 days) that when we finally ordered from uber eats and got something hot, I was ready to cry…the things we take for granted!
We are absolutely doing this for the $ in potential offers. We had no way of knowing how many prescreens she would pass and how many flights would have to be taken. We applied to a lot of schools simply to increase the odds. We just need to finish out the next month and then wait what happens. The state schools are safeties and the privates we shall see.
Hang in there, everyone! This is the home stretch. D has 4 songs to do for Northwestern, so I am going to let her rest up as much as possible before the trip. Not sure if she should wear the humidiflyer or a germ mask though 
Spot on @bridgenail ! Wishing good luck to all during auditions. A lot of stress is inevitable but parents, keep the quality time healthy with your kids. These are unforgettable times.
Talk about stress, D had her bridge and sound post collapse during rehearsal at school yesterday. We rushed the violin to our luthier (45 minutes away) and we pick It up later this afternoon. Tomorrow night we head out to Oberlin. I’m exhausted and I haven’t even packed my suitcase.
@coloraturagirl If you are still at Northwestern on Sunday afternoon, try to see the BCE choral concert. D has the solo on the final piece!!
Oh no, @SweetStrings, that IS super stressful!!! Sending you good vibes and hoping all work out!
@songbirdmama we would love to- and yes, we’ll still be there! We’ll make every attempt. Still waiting to hear back on a private lesson.
@SweetStrings I’m so sorry you had to deal with that additional stress. We used to have a sax player in the house and have had the experience of running frantically to the shop and begging them for a quick turn-around because of an upcoming festival, but that’s nothing compared to an audition! I have often felt lucky to have a piano player now, nothing to bring, not even drum sticks!
Best of luck to everyone auditioning this weekend, I know you will all do great!
Good news! We picked up the violin yesterday and it sounds great. D says it actually sounds better than before and she’s really happy and excited for these next auditions. I’m simply relieved as we’re flying to Cleveland tonight. I hope that we don’t have any more ‘excitement’ for awhile.
Good luck to everyone auditioning at Eastman tomorrow!! Can’t wait to hear about it! ?
@akapiratequeen - including my student auditioning for MM VP. ? The years fly by!
@buoyant Already? How exciting! Fingers crossed for her!
Changed our Northwestern date to 2/15. D has a terrible chest cold. Fingers crossed she can sing for CMU and Vandy in a week.