@coloraturagirl I hope she gets better soon.
@Doransa -Thank you so much. Happy we could change Bienen, but I hope D is up to par for CMU & Vandy next week. We were SO careful on the planes, but she could have picked this bug up at school. Boo winter 
@coloraturagirl hope your D is on the mend. We did Vanderbilt last weekend and had a wonderful time. Hope you two are able to enjoy yourselves. We ate at a yummy grilled cheese restaurant nearby and it was so good I wish we had that place here.
My S got an email from CIM
"There has been increasing concern about the 2019 Novel Coronavirus around the world.
The Admission Office at CIM has reviewed the CDC website as well as the World Health Organization, Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio Department of Health offices to make the most informed decision about auditions at CIM.
With our partners at Case Western Reserve University, we ask that all applicants who exhibit any symptoms (flu-like symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath) to stay home and send in a recorded audition.
…
"
We will be heading to CIM this weekend. I guess it is an option to have a skype interview or a recorded audition for some schools.
@akapiratequeen - seems like yesterday, right? Last year, we had to reschedule his Eastman audition because our flight was cancelled due to polar vortex! Now, he said he is helping out at auditions today! Good luck to all auditioning this weekend!
@sweetstrings thank you- she can at least talk today, so that’s an improvement. Hopefully singing will return in a few days. We’ll look for that restaurant- it sounds wonderful! We are excited to see Vandy for sure.
I just read an article that a Conservatory (national) in Italy cancelled private lessons to all Asian students (Chinese, Korean and Japanese, etc who don’t have any flu-cold-like symptoms) due to Coronavirus issue…The school asked all Asian students to be absent until 2/5…
I just hope this wouldn’t happen in US…
@JeJeJe that’s horrible!
@JeJeJe that’s really disheartening to hear. Reactionary racism based on fear and not science. Can you imagine this happening at our conservatories, any Asian student with no recent travel to Hubei province?
So my son got a letter yesterday from one of his auditions…
Congratulations on a successful audition. “We will be pleases to have you as a Music Major…” etc etc “Dr. Zeuch, who heard the sight-singing/ear training portion, wrote that you, “…have a great ear.” He recommended that you practice solfege and gain more experience singing.” This was in a letter from the Department of Music Chair, which came with a Talent Award… woot woot. He loved that they had specific details about the audition in the letter. Loving the $$$ being thrown my kids way for talent (that’s what we were hoping for cause he’s not getting any more academic merits, I’m sure) … but I digress.
My son is having a bit of a challenge with the sight-SINGING portion of his auditions… at least from his own assessment. He scrunched up his face when he read that he needed to “gain more experience singing”. He’s like… “I don’t get why I need to sing. They don’t make the vocal performance majors play the clarinet during their auditions, now do they? Why can’t they just give me a piece of music to sight READ?” He makes a valid argument. I told him I would ask cause I can’t answer that. So does anyone know? I can understand this for Music Education majors, maybe, but why DO instrumentalists (performance ) need to know how to sight SING? Aural skills , I get. Testing for Rhythm … I also get, but you don’t have to SING to do that. He’s got the theory down fine. But when they throw a piece of music in 6/8 time and say SING (yup… happened yesterday at his audition), I’m with my kid. WHY?
Thanks for the feedback. The kid turned 18 today so I told him I’ll get the answer as a gift ?Knowing the WHY behind it might make him try to get better at it or at least practice it a bit for the auditions he has left.
Hope all your kids’ auditions are going well. So far, so good… GREAT, actually, in this clarinet camp. With each one, he’s built confidence (that was the plan!) and is now ready to tackle the auditions at his top choice schools.
Congratulations on your son’s acceptance and talent award!
Just in case, no one more experienced gets back to you before your son’s 28th birthday ends, here is the feedback from non-musically trained parent.
My son is a jazz instrumentalist. Even I appreciate his music talent, I don’t think that he can succeed as a vocalist. He is on tune though. He has great ear. Sight reading never been a problem. He was trained by a “Grammy award” jazz instrumentalist in an advanced combo since 7th grade (with scholarship, otherwise, we couldn’t afford). When his was tired keep playing / improvising during a long rehearsal, he was always forced to sing. According to the mentor, he has to be able to sing to play his instrument.
My son is a freshman at the Conservatory. I haven’t asked him in depth about his classes but one of his class (music theory or something) requires “singing”. Yes, he sings everyday.
@BenniesMom1 Congratulations to him on the acceptance and scholarship! That is certainly a nice thing to have going in to the rest of his auditions.
18th birthday…sorry for the type…
@BenniesMom1 that’s great news! Congratulations to you both!
For what it’s worth, my son’s teachers have always expected him to sing his parts before/while learning to play them. It’s considered a key part of his learning process, in jazz, at least.
He’s an experienced singer so that hasn’t been a problem for him. He’s actually getting slammed in another area—piano. Turns out he should have been focusing on that as well. Oh well, that’s what college is for, right? It’s always something!
Eastman was a really positive experience yesterday. They had hundreds of little sticky notes on every surface with uplifting and encouraging messages. There were current ESM students in lavender sweatshirts in every corner of the school offering help and input. Just a great group of young people who seemed happy to engage. Parking was easy. Plenty of practice space - no issues finding a private room and they had group ones available too. We were able to wander freely to explore the campus and even the dorm building with cafeteria. There was a jazz quintet playing in the elevator(!!) which was really fun. Auditions ran right on time for us. The Wegmans on Monroe is gigantic with plenty of ready-to-take meals and hot and cold bars if you’re looking for easy food.
@BenniesMom1 I can’t speak for the “training” side of instrumental study as my D is a vocalist. And others have addressed it already. However I can tell you this:
Multi-talented musicians get more gigs. It is difficult to make it as a singularly focused musician these days unless you are the best of the best (and lucky). My D has friends who are instrumentalist and are often required to perform and even sing a bit on stage. Smaller productions (resources are tight) will have musicians step forward and act very small roles. And they could be expected to join in a chorus as well. It is often assumed that they can sing (basically) if they’ve been to music school. My D a vocalist (who does act and dance…never a featured dancer but a good skill to have) has also had to fill in with small musical ensembles in performances. She always does percussion…as she did do drumming (and violin) as a kid.
College music is full of “fundamentals”…like piano for my D…which now helps her since she teaches voice. So…just assure him it will make him a better musician and put him on par with others in the long run. He doesn’t need to become a vocalist (my D is NOT a pianist)…he simply needs learn the “skill”.
@tableforsix yay on the Eastman audition!
Also, this is just to add, mostly for jazz instrumentalists…Thanks to bridgenail for your comment about your vocalist D does percussion…you reminded me this…
According to my son’s jazz mentor (great saxophonist / improviser), ALL JAZZ MUSICIANS must be able to DRUM and SING. My son started taking piano lessons since 7th grade to help him learn harmony, rhythm and overall jazz playing. However, he hasn’t found a chance / time to learn DRUMS yet!
Music seems like learning forever!!!
My guess would be that it’s important to learn to sing adequately because singing is a very effective & easy way to communicate music. If he is leading a group of musicians that aren’t as skilled at sight reading, he could look at the sheet music and say, okay flute, your part is la la la la and trumpet your part is la la la la la.
Whatever the reason, it will only make him a more well-rounded musician.
@JeJeJe I love that your son’s mentor said that drumming and singing is essential for jazz musicians, because my jazz saxophonist son is also a drummer, and just the other day he told me that he’s getting better at singing! Now, just to get him through jazz piano, ah!
Congrats all for such encouraging news (and $$$)! So exciting.
On the singing (and drumming) front. My percussion kid can’t sing very well - music theory has been kicking his butt, especially solfege. But as he learns, he admits his playing is improving drastically. Probably will help him tune timpani faster too!
As for drumming - it’s HARD. Playing drum kit is not for front of heart. Percussion kid is focusing on kit this semester with the Boyer jazz drum professor and working a lot (not to the extent of Whiplash). So kudos to kids who can play a reed/brass instrument and the drum kit.