Hi. yes he did. $15K merit scholarship. Still pricey! Eager to hear more about SUNY P later in the process. Have a friend whose son (composition major) went to SUNY Fredonia, which has been fabulous for him
Do you have any recommendations about where to stay for the Frost audition?
We stayed at Aloft. About 10 minutes away and one of the cheaper ones we could find. Nice hotel. There is a pool but it was freezing.
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Very good to know re: mid to late December! Have been nervously checking the view counts for prescreens we submitted for the 12/1 deadline and none of them have been viewed yet…
We stayed across the street at Thesis. Nice but expensive, two lobby restaurants, decent food.
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Your son could pick out the above. Trust me, a faculty member (who has seen it all) can pick out elements as well. Even though the auditions are short, the faculty is experienced (like your S).
Remember if you pass the prescreen…you are good enough for the program. It is never about who is number 1 (well maybe for the tippy top it is) but teachers are often looking for students they identify with based on their skills/experience. This example is for voice but it may help illustrate the point. My D’s teacher liked certain types of voices (Mozart type voices). She didn’t work often with Wagner type voices. Her professional life was with Mozart, Puccini etc…not Wagner or Bach concert signing for that matter. From my understanding (my D PA’d for her during audition season one year), she wasn’t necessarily thinking…who’s the best…she was thinking…who can I help. Of course, she would vote as a panel for talented voices of any style…but she most interested in certain voice types. That, of course, had to be balanced with dept needs so again a teacher may not say much…as there can be other considerations in the process.
So, I always think the audition is to show your true self…hoping that your skills and style will connect with a teacher…as opposed to trying to be perfect or the “best”.
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I totally agree and that aligns with what I saw with my son. There is a certain technical/playing level that the panel is looking at as the base, but with teachers they are looking for students who they think are interesting or have musical instincts that the teacher sees something in. Teachers will sense if a student is trying to be something they aren’t or forcing it. With the teachers my S worked with, he probably wasn’t the greatest technical instrumentalist they had worked with (his UG teacher taught a list of people that anyone who knows the violin world would easily recognize) but they saw both his playing and his musical ideas and they wanted to teach him because of the combination.
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Absolutely! I have said this before…but after one of my D’s auditions (which was short and sweet), a teacher said as she was walking out the door…by the way, I like your dress. My D just glowed from that comment (who cares about the music!). Unlike her mother, my D has style (that sometimes embarrasses me). IMO, her shoes were a little too high and her dress a little too short…but it was stylish and she felt GREAT in it. And that teacher, a bit of a diva herself, became my D’s teacher. Good thing I kept my mouth (mostly) shut about that dress!
As my D says: game sees game. That was in about a 7 minute audition.
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lol about the diva comment. Singers tend to have their own style, when my son was in pre college, UG and grad school the singers (the young women) tended to play the diva to the hilt he thought, said it was very different than instrumentalists:)
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arghh… the waiting for prescreen results is causing me to obsess. And I’m not even worried that my kid didn’t pass them, but I just want confirmation of an audition date so I can go ahead and book travel. Waiting on actual results is going to be painful in March …How do parents do this?!
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The best part of S21 auditioning during COVID was the online auditions. Don’t have any idea how we would have done this otherwise.
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Right there with you! I’m checking constantly, though I’m super worried about whether or not my kid can pass the prescreens or if we’ll need to be refocusing on different schools. And also anxious to get travel and work schedules figured out.
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If it helps, know that for many (most?) programs, the staff/faculty who will be evaluating prescreens are in the final week or so of the term. For example, my son’s conservatory has 2 concerts this weekend and finals next week.
So it is crunch time for them which may impact the timeline for prescreen results.
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Most will come out mid-Dec to mid-Jan…it’s not quite mid-Dec.
Hang in there. We’ve all been through it…and I’m not going to lie…it’s painful. Best to try to find other things to focus on to prevent going crazy!
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Not to mention if they are also members of an orchestra / ballet pit orchestra they are drowning in Holiday Pops and Nutcracker performances. My spouse has to listen to conservatory and university prescreens but right now is averaging 2 concerts a day.
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Yep and they are holding upper divisionals and juries for their current students. My daughter had her freshman voice jury last night.
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And still teaching as many makeup lessons for current students so they get their quota before break.
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When my daughter was recording prescreens and writing all the interminable essays, we thought that would end up being the toughest part. Then, when we were traveling six weeks straight for auditions, we thought that was the toughest part. But the worst part was the long wait for results at the end. But you will get through it and you will have stories to reminisce about your adventures together. You will likely end up missing this special time with your kid.
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My daughter had her second year voice jury on Wednesday, an opera rehearsal that night (show is in early February) and two more in-class performances on Thursday. She also has an audition next week for a class she wants to take next semester. This is a really busy time for music programs!
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D just got admitted to the music school for Susquehanna. No mention of scholarships or anything but I’m really happy for her. It’s a top choice college for her. Today I’ve been running around trying to get her instrument repaired, sigh. First her private teacher looked it over and fixed a few issues now it’s up with the professional repair guy and he’s irritated at her because it’s likely user error causing the issues. She has an honor band audition tomorrow morning. Now that she’s home from school we’re going to drive the hour back to the repair shop and wait until he’s ready to go over it with her. She has another 2 honors band auditions and 2 more college auditions in the next 2 months. Plus all the local playing with the schools. Ensemble season was already a beast but adding college to it sets it on a whole another level with much higher stakes!
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