IU Jacobs
womp womp one of the only schools my son did not apply to for Jazz Guitar lol
I can’t really comment on the state of the current program other than it appears to have become more robust even in just the 5 years since my son there. Of course Covid was especially crappy for jazz collaboration. I don’t know much about the current jazz guitar prof either. My son studied under Dave Stryker, but he has moved on since.
We got burned with a similar situation…I would advise the later flight. My son was auditioning at Curtis, which has three days of violin auditions (two prelim and one finals) and he booked the last flight out of Philly on the day of finals. His audition ended up being something like 6:30pm at night and he missed his flight and had to get a hotel overnight. (Luckily he got in – otherwise I probably would have had a lot of anger about this.)
My son had another audition at another school in which he was asked to come back for a meeting later in the day with a professor.
Moral of the story: you never know if they will be running behind or need to see you again later in the day.
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Is anyone’s senior going to be doing a senior recital this spring before graduation? If so, how do you typically handle invites for something like this? Text? Email? something more formal?
If such a thing existed for my daughter (I wish it did!), I would ABSOLUTELY send it formal invites, and they would have her headshot, and to be extra, EXTRA, I would host a preshow reception at home, assume it’s at school, which is only 5 min away. She wouldn’t be there, of course, but I never tire of hearing about how wonderful she is. And my husband would be my arm candy. And everyone would be dressed, especially my woman friends and I who have too few opportunities to get all gussied up. And it would ask start with a paper invitation.
However, all of this could easily happen by text, and with a cute image made on Canva.
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OMG I love you and how extra you are!
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I know traditions are different everywhere, but my daughter had a recital before her “typical” grad party- so it functioned as more of a reception. We were lucky enough to have access to a room at the local university where the recital and the reception could both be held. It was so much fun and a memory I will forever cherish! For guests, we had a program printed that they could pick up at the beginning of the recital. Some people couldn’t make it to the recital but they were able to come afterwards, so we did not include any kind of program on the invitations. The decor was a mix of colors of her high school and the university that she was going to attend. I gave out as many invitations to people as I could lol and then sent invites on social media to people that I didn’t normally see but wanted them to feel included even if they lived far away. And speaking of being “extra,” on each table we had a bowl full of M&M’s in the colors of the university she would be attending with her face printed on each one. I know, I know. But how often do you get to throw an event to celebrate your kid?!? I will also say that my daughter was lucky enough to be able to take an independent study second semester of high school. The independent study time was used to prepare the pieces for the recital. It really all worked out magically and was the perfect celebration to the end of the audition season!
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Love this!!! Even down tot eh M&Ms. My son would totally kill me if I got those for him lol I love how you kinda joined it with her grad party.
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Both of my vocalists hosted 45-minute recitals to kick off their grad parties. Sang first and had receptions/open houses following. One we held in a small auditorium at a local university where her private voice teacher worked and the other we hosted in a small auditorium at a museum in town. The receptions/open houses were held in rooms just outside the halls. We made Facebook event pages and invited people through the link. My girls also created physical invites via the Walgreens photo website that they mailed to close family and friends and handed out at school to classmates and teachers. The girls posted to all their social media pages, and emailed or texted people for whom they had contacts. They were able to attach a photo of their physical invite to all their e-communications. My youngest even included friends on her recital doing duets/trios etc. That made it a little more interactive. Both events were fantastic experiences:). Their voice teacher really was the impetus. She wanted them both to have not only the experience of performing a recital, but planning one as well–choosing music, pulling together music, reserving a venue, scheduling rehearsals etc–before they headed to college.
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I’m sure my daughter was a bit mortified by the M&Ms, but I reminded her that her dad and I were celebrating just as much as she was and it’s our parental right to occasionally make those embarrassing moves in the name of pride. 
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Thank you to everyone who weighed in on my question about flight timing after Blair. Much appreciated!
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Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT. You all are talking about something you put on yourself??? I would have never thought of that-and she would never be down for it, but oh my gosh, this would be epic! I know your events are going to be so special!
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It was a lot of work, but so much fun! The timing of being able to use lessons and an independent study to prepare for a recital helped… but even if your daughter isn’t up for something like that, I hope you can find something special to mark the end of senior year! Being a musician/vocalist/composer and having to go through prescreens, auditions, and sometimes not knowing where you’re going while all your friends are settled… well, it’s something only a certain circle can understand. I think anyone who makes it through that gauntlet gets to celebrate however they choose!
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Just asked my Blair kid, and he says auditions USUALLY run on time, particularly earlier in the day, and that strings are more likely to run behind.
@kokotg this is excellent intel. Thank you! I think we are going to be optimistic about that, and if needed, we can always take an early flight out the next day.
Yes! We will be! I know other students in the youth orch, music school, and scholarship program have, and we’ll be doing something. I have no idea what but am following this (and will share… I need to check with some of the local families in our programs whose kids graduated last year)
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Happy New Year!
May 2026 be a year of exciting opportunities for all of the musicians (and their families) on this thread!
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For those that have applied to Oberlin and submitted the financial aid paperwork….is there a way to have the X next to the child’s W2 and Tax form disappear or at least turn into a checkmark since it doesn’t exist? Curious how we tell them there is nothing for this and that they have everything.
We had a different experience. We were told that kid’s strong stats helped him get the nod from the music program. That part was told to us directly; what I suspect is that it helps the music program to have high academic kids to balance for the times when they have a star musician who is not strong academically.
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