I really hope more parents start chiming in. I jumped into musical parenthood with no musical background. I followed along last yr to glean as much information as I could. I was looking forward to this yr’s application season so that I could learn more. It has been so quiet!! Please, parents, ask questions! Share stories, both those of success and those where your student could have been better prepared/should have asked more questions. Share stories about schools/auditions/lessons.
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my son plays viola. He (and many of his string friends) has been using Zoom q2n for several years. He has it at school now. When he is home during breaks, if he needs to record a decent piece, we have a Yeti Blue mic. He uses his laptop to run it.
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Here for any and all questions! What do you want to hear about?
We have a Shure MV88+ that I got off of Amazon. It works great with the iPhone. Definitely make sure you have a tripod as well.
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Thank you very much – this is super helpful!
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Thanks so much!
My son also uses the Zoom q2. Cellist. It’s both audio and visual.
Me too. And as a warm up for grad school next year….
I don’t know if this quiet thread reflects some of the uncharacteristic behavior of posters last year, or if it reflects a precipitous drop in the number of students planning on studying music.
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My D was only planning to submit music supplements for scholarships…
But after spending time putting together her music resume and portfolio, she realized how much she loves composition and sound design, and ended up applying for music technology majors at a couple of her schools, just to potentially have that option 
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I’ve been wondering that very thing!
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I hope neither of these are the case, it would be so sad.
The music major journey is so unique and can be unclear and unpredictable at times. But also having musician kids and having the opportunity to watch them develop and find their way is a rewarding experience as a parent.
Hugs to all the kids and parents submitting their applications and prescreens right now. The world needs the arts, perhaps now more than ever!
As a parent of two music grads and with a husband who has been a career musician most of his life, happy to be a resource for classical instrumentalists.
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There is also a demographic drop off with the class of ‘26, so that may figure in as well. It will be interesting to see how that affects numbers of applicants. Right now I can’t wait for December 2nd!
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Fingers crossed for you and your musician!
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As a parent with a high school senior in the process of applying to conservatories (cello performance) I’ll give my two cents. I followed this thread the past two years out of curiosity. We are an orchestra family and there are just as many kids out of my kids’ orchestra prep program applying to music as last year; we have not seen a decline in kids pursuing music and neither has his dad that teaches at conservatory. What I noticed was the thread got a little negative last year so if other parents that had juniors last year were taking a peak maybe they are nervous to chime in. It’s a bummer though as having a support crew like the positive people on these threads is what we could all benefit from. I’m literally typing this as my kid is recording with his pianist. Good luck to all going through this! Recording is tough!
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On the note of recording being tough, it’s the perfectionism here. He admitted to being about 20% done with recordings yesterday before heading to a recording session. Afterward he says he’s still only 20% done. With realistically 2 weeks to go. Sigh.
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Just some ideas on recording that helped my son when he was applying 5 years ago now.
I’ll start with agreeing with @LittleBlueHouse that it is the perfectionism that gets in the way. Probably true for all of our kids, because striving for perfection is how they have gotten where they are today.
But when the perfectionism gets in the way of playing well or getting things in on time, it becomes a problem. And for some of our kids at 17, it is the first time they really listen to themselves (over and over again) and they naturally nit pick on every tiny flaw. And at least with my son, the more takes he did often the worse he would play, because him being worried about making a small mistake would get in the way of freely expressing himself.
And of course the screening committees do not expect an absolutely perfect recording. What they do want to see is musicality, technique and tone at a high enough level to advance to a live or more extended remote audition.
So a couple of things my son’s teacher advised which helped a lot.
- Limit the number of takes for a single piece to a reasonable number. When you have 1-3 takes that you think are maybe 90 percent good, stop. When you feel like your performance is getting worse either due to fatigue or frustration, stop. And tell yourself that you can come back and re take at the end of all your recording if needed. Most of the time those 1-3 “pretty good” takes are great. And it allows you to move onto the next piece.
My son would later listen to his top takes and decide none were perfect but the trade off of maybe a mushy articulation in one spot for better phrasing and musicality was fine.
- I’m not sure if this is possible for everyone, but my son’s teacher had my son trade off with another student where one plays while the other films/records. At least for my son, it felt less pressured that way. No teacher present.
The good news is that they get so much better at recording with time, maturity and experience.
Good luck everyone!
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Love this tactical advice, @anotheroboemom . Thank you! It’s so interesting that some students record with a teacher present. My son would probably hate that, but he does admit to playing better when they are in the room.
I just wanted to add that I am really happy to see some posting in this forum finally! I started here when my son was applying several years ago, and I’ve been following since then, since my daughter will be applying next year for undergrad and my son for grad. Thanks everybody for getting re-engaged! This forum made such a difference for me the last time around and I really value the advice and collaboration.
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Mine will be applying for grad next year as well….just as I am finishing up helping my senior daughter now!
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Things are starting to get crazy over here…..my son has his first in-person audition this Saturday at FSU. Next weekend will be FIU and the following weekend we fly to Boston for Berklee. I just hope this flight cancellation thing that started today doesn’t impact our flight up.
He plans on taping the remaining pre-screen videos on the 11th and 16th. At that point it’ll be all about submitting everything that remains unsubmitted to meet the December deadlines. These are the schools high up on his list so I can totally relate to that perfectionist comment for the videos because in the past he has done several takes for some songs. He’s taping at one of his teacher’s studios with some of his very reliable friends.
Still waiting to hear back on prescreen results from UNT and UM (Frost).
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