Enjoy! If you have any questions please ask! My son ran the prospective student jazz jam for last week’s auditions!
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messaging you now!
Yes, she has ranked lists.
But, to answer a more recent comment by take lessons I meant as part of application-pre or at audition with the students’ most desired faculty. It seems like it’s not a thing to have lessons before auditions with more than one teacher.
Yes, I totally trust her teachers and her own judgement. Just is stressful.
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Yes, exactly- they have to protect for yield so more than 2 (or whatever the number is for available spaces) will be accepted!
@tryingtokeepupDad you have my empathy. I’m feeling it, too. Hearing about where others are applying is making me wonder if a couple others should have been on our list. I’m happy with my kid’s list, and so is his teacher. But the FOMO is real when you don’t have acceptances yet.
Also, does anyone’s kid ever leave an audition feeling like they nailed it? That will never be my kid. 
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Mine did for her first two. She was thrilled (so was I, even if not her top choices). Really hoping that carries into her upcoming auditions!
(and I, too, am second-guessing some schools we axed… but there were reasons for all the cuts, so I’m trying to stay focused on the ones that are left, knowing that they’re all good picks and she’d be happy to go to any of them. You only need ONE!)
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Thank You! We had Jacobs last week. An incredible experience and audition weekend at an incredible institution. You’re very lucky to have two daughters enrolled. We would be fortunate to have that opportunity too. Fingers crossed!
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I think most schools expect you to do trial lessons with multiple teachers. My daughter did them with at least 2 teachers at every school except Juilliard (because they charged a lot of $$$ and we couldn’t afford it, LOL) and IU (because she loved the teacher so much she knew that’s who she wanted to study with if she went there). Eastman makes a big deal about how, once you’re accepted, you can take as many 30-minute trial lessons as you want, so DD did 3 there. She also had 3 lessons at Oberlin, which she ended up choosing, and she even changed her mind about her choice of teacher after putting one of the other teachers on her application. At a couple of other schools, she had multiple teachers reach out to her directly and offer lessons, and some of them also told her that if she didn’t feel they were the right fit, they could recommend some of their colleagues that she might do well with. By the end of the process, she never wanted to have another sample lesson again as long as she lives, lol, but she felt really good about her choice, and that teacher has definitely been an amazing fit for her.
Schools want the kids to “shop around” and find the right fit in a teacher, and it’s much better to do that through sample lessons than to suffer through a semester or even a whole year with a teacher they don’t “click” with, and then to potentially cause awkwardness or bad feelings by requesting a change. It’s not a 100% guarantee they will end up with the right teacher, but it increases the odds significantly if they have lessons with several teachers so they can decide whose teaching style fits them best.
Miami and back home to Evanston tomorrow!
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Thoughts on telling a professor that they are your first choice when you talk at the audition? If you’ve had a lesson and felt rapport was great and really thrived with their teaching style? Obviously you need to play well but outside music, it’s advised to tell a school when they are your #1. Curious about all of your thoughts!
If the subject is brought up by the faculty member and it is not a panel audition, I would say it is ok to state your preference.
I don’t think this was ever asked of my son during an audition so maybe others can chime in. Maybe it’s a classical conservatory thing, but his auditions had very little personal interaction.
He was asked in one audition about where else he was applying. So maybe have your musician have some sort of answer prepared.
If there is opportunity for discussion, and the school is number 1 on your list, very much ok to tell them.
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I think it really depends on the instrument. There are definitely places for violin where shopping around and trying multiple teachers is not OK. There are some big egos and some intense rivalries between teachers at a few of the top schools. It would not surprise me if this also is true for some of the other hyper competitive instruments like piano or cello.
I’m very refreshingly not finding this to be the case with my second kid, who is a violist. All the viola faculty seems much more laid back and it seems like team teaching is pretty standard at a large number of schools.
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Thanks for the thoughtful response. He will have the opportunity for conversation.
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Is it unwise to answer this question honestly? As in, just factually without indicating a preference? I think my son has been asked this once so far.
I think that is what my son did. I don’t think that is unwise at all. But it is also ok to be more vague if one chooses.
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Some schools have day-long audition events (e.g., opening session with dean, financial aid talks, current student performance, conservatory or school tour). Are parents invited/encouraged to experience these, or do we just drop them off with a hug and prayer at 9 a.m. and pick them up in the afternoon?
We were welcomed in at the first two we’ve done so far! One had an opening session for everyone and then a parent Q&A, as well other options. Our second one had concerts, rehearsals, and a list of classes you could sit in on all throughout the week as well. Parents were very much included.
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I’m feeling the same! I’m trying to focus on how much fun we’ve had doing this together and enjoy the trips with him. But what if he doesn’t get in anywhere? He applied to Bienen, Frost, Blair, Jacobs, Peabody, and ASU. Thinking there is a sort of safety there but you really have no idea. 2 auditions down, 4 to go!!
Yes!!! Go to any sessions that interest you. Parents are usually welcome.
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