Class of 30 Undergrad/Class of 28 Grad: All Things Related to Music School Applications (prescreens/tours/interviews/auditions/supplements/etc)

College Majors Music Majors
1422

Congrats! I’m with you on the “things meant to be line of thinking” when mine wrestled between a conservatory vs. university. The further we got, the more appealing some of the university options became - from campus to curriculum to overall vibe to ‘can I see myself living here for 4 years’ and ‘are these my people?’

Our best offers came from universities (don’t neglect your studies and SATs!) and to @anotheroboemom ‘s point, teachers may change. While the teacher may be the driving force, students are only spending ~3-4% of their waking hours with their teacher during the semester. If you’re not happy the other 96% of the time, it may be a rough ride.

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1423

Well put!

1424

For anyone still struggling to pick a school, the above is what I would tell kids to consider NOW. Initially, you can be so focused on school reputation, teacher, studio, curriculum, money etc. That is all important. But at the end of the day, have you found “your people”? Only a kid can determine that. And I would encourage kids to use their “gut instinct” and live with their decision. There is so much in a performance career that requires a musician to lean into themselves, their gut, their feelings…so working with your kid to trust their gut is a good thing.

My D’s teacher had to take a semester off due to back surgery. My D was a sophomore, bummed and concerned. The school brought back a past teacher…that gave my D some fresh perspectives and turned out to be wonderful. Starting Junior year, she continued with her teacher but began branching out to other faculty members for “special lessons” depending on the upcoming opera. She realized how powerful it was to work with many teachers. And, in the real world, you have to work with a variety of music directors etc. So, like others have said, it was a good experience.

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1425

Well guys! We made it to the other side! Daughter chose Vanderbilt! It was a tough decision between Eastman, IU and Vandy. I’ll tell you, I am so proud of my daughter. My husband and I always told her it was her choice. She wrote a list if pros and cons and even tried to put “weight” into them. She gathered us together last night, went over the list and asked us for our opinion. After discussing the list and talking about which pros and cons were most important to her and basically just talking through it logical, we all came to the same conclusion! She is Nashville bound. Her biggest issue was, prestige…I mean it is hard to turn down Eastman and IU. Great schools for music. (My oldest is currently at IU Jacobs, so that also made the decision difficult because these two played piano duets together and thought it would be great to be able to do so again!)

But in the end, the factors that put Vandy on top…(1) Amazing people who were all very friendly at audition, including the director and assistant director of admissions of Blair who were extremely encouraging, helpful and supportive. The students also stood out as warm and friendly…more so than any other school she auditioned to. (2) Blair is only Undergrad! DD will get lots at opportunities without having to compete with grads and doctorate students. (3) Ability to take advantage of academic courses at a very highly regarded university. (4) Her teacher! She loved her trial lesson with her professor. Even though her professor is quite young and doesn’t have the years of experience as some of the other professors, she connected with her way of teaching, as well as felt a personal connection with her. She feels she will be a great mentor! She also kept emailing her letting her know she is still hoping DD will choose Vanderbilt. Not one of the other professors from the other universities did this! (5) Location! Nashville is a fun and vibrant community, with lots to see and do locally. (6) They gave her a nice financial aid (no merit) package and we will pay less than 15K a year. Plus they gave her a competitive 6K summer program stipened. They are currently working on adding even more, by offering her some merit. (7) They are all required to live on campus the entire 4 years! This is a plus for us. They have upper classmen housing (apartments) on campus and this promotes a sense of strong community! Plus she won’t have to scramble to find off campus housing. Btw this is a huge issue at IU, starting your sophomore year. (8) Her professor offered her an opportunity to study a week in South Korea this summer before she even begins her freshman year. (9) since there is no grad program at Blair, she will have to go elsewhere once she graduates. She likes this idea.

We are still waiting on appeals from Eastman (our 3rd) and IU (our 2nd appeal). But the first and second appeals didnt come close to what Vandy is offering. But even if they do come through, DD said her mind is made up! Vanderbilt it is!

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1426

Yay congrats! I have to say the engagement from the professor sounds fabulous. The South Korea offer for this summer before she even starts….that’s just the type of engagement a student could only hope for from the professor they’d be working with over the next 4 years. Sounds like the professor is super excited about her and that make you feel wanted that much more.

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1427

For your son’s sake and not bashing it, MSM financially has traditionally been a bit weaker than some of the other higher level music programs, they definitely don’t have the endowment of a Juilliard or a couple of other schools I can think of. What I am saying is don’t take this as an indication of your son’s ability, they have limited money and they allocate it as best they can, they aren’t like NYU…..

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1428

You can use a rider on your household policy if your son is still living at home (as far as I know, some companies may extend it to being in college, mine did not). You would need to check with them about coverage, how the rider works, if there is a max value on it, do they cover loss based on it being damaged (it depends on the instrument, with violins and cellos because they also can be collectors items, if an instrument is damaged it will often drop the collectability value, and that can be part of the payout.).

My recommendation? Total Dollar Insurance Musical Instrument Insurance | Get A Quote Online | Total Dollar Insurance. Crappy name but they are first rate and their premiums are decent (they have a base price that covers instruments,bows, etc up to a certain value, I think 100k). They are associated with Chubb insurance so it is a reputable firm behind them.

We have personal experience with a loss through them. My son had an instrument on loan to him, a very expensive vintage violin that met with a pretty significant accident. There was no wrangling , the luthier handling the repairs gave the cost and the value lost as a collector piece, and they paid it all promptly. They also didn’t drop us as a customer (my son has his own violins and bows) and they didn’t jack up the price on coverage for his instruments and such either.

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1429

What I would do is talk to his teacher. The question I would have about getting a new instrument (and this is where his teacher comes in) is whether the current one is limiting his sound or if there is diffferences in sound between his current instrument and what else is out there. My son is a violinist and that is way, way different, there can be huge differences in sound between instruments made by the same luthier, let alone other makers. Brass instruments are factory produced and within a maker there likely is little difference, but I assume there could be with instruments made by other makers.

There isn’t a perfect time, but as someone said, you want the best instrument you can when going into auditions. The real key with any instrument is your son playing them and seeing which one he can work with best. If you go to a music store and try out trombones and he doesn’t hear/feel any difference playing it, it doesn’t make sense to upgrade. I don’t know about brass instruments, music stores with violins let you check instruments out to try them, work with them, maybe play them for your teacher and it could take more than a few trips to figure this out. Note it could be very different with brass instruments or woodwinds, but I think there it is about how your son finds playing them. Nice part is if his current instrument stacks up well, you may not have to go through the cost of a new instrument. With my son his then present violin was limiting him, he actually had a borrowed instrument for his auditions, and when he graduated we bought a new violin for him, one that he felt could handle him, and it still does, he used it professionally and is still his backup violin.

I don’t know what college marching bands dictate, but honestly having done marching band for 4 years in high school, you aren’t talking a place where you need refined sound and given you are both in marching band and then playing in the stands, I think his high school instrument would be fine, I wouldn’t use the same instrument he is playing in lessons or stage bands and on the field, marching practice or in the stands.

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1430

We definitely don’t take it as any indication of his ability. It sounds like it came down to our financial situation just not being needy enough in the end. He’s perfectly happy now with his decision of going to Berklee. You know love the school that loves you back. Well they showed him love lol

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1431

I hear you with the kid showing a program love and them not showing it back, there is a lot of that in music, there were a lot of times when we were angry for our son, wondering what was going on (and obviously, as parents, we are biased. But in many cases others commented on it who would know, who were high level people on his instrument and were like “WTH”. ). The reality is that it is hard. Kid auditions for something, thought they did great, didn’t get in. Program accepts him but screws up the process of getting a teacher (raising hand for my son). Group goes into a competition having won some big ones already, and doesn’t get out of the first round (competitions for the record are some of the most unfair things out there, despite what they claim. Politics, crazy rules, who is on the jury all can trip you up.).

The import thing here is if number 1 is not affordable, it isn’t the end of the world (and take it from me, I know as a music parent how much it hurts to have to say no). It doesn’t mean your son doesn’t have value, lot of music schools have the attitude that yes, you got in, be grateful, and if our aid is not great, well, we are a great school (they remind me of orchestras that when you go to a concert, act like they are delivering pearls before swine, same kind of attitude).

And if he felt school 2 was neck and neck, it means he felt like he could go there and be happy. Maybe school 1 had better facilties or was in a place he would rather be, but think about it (this is what I would tell my son), you got into a program that is really, really good and they came through for you, the teacher may have gone out of his way to help, and that means something, it may mean he isn’t a small fish in the sea in a school that sees everyone as a small fish.
I can tell you with a long term view, that he will be fine. If his desire is there, if he is willing to dedicate himself, he will do fine at the second choice as it seems otherwise to be a good program in his view. It also is a life lesson about music, that when navigating it you are always going to be making choices and sometimes you will end up with door number 2 instead of door number 1. Put it this way, my son went to his number 2 school UG because Number 1 screwed up, showed the same kind of indifference, and he ended up getting something special from number 2 that still has value in his life so many years after graduating.

I wish your soon smooth sailing and good fortune on the SS Music Student Cruise:)

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1432

If I were you I think number 2 is better. Having a teacher that believes in you is important, and to be honest while my son has worked with a variety of teachers who helped a great deal, he always had a primary teacher who was guiding his path. To be honest that teaching by team has problems with it, the variety of viewpoints often comes with stress of who do you listen to because they often have different ideas. Any music ensemble who have been coached or people who have been in masterclasses will tell you that it can be frustrating of knowing who to be listening to. Maybe it is just my bias, and obviously my opinion as an observer, but if it were my son I would tell him I thought number 2 was better.

1433

There is a lot of wisdom in what you are saying. The OP didn’t say, but if the playing level at option 2 of the students was way less than option 1, then yes, that would be a consideration. But the kid seemed to feel number 2 was almost as good as 1, so I assume that means he thought the levels were pretty much the same.

I totally agree that the big fish in a small pond isn’t a great thing, I think being around people who are better is a huge , huge incentive (some kids can handle being the big fish in a small pond, there motivation doesn’t come from the kids they are with but what is out there in the world), but I agree. My son when he was auditioning for music school didn’t have any what you could call safeties, like the state school in my state (which doesn’t have a particularly high level music program), or a school considered mid tier, he auditioned for all high level programs. He said that if he couldn’t get into that level of program, that going to a safety made no sense to him (and please understand, this is him, his reasoning, it isn’t a hard and fast rule), that it likely wouldn’t help him. He said he would have continued studying privately for year, do a high level youth orchestra, and try again the next year. Music is not the same a studying something like computer science, which is mostly taught the same way, and at a safety you can do well, and then maybe go to a top school in grad school if they have something you think you need.

In music you theoretically could do the same, go to the ‘safety’ then go to a higher level program for an MM, but the problem is the safety may not get you to the level the grad program requires. But in the OPs case, if the kid felt the level at #2 was close to number 1, that shouldn’t be a big issue.

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1434

The short answer is not really in the formal way you parents/anpplicants are requesting now. But we have had some success with getting small amounts of money once the musician was enrolled.

Just the experience in our family with 3 music performance grads over a span of many years.

My DH, many many years ago was awarded some few thousand dollars a semester as an added stipend under the condition that he work less hours/take fewer gigs outside of school so he had more time to practice. True story, my husband fully paid for his music degree because his father would not allow him to pursue a “worthless” music degree. My husband is one of the most gifted musicians I know and has been very successful in music and in life. It is one of the big reasons we supported our kids within our means when they decided to pursue music.

Oldest kid was offered about $5K per semester when kid switched from a science degree with music minor to a music major after the first semester of school.

Youngest kid has had opportunities at his conservatory that translated to income that we did not know ahead of time. These include paid gigs within and outside of school, support for travel and lodging for auditions, some additional funding for rent/living expenses. Have your musician keep an eye out for all of these opportunities if the budget is tight.

There is money out there. Even as budgets seem to get tighter (including for music programs). But there are also many benefactors who continue to support the arts. It takes some research and initiative on the part of your musician, but will likely be a part of their professional life if they continue in music as a career.

Exciting to see this new group of musicians make this next giant step!

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1435

Congrats! And please understand that Vanderbilt’s music program is a top notch college music program and it has a lot of high level students. Why? Vanderbilt and Northwestern are sort of the dual degree paradises among music schools. They are both very, very strong academically and they attract top notch music students who want to dual degree (often to please mom and dad that along with music, they are getting a ‘useful’ degree). A number of kids coming out of programs like Juilliard pre college and top music students end up going there ime and more than a few of them after undergrad go on to get an MM at a conservatory or high level school once they have made the parental units happy.

Again, congrats!

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1436

Exactly and the tradeoffs may not be worth it, in the end it comes down to what the student feels will work best. If you get a better deal from a school that is close to the school that is slightly better, it may be okay to go with the money. But if the school with the best offer in terms of faculty and students is not that near to the other school, that is a factor that needs to be looked at. My son got into Colburn UG, but decided not to go there because he felt the program being so small would not work for him. We were fortunate that finances weren’t an issue (though I am still crying lol) , and if they were then Colburn may have been the better option even if not optimal. But for example if the state music program was the alternative, I am not sure it would have been worth it for him to go there. Unfortunately reality is there and finances are a big part of it, and music schools are d**** expensive to say the least, and aid definitely hasn’t kept up with the cost of it, and in many schools merit aid is tied to need as well.

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1437

my jazz guitar daughter will be at Eastman as well. Exciting times!

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1438

DC pushed the button last night and committed to NEC. Thanks everyone for info and company on this journey!

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1439

Congrats!! And reason #7– YES! This is similar to how Oberlin works and it is fantastic. No landlords or subletting to deal with (until the fall for post grad for us, LOL) and guaranteed housing. I have really appreciated it and feel this is a major advantage. And all the other reasons too!

1440

Congratulations! Sounds like our kids will be spending the next four years together!

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1441

Huge Congratulations! I think a lot of people don’t know how selective Blair/Vanderbilt is. The acceptance rates on most instruments are lower than the acceptance rates at Eastman and IU. Your daughter will LOVE studying at Blair.

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