Granted it’s been over ten years here…but we had similar experiences. Our kid actually took lessons with a couple of different teachers at three schools. Yep…they encouraged that. It gave him a feel for the school, as well as the different teaching styles. Most of his trial lessons were well before his auditions. In one case, he had a trial lesson in the fall, and that teacher asked him to come for a lesson the day before his audition (this was at a conservatory). In another case, DS auditioned with one studio teacher at a school, and liked him a lot. That teacher wanted the other faculty on the instrument to also have a lesson with him.
We had a mixed bag in terms of payment…or not. We offered everywhere we went. Only one person took payment. But that lesson was also at his private studio.
My DD was not a music major, but did play her instrument in the college orchestra for all four years, and take private lessons. She also did trial lessons with the faculty on her instrument (she is an oboe/English horn player so it is not like they had a lot of requests). She only initially applied to three schools and had lessons with each of those private teachers. One invited her to play in an orchestral concert as well. Music was sent in advance. None of these teachers took payment for these trial lessons and all knew the kid was not going to be a music major. Fun Fact. One of the oboe teachers was a CC member and frequent poster at the time. Meeting her was fun. That’s actually where DD went to college, and this was her private teacher for two of the four years.