<p>I got to registration at around 8 AM to a free Starbucks-like reception. The dean and other important figures were all meeting with each of us as we lounged around for the morning program. They were all very personable. There was a string quartet, brass quintet, and piano performance by graduate students–very impressive.
Afterwards, I went straight to my 30 minute warm-up a floor down. Nothing amazing. There were halls with plenty of rooms, each with an upright piano, some with grands reserved for piano majors. After warming up for 15 minutes, I packed up, listened to Jacqueline Du Pre on my iPod to relax, then headed to my cello audition.
It was a one-on-one with the cello professor, Carter Enyeart (excellent professor, by the way), in his small, quaint office. I sweat a lot due to the humidity and temperature in the room and the intensity of the Elgar didn’t help either. I wasn’t nervous, though. The sweat rolled down my eyes and it looked like I was crying because Elgar is so passionate haha. I played through half of my Bach piece and half of the Elgar and he stopped me and told me he didn’t need to hear anymore and that I was accepted and I should get an official letter soon. He said I did a great job, gave me a pat on the back, and told me to keep in touch!
I was done by 11. I went back to the reception, grabbed a bagel, coffee, and cereal bar for breakfast/lunch, then went to the orchestra rehearsal. The group is small- about 6 cellos in that section. All of the basses trickled in late one by one haha. The rehearsal turned out to be a composition reading, which was great because I’m a prospective composition major as well. Dr. Chen Yi was there overseeing the rehearsal and it was being recorded. It was a very nice experience and there was a wide variety of voices in each student composer.
I skipped the tours and other events going on (I’m a local to KC), so I was in the same building, not running around, frazzled. The reception, warm-up, and audition were all in the same building. I’m sorry to hear that some schools have different buildings assigned for warm-ups and auditions.
But, that’s my experience! I was out by 3 with a good impression from the school, and although I want to get out and experience the rest of the world, I’m very lucky to have a nice program close to home.</p>