Feeling bad prescreens didn't work out- advice?

compmom
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 09:16:45 +0000

So what program is she applying for at Belmont? Here is info from their site:

"Church Music Major | Commercial Music Major | Music Performance (Classical) Major | Music Theory | Piano Pedagogy Major | Music Composition Major | Musical Theatre | Music Education Major | Undergraduate Music Home | B.A. with Music Major | Music with Outside Minor | Minor in Music | Music Therapy Major

Belmont’s School of Music provides a unique learning environment, with teaching excellence in both classical and commercial music genres. Whether your interest is pop, jazz, church music or chamber music, our top-notch faculty will provide you with personal instruction, grounded in a firm understanding of what it means to be a working musician."

Here is a great essay about different ways to study music (BA, BM, double degree, minor, double major, extracurricular):
[Double Degrees | Peabody Conservatory](http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html)

Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt does NOT require an instrumental audition for composition applicants. You clarified that but just to repeat. It looks like their composition department is classical (often the term “composition” refers to classical, but not always) but their musicianship program takes into account all genres in the contemporary mix (“jazz, popular and world music”). Here is text from their site:

Was your daughter clear on whether or not the portfolio should be classical? I checked the faculty and they write for orchestra, string quartet, and other classical concert ensembles.

Generally, composition applicants have to go to a summer program, a conservatory prep, or hire musicians to get their pieces played by quality musicians. A composition teacher can sometimes make that happen too. Composition can be taught at a distance, believe it or not. Did your daughter submit Finale scores and audio or were her pieces played by musicians?

I am concerned that your daughter is now unnecessarily discouraged because she applied to classical programs but is not a classical composer. Is that right? Belmont could be a better fit, depending on what program she applied to. She may be very talented but if she doesn’t write classical music, she will get turned down by classical programs, at least, for the most part. This could be disheartening and discourage her from music, which would be a shame.

If she does want to write classical works, she could take a gap year, take lessons, do some programs, apply to some competitions, take more theory, get to know the works of many composers (including modern and contemporary), and write several pieces and get them played. That is usually what it takes to get into a program like Blair, or Ithaca for that matter. (Ithaca notes that instrumental auditions are optional for composers and although they want a portfolio that is presumably classical, once there, the school offers “the opportunity to explore jazz, electronic music, film scoring, and other media.”)

I hope she is happy with whatever happens and that she is not discouraged by classical program expectations if she is talented in contemporary, folk, jazz, or more popular, music. I really hope Belmont works for her.
Good luck!