Not selfish at all. BassDad’s is great, so is yours, and even better with the acceptances coming in. I think we can feel a certain participatory satisfaction!
Congratulations to you and your son on the acceptances so far!
Your journal has been very useful. It gives those of us that will be going through the process in the future and idea of what is to come. Reading about someone’s experience after the fact, with all their knowledge and experience that was gained through the process, like with BassDad, is an incredible resource. Following the journey in the moment, as you have done for us, gives a different perspective that has its own benefits.
Yes! As a parent of a musical son who will be going through this process in two short years, both yours and BassDad’s stories are very very helpful.
And Congratulations on your son’s acceptances so far!
If I had a key piece of advice so far, and I’ll try to think of some summary statements later on to frame the process after final decisions, is that playing quality seems key. The classical people were the first I read on CC, and I got the idea that it just got tougher as you went upwards, seeing statements like All-States don’t mean much. So, I thought, “Wow. OK, I guess auditions are like All-Nations.” So, S prepared very thoroughly, visiting at least 6 different jazz bass instructors and 1 classical, playing oodles of varied gigs, transcribing, ear training, singing, light piano, leaving no stone that we could imagine unturned. Well, maybe jazz is different, or maybe there was some wrong calibration factor in the way I read or saw things, but if you prepare thoroughly, I have seen that you are going to be near the top of the list - at least this season on that instrument in that genre at those places.
What you write is true, about preparation, my son’s old teacher said that with auditions you need to be prepared months before the audition and be near perfect with what you will be playing, to achieve a level at the audition that will get you in (they described themselves as a decent player who could do well on auditions), which is likely around 90% of the way you played at 100% or so (given at an audition nervousness and other factors will diminish your capacity).
However, it also depends on the level of the program, if a kid is auditioning at a self described reach program (like a Curtis), no matter how much they prepare, if it truly is a reach, they likely won’t be near the top. Whereas if let’s say they audition at a less competitive program, a bottom of the 1st tier/top of the second tier, they will have a great audition and be near the top. Keep in mind that the audition list itself is not scientific, and for example the kid auditions at let’s say school Y, isn’t at the very top of the audition list in terms of technical playing, but a teacher sees something special in them, they can get in over the kids at the top of the list, so more than a bit can be based in intangibles. Speaking from experience, my son is not at the top in terms of technical playing, but he got into the studio UG of one of the most sought after teachers on his instrument at a top school, he is auditioning for grad programs and got a very enthusiastic response from another teacher who takes few students and is sought after by a lot of kids auditioning (IDK if he will get in or not, but so far it looks promising).
Your last line is not untrue, because it depends on a lot of factors, it depends on the level of the program, it depends on what they are looking for/need, it depends on which studios have openings, how many kids are auditioning, how good they are (yep, that can vary greatly at a lost of schools, less so at Curtis and Juilliard et al).
I would argue that while preparing thoroughly is critical to any audition, it won’t guarantee where you will be on that list, whether it is technical proficiency or teacher interest, but if you don’t prepare thoroughly it will be a lot less likely that you will even make the cutoff on that list;)
@GoForth, I thought you were gonna say think twice before you drive from Michigan to Miami!
Music merit email/portal notification received from UNT. Thank you, guys.
@drummergirl - that was a long-ish trip. The folks at Miami were surprised we drove in, saying that if people fly in, they can borrow a bass. It was so worthwhile, though, to be there, and to have both basses (electric and upright) to practice and perform on through the week. I wish we could have done a Chicago/Dallas/Miami/NewYork/Jersey loop, though.
@musicprnt - I believe that classical is so very tough. I met the mom of an excellent-sounding-to-me pianist who is 15 years old, who flies from Chicago to Boston once or twice a month for lessons, who has competed (not a school summer trip) in Russia and Asia, plays with other top home-schoolers, and still, the mom said that their attempt to get into Curtis will be kind of luck-based. My report about jazz, however suggests that it is basically much “easier”. Maybe not for Juilliard, or maybe some other places I have not visited. We did not visit MSM or Eastman, which often appear in threads as people’s bigger dreams than UNT or Miami, but I think UNT and Miami have to be consider top tier jazz places.
@goforth:
I can’t speak about Jazz, it is a very different world , the training is different, and to me Jazz doesn’t have the obsession with technical perfection that classical does for example, it is a different world in part because Jazz doesn’t have the long, long history that classical training does and that informs a lot of what goes on.
The jazz audition is challenging in different ways, especially with those jazz “jams”. In most cases, my son’s individual audition appeared a little more casual as it was performed usually one-on-one with the prospective teacher in his office. However, then you add in group auditions with other prospective students (Frost’s was an especially intense free-for-all, with parents observing) as well as sometimes another audition playing with current students. You have to be prepared for whatever standard is called out. And back to that Frost jazz jam (which started at 5:30pm after a long day). There were definitely some hot shots who had their solos down but were not listening to the other musicians in the slightest. Obviously, it’s supposed to be competitive but it sounded frenetic and there were just too many participating. Frost ran the jam like they were wrangling cows or running a really complicated square dance.
@drummergirl - I was at a recent Frost jam. If you were there on the 17th, then you would have seen S. I loved the whole experience, and I think they were observing how people “think on their feet”. Also, understand your thoughts. I noted how very, very, very carefully the description was articulated about how many choruses of soloing to take. To an auditioning student in any audition jam, if my opinion is worthy, it might sound better to listen to the feel of the song and insert meaningful notes and silences that make the song sound beautiful, and don’t worry about demonstrating the boundaries of chops.
@GoForth I totally agree that the jams are a great way to hear musicians collaborate (I’m a drummer after all!) but that one stood out as a jam that didn’t gel. Maybe we just had too many sax players that day. My son wasn’t fazed and was accepted into the program. I wanted to make the point that a jazz audition draws upon some specific skill sets and got a little sidetracked on the memory of that one particular experience.
Also, I think the one on one audition with the instructor was a valuable opportunity for my son to get a sense of his potential teacher. Especially as, in our case, we didn’t visit schools in advance.
@drummergirl - So cool. We dont have the letter yet, but got a verbal. S was the first bassist to play in the jam. He mentioned the piano was doing quite a bit of reharmonizations.
Great info on Frost. Is this the case for jazz vocalists as well or do just instrumentalists attend the jam session? Any advice for D and me as we head there at the end of the month for a college visit prior to her applications at the end of the summer? We already have meetings met with people in songwriting and jazz voice and plan to attend a couple of classes. Thanks
@SpartanDrew - the vocalists were in it, too. My take away is to sing like you love the song being played, and make it sound good. For voice audition, if the piano keeps playing, come up with words to sing and keep going. Know how to handle a microphone at the ja
S has now either been called, hearing a package is on the way, or has gotten the package from all 5 places. We did not expect that. They are all worthy places.
Wow. Now the really hard part, choosing! Will you do that East Coast trip now?
Possibly. Some numbers still need to come in. Could coincide with our high school spring break.
That’s great! I hope most or all the packages make them financially realistic options.
@SpartanDrew jazz vocalists took part in the Frost jam. Just want to clarify my experience was 2 years ago (my son’s a sophomore now at NEC) but I remember we also sat in on a class/performance and the jazz vocalist students were really terrific.