Thanks! I have a friend who called one of the major profs at a certain conservatory and asked if he could borrow a bass for his audition, and the prof (chair of the dept) gave her a very curt “No.” Perhaps that is only for classical, or perhaps he was in a difficult mood that day.
My son, ugh if only i could convince him to lighten his schedule! This year as a sophomore he CHOSE the cursed trifecta Apush, AP physics, and chem, and he is miserable. But there’s a “track,” and they don’t like to get off it! To be continued…
Thank you, @BassTheatreMom , i will message you soon.
My son did APUSH, Calc BC, AP Physics, and AP Chem junior year. I feel your pain. For what it’s worth, we did convince him to lighten up senior year - it helped that he did Calc BC and got a 5 as a junior, but he still struggled with it. He is only doing AP Econ/Gov and AP Music Theory this year. Core english, orchestra, soccer, and coache’s aid. No math, no science. That schedule may have hurt him a little, but this year has been SO nice.
I think the auditions were invaluable and worth missing a few days of school, esp since almost all are in the second semester of senior year. I would talk to the high school and explain why school may need to be missed.
Not only do the kids get to see the school, the facilities, and profs, but they meet other kids who are auditioning and that helps develop a community. My S is now regularly chatting with some kids (ones he met years ago and “re-met” at the audition and some new). They are comparing notes and likely will cross paths in the future. At many of the auditions, he had time with the faculty apart from the actual audition to chat and learn more about the programs and the personalities of the profs.
We are on the 2nd leg of our flights to Miami. Frost visit tomorrow with full day. Can anyone comment on the “sample lessons”? We haven’t scheduled one. Should we?
What do you already have set up? Any meetings? With the Dean - I think Frost encourage that meeting? Or is this just an information session? What is the goal of the trip?
Do the profs in your area know you are coming? Did you bring the instrument or is it voice? Is your child prepared for a sample lesson? If so, I would call the relevant profs and see if they are available. Since it is a Friday, some profs will teach Tuesday - Thursday and take off the weekend, some won’t.
Good luck.
We have a packed day tomorrow but are in the area through next Wednesday. We are meeting with Dr. Reid, head of jazz voice department and Rey Sanchez with songwriting. The head of commercial music is out of town. We have tour of Frost and meeting with
Oops sorry. Sent before I was ready. Meeting with Karen Kerr in the morning then a tour. Then meetings with profs mentioned above and sitting in on 2 classes/sessions. We can come back for a sample lesson if it would be valuable. What is the goal of doing that? For them to see/hear her? She is a jazz vocalist and singer/songwriter. Dr. Reid knows her vocal coach very well and considers her a mentor. She is uber prepared for anything. She has her very first show in 2 weeks. A fundraising concert with a full set of songs with jazz combo followed by a full set with rock/soul band doing current covers and originals.
Others may weigh in (hope they do b/c I am not a parent to a voice student) but since you are there for a few days, you can probably speak to people tomorrow about a lesson next week. It helps the kids get a sense if they click with the prof or the program generally. Good luck. I am sure it is beautiful in Miami right now!
@SpartanDrew what year is your child? Are they ready for this to be the teacher’s first impression of them? How is he/she under pressure and conversing with a professor?
If anyone has any inputs on the schools that are on S’ list of choices, we are in the final input-gathering phase.
@ClarinetDad16 she is a junior. She has nerves of steel. She has done so many auditions already and is very prepped. In jazz voice anyway, maybe not as prepped with original music yet. She has a pretty good resume built with a National YoungArts win and Grammy jazz sessions Finalist among other national vocal recognition. SHe is spending the summer at Berklee in Boston for their 5 week program and won a half scholarship. I think she is in a good position for a lesson if we do that. Just wondering again what the ultimate purpose of it would be. I’m assuming for her to make an impression on them? Or is it something else?
@GoForth how did S like Ann Arbor? From a $$ standpoint it sure looks like a winner to me. Top ten school in the country academically with a stellar music program. We have a very very good friend who went to HS with D there on a Stamps scholarship. He loves it. Of course it’s Michigan and not Miami so there’s that…LOL
Well @GoForth, some non-musical feedback for you…DH and I lived in Ann Arbor while H was in grad school when we were first married. I worked at U of M. It is still my favorite place I have ever lived. Great college town.
Agree with @classicalsaxmom despite living in East Lansing and hubby working for the “other” school in MIchigan LOL. I call on U of M for work. Great college town for sure.
@SpartanDrew - I wish we had spent more time in Ann Arbor. Luckily, it is so nearby, a second visit is possible. The senior band playing at the Power Center with Gary Burton was of a high quality. We did not get to see other bands in action. S detected one “musical shortcoming” during his visit that I don’t want to describe because I don’t want to judge and point fingers, but someone somewhere somehow caught S’ attention where S wondered if that was the typical level for a person of that particular student type. It brought a question to mind about what the peer level might be like.
The main professor is finishing up his sabbatical, so S met with other professors. They seem awesome. The campus was one that we never were able to size up - it is kind of large and hard to figure out its boundaries and size in a short time. There are buses for moving from one campus area to the other. When combined with the wintery location, It’s not a plus (Miami’s campus is a plus).
Price-wise it is in a virtual tie with UNT (neither beating WP) - I’m sure someone did the math, but Michigan came thru with S’ largest scholarship of 40K. UNT has a lot going for it if you focus all your valuation points on jazz band reputation and size/quality of peer group.
Are you in state for uMich?
@ClarinetDad16 - we are Illinois, near Chicago. Out of state for uMich, so the published OOS tuition I used was around 45K.
I will throw in a word for UNT here. The music school has a family attitude. If your son chooses a school far from home, I would count that in the plus column - truly lovely people who watch out for their students.
I can say from spending a week at Frost, there is definitely a family feel to the jazz groups. However, that is good to know about UNT. I think S kind of likes the concept that there would be various levels of competition at UNT with their many-layered lab bands - such that you could never top out - or if you did, well, good for you.