Indiana Bloomington Recording Arts Program

mbrophy
Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:11:23 +0000

My son is a sophomore in the program now and loves it. As I recall, the portfolio did not have to be recordings per se, but rather a selection of any/all creative endeavors. My son sent 6 dvds/cds of his work. Some of it was his recording of other people, some of his own band, some videos of him in a school musical, marching band, garage band, show trailers he wrote/directed, etc. The key thing was also to send a short explanation of the importance of each piece included.

I think the recording arts website has a good explanation: [Recording Arts Requirements: Auditions: Admissions & Financial Aid: Jacobs School of Music: Indiana University Bloomington](http://www.music.indiana.edu/admissions/auditions/recording.shtml)

It was a whole lot of work to compile, edit and annotate and I remember that November as being a crazy time. So, my advice is to start now. And send the portfolio FedEx so you can track it.

Apparently it is difficult to enter the program after freshman year, due to the recording arts curriculum starting very first semester and lots of pre-requisites needed for future semesters.

Remember that you first have to apply to and be accepted into the University before you can apply for RA. And the deadline for applying for RA is firm - he had a friend that missed the deadline by two days and his application was not accepted. The year my son applied, they received 120 applications. Of those, they interviewed 60, and accepted something like 20 to get their ideal class of 12-15.

I’d be glad to answer any other specific questions you may have!