Recorded Audition Vs Live Audition

XxMU51CxX
Wed, 23 Mar 2016 01:37:35 +0000

Hey guys it’s been a long while and let me tell you, it’s been one hell of a learning experience. I feel that after all of this incredible advice and help I should follow up on what has happened. I have learned so much about music schools and college in general in these few short months that have made me mature a bit in dealing with all of this.
My parents and I ended up in the consensus that we could only visit 1 school (outside of my state), since we could only afford 1. I ended up choosing Vanderbilt because I have visited it before, it has stellar academics, they would give me tons of fin aid, and it is the second closest one to my home. I did a recorded audition for 4 out of the 6 music schools I ended up applying to. My audition at Vanderbilt went incredible, I loved the atmosphere and the teacher so much already. Such a bummer she is retiring this year. She was so nice and eccentric, nicest college professor I have ever met! This also creates a problem that even if I get in, absolutely no one knows what to expect of this new teacher. I am still awaiting decisions (they come out tomorrow actually!).
All of my recordings were okay except for my recording to Peabody Conservatory, I was a little iffy with one of the songs. I got rejected by Johns Hopkins itself though recently so even if I did get in for Peabody, there is no hope since I have to be accepted at the actual school AND the music school.
In good news, a while back I was accepted to University of Michigan AND to SMTD. I was so happy and it was my first acceptance. The teacher was incredibly nice to me (at least through email) and I plan to visit soon and actually meet her in person. Michigan is definitely one of my top choices right now, if by some miracle I get a decent merit scholarship it would make the school affordable and definitely attend-able (is this a word?). Considering I applied to this school with a recording, I am extremely lucky and grateful to have my audition taken into account,
I am awaiting decisions for Oberlin (I know I really should not get my hopes up for it), Rice, and official ones for UM (it’s looking good).

In terms of how I did the recordings. Absolutely nothing fancy. Because I have limited means, I could only use my phone’s camera (to be fair, it has a great camera!), a tripod, and my own home. No professional equipment, no fancy backgrounds, no editing stuff, just raw video. I tried to obviously make the best with what I have, I think it worked out very well in the end since I got into SMTD!

Prior to sending these auditions, I did contact the harp teachers at SMTD, Rice, and Peabody about if a recorded audition puts me at a disadvantage and even bringing up the idea of maybe doing a Skype audition. The teachers at Peabody and SMTD were so incredible nice and understanding, words cannot begin to explain. They said that they had no idea what I was talking about and that any teacher who thought otherwise was crazy. They said they understand the financial hardship of having to fly all away across the country several times and that they will take me into account live or not, without viewing me differently. Rice on the other hand, was not so kind. I am not going to name names but a certain person at the admissions department for Shepherd school of music replied to me extremely rude and condescendingly stating that I could not possibly be a serious applicant if I did not go and since her son went to the school to audition I should be able to as well. The content was much more rude than the summary I gave here and bottom-line, I do not want to go to Rice anymore because if this is the person who reviews my application, I am done for. Even if I get in, I would not want to surround myself with such elitist and rude adults.

Through this experience, I have met many awesome people and can put this down as one of the most arduous plights of my life. I made some of the most difficult choices of my life along the way as well and I feel like in general this has been positive. I hope that more good news will follow in the next few days. Thank you all so much for your kind-hearted answers and advice, you have no idea how much it has helped me out in this process. Without a thread like this or the musicians I have met on the way, I would still be completely lost. Once again, thank you.