My 9 Snippets of Advice for the Prospective Music School Auditionee
This blogpost is dedicated to Rafailia Kapsokavadi, Elissa Grace & all other prospective music students who will soon be going through the rigorous audition process.
I used to be embarrassed to tell people about my experience with the conservatory audition process, but now that I'm not even thinking about going into music, I would like to use my experiences to help others who are going into one of the most selective & rigorous fields today's job market has to offer. As for your discretion, recalling these memories has caused me to shed a few tears - or fifty.
Auditioning (as well as being accepted into) your dream conservatory is not as simple as think. You may be telling yourself, "Oh, all I have to do is finish my application, practise my audition repertoire until the cows come home, travel to the audition site, audition & I'm golden!" But oh, auditionee, one can only dream it were that easy! When I was auditioning, I thought that travelling, practising & auditioning was all there was to it, but there is so much more! Sadly, although I was coming from an arts-oriented private boarding high school (AKA UNCSA 💚 !) I had no one with prior conservatory auditioning experience by my side, so I was picking up the breadcrumbs as I went along.
For this blogpost, I decided to write nine snippets of advice for the prospective music school auditionee. I decided to put these nine pieces of advice in order of occurrence rather than writing (or typing) each piece of advice down as I went & leaving it for the reader to put it in a more logical order.
The purpose of this blogpost is to make sure that you are more prepared for your audition(s) than I ever was. Fellow auditionee, here are nine snippets of advice that can hopefully help you on the road ahead.
1.) Travelling to the audition site: String instruments, considering that you don't want anything to happen to your beloved string instrument, it would be better if you drove to your audition site. However, if you have to resort to flying, never check your instrument under! Believe it or not, the airline you're flying with does not care about the state of your instrument, they just care about safely arriving to the destination. If the flight attendant gives you a tag & makes you check it under, tear it off & put up a fight! As a last resort, tell the flight attendant that you demand a full refund for your ticket. No one wants this to happen because the flight will not take off until a final decision has been made. Remember, your instrument is worth the fight!
Also, fellow violists, if you tell the flight attendant that the instrument inside your case is a fiddle & not a viola, you will run into less trouble, trust me.
2.) The night before your audition: Once you get to your hotel or where ever you're spending the night, get moving! Go get some exercise; go on a walk or workout at the gym in your hotel. This could include a 30-minute jog on the treadmill, a 30-minute workout on the elliptical, or best of all, yoga! If you just lay around in your hotel room all night, you're just letting that anxiety sit inside of you! Working out the night before your audition will prevent you from being as anxious as you would be if you just vegged in your hotel room because you are burning off excess energy that could be used to make you more nervous for your audition. If there is no gym or no way to walk outside safely, there are plenty of free workouts online to get movin' to in your hotel room, just Google "free online workouts".
Last but definitely not least, don't forget to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep - & to set an alarm for the morning before your big day!
3.) Waking up on audition day: Give yourself at least two hours to get ready rather than one. Otherwise, you'll be in a rush, causing anxiety to buildup. Have a good breakfast (no sweets, scrambled eggs, fruits, veggies (like avocados!) & yoghurt). Take it easy on the coffee.
Looking professional is key. I always came into my audition wearing a long black dress, my hair completely pulled back, black tights, & nice shoes. I believe that by dressing formally & modestly, it will show the professors that you truly care about this audition.
Always be modest! Ladies, I would recommend wearing your hair back & not wearing anything that makes you doubt whether it is appropriate for the occasion. Wear a dress that won't get in the way of your playing. For example, [female] string players should avoid wearing dresses with tassels or anything of the like on the sleeves as well as bulging adornments on the shoulders & neck on their audition day. You do not need to resort to black, just as long as you dress formally & modestly, you can wear any colour. Also ladies, jumpsuits are back & better than ever!
I have decided to look for a few examples, with links to the dresses & jumpsuits at the bottom of this post.
4.) Moments before the audition: This is not a time to be nervous. If you are nervous, that either means you are doubting what you've been working so hard for or you're wasting your time. This is a time to show off the musician you have become. This is a time to show that while you are happy with the musician you have become, you would be grateful for the instruction of the professor you're auditioning for.
Do not practise your audition rep like a mad man in the green room. You would be doing yourself a disservice & burn yourself out. Instead, play everything at a moderate or slow tempo, such as a scale & a few passages from your audition repertoire.
Also, if you are waiting or warming up in a room with other auditionees who are playing their audition repertoire, do not compare yourself to the other auditionees. This action alone can determine the outcome of your audition. Every person's story is different, therefore, comparing yourself to an entirely different individual is pointless.
5.) During your audition: During your audition, you must express to the professor(s) through your instrument that "Yes, I have achieved great feats in my playing, but there is still significant room for improvement. You're the only person that I know of that can help me & through my audition, I will show you that I am worthy of your time & instruction."
Let's face it - you can never be fully prepared for an audition day. There will always be that little snippet in your concerto or sonata that is troublesome. But that's what the professors are here to help you out with, as long as you show that you're trying, you're already increasing your chances of getting into the studio you're auditioning for.
6.) After your audition: Always take a trial lesson with your could-be professor after [or before] your audition. Trial lessons have helped me learn even more about the professor. The professor is probably the most important factor in what school you're auditioning for. This is the person you'll be spending the next few years being instructed by. If you love the school, but have a gut feeling that the professor for your area wouldn't be a good fit for you, then drop the idea of spending the next few years studying at that school. It would be better to study at a small, lesser-known conservatory with a teacher that you work excellently with than to study at one of the more prestigious conservatories with a teacher that you dread taking private lessons every week with.
7.) At the end of the audition day: After the audition day, take some time to reflect on what you have learned & experienced. You can reflect by journalling or by talking to someone over the phone such as a friend, family member or your private lesson teacher. Talking to someone is always helpful because it's always good to get another's perspective. Usually, other people can tell from your tone of voice what you thought from your experience.
8.) Months after the audition, when you find out your audition results & you do make it: Congratulations, all of the hard work paid off! Take the night off to eat out with your family or go out to celebrate with your friends! If you end up making it into at least two or all of your schools, that is super, you earned it! Because this has happened to you, the roles are now reversed: Now you are the judge & the schools that you have been accepted to are your auditionees. At the end of the day, this is your (or your parent's) money that you're spending. Sadly, school doesn't come cheap these days! An education is one of the most important purchases you'll ever make in your life. Ask yourself, "If I were to study at this conservatory with this professor, would it be worth the purchase?"
9.) Months after the audition, when you find out your results & you don't make it: I know, the feeling of opening the letter (or e-mail) & reading that first phrase of "We regret to inform you that..." has the potential to ruin a perfect day. You will feel like all of your hard work over the years has been torn to shreds & that you're not worthy of being a musician. You will feel like Mr. Opportunity just slammed the door shut & slid a note under the door on his way out that says, "You would be doing the world a favor if you just quit!".
When I received my Oberlin audition results, I did not make it into the conservatory nor their school of liberal arts (sorry, I refuse to capitalise the names of these institutions). And then I said to myself out loud, "Ooooooh, so that's why Professor Slowik said 'Congratulations on making it this far' after my audition!"
I was pretty bummed! In my opinion, Oberlin was my second best audition, but looking back, I played my Bach Prelude way too militaristically, which is definitely not Oberlin's style!
If you don't make it, first of all, don't let that resentment sit inside of you, that is not healthy. Find a friend or family member who can comfort you during this difficult time...or go throw some plates at a wall (yes, that's a thing!), whatever works for you!
You've also got to realise that there are so many factors that have gone into this final decision. Just because you didn't make it doesn't mean you aren't an excellent musician. When I auditioned for the University of Michigan & I did not make it, I was devastated! I thought that was my best audition! But I later discovered that I was auditioning against 15 prospective graduate students & there were only a few slots available. So I was a bit relieved to discover that the reason didn't make it into UMich was not because I'm an untalented violist. Other reasons why you didn't make it could be that your dream professor had to conform to the quota or maybe the music school didn't have the sufficient funds to accept another student into that specific studio. Decisions like these can be just as hard on a professor as they are on the auditionees.
Going through the rigorous audition process has helped me realise how much I do not want to become a professional violist. In a way, I think that not getting into any of the top conservatories that I auditioned for was a blessing. If I kept on going on this path, I probably would have spitefully sold my viola for some Acqua Di Gioia perfume & a cruise around Europe. Fortunately, I kept my viola. Now that I view viola more on a recreational scale than a professional one, I have been enjoying playing the viola more than ever! Last year, I got to play the first movement of one of my bucket list string quartets, Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 in E- & I get to play the viola as much as I want while no longer having to worry about the pressure of perfection.
The last piece of advice that I can leave you with is you can never predict how an audition will go. As long as you are in the moment, put all of your love & energy into the performance, & walk out of the room feeling satisfied, then you have nothing to regret about your audition. That is all you can do.
Links to [Female] formal audition attire:
Link to Dress A
Link to Dress B
Link to Jumpsuit A
Link to Jumpsuit B
I used to be embarrassed to tell people about my experience with the conservatory audition process, but now that I'm not even thinking about going into music, I would like to use my experiences to help others who are going into one of the most selective & rigorous fields today's job market has to offer. As for your discretion, recalling these memories has caused me to shed a few tears - or fifty.
For this blogpost, I decided to write nine snippets of advice for the prospective music school auditionee. I decided to put these nine pieces of advice in order of occurrence rather than writing (or typing) each piece of advice down as I went & leaving it for the reader to put it in a more logical order.
The purpose of this blogpost is to make sure that you are more prepared for your audition(s) than I ever was. Fellow auditionee, here are nine snippets of advice that can hopefully help you on the road ahead.
1.) Travelling to the audition site: String instruments, considering that you don't want anything to happen to your beloved string instrument, it would be better if you drove to your audition site. However, if you have to resort to flying, never check your instrument under! Believe it or not, the airline you're flying with does not care about the state of your instrument, they just care about safely arriving to the destination. If the flight attendant gives you a tag & makes you check it under, tear it off & put up a fight! As a last resort, tell the flight attendant that you demand a full refund for your ticket. No one wants this to happen because the flight will not take off until a final decision has been made. Remember, your instrument is worth the fight!
Also, fellow violists, if you tell the flight attendant that the instrument inside your case is a fiddle & not a viola, you will run into less trouble, trust me.
2.) The night before your audition: Once you get to your hotel or where ever you're spending the night, get moving! Go get some exercise; go on a walk or workout at the gym in your hotel. This could include a 30-minute jog on the treadmill, a 30-minute workout on the elliptical, or best of all, yoga! If you just lay around in your hotel room all night, you're just letting that anxiety sit inside of you! Working out the night before your audition will prevent you from being as anxious as you would be if you just vegged in your hotel room because you are burning off excess energy that could be used to make you more nervous for your audition. If there is no gym or no way to walk outside safely, there are plenty of free workouts online to get movin' to in your hotel room, just Google "free online workouts".
Last but definitely not least, don't forget to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep - & to set an alarm for the morning before your big day!
3.) Waking up on audition day: Give yourself at least two hours to get ready rather than one. Otherwise, you'll be in a rush, causing anxiety to buildup. Have a good breakfast (no sweets, scrambled eggs, fruits, veggies (like avocados!) & yoghurt). Take it easy on the coffee.
Looking professional is key. I always came into my audition wearing a long black dress, my hair completely pulled back, black tights, & nice shoes. I believe that by dressing formally & modestly, it will show the professors that you truly care about this audition.
I know none of us are wearing dresses in this photo, but hopefully you get the idea!
Always be modest! Ladies, I would recommend wearing your hair back & not wearing anything that makes you doubt whether it is appropriate for the occasion. Wear a dress that won't get in the way of your playing. For example, [female] string players should avoid wearing dresses with tassels or anything of the like on the sleeves as well as bulging adornments on the shoulders & neck on their audition day. You do not need to resort to black, just as long as you dress formally & modestly, you can wear any colour. Also ladies, jumpsuits are back & better than ever!
I have decided to look for a few examples, with links to the dresses & jumpsuits at the bottom of this post.
Dress A
Dress B
Jumpsuit A
Jumpsuit B
Do not practise your audition rep like a mad man in the green room. You would be doing yourself a disservice & burn yourself out. Instead, play everything at a moderate or slow tempo, such as a scale & a few passages from your audition repertoire.
Also, if you are waiting or warming up in a room with other auditionees who are playing their audition repertoire, do not compare yourself to the other auditionees. This action alone can determine the outcome of your audition. Every person's story is different, therefore, comparing yourself to an entirely different individual is pointless.
5.) During your audition: During your audition, you must express to the professor(s) through your instrument that "Yes, I have achieved great feats in my playing, but there is still significant room for improvement. You're the only person that I know of that can help me & through my audition, I will show you that I am worthy of your time & instruction."
Let's face it - you can never be fully prepared for an audition day. There will always be that little snippet in your concerto or sonata that is troublesome. But that's what the professors are here to help you out with, as long as you show that you're trying, you're already increasing your chances of getting into the studio you're auditioning for.
6.) After your audition: Always take a trial lesson with your could-be professor after [or before] your audition. Trial lessons have helped me learn even more about the professor. The professor is probably the most important factor in what school you're auditioning for. This is the person you'll be spending the next few years being instructed by. If you love the school, but have a gut feeling that the professor for your area wouldn't be a good fit for you, then drop the idea of spending the next few years studying at that school. It would be better to study at a small, lesser-known conservatory with a teacher that you work excellently with than to study at one of the more prestigious conservatories with a teacher that you dread taking private lessons every week with.
7.) At the end of the audition day: After the audition day, take some time to reflect on what you have learned & experienced. You can reflect by journalling or by talking to someone over the phone such as a friend, family member or your private lesson teacher. Talking to someone is always helpful because it's always good to get another's perspective. Usually, other people can tell from your tone of voice what you thought from your experience.
8.) Months after the audition, when you find out your audition results & you do make it: Congratulations, all of the hard work paid off! Take the night off to eat out with your family or go out to celebrate with your friends! If you end up making it into at least two or all of your schools, that is super, you earned it! Because this has happened to you, the roles are now reversed: Now you are the judge & the schools that you have been accepted to are your auditionees. At the end of the day, this is your (or your parent's) money that you're spending. Sadly, school doesn't come cheap these days! An education is one of the most important purchases you'll ever make in your life. Ask yourself, "If I were to study at this conservatory with this professor, would it be worth the purchase?"
9.) Months after the audition, when you find out your results & you don't make it: I know, the feeling of opening the letter (or e-mail) & reading that first phrase of "We regret to inform you that..." has the potential to ruin a perfect day. You will feel like all of your hard work over the years has been torn to shreds & that you're not worthy of being a musician. You will feel like Mr. Opportunity just slammed the door shut & slid a note under the door on his way out that says, "You would be doing the world a favor if you just quit!".
When I received my Oberlin audition results, I did not make it into the conservatory nor their school of liberal arts (sorry, I refuse to capitalise the names of these institutions). And then I said to myself out loud, "Ooooooh, so that's why Professor Slowik said 'Congratulations on making it this far' after my audition!"
I was pretty bummed! In my opinion, Oberlin was my second best audition, but looking back, I played my Bach Prelude way too militaristically, which is definitely not Oberlin's style!
If you don't make it, first of all, don't let that resentment sit inside of you, that is not healthy. Find a friend or family member who can comfort you during this difficult time...or go throw some plates at a wall (yes, that's a thing!), whatever works for you!
Going through the rigorous audition process has helped me realise how much I do not want to become a professional violist. In a way, I think that not getting into any of the top conservatories that I auditioned for was a blessing. If I kept on going on this path, I probably would have spitefully sold my viola for some Acqua Di Gioia perfume & a cruise around Europe. Fortunately, I kept my viola. Now that I view viola more on a recreational scale than a professional one, I have been enjoying playing the viola more than ever! Last year, I got to play the first movement of one of my bucket list string quartets, Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 in E- & I get to play the viola as much as I want while no longer having to worry about the pressure of perfection.
The last piece of advice that I can leave you with is you can never predict how an audition will go. As long as you are in the moment, put all of your love & energy into the performance, & walk out of the room feeling satisfied, then you have nothing to regret about your audition. That is all you can do.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Links to [Female] formal audition attire:
Link to Dress A
Link to Dress B
Link to Jumpsuit A
Link to Jumpsuit B
Excellent advice! May I print copies for our students? And,very proud of you!
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog! I am so glad that you are able to share your experience. There is still so much that you can and I am sure you will do with your viola. I have seen so much growth in you and I am very proud of you.
ReplyDelete