Your host, Eleanor:
So I did not apply to all of the schools that I first thought of, but then I was able to think about okay, which ones are the best to apply to and which ones, say, I don’t think I want to apply to. Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. My name is Eleanor and I am a British American oboist studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Literally my dream school and it took me a long way to get there. I applied and auditioned for 12 schools in three different countries. It was a lot of hard work but, oh my gosh, so worth it. I want you to have the confidence to work hard in achieving your goals, so come with me as we go on this journey together. So sit down, pull up a chair, take a seat or, if you’re on the go, welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. Hey there and welcome. It’s been about two years since I’ve applied to music school, but I still remember that feeling of like am I choosing the right schools to apply to? When I was first brainstorming, there were so many schools on my list. Seriously, there’s this email that I sent to my oboe teacher and I was like okay, here are the schools that I’m thinking about applying to. What are your thoughts? I had made a spreadsheet about what schools like, what repertoire they had, and I made this whole big spreadsheet. It was ginormous. And yeah, I sent that all to him in an email and like so it’s literally like the evidence is there. I had so many schools in mind, it was really crazy. And then after that I narrowed those schools down so I did not apply to all of the schools that I first thought of, but then I was able to think about, okay, which ones are the best to apply to and which ones say I don’t think I want to apply to or I shouldn’t apply to, or you know all of that stuff. So that was a lot of kind of processing and thinking and today we are going to be diving right into kind of the things to consider when narrowing down the list of schools that you want to apply for. I know that in the UK if you’re applying to conservatoires, you can only apply to five or six, I don’t remember and then also universities five or six, one is six and one is five, I don’t remember. In the States, you can apply to as many schools as you want to, but maybe that’s not the wisest decision. I applied to 12 schools in three countries and I was a busy, busy, busy gal. So let’s dive in to what to consider when deciding where to apply to Before we do that.
All right, the first thing to do is to take trial lessons. Oh my gosh, trial lessons are so good. Like literally. It is an opportunity for you to see if you match with a teacher Like whoa. Okay, because let’s be honest, some teachers you will not work well with. Like that’s just how humans work. Some humans don’t mesh well together.
I remember I took a ton of trial lessons. There were so many trial lessons I think I did like over 10 teachers, if not more. I mean I applied to 12 schools, so probably around that number of teachers, and I like some of them I worked really well with. It was very good, very exciting. And then other ones I was like huh, I actually don’t think I work well with this teacher and that’s kind of how I narrowed down some of those schools to apply for but also maybe to accept as well. But yeah, I narrowed down the schools with trial lessons.
Trial lessons are amazing and you can also see how well you work with the teacher. It’s also a great way to make that first impression and so when you’re then doing auditions, the teacher can be like oh yeah, I know this person, I had a trial lesson with them. It was really good. So trial lessons are really really, really helpful and important to do. So, if you are narrowing down schools, take trial lessons seriously. You can usually just contact your teacher and say or contact the teacher and say that you’re interested in applying to the school or to the program and that you’re hoping to book a trial lesson. Literally, just an email is good. Some of them might charge you, some of them might not, so it is important to think about that as well. And yeah, booking trial lessons is so important. We go further in this in an episode called the Ins and Outs of my Trial Lesson Experience. I will be putting that in the show notes so you can go check that episode out. But it is really good. I kind of sum up my experience with trial lessons and kind of talk about what to expect in said trial lessons. But trial lessons are so important to do, so I encourage you to book as many as you can.
The next thing is visiting the schools. Okay, and sometimes you can visit the schools beforehand or before you know, before you apply to narrow them down. I visited most of the schools that I visited. They were after I applied to kind of narrow down the ones that I actually want to go to. Well, well, I would only go to one, but so which one? I would want to go to Um. But there are some really important things to look for when you are visiting schools, for instance, the teacher, and that can be figured out through trial lessons. Um, the programs and opportunities as well, because if you have a really good teacher, but maybe the orchestra they have one orchestra in the whole school or maybe they don’t have as many programs and opportunities then that’s something to think about as well. Right, all of these decisions are your decision to make, but having all of these things in your head is good to consider all of the stuff that’s going on Also venues, the city around it, the neighborhoods around it, depending on where you are living. I’m currently living in a flat, so I had to look at different neighborhoods and different places and be like, okay, could I see myself living in this city? So that is very important as well. If you want to go into that and dive into that more. If you are visiting schools and you’re like, oh, what do I look for? What do I do?
Episode 16 is the episode for you. It is titled Visiting Music Schools. Here are six top things to keep in mind. In this episode we dive into all of the things to consider when you are visiting music schools and that is going to be in the show notes, just for you. So make sure you go check that one out, okay, the third one is an interesting one, and that is know the repertoire pieces for auditions and try to have them overlap.
I applied to 12 schools in three different countries. I had a shed load of repertoire and etudes and excerpts and all of the different things that I needed to prepare for these schools. Now, even though I tried my best to have them overlap, I still had a lot of music that I had to prepare for these auditions. So it is really important, when you’re trying to narrow schools down, look at their audition repertoire and see if they overlap, because if they overlap, that’s going to be helpful and if they don’t, that is also something to keep in mind. Again, this is all your decision and so you can decide. Am I okay with this repertoire? Am I not okay with this repertoire? But it is good to have that spreadsheet to look at all of the repertoire. Seriously, that spreadsheet that I sent to my oboe teacher with all of the repertoire. It was a lot, but it was so easy and clear to see, when I had made a spreadsheet, which repertoire was going to overlap and what was not going to overlap.
Also, talk to your teacher about this. I keep saying about you know the emails that I sent to my teacher and obviously I also talked to him in person, but talk to your private teacher about this and have them advise you on, maybe, which schools would be best for you. My teacher did that with me too. I had some schools on my list and my teacher was like I know you, I know the teacher at this school. I don’t know if it will work out. You can, you know, go ahead and try it if you want to, but I don’t think that that is a good match. Or, on the other hand, it was like oh yes, I know you know this teacher and I also know you, and this will match, or this is a good idea. You should book a trial lesson. So my teacher, he was very, very, very helpful in this as well. So I very much suggest just ask your teacher as well.
Okay, we’re going to have a bit of a bonus thing, and that is having a good mix of safety schools, reach schools and schools in the middle. So safety schools are schools that you will definitely get into, probably, like they’re not challenging in terms of the application or the audition, so you have a school just in case. Reach schools are schools that are really really high up there and you know you really want to get there but you might not. But you still audition because you know you believe in yourself and you have that chance, but you might not. But you still audition because you know you believe in yourself and you have that chance, but you might not get into it. And then you have schools in the middle and it’s just really good to have a mix of safety schools, reach schools and schools in the middle and also just another side. Don’t be afraid to take a gap year if you need to, if you need to take a year.
I took a year my last year of high school. I applied to 12 schools in three different countries. I chose the school in Scotland and then I was like you know what? I actually need a year to prepare financially and also just move across the Atlantic Ocean, and I need that year. So I talked to the school and we figured it out. Sometimes schools might not let you take a year, some might ocean and I need that year. So I talked to the school and we figured it out. Sometimes schools might not let you take a year, some might. So that’s also something to think about. But, um, I took a year and now I’m here. So that is something that is important to think about as well.
And also, if you, you know, go into it and maybe you don’t get into the school you want to and you want to try auditioning again, you can take another year. I know I have someone who I know, who I’ve played oboe with in youth orchestra, and that’s exactly what she did. She applied and then she decided to try again in the next year and she got into a really, really good school. So this, you know, it’s all. We’re all going to figure it out, okay, and I believe in you with this. Now, if you are applying to music school, obviously you are going to be auditioning, right? We? We talked about this. Obviously you’re going to be auditioning, and did you know that? You have that confidence inside of you to work towards your goals, including auditioning for that school? So how do you hone your confidence? Well, my friend, that is with the Confident Musicians Audition Guide.
In this guide, we talk about everything, including planning your practice. In chapter one, working with accompanists. In chapter three, getting into the zone at auditions, because, let’s be honest, that is so important. In chapter five, mental practice. In chapter two, setting up mock auditions. In chapter four, audition nerves is scattered out throughout the whole guide and a load more seriously. This, this 43-page guide, is my baby. I poured my heart and soul out into this so that it would be the guide for you in your audition season.
So whether you are just about to go into auditions, thinking about potentially doing auditions or even a little bit curious about auditions, this guide is for you. The audition process might be a short process For some people it is just a few months but the impacts of it can be life-changing. You don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to go to that dream school just because you weren’t prepared enough in an audition. So let’s invest in you and make this audition season your audition season of confidence. Check the show notes or visit confidentmusicianing.com. All right, let’s do a recap, shall we?
The first thing is taking trial lessons. This is such a good way to not only make like an acquaintance with the teacher, but also know if this teacher is a good fit for you. And of course, there’s the episode, the ins and outs of my trial lesson experience. If you want to learn more about trial lessons, go give that a listen. The next thing is visiting the schools. That is really important as well, and there are a few things that you need to remember, such as knowing you know, is the teacher a good fit, thinking about the programs and opportunities and also the area around it. If you want to learn more about that, that is in episode 16, visiting music schools. Here are six top things to keep in mind. And the last thing is know the rep pieces, the repertoire pieces, and try and have them overlap. This is really important. And also ask your teacher about things as well. Your teacher can be really helpful. And the bonus thing remember to have a good mix of safety, reach and in the middle schools.
All right, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. As always, all the things to do with this episode will be in the show notes, from the blog post to the episodes, the ins and outs of my trial lesson experience and also the episode about visiting music schools, as well as the link to the Confident Musicians Audition Guide. Do yourself a favor and check these things out because, let’s be honest, they’re really. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you give it a follow and I will see you in the next episode. Bye.