Audition For College Music Study

[AngelCityOutlaw]

So, three days ago I started upgrading English at my local college so that I could take music next year. The music program at the college is pretty good so I'm quite enthusiastic about it.

I spoke to the program administrator as well as the coordinator/instructor today and they are willing to let my academic requirements slide and let me start the program next week. Pending an audition on electric guitar bright and early monday morning.

Needless to say, I'm sitting here with my guitar right now and going to practise my ass off this whole weekend.

So aside from the songs I am going to play, I'm also working on just focusing on my technique in general.

Does anyone wish to share some really great, technique-building exercises they did that work well for you? I already have a lot of things I do, but more exercises and Etudes couldn't hurt!

[Garpocalypse]

Name of the college? Are you auditioning on a classical style or is it a more liberal college where pop styles are accepted?

Two days to do any type of technique building is really stretching it. Any new information now is probably going make you more nervous/more insecure when it comes time to audition. I think it would be far more important to expand yourself while playing. You can easily tell the difference between people who play with their audience against people who play at their audience or are just trying to get through the next passage.

You're not going in to audition any more than you are just playing for one person. So get to know each other through playing.

At this point don't worry too much about playing as much as possible. Two days of solid work can be good when your performance is a ways off but how will your hands be on the third day?

Try some relaxation techniques. breathe. and just think about how you are going to blow the person you are playing for away.

On second hand, learn this one and get into any music college you want:

You got two days! get crackin'!

[Frederic Petitpas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhmi-bkFPE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fYYKaLW3bA

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Well,

I passed my audition on the guitar, sight-reading, theory and aural skills were good...on guitar. But I am not a singer and therefore I found it difficult to match pitch consistently with my voice.

They were willing to make an exception, but on the condition that I take singing lessons there....another $450 on top of costs already over $1000. These singing lessons would unfortunately have to be taken in place of an aural skills course which all involves matching pitch with VOICE. So this means that I would have to go to the college for another half a year for just a single course. A course I don't want to take.

So even though I would be accepted in, I turned the offer down. With music, I like to play in bands and would love to compose music for a professional video game one day. I can continue to improve my skills in recording and playing using my own self study as well as lessons from other professionals; lessons that I can start or stop at any time and cost a whole lot less than college study.

[Garpocalypse]

Well,

I passed my audition on the guitar, sight-reading, theory and aural skills were good...on guitar. But I am not a singer and therefore I found it difficult to match pitch consistently with my voice.

They were willing to make an exception, but on the condition that I take singing lessons there....another $450 on top of costs already over $1000. These singing lessons would unfortunately have to be taken in place of an aural skills course which all involves matching pitch with VOICE. So this means that I would have to go to the college for another half a year for just a single course. A course I don't want to take.

So even though I would be accepted in, I turned the offer down. With music, I like to play in bands and would love to compose music for a professional video game one day. I can continue to improve my skills in recording and playing using my own self study as well as lessons from other professionals; lessons that I can start or stop at any time and cost a whole lot less than college study.

That seems..... extremely questionable.

Before they would accept you they required you take private voice lessons with their faculty? How do they require something like that?

Oh right, this is Canada...

I felt I was pretty lousy singer, which i was, but in my voice classes there were at least half a dozen people under me. I don't see why anyone would need instruction prior to a beginning voice class.

All music colleges are struggling to stay relevant. With good reason too. I've learned more on youtube over the last few years than i did in my entire four years at college. (of course youtube wasn't developed until my junior year and even then it wasn't anything more than people lighting each other on fire)

[AngelCityOutlaw]

That seems..... extremely questionable.

Before they would accept you they required you take private voice lessons with their faculty? How do they require something like that?

Oh right, this is Canada...

I felt I was pretty lousy singer, which i was, but in my voice classes there were at least half a dozen people under me. I don't see why anyone would need instruction prior to a beginning voice class.

All music colleges are struggling to stay relevant. With good reason too. I've learned more on youtube over the last few years than i did in my entire four years at college. (of course youtube wasn't developed until my junior year and even then it wasn't anything more than people lighting each other on fire)

I personally think it is ridiculous that they specifically want you to SING the notes. During the audition, we clearly determined my ear is pretty decent. The instructor would play a melody, scale or chord on the piano....and I would play it back on guitar perfectly or near perfectly. I can do the same on piano as well.

So...even though my pitch is good enough, it doesn't matter because I can't do it with my voice? Who fucking cares? If you can play by ear, you have the skill. Doesn't matter what instrument you can do it with.

Then the instructor said something I completely disagree with. That "vocal pitch is essential to writing music as well."

Bullshit good sir, bullshit. He's saying that you have to be able to sing to effectively write music? I don't think any of the working pros on these forums would agree with that. Wasn't Beethoven...ya know....kinda fucking deaf?

So yeah, even though I can't really sing they still passed me and were willing to let me into the program. I really do think they saw it as a way of getting me to spend more money.

[Moseph]

I personally think it is ridiculous that they specifically want you to SING the notes. During the audition, we clearly determined my ear is pretty decent. The instructor would play a melody, scale or chord on the piano....and I would play it back on guitar perfectly or near perfectly. I can do the same on piano as well.

So...even though my pitch is good enough, it doesn't matter because I can't do it with my voice? Who fucking cares? If you can play by ear, you have the skill. Doesn't matter what instrument you can do it with.

Then the instructor said something I completely disagree with. That "vocal pitch is essential to writing music as well."

Bullshit good sir, bullshit. He's saying that you have to be able to sing to effectively write music? I don't think any of the working pros on these forums would agree with that. Wasn't Beethoven...ya know....kinda fucking deaf?

So yeah, even though I can't really sing they still passed me and were willing to let me into the program. I really do think they saw it as a way of getting me to spend more money.

Sight singing, which is the ability to look at written music and sing it and which being able to match pitch prepares you for, is considered a really big deal in academic music programs. Every music department everywhere requires that you become good at it. Certainly it's possible to be a musician or composer without being able to sight sing or match pitch, but it's much, much better to be able to, and they're skills that you will be building on as a musician for the rest of your life. Ideally, notes you hear, notes you play, notes you sing, notes you hear only in your mind, and notes you see on the page should all basically be the same thing to you. The curriculum is supposed to help you develop the ability to deal as effortlessly as possible with music in all of its forms, and matching pitch and using your voice to communicate musical information are parts of that. Anecdotally, in my private lessons in composition, my teacher made very little use of piano/computer playback. He'd just look at my written score and say something like, "I don't like how the major sixth here sounds. You might consider using a minor third instead," and might sing an example of what he had in mind. That's the goal. That's what you ultimately want to be able to do.

Speaking as someone who taught ear training labs for two years, their thinking on wanting you to take private lessons before or in place of starting the ear training curriculum is this: people who are significantly behind the rest of the class in their sight singing skills won't be able to get the help in a classroom setting that they need to catch up, because the teacher won't have time to extensively work with them one-on-one without neglecting the rest of the class. The curriculum assumes that incoming students are at certain level, and if they aren't at that level initially, they're likely to fall more and more behind as the course progresses. Requiring voice lessons, which in this case would likely focus more on basic sight singing skills rather than on singing proper, is the department's attempt to get you up to speed on the things you need to know before tackling the ear training courses. It sounds harsh to say this, I know, but they're doing the ear training teachers and students a favor by not letting people into the classes until they're able to deal with the course material -- otherwise, the students who were reasonably fluent with the material would be held back by the fact that the teacher had to spend an inordinate amount of time with those who were still trying to learn the basics.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Sight singing, which is the ability to look at written music and sing it and which being able to match pitch prepares you for, is considered a really big deal in academic music programs. Every music department everywhere requires that you become good at it. Certainly it's possible to be a musician or composer without being able to sight sing or match pitch, but it's much, much better to be able to, and they're skills that you will be building on as a musician for the rest of your life. Ideally, notes you hear, notes you play, notes you sing, notes you hear only in your mind, and notes you see on the page should all basically be the same thing to you. The curriculum is supposed to help you develop the ability to deal as effortlessly as possible with music in all of its forms, and matching pitch and using your voice to communicate musical information are parts of that. Anecdotally, in my private lessons in composition, my teacher made very little use of piano/computer playback. He'd just look at my written score and say something like, "I don't like how the major sixth here sounds. You might consider using a minor third instead," and might sing an example of what he had in mind. That's the goal. That's what you ultimately want to be able to do.

Speaking as someone who taught ear training labs for two years, their thinking on wanting you to take private lessons before or in place of starting the ear training curriculum is this: people who are significantly behind the rest of the class in their sight singing skills won't be able to get the help in a classroom setting that they need to catch up, because the teacher won't have time to extensively work with them one-on-one without neglecting the rest of the class. The curriculum assumes that incoming students are at certain level, and if they aren't at that level initially, they're likely to fall more and more behind as the course progresses. Requiring voice lessons, which in this case would likely focus more on basic sight singing skills rather than on singing proper, is the department's attempt to get you up to speed on the things you need to know before tackling the ear training courses. It sounds harsh to say this, I know, but they're doing the ear training teachers and students a favor by not letting people into the classes until they're able to deal with the course material -- otherwise, the students who were reasonably fluent with the material would be held back by the fact that the teacher had to spend an inordinate amount of time with those who were still trying to learn the basics.

All good points, Moseph.

[Garpocalypse]

All good points, Moseph.

I'm wondering though how many voice lessons you would be getting for $450. If i'm reading it right, limiting private lessons to their teachers is ridiculous. College teachers tend to ask for alot more than someone who is making a name for themselves locally.

I took a few voice lessons before my freshman year for $15/hr. They were really good lessons too in the pre youtube era.

[Moseph]

I'm wondering though how many voice lessons you would be getting for $450. If i'm reading it right, limiting private lessons to their teachers is ridiculous. College teachers tend to ask for alot more than someone who is making a name for themselves locally.

I took a few voice lessons before my freshman year for $15/hr. They were really good lessons too in the pre youtube era.

The lessons would probably be an hour a week, which is $37.50 per lesson assuming a twelve-week semester. That's not an unreasonable rate for private study with university faculty, though it's definitely an unpleasant surprise for anyone who didn't know they'd be required to take the lessons.

It's perfectly reasonable to limit private lessons to their own faculty. All of the performers who are taking lessons are limited to the faculty except in very unusual circumstances, and the whole point of lessons in this particular case is that they're preparation for the music program's ear training requirements. You wouldn't want to take these lessons with an outside teacher, because an outside teacher wouldn't know exactly what areas the college expects you to be capable in as far as ear training requirements go, and the administrative powers-that-be wouldn't be able to track your progress unless they were in active communication with the teacher. They're calling it voice lessons because it would be with voice faculty and that's what the lessons would officially get registered as, but they're not trying to turn people into singers with this -- the point of the lessons is remedial ear training study, not performance per se.

[Gario]

Then the instructor said something I completely disagree with. That "vocal pitch is essential to writing music as well."

Bullshit good sir, bullshit. He's saying that you have to be able to sing to effectively write music? I don't think any of the working pros on these forums would agree with that. Wasn't Beethoven...ya know....kinda fucking deaf?

Yeah, Moseph already went over this, so I won't go into detail. However, I just wanted to add that I'm one of the forum members here that thinks that sight singing skills has saved me an incredible amount of time when in comes to writing music, and would actually encourage people to learn to do so, whenever they have the opportunity. The fact that I don't need to playback any music that I write down in order to know what it sounds like makes me very efficient, and this also allows people to write music whenever they please (rather than whenever they're in front of an instrument). Beethoven became deaf, but not before his sight singing skills were at a level where he didn't need to sing the notes anymore, anyway (he heard the music in his head, which is really the goal of sight singing, in the first place), so that point is almost entirely moot.