Conservatoire Applications

[Cliff1975]

My DS2 is applying to conservatoires for 2023 entry. We really were given no guidance by his school, despite the fact they are supposed to be music specialists. Anyway we followed the model of uni applications and so have applied to 6. We should have realised when we paid the 400 pound plus audition fees but now find out that we should have just applied to 2/3. Why then do they give you 6 choices? His trombone teacher has done his practical reference and we asked his music teacher at school to do the academic reference. We now find out he was expecting to do the practical reference. H had told the head of sixth form he was applying to conservatoires but they said nothing to guide him. So have we made a huge mistake? Are we now about to put him through needless auditions and should we focus on 2? Any help gratefully received.

A lot of people do only apply to a few, but it’s definitely not uncommon to apply to as many as possible. If each audition has similar requirements and he’s playing the same pieces, it’s not a waste of time doing all the auditions as it will give him more experience of doing auditions, which if he is wanting a career in music is good practice to have. It will also give him another chance to see the conservatoires and help him choose what he prefers. In my experience it is normal for the instrumental teacher to do the practical reference.

Thank you - that is my thought train but nice to have someone agree!

Trombonist here, graduated from the Royal Academy of Music a good few years ago.

I've got nothing useful to add to the above, that's all sound advice. The only thing I can second is that I had no help or guidance about where/how to apply either. I'm not sure it matters all that much - go do the auditions; they're good practice regardless, and he'll also learn a lot about each college as part of the process.

Whoops - meant to also add that it's healthy to think of auditions as him auditioning the college as much as they're auditioning him. How well run is the audition process? How good/friendly are the provided accompanyists? What are the facilities like?
The day can be super-stressful if you let it be, but I found thinking in those terms really helped. Also doing more auditions should help with that, too, and increases his chances of getting at least one offer.

My son (just graduated) applied for four. He did it all himself as he had a gap year, so yes references took a bit of effort for him to get too!
Agreed with a pp - it's as much about your son interviewing them as the other way round. My son was completely put off one conservatoire based on the interview.

Thank you - as always wise words which are so helpful!

Mine applied for 6 but used the same recording for several of them. He attended offer holder days at 5 of them which was definitely partly him auditioning them. He decided one was too brass bandy, one wasn’t challenging enough, one had a weird vibe and one the key tutor is planning to retire. He was proper Goldilocks but the one he chose was just right.

DS did this - as a. very marginal applicant, he applied for everywhere offering his specific course, and treated his auditions as open days for most. His practical reference was from his county group leader, his academic one was a group effort from all his A level teachers with a focus on music, and his instrumental teacher worked with him to navigate all the different audition requirements (as a non-classical player, auditions involved a group, both for the recording required for one, and for the live playing for the others). His school had almost zero experience, digging out their last conservatoire applicant from many years before, but were really willing and responsive. He loved his audition ‘national tour’, against expectations got an offer, and has been very happy there.