Finding a School
~ The first thing to do is to find a list of potential schools. College ranking books, promotional material, and websites are good sources of information, but the best way to find out about great colleges is to ask people. Private teachers, friends in college, and band directors should all have helpful suggestions.
~ There are two essential things that every music major should do before applying to a school, and especially before auditioning. The first is to visit the campus. Case in point: I visited two schools during one campus trip. School A was my first choice and I thought that I would go there for sure. School B was my backup, a "safety school" that I was not excited about at all. After visiting the two campuses, I decided not to apply to school A because I hated it so much. School B became my first choice, and I was ecstatic to recieve my acceptance letter from that school. The second thing to do before applying is to arrange a sample lesson with the flute professor(s). You will be taking lessons from this person for four years; it is important that you get along with and can learn from him or her. Plus you won't be worried about making a good first impression on audition day, because you will have done that already. You will also have a familiar face in the audience of intimidating people at the audition. I know I felt much more comfortable at the auditions where I knew the professors beforehand.
~ You will want to apply to atleast one school where you think you have ggod chances of being accepted, and probably to atleast one that's a stretch for you but has an awesome program. I auditioned for my "safety" school in the fall (college auditions usually occur between January and April), and that worked out really well for two reasons. First, I got some great practice with the audition process, and second, I knew by November that I would get to go somewhere as a music major. This took some of the pressure off of the auditions for my top choices.
Preparing for Auditions
~ Ideally, you want to choose your music during the summer before your senior year. This way you can have the notes and rhythms (at least) down by the time you go back to school. Senior year is a busy time and the more you can get done over the summer, the better off you will be.
~ Try to get as much music as possible to overlap between auditions. This will require some advance planning. Get a list of the audition requirements for each school and then start playing "What if..." You will probably be surprised how much of an overlap there is. Also, many colleges will give their requirements and then a sample list of songs that would make a good audition. You do not need to play the songs on this sample list; the professor is just trying to provide an example of the kind of literature you should play, the difficulty level, or the variety of styles you should choose.
~ This is kind of obvious, but practicing is really important. You need to know every little detail in your piece(s) better than the back of your hand. More practice will give you more confidence on audition day.
~ You will also want to practice performing before the day of your audition. Hopefully you already have lots of experience performing solos in front of an audience, but if not, the time to begin is now. You need to develop a strategy of what to do to make you feel calm and confident when you're performing so you can relax on the day of the audition. You might listen to a favorite CD before you perform or just take deep breaths to calm down, but you need to make sure you know several strategies for relaxing before you audition.
~ One other thing: at almost every school you apply to, your grades and your test scores do matter, at least a little bit, to the music school. If you have really stellar standardized test scores, or a great GPA, or you are a National Merit Scholar, or you have great letters of recommendation from your teachers (even non-music teachers) this can make a difference to the music school. Send copies of your application materials to the music school if you think there's any chance that these materials will work in your favor. Even if the music school says they don't take these things into account, it can't hurt you.
~ On that note, you will want to make a resume that lists your musical and academic achievements in high school and a list of the repertoire you have studied and performed throughout high school to give the audition committee at each audition. You could even staple some letters of recommendation to this packet. Not only will this impress the audition committee, but it might also take a little bit of their attention off any mistakes you might make during the audition (wishful thinking?!?)
On the Day of the Audition
~ Drink water. Drink lots of water- more water than you think you should. This will give you a much better tone. In fact, start now.
~ Be careful what you eat. Don't eat foods that will mess up your tone (ie, dairy products, lots of salt, etc.)
~ Do everything that you possibly can to get ready before the day of the audition (figuring out what you're wearing, packing your flute stuff, etc.) This will eliminate stress of the day of the audition and give you a chance to concentrate on the important stuff, namely, doing well on your audition.
~ The most important thing is just to relax. Don't let anyone intimidate you (and believe me, they will try!) Just remember that you have been working hard for years to get to this day, and do your best. At this point, whatever happens, and I am a firm believer that if it is meant to be, it will be. Best of luck!
After the audition
~ At this point, there isn't a whole lot you can do, short of waiting. You could send a thank you note to the professor(s) for listening to you, and of course, you could always send an updated resume or repertoire list. You don't want to seem to eager though, so the best thing to do might just be to wait. It's really hard to do (I know, I've been there) but if you can try to forget about the whole thing it will make the waiting easier. Obviously, this is way easier to say than to do.
Want to read more about college auditions? I made another page comparing the four school I auditioned for and the experiences I had there. Click here to read more.
So, you want to be a music major?