What? College? Now?

If you are halfway through high school, you might think that college is a long way off and there's plenty of time to procrastinate about making plans. Before you know it, you're supposed to be making decisions about which college you're going to attend, taking entrance exams, SAT tests, and filling out endless mountains of paper work just to apply for admission. Take this all in stride; it's part of the process. A more important and constructive part of the process is preparing an audition, and if you think about it, you might already be partially prepared. But more on that later. Right now you're probably just trying to figure out why you want to go to college, and where you're going to go. (Probably also how you're going to afford it). Let's get to those subjects first.

By the way, if you are in your last year of high school, you probably already have those issues worked out, at least for the most part. Skip on down to the audition.

You have questions and you want answers. Well, don't expect black and white answers, and be a little skeptical of anyone offers them, because the why and where questions can only be answered by you. You already know why you want to go to college. Think you don't? Yes, valid reasons for going to college include such mundane rationale as "all my friends are going," "I don't have a career started," "I don't have anything else to do," or "I gotta get out of this place!" There's also, "I'll be the first in my family to go," "my parents expect it of me," "my significant other is going to college," and "I've already burned out on 'you want fries with that?'" Those might be the less ambitious reasons for going to college, but they have to be checked off the list for everybody. If there are no other reasons for going to college, your choice of which school to go to is relatively easy. Go somewhere you can afford that's far enough away from home to be comfortable for you.

Who Are You?

But you are a musician. That already means you have more ambition than merely being comfortable. That raises the level of concern, but it's still up to you to answer the next questions. You might be surprised to know how many people applying to college made their choice by throwing darts at a map. Even musicians often don't know much about the schools and the private teachers they are auditioning for. So before you decide which is the best music school for you, ask yourself: just what kind of musician are you? A hobbyist? An "I can't do art so I'll play in the band" type? Do you see yourself as a music teacher in the school system? How about as a performer in the symphony orchestra? Or a chamber music performer? Or a drummer in a rock band? How about the music marketing and business angle? Or recording and engineering? Music therapy? Composer or theorist, software designer, military band performer, music librarian, instrument repair technician, concert promoter, college professor, magazine editor/writer, drumline instructor, concert soloist, sound designer for TV and film, Broadway pit freelancer, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh... Don't worry, that litany was only meant to show that the music industry is huge. Most of those career paths are things people get into after getting in to a music school just by keeping their eyes open, so you don't need to trouble yourself with all the things you don't know anything about. But if you can check off any of those options, that can help you to narrow your choice of which school to go to.

Just how comprehensive does the music school have to be to provide what you need? Only music conservatories and really gigantic universities can provide you with programs in all those fields. They also have rigorous entrance standards and cost a lot of money. But there is a drawback to universities whose programs have grown so large that they cannot administer the basic necessities without making compromises. How many courses will you have to take with graduate assistants as instructors? Will you receive any attention from full time professors? Will you actually learn how to play your axe? Is Big University a place where you can make your own space, or a place to get lost in the shuffle? That depends more on your personality and assertiveness and only you can honestly assess that. So in your list of schools (you do have a list of schools) start some preliminary ideas of the pros and cons based on who you are and what you want.

Your guidance counselor can help with some things, but they rarely know much about music, and even less about music schools. In most cases they aren't aware of how competitive the music industry is and that includes music schools and the audition process. So, get some input from your music teachers. They might be inclined to pitch the school they went to which is OK. Just file that away where it belongs.

Who Are They?

All music schools have areas of specialty and some parts of their programs are stronger than others. You should spend a good deal time and effort looking at the various course catalogs, degree programs, and faculty profiles, as well as researching the geographical location. Be aware that not all web sites are created equal, so you should request some of these materials the old fashioned way. Now you have more info to add to your list of pros and cons for each school.

You should also visit the campuses. Your first impressions might seem like a superficial way to make judgments, so file those thoughts away where you think they're appropriate. Only you know how much to trust your gut instincts. Just remember, Juilliard used to be a dump in a bad neighborhood before it moved to Lincoln Center. Most people visit campuses with their parents. I suggest you take your best friend too. You probably already have an idea what your parents will think. It's also a good idea to visit when the program is in full production. Summer visits or those during a holiday often don't have the normal level of activity and you might not get a realistic idea of what goes on there. When you visit, make sure you have an appointment with the major teacher. If he/she doesn't have time for that, that probably won't change when you're a student. Make the appointment in advance- they are busy people. If the percussion instructor is on the road when you are going to visit the campus, make another appointment to meet, even if that means an extra trip. You should consider taking a lesson with the teacher even if it costs money. (It probably won't, especially if the teacher knows you're going to audition later). Yes, the teacher will get an idea of whether it's worth hearing an audition later, but more importantly, you will get an idea of what it will be like to study with that person. Many people who audition for the Kent Studio have not been here before, so I treat their auditions like short lessons. It only seems fair. But wouldn't it be better for both of us if the audition weren't the first time we worked together? Finally, all music schools have percussionists hanging out together some place, or they're not real music schools. So find them! Yeah, they'll probably have a few things to gripe about, but they are percussionists. What do you expect? But they are the only ones who can tell you if studying with their teacher is worth all the other gripes.

Getting my drift? Your private teacher has a major influence on your college career. This should be the make-or-break part of your shopping and should override most of the other pros and cons on your list of schools.

I'm So Rich... NOT!

Now, the how part. It's simple, but not necessarily easy. A quick Google search will show you that there are plenty of ways to finance college. Just type in college financial aid and see what you get. There are also the financial aid offices that all colleges have. But getting someone to give you money takes lots of work. The most likely source for money is the bank. I'm talking about loans for college. Yeah, go into debt. Welcome to America. But what's so bad about that? You will probably always be paying off a car loan, rent or a mortgage, a cell phone contract, a loan for your computer, and (hopefully not) a pile of credit cards. Going into debt is how you achieve a good credit rating so you can go into more debt. You probably have your own philosophy about this, or at least you inherited one from your family. But consider this: what kind of debt is getting a crappy education, or none at all? I'm not a credit counselor, but if it's any consolation, I didn't pay off all my student loans until I was in my thirties, and I compare that to how much debt my doctor and my lawyer were in. Life is expensive and although that may affect your choice for where to go to college, it's down the list a bit.

The Audition

This part of going to college isn't the same as it is for your friends who want to be accountants, math majors, English lit or computer science majors. You have to be admitted to a music school. If you can't play, you can't get in. That's not the same as applying for admission in most college degree programs. You can be accepted into almost any university and still not gain admission to the music school. You can even register for all the core music courses as a freshman, and still not be a music major. Who would think of doing that? Plenty of people just get the sequence turned around. Others who might have done poorly at the audition are determined to audition again after completing a semester or two of school. They may have picked a music school they weren't prepared enough for. How prepared are you to pass the audition?

First, understand the process. Some schools have different standards for those auditioning for one degree program than another. Those who want to be Performance Majors might have to play more advanced literature than those who want a Bachelor of Arts degree or a degree in Music Education, although that is not always the case. Some schools accept those with less ability than they should have because they figure the really weak ones will weed themselves out, or they just want warm bodies to keep their enrollment high. Sometimes the teacher will sense some raw material in the student that outweighs the weakness in the audition. Some schools have so many qualified applicants that they only take the best performers. If there are a lot of auditions on the day you play, the teacher may not be paying attention to how well you could play, but how well you play today. And sometimes, just sometimes, it's just luck.

Do your homework. Find out what the audition should consist of. Most schools want to hear you play the snare drum, timpani, and keyboard percussion. There may be more than one type of snare drum style required, a timpani solo that requires tuning changes, and a four-mallet marimba piece. Those things depend on the particular school. You'll probably be asked to play various scales. Sight reading is a standard part of many auditions. You might be required to play drum set. You might be required to play instruments and repertoire you have never tried before. Just find out. Find out how much your choice of degree program enters into the professor's decision. If this kind of information isn't posted somewhere in all the literature you've received from the college, ask the percussion instructor directly. Even if it is outlined, it cannot hurt to ask for clarification or to find out if what you are preparing is acceptable.

Get help in preparing the music. Your private instructor and your band or orchestra director have gone through this and unless you've really alienated yourself from them, they want to see you succeed. I think you should play within yourself. That is, play material you can do well in the time you have to prepare it. Choosing overly difficult literature that you will play miserably won't impress anyone.

Here's some good news: you may already have some repertoire prepared that fits the bill. Music you have prepared for solo festivals and contests is usually appropriate. Almost no one is going to ask you how long you've played the pieces or how you learned them unless your reading ability is really poor. Admitting to yourself that your reading skills need work is the start of that project, and rest assured, the professor can tell if you can read. No need to advertise that. But if the material that's placed before you to sight read is over your head, say so, or just give it your best shot. That's you making that call. There's a major clue there...

What's It All About?

As with everything else in the audition, it's all about you. Not the school, not the professor, not your parents, not your friends, not your guidance counselor, not your band director, or your old drum teacher. You can't rage against the machine or the man or your impoverished childhood in the audition. You can't convey your vision of Utopia there either. The only thing that counts is the music you make. This is the part that you have control over. Yeah, you might feel a little out of control because you're nervous. And you might not even play your best performance, but it is you, this day, playing this music. That's why I'm still in this business.

You can afford to make several major mistakes in judgment in your lifetime. Picking the wrong school doesn't even rate as major. Changing your mind about which college or which career even after you've been there for a while means that you're paying attention and doing something about your situation. For now, just try to make an educated choice. And make it your choice.