Applying for music school? Here's how to make connections with the professors BEFORE the audition

Imagine this: you are sitting in the audition room. Judging the contestants. One after another all day long. Then you see a contestant you know. They reached out to your beforehand and have made a connection with you. Don't you want to be that contestant? Today we dive into how.


This episode is available as a blog post! Click here to read

Click here for the episode show notes.

Click here to listen to episode 14: Trial Lessons Coming Up? Here's How to Prepare for Them

Your Audition Guidebook? Click here.

Transcript

Intro

Speaker 1 0:00

Before I did my auditions for music school , I set up meetings with the professors , mostly because I'm going to be switching from a long script read to a short script read and I wanted to know if they were up for that , because some teachers are ready to teach that and other teachers might not want to teach that . What I didn't realize what would happen is that I would establish connections with these professors , I would see them in my audition and I would be able to keep in touch with them . Having that connection with them made it easier for me to play in my audition and ultimately just do better in my audition . They also knew who I was before I got to the audition room . Sounds like an advantage and something really cool to do . Heck yeah , sounds like an advantage and something really cool to do . Heck yeah . Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast . I'm your host , eleanor , and after countless practice sessions , a ton of broken reeds and seven different music school acceptances in three different countries , I have learned a thing or two about savoring your practicing , becoming your best practice companion and actively working towards your musical goals , and I want to share this with you because I want you to become your best musical self . Are you with me on this ? Let's get started . Hey there and welcome back .

Speaker 1 1:33

Today we are diving into connections and how we can establish them with professors before we get to that audition . Now it's different for everyone , so today I'm going to be talking about how I did it and hopefully that will be able to show you , maybe , how you can do it as well . The

Establish those connections beforehand

Speaker 1 1:47

first thing I did was establish those connections . Now for me , I just emailed the teachers and I talked about my situation with Reads and asked if we could have a Zoom call about the Reads . This is a real concern for me because , if you don't know already , I am moving to the UK this summer and switching oboe playing styles from the American style of oboe playing to the European style of oboe playing , and that is a huge switch . So I really really , really needed to know if the teachers were open to this change , because some teachers were very open to it and other teachers were not as open to it . They just didn't want to kind of do that , and that's perfectly fine . I just needed to know which was which . So how can you do this ? Maybe you have your own concern , like I did with the reads . Don't be afraid to reach out and contact the teachers and ask questions . Now the second thing , which is something that people

Take trial lessons

Speaker 1 2:47

do all the time like the first thing , was specific to me . That's what I did , and if you have a similar concern , then you can totally do that as well .

Speaker 1 2:58

But the second thing is setting up trial lessons . Now you can just ask the teacher for a trial lesson . This way , the teacher gets to know not only you but also how you play , and we dive into this in episode 14 . It is called trial lessons coming up . Here's how to prepare for them . This episode takes you from you know , when you have finished setting the date with the teacher for the trial lessons , all the way up to actually doing the trial lesson , because there's that gap in between . And you know there's a good question how do you prepare for the trial lesson ? So that is exactly what episode 14 is about . So make sure you go check the show notes and listen to that episode , because there's some good stuff in there .

Speaker 1 3:43

Now , trial lessons are great because not only is it for the teacher getting to know you , but it's also for you to get to know the teacher . Everyone's teaching style and everyone's learning style is different and trial lessons can make it so that you can see oh , do we match ? You know , is this teacher a good fit for me ? Oh , this teacher isn't such a good fit for me Because in my personal experience , I had some great trial lessons that were amazing and I was so excited about working with this teacher and , on the other hand , I also had some trial lessons that weren't so great that I just didn't feel like they were good and it just we didn't mesh . And I'm so grateful for those experiences and opportunities because through them I was able to be like , okay , I want to keep in touch with these teachers , but these teachers over here I didn't , you know we didn't work well as much so . So maybe I can keep that in mind .

Speaker 1 4:45

So setting up trial lessons is so , so , so important and it establishes that connection , if you haven't already established it through asking the teacher a question . You know , as I have struggled and worked through audition seasons , I have tested it out and collected strategies for all aspects of the auditioning process , and this is to go in a special guidebook just for you . There is a link all about this in the show notes ,

Maintain those connections

Speaker 1 5:16

and the last step of this is maintaining those connections that you have created . Once you have gotten in touch with the teachers , don't let that drop . You have a connection . Maybe you've reached out to them about something that you wanted to ask a question about for me , like the reads , or you have had a trial lesson with them . Either way , you have created a connection . Do not let that drop .

Speaker 1 5:48

For instance , I sent some of my teachers now , not all of them , but some of them , especially the ones that I was really interested in working with . I sent them a quick email after I turned in my application and my preliminary video auditions and basically I said hey , I've turned these in , I can't wait for you to watch them . Or , you know , I can't wait for you to take a look at them because I'm really excited about it , or whatever it is , just telling the teacher like , okay , you know I did this and it is a great way to keep in touch . So for you , it could be doing that . It could be , especially if you are going to go visit the school , reaching out to the teacher beforehand . You are going to go visit the school reaching out to the teacher beforehand , being like hey , you know , I have this visit that I'm going to be doing let's , you know , have a lesson or something like that , just to create or just to continue that connection . Or if you have an audition at the school , that's another thing . You can send them an email and say , hey , I have this audition at this , you know , at the school , I'm looking forward to seeing you there , just sending an email to keep that connection going .

Speaker 1 6:57

Now , don't overdo it . Keep in touch with the teachers that you want to keep in touch with and do what feels appropriate to you . Now , every situation is different , but if something feels like it's too much , then you know address that and assess that with your specific situation , because everyone's situation is different and also , you don't have to keep in touch with every teacher . You meet Some teachers . You might be really , really , really excited about studying with them and other teachers . Maybe you had a trial lesson . It didn't go as well and you're just like I don't think that they're the right fit for me . You would probably keep in touch with the teachers that really inspired you and excited you more than , say , the ones that didn't . So , really thinking about okay , what is , you know , a good fit for me ? What's an appropriate level of communication for me , for these different teachers , is a really important thing to think about , because some teachers you will want to keep in touch with more than others , and that's perfectly fine .

Recap

Speaker 1 7:59

Let's do a quick recap . The first thing is establishing those connections . Now , for me , I emailed the teacher about , you know , reads , switching from a long scrape to a short scrape . Maybe you have a similar concern or something that you want to email the teacher about . To establish those connections , now remember to be really polite . You know this is this is a professional connection , almost . So make sure that you're really polite and really respectful , but reaching out and establishing those connections with the teachers . The second is setting up those trial lessons . Now , this is something that everyone does , it's a very normal thing . So just contacting the teacher and saying , hey , you know , could we maybe have a trial lesson . Now remember to be polite and respectful , but have that , and that can either establish a connection or continue a connection if it's already established .

Speaker 1 8:50

Now , if you want to learn more about trial lessons , episode 14 is the episode for you . Make sure that you go check that out in the show notes . And the last thing is maintaining those connections Once you've gotten in touch . Do not let that drop . For instance , sending them an email when you've sent in your audition tapes . Or sending them an email when you are about to go visit and ask if maybe you could , you know , have a lesson or whatever it is Now , remember to be now . Remember to make sure that it is appropriate for the situation . Now , it is different in every situation , so make sure that it is appropriate for that situation .

Speaker 1 9:28

All right

Final thoughts

Speaker 1 9:29

, that is about it for this episode . Thank you so much for hanging out with me . That is amazing of you . As always , all of the stuff to do with this episode will be in the show notes , from the blog post that goes with this episode to the link for episode 14 , trial lessons coming up . Here's how to prepare for them and the link for the audition guidebook . Make sure you do yourself a favor and look at these show notes because , let's be honest , there's some good stuff in them . And if you want to show your love and support for the Confident Musicianing Podcast , make sure you give it a follow and I will see you in the next episode . Bye .