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I just auditioned there today actually... So here's how it went

After the general meeting for parents and students in the theater, you go take your theory test. If you have a good theory background, you'll be just fine. After the test, you go to a group interview where you and 3 or 4 other applicants go into a room and a faculty member asks you questions. After that, you have your audition. This is where you show off. Requirements for tuba are: 1 Bordogni etude, 1 Kopprasch etude, Die Meistersinger excerpt, Ride of the Valkyries excerpt, and the Vaughan Williams Concerto movement 1 OR 2. This seems to be just a guideline for you; most of the other players there today did not follow this verbatim. Anyway, if you apply for Music Education, you then go to a one on one interview with someone in the music ed department. They pretty much ask you the same questions again. Finally, for music ed, you go to a skills assesment exam where you need to do a rhythm excercise, sight sing, sight read, and play some basic piano. There that pretty much sums it up. I hope this helps. Eastman is a great school with a great environment and great staff and students to go along with it. So good luck in you searches and definitely consider this school.

Hey Guys,
Just wanna put a good word in for Eastman. I am a freshman this year, and i am really impressed with the school so far. I went through the same thing last year you guys are all going through now, and from what i heard today while you guys were warming up, it all sounded great. My only advice when selecting a school is to look at the whole picture. I would not soley choose a school for the teacher, because obviously teachers can leave or retire, so you dont want to be stuck at a mediocre music school without a teacher. Make sure to consider all factors when making your decision. After visiting Eastman over two years ago and seeing the improvement in the studio over the last two years, i can honestly say that the studio is going to be one of the best in the country over the next few years. Besides having a very strong studio, the ensembles at eastman are top in the country, and most importantly, academic standards are very high. Hope you guys have been enjoying the audition process, and i would be glad to talk to any of you if you have questions about the school or how Don runs the studio and his teaching styles.

Best of Luck
Eric

elaprade@mail.rochester.edu
508-479-9112
if you got any questions

Wow, this is becoming like an audition day re-union....

I am also a freshman at Eastman this year, and I am insanely happy with it. I had high hopes for what school at Eastman would be like and I can honestly say that it has really been everything I hoped it would be. I agree with everything Eric said above, and here are my top reasons why I love Eastman:

- The school and facilities are amazing. There is just a feeling of grandness and history the physical buildings give off. It's hard to describe. When you walk around in the main school building with its huge vaulted ceilings, or play a concert in Eastman theater, it just feels like there is an aura of greatness around. The dorms are nice but small. And here's a big plus: tuba players get their own practice rooms in the basement of the school so you don't have to lug your tuba around 7 floors of practice rooms in the annex.

- The reason I decided to go into music was because playing in a great group makes me more happy than anything else in the world. The groups here are great. I really think that playing as part of a group that is really good can make you better and pull you up to a higher level.

- I like Don as a teacher. He is an amazing teacher for techique. He has great ears to hear things you can improve and problems that you never knew were there.

- I am a Music Ed/Performance double major, and Eastman was one of a very few top schools that also has a good education program.

- The final and most important reason: NO A-HOLES! (have to censor myself after a recent flaming ) I expected Eastman to have its fair share of stuck-ups, big egos, and general a-holes. I am going to a music conservatory for god's sake! It is really amazing, but I have not met a single a-hole here.
Everyone is really friendly, nice, and supportive. It may seem like I am making an over-general statement, but it's really true. There is competition, but no mean competition like I have heard rumors about from other schools.
People really help each other. Here's one example: my brass quintet of all freshmen was practicing in a room, and a senior trumpet player came by and stopped in to listen to us for a few minutes and gave us some advice. No reason, just being nice.
The atmosphere here is really great here. It is really like a family.

One of the few things I don't like about the school is that, being an urban campus, there is no space where you could hang out with friends and play frisbee or something. While downtown Rochester is not horrible, it's no Ithaca, NY.

To everyone auditioning, good luck.

Recent flaming? Damn, we must have a bunch of tight-asses 'round here...some people just can't drop ****.

Sousie

And just in case my last post is taken too seriously, I will say this, "A tuba playera and his sarcasm, it's a wonderful thing."

Sou