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Double Bass College Auditions 2006

#42
I'm audition for Juilliard this year and Mr. Levinson is my teacher. They require one major or minor scale (either e, f, or g or E, F, or G) and arpeggios. Also be sure to play what they tell you, like don't go into the audition and play Koussevitsky concerto because they want a baroque sonata.

Yes, Mr. Levinson does kick kids out of auditions for not having the right things prepared, as do the other teachers. They are very clear and specific on what they want and if you dont have the right things prepared they dont want to hear you.

Anyway everybody is having all their auditions already and I didnt even have one yet. Two weeks until my first one, which is Juilliard.
 
#43
Something worth noting:

For those auditioning for Juilliard, no matter who you intend to study with at the Big J you have to be approved by all the bass faculty. Not just the one you want to work with. So do take the scale and arpeggio thing seriously. Levinson does. It would be a shame if you worked really hard getting your concerto ready and you weren't admitted because you blew off scales and arpeggios. Simple little things like that offer insight into your basic musical and technical knowledge and your work ethic.
 
#44
Originally Posted by PaulCannon

Peabody: Sent a tape in on December 1. Still waiting for results.
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Peabody doesn't mail out any decisions until April 1st.

But just so you know the status of your tape: I just had my audition at Peabody, and while I was there, I couldn't help but take a peak at one of the guide's list for the bass players auditioning. I saw your name on the list as one of the taped auditions.

My guess is that they didn't even look at any of the taped auditions yet. They probably wanted to hear all of the bass applicants in one day so they could sort out the players more easily.

Anyway, I just finished all of college auditions. I'm just going to relax the rest of my senior year, or maybe I'll decide to start doing my homework for school again.

Best of luck to all of you who are still auditioning!
 
#45
Well I wasnt talking about just Levinson, I was talking about all the bass teachers in general. You are right though if you blow off scales and arpeggios you have no shot of getting in because if you don't think something like scales and arpeggios are important then they feel you are not at the professional level necessary for Juilliard. Also, please do not prepare a concerto for the NYC schools. Too many friends of mine have been kicked out of auditions for doing that and not a baroque sonata. Finally, the teachers do not know who you want to study with until after the auditions are complete and the selections made, therefore impressing who you want to study does no justice for you because you need to impress all 4 faculty members.

Best of luck to everybody with their auditions!
 
#46
sibass89 said:
Well I wasnt talking about just Levinson, I was talking about all the bass teachers in general. You are right though if you blow off scales and arpeggios you have no shot of getting in because if you don't think something like scales and arpeggios are important then they feel you are not at the professional level necessary for Juilliard. Also, please do not prepare a concerto for the NYC schools. Too many friends of mine have been kicked out of auditions for doing that and not a baroque sonata. Finally, the teachers do not know who you want to study with until after the auditions are complete and the selections made, therefore impressing who you want to study does no justice for you because you need to impress all 4 faculty members.

Best of luck to everybody with their auditions!
Click to expand...

No Concerto?
When I auditioned I did a concerto, baroque sonata, a movement of solo Bach. Have the requirements changed?
 
#48
sibass89 said:
Well I wasnt talking about just Levinson, I was talking about all the bass teachers in general. You are right though if you blow off scales and arpeggios you have no shot of getting in because if you don't think something like scales and arpeggios are important then they feel you are not at the professional level necessary for Juilliard. Also, please do not prepare a concerto for the NYC schools. Too many friends of mine have been kicked out of auditions for doing that and not a baroque sonata. Finally, the teachers do not know who you want to study with until after the auditions are complete and the selections made, therefore impressing who you want to study does no justice for you because you need to impress all 4 faculty members.

Best of luck to everybody with their auditions!
Click to expand...

So by four you mean that Laszlo will be at the auditions next week?
 
#50
That's interesting. I wonder if he'll be there so soon after getting the job. I like how Juilliard mailed everyone the news in a letter. It's really nice that they took the time to let everyone know.

On a sort of related note, does anyone know if Mannes been looking into getting another faculty member?
 
#51
I don't know about Mannes. I'll ask around.

I would imagine after looking around for so long for a new teacher and completely demolishing Mr. Mensch's old studio that the best Juilliard can do is have Laszlo at the auditions. Then again who knows what they are going to do.
 
#56
LaurenBell said:
I'm also out on the "audition" circuit this year. So far I know I've been accepted to Indiana, Michigan State, CCM, and Oberlin. Now all I have to do is decide where to go...:hmm:
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I'm not sure if you want my advice, but among those schools I would highly recommend Indiana. They're had a really great track record recently with getting graduates jobs. Do you know which teacher you'd have?
 
#57
Well here is the scoop for the inquiring.

Al Laszlo is the new appointment at Juilliard to take Mr. Mensch's place. Also, I don't think demolish was a good word at the time.

After Mr. Mensch's passing it hit a lot of the students hard. Some of his students (from what I understand) quit but most of them went off into other studios and (also from what I heard) a few were taking lessons with Kurt Muroki for the time being.

Now demolish wasn't a good word but it was chaos around the Bass Department, and I feel that the least Juilliard can do is after this year (which was hard on a lot of kids) is have Mr. Laszlo come out for the auditions.

If I'm wrong please correct me. There has to be some people out there who know better than me. I'm running strictly off of a hearsay from a couple of Mensch's old students.
 
#59
PaulCannon said:
I'm not sure if you want my advice, but among those schools I would highly recommend Indiana. They're had a really great track record recently with getting graduates jobs. Do you know which teacher you'd have?
Click to expand...

I didn't know you posted here either! :hyper:

I would be with Mr. Hurst. I'm hoping I get enough scholarship money to go to some of these top schools. I hate waiting for the letters though. I just want to know where I'm going already! :)
 

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