The Audition!

I received a packet in the mail the other day from North Carolina School of the Arts. Inside was a harsh brochure unlike any others that I've read before. Most brochures encourage students to come, and gives the impression that they would feel very welcome and at home. NCSA's brochure was designed for only the most persistent at heart. The front cover reads, "Tragedy. Torture. Death. Welcome to your first day at Fletcher." Inside, it repeats the same phrase again and again, "lots of hard work". "Lots of hard work" with great professionals, through "lots of hard work" you will develop many skills, this school is not just a school, but a professional institution where "lots of hard work" is expected, since "you'll spend every waking hour living the life of an opera professional", and so forth. Rather intimidating, but it makes it all the more exciting.

My goal a long time ago was just to get an audition with NCSA. In that promising packet was an offer to do just that. I now have been selected to audition at the Chicago location in February. It's nerve-wracking and terribly exciting all at once, and it's only December! I don't know if I'll make it until then! I have so much to do before then. The audition is a grueling process with so many different aspects, that it's going to be hard to prepare for everything.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it's hard not to set another goal of getting accepted. This school is amazing people. They have a very very exclusive cap on graduate voice students. (rumor has it, it's 4 tops, it says 12 on the website... hmmm) However, if you are admitted, you're incredibly well taken care of. All tuition and costs are paid for, a generous stipend is given for you to live on, so you don't have to work outside of school, or worry about where your next rent check is coming from. Not to mention you study with the best in the business. You gain professional experience along with a quality education. It's a professional world with far more opportunities than if you were to go it alone, and you're paid for doing it. Who wouldn't want to give 1,000% of every day for that opportunity? It's what every musician strives for.

I still have yet to get my application into the University of Minnesota, but I have a couple of weeks to put it together. I just hope I get in somewhere. I realize it's dangerous only applying to 2 places, but I wouldn't want to go any where else. So, kind of pointless to spend hundreds of dollars on applications, and more money on auditions, when I wouldn't go there. Maybe I'm just cheap.