In this article, I am going to present to you How To Make A Music Portfolio For College. If you have a knack for music from an early age and want to connect your life with it, there are high odds of succeeding. Indeed, to become a professional musician, you have to possess a relevant degree. To obtain the latter, you should select a college specializing in music. It also should help you develop musical skills to be fully prepared for a professional career.
However, there is a but. There are multitudes of young people pursuing to become musicians. That is why colleges implemented rigorous tests, which require delving into music research topics and having the most crucial document, called a portfolio. To polish your portfolio to shine and surpass other candidates, you can use college writing help or read this article and cope by yourself.
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What is a music portfolio?
In addition to meeting academic requirements, many schools, colleges, and universities require a document that is called a portfolio. A portfolio is a document that demonstrates your non-academic performance. It shows your skills, how they advance over time, and how you grow professionally. In our case, it is music, so your portfolio has to comprise all the necessary information allowing you to evaluate your musical abilities at first glance, i.e., without showing practical skills.
A portfolio is often accompanied by a personal statement, which showcases your intentions, goals, and ambitions when choosing a specific educational institution to study. It shouldn’t be treated cheerfully, especially when it comes to music. It goes without saying that even if your academic performance is better than other applicants’, a poorly composed case will result in your low entrance grade.
Steps To Create A Music Portfolio
Here are the steps to learning How To Make A Music Portfolio For College. Like writing every essay, you have to take some pre-writing steps to be aware of what to include in your case. To get to know that, make sure you:
- Get familiar with the requirements of a specific college
- Check successful examples of music portfolio
- Include only the best compositions
- Follow an obligatory order of attributes
Getting familiar with the requirement of a specific college
Before you proceed to compose a portfolio, check the colleges you want to enter the most. You should submit applications to many schools because anything can happen. And it is always better to have a plan B and enter the college you put on the second place of your priorities rather than not study at all because you submitted only one application.
Every school has its range of requirements one has to meet to become a full-fledged candidate. Indubitably, they can differ from one another substantially, which means you have to adjust every application to a particular college. Sometimes it even requires changing your portfolio. In such cases, make sure you have your initial portfolio saved.
Aside from that, many schools offer open days where you can come and see everything with your own eyes. There you can inquire about additional information regarding applications, portfolios, size and format of them, and other crucial aspects, such as dorms and different facilities. And don’t forget about the due dates, especially if you are an out-of-state candidate. Sometimes colleges may prolong application deadlines for students who are not located in the same state.
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Check successful examples of music portfolios
If you have friends that are senior to you and connect their lives with music, they must have portfolios. Even though their cases might be outdated because of a fast-paced environment, it will help to glance at how their documents look. Other than friends, you can surf the Internet and check proper samples of music portfolios and/or analyze web pages that offer to create such documents. If a website is professional, credible, and has a proven track record of delightful clients, it must have a list of different portfolio examples.
Include only the best compositions
Well, this is arguably true, but it depends. In other words, the vast majority of colleges will pay attention to your complete and excellent work to see whether they can accept you or not. However, some institutions may ask you to include incomplete works to see how you develop them. Again, you should clarify that beforehand to know what scenario you have to follow.
Follow an obligatory order of attributes
Even though there are many ways of writing a portfolio, and they differ from one college to another, you can create your portfolio following a common strategy. You can make it in the form of a draft and manually calibrate it to the college’s requirements. These are the important points for you to learn how to make a music portfolio for college.
- Scores
- List of compositions
- Personal statement
- Resume
- Letters of Recommendation
- Interview*
Scores
If you want to enter college, you have to demonstrate your ability to use instruments. You should possess a score in solo instruments, chorus, orchestra, etc. Having personal recordings, you are likely to attach them in mp3 format.
List of compositions
We highly encourage you to attach every performance and composition. Note that this section needs to be written as follows:
Date of composition – Title– Duration – Instrumentation
Please acknowledge that the most recent works should be found at the beginning of the list.
When it comes to performances, it should look the following way:
Date of presentation – Participants’ names – Venue – Location (city, state, country)
Personal statement
Needless to say that this should be written as a narrative. Simply describe your musical background, career goals, and why this college should select you.
Resume
The same format and structure as any other resume. Ensure include musical experience, awards, honors, etc.
Letters of recommendation
If you have one, it will give you a lot of credit.
Interview
Undoubtedly, it is hard to say what a committee will ask you during the interview. However, don’t expect an interrogation. It will most likely be a friendly conversation regarding your musical expectation; besides, you will analyze your application, and maybe you will be asked to demonstrate a composition to the group.
This is a complete guide on how to make a music portfolio for college. Following all of these aspects, your chances of becoming a musical college student will skyrocket.
