The Orientation Week Survival Guide

Where did the summer go? It seems as though the festive spring season of graduations, parties, and end-of-year performances transpired only a week ago, yet my calendar is stubbornly insisting otherwise. The end of August is upon us once more, and for America’s youth, that can only mean one thing: it’s back-to-school season, that dread time of ill-fitting new clothes, shockingly bad cafeteria food, and fruitless searches through the local Staples for that elusive TI-34 calculator. For incoming music school students, however, this time of year entails much more than No. 2 pencils and pink pearl erasers–for now, after the arduous year-long process of applying to and deciding on a music school, it’s finally time for orientation week.
While no two orientation week schedules are exactly alike, they all tend to share some common elements: placement tests, orchestral/choral auditions, tours of campus and surrounding neighborhoods, and, of course, the requisite “get-to-know-you” games. While nobody will box you up and send you home if you fail epically at all your orientation week activities, it’s definitely worth it to put your best foot forward whether you be stepping into the theory placement exam or your dorm bathroom. Having experienced a couple of orientation weeks myself over the course of my half decade (!) as a college music student (cue quarter-life crisis), I thought I’d offer up a few tips to aid you as you traverse your new campus (or lack thereof, if you’re at a private conservatory) for the first time. Here is the unofficial music-school version of the Orientation Week Survival Guide that you probably won’t find in “The Naked Roommate“:
1. Study for the placement tests.
Yes, the results of the placement tests may not be recorded permanently, but it’s definitely worth it to put forth your best effort when you’re corralled into the vast examination room with all the other entering students. Your school has most likely sent you a list of materials to review in preparation, so take advantage of those as well as any other notes and assignments you may have kept from previous music classes. For theory and history, there are also some great online resources that can be easily located with a quick Google search. Don’t fret if your background is lacking in a certain subject; just do the best you can in studying, and know that you’re definitely not alone–that’s what the fundamentals classes are for. The only real mistake you can make is to slack off in preparations with the idea that you’ll just “wing it.” It’s your decision, of course, but you’ll come to regret spending a semester in a remedial class solely because you spent examination eve in the local fraternity house instead of the music library.
2. Practice for the audition.
One would assume that entering music school students would strive to make the best impression possible during their ensemble placement audition, but I guarantee that there will be a significant number of students who will only start to look at the excerpts after their parents have dropped them off. As an incoming freshman, I remember being particularly shocked when, after spending several weeks perfecting my audition repertoire, another student claimed that he had only practiced his excerpts in the two hours immediately preceding his audition (“And the guy before me just sightread his,” he added nonchalantly, as my eyes widened in disbelief). While I suppose some people might have the technique (and the ego) to get away with little (or no!) preparation time, I definitely don’t recommend it. People will tell you that the audition doesn’t really matter, and that you’ll be in the “freshman” orchestra no matter what, but that doesn’t change the fact that this will be your first chance to show your conductor what you’re capable of–and you certainly don’t want to risk starting off a four-year relationship with an epically-botched rendition of “Don Juan.”
3. Be social, but don’t be a party animal, either.
You can’t possibly spend all day studying for your placement exams and practicing for your orchestra audition (especially after they’re over), so instead of spending your free time holed up in your new dorm room playing Farmville with similarly anti-social high school buddies, get out and get to know your fellow students. While you’re probably not going to form a tight-knit social group worthy of the “Friends” sitcom in just a few days, you’ll certainly make more acquaintances if you attend the “meet-and-greet” activities than if you maintain a stubborn hermitage in your dorm room (or at worse, a practice room). Conversely–and I realize that some people might consider the following advice to be controversial–I don’t recommend the party scene (well, how could I? This is a professional website). Your social life is your business, but let me at least advise that staying out with the frat boys until dawn on the night before the placement audition is not going to do you any favors. Just saying.
4. Go to the security talk, and know your surroundings.
Whether you’re starting a new life in rural midwestern college town or a bustling east coast city, it’s vitally important that you know where to go, or more importantly, where not to go. There will probably be a presentation given by your school’s head of security at some point during orientation week, which I’d highly recommend attending if it’s not already required. The laundry list of potential hazards might sound a bit scary (as may the local laundry mat itself), but keep in mind that even in big cities, you have a very good chance of staying safe as long as you take appropriate precautions. At the same time, you shouldn’t assume the “it-won’t-happen-to-me” attitude, either. Exploring your new environment is a great idea; just make sure that you take some of your new (non-frat-partying) friends along with you, and don’t venture down any sketchy-looking alleyways, no matter how much that smarmy bassoon player is offering to pay you for it.
5. Take advantage of the orientation week volunteers–your fellow students!
Most every school enlists the assistance of returning students during orientation week, and they are quite possibly your greatest resource. The Dean can drone on all he’d like about the nature of student life at the conservatory (which I promise you is not an oxymoron), but you’re going to get the most accurate picture from the people who’ve experienced it themselves. Don’t be shy to introduce yourself to these folks; after all, they’re students as well, and could end up becoming some of your closest friends. On the other hand, you don’t want to get on their bad side by playing the part of the arrogant, “I’m-too-good-for-the-rules” freshman, either; it will be an awkward scene indeed when you show up to your first orchestra rehearsal and discover that your stand partner is the very orientation week volunteer whom you unmercifully doused in shaving cream on the quad while returning from the Alpha-Beta-Omega frat party (which, of course, you shouldn’t have attended in the first place).
Orientation week can be taxing and challenging, but you can make yours a successful and enjoyable experience if you use common sense and keep your studies a priority. So have fun, and best of luck!
N.B. Although it may be stating the obvious, I was never in a frat.