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I've been playing guitar for some time now, and I'm planning to apply for transfer to two Ivy League schools this spring, and I'm wondering whether or not I should send in a supplementary recording to possibly help my chances. I've been practicing and considering different pieces, but I noticed a post elsewhere on this board concerning the difficulty of pieces played in supplementary recordings. Almost EVERYONE plays guitar, and plenty of people are relatively good at it. However, in all seriousness, what are some "excellent" pieces to submit that might actually aid the recording in helping me with admission by showcasing my skill as a good guitarist on an absolute scale? I'm planning on sending in a "shred" piece, a classical guitar piece, and maybe a jazz piece that I will have composed myself if I'm confident about my jazz skills when it comes time to send the recording. Would it help for me to have written some or all of the pieces, or should I just play something hard that sounds good? Any recommendations? Any input on this subject would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to leave any resource untapped in showing off what tangible talents I have in order to show the schools I apply to how lucky they would be to have such a student :-P And this question is not meant to translate into "Does anyone think it would be a good idea to send in a music sample if I might not be really good?", because I'm sure a lot of posts, if I get any at all, will say something to the tune of "Don't submit anything unless you're good. HTH."

Thanks for reading, any replies would be greatly appreciated. I know I'm posting like a madman on here, but I haven't in a while and many questions have came up in that time.

By Lucifersam (Lucifersam) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 12:47 am: Edit

Bump

By Lucifersam (Lucifersam) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 02:08 am: Edit

Come on kids. Someone help me out. Take a guess or something.

By Anglophile (Anglophile) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 07:51 pm: Edit

I would ask your music teacher (whether private, or at your school) what s/he thinks. I really don't know the answer, though I struggled with a similar question myself (singing). My intuition says to do one impressive/difficult classical guitar piece, one avant garde jazz piece, and the shred. Wouldn't be a bad idea to compose one yourself-- might be that little something extra. But definitely get a professional's opinion. They're not easy to find, but be persistant.

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 02:38 pm: Edit

Don't worry, most people suck at guitar.

I'm sending in a demo consisting of 1 shred-ish neoclassical song, 1 prog rock song, and then me soloing over a backing track.