Put on the spot at interviews - instruments

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MowgliR

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Has anyone every been asked to play the instrument they listed in the application at the actual interview? Just curious, I wont be applying for a couple years haha.
 
I'm wondering the same thing. Biggest fear is seeing an adcom bust out the instrument u talked about in your primary lol. I guess I should continue my guitar aha.
 
If an adcom asked you on the spot to play an instrument that means 1) they were super impresed with what you said (like you played at a huge concert and won 18 gold medals) or 2) they already dont trust your application.

if that was the case why would the invite you for an interview?

lets be realistic, who has a guitar or piano in their office or brings it from home for you to play?

More importantly .. . Ethics: did you say you can play an instrument to make it sound like you have manual dexterity when you actually dont? If you played when you wee younger, did you say you were still proficient? Did you lie on your app?
 
Randy822 said:
Has anyone every been asked to play the instrument they listed in the application at the actual interview? Just curious, I wont be applying for a couple years haha.
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haha, I'll put my instrument that weight 400 pounds in my backpack just in case.

Doc Smile said:
More importantly .. . Ethics: did you say you can play an instrument to make it sound like you have manual dexterity when you actually dont? If you played when you wee younger, did you say you were still proficient? Did you lie on your app?
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There are exams you can take to prove you're at a certain level. i.e. Royal Conservatory of Music (England) is one of them and it's the most well-known one. FYI, there is a way to tell whether you play musical instruments esp. for those who has been playing for many years.
 
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not going to happen.

but seriously, Doc Smile has a great point. The truth will find you out if you fabricate your application. So, if you haven't played the piano in years, you don't play the piano.
 
I've been lurking around SDN for more than 2 years and I remember reading a post that a guy had to actually play play guitar in front of the adcoms. I guess one of the adcoms had a guitar with him or something. but its probable! make sure you don't lie in your application.
 
Onix said:
I've been lurking around SDN for more than 2 years and I remember reading a post that a guy had to actually play play guitar in front of the adcoms. I guess one of the adcoms had a guitar with him or something. but its probable! make sure you don't lie in your application.
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I would LOVEEEE to have that opportunity, I'd kill for that opportunity...😀
 
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My piccolo is portable! hahaha

How about I show some patriotism with Stars and Stripes Forever?
 
well, that would suck for me...although i was honest in my application...i took 2 years of acoustic guitar lessons in high school...i sucked at it, so i stopped...but i never mentioned that I am proficient in my application...
 
I put that I could play piano....but I didn't mention that it was the infomercial type in which you follow the glowing keys. Still requires manual dexterity to reach for keys and hit the right chords. If they give me sheet music and expect me to play then I'm screwed!
 
Yeah, I've taken the Royal Conservatory of Music level tests so if they really want to know, I can prove that I'm proficient at playing the piano. Although I haven't been actively playing for a few years, I'm sure if I sat down for a few days, I could pick it up again. It's not something you really forget. Maybe I'll brush up then, before interviews. =) Haha. But seriously, I doubt they'll bring in a piano.
 
I really think the chances of this happening are SLIM....that guitar guy was just unlucky lol. I doubt adcoms prepare for individual applicants by bringing in the instruments they play and asking them to demonstrate their ability. Seems so ridiculous to me!
 
Doc Smile said:
If you played when you wee younger, did you say you were still proficient?
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If you played when you were younger, but not in recent years, then should you even mention it on the application?

I played two instruments, each of them for 8 years, but I stopped playing both by the time I started college. I wouldn't lie on my app and pretend like I could play them well NOW, but I was able to play them well in the past. That should indicate that I'm at least capable of good manual dexterity even if I don't have it right now since I'm out of practice.

So should I mention it or not? Will dental schools care about it if I haven't played in 4+ years?
 
I used to play the guitar really well back in middle school but forgot everything.
Did not mention it on my application at all. But now that I think about it, maybe I should have... no, jk.

Come on, don't lie.
Btw, I have gone to quite a few dental school talent shows, in which ppl play instruments to show their talent amongst other things.

Also, this reminds me of a friend of mine who only speaks English but wrote down that he speaks Hindi and Spanish fluently as well. It would have been so funny if the interviewer also spoke one of those languages... :meanie:
 
AlwaysImproving said:
Also, this reminds me of a friend of mine who only speaks English but wrote down that he speaks Hindi and Spanish fluently as well. It would have been so funny if the interviewer also spoke one of those languages... :meanie:
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Haha, this reminds me of the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. How she put on her resume that she's fluent in Finnish and then there was that convention with all the Finnish people...
 
flying rider said:
Haha, this reminds me of the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. How she put on her resume that she's fluent in Finnish and then there was that convention with all the Finnish people...
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My buddy at Midwestern told me how there's one applicant who claimed he can speak fluent russian on his application, but he can't! Just happened that his interviewer speaks the language and interviewed the guy in russian for the entire interview session. Of course, that dude couldn't keep up with anything during the interview. So ya.....he didn't get in.

His buddy who also goes to MWU does magic, so be brought a deck of cards to his interview and performed magic tricks. Which I thought is AWESOME!! If I can do magic, I would def do something with it.
 
I wonder if being proficient on the computer keyboard is considered a form of manual dexterity? :laugh:
 
My $.02 .... if you place on your application that you can play an instrument, you better know how to play because if you lied, stretched the truth or misled the adcom to think you could actually play, then you deserve to be placed on the spot and them watch you go down in flames. It would be pretty pathetic if you felt you had to put down that you knew how to play and you hadn't really played in years and couldn't play a song without sounding like a kindergartener.

Jman, I am sorry, but you are pathetic for putting down you could play. You claiming you could play the piano is like me claiming to be a painter when I use to match the numbers on a drawing with the paints supplied (paint by numbers). Maybe I should have told the adcom I was a painter. No, just a pathetic job of padding your application!

On that note, the chances are slim they would make you play, but don't put it past them!
 
Yes, I was asked my perferred pieces and very specific questions about my instrument...
 
can i bring my recorder?
 
Navy DDS:

Hey did you recently get accepted somewhere? I dont recall your status being Dental student before??!? if you did then CONGRATSS!!!!
 
NAVY DDS 2010 said:
My $.02 .... if you place on your application that you can play an instrument, you better know how to play because if you lied, stretched the truth or misled the adcom to think you could actually play, then you deserve to be placed on the spot and them watch you go down in flames. It would be pretty pathetic if you felt you had to put down that you knew how to play and you hadn't really played in years and couldn't play a song without sounding like a kindergartener.

Jman, I am sorry, but you are pathetic for putting down you could play. You claiming you could play the piano is like me claiming to be a painter when I use to match the numbers on a drawing with the paints supplied (paint by numbers). Maybe I should have told the adcom I was a painter. No, just a pathetic job of padding your application!

On that note, the chances are slim they would make you play, but don't put it past them!
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I disagree man. I really do play the piano well...I just don't know how to read sheet music. If they asked me to play the piano I could very easily play them a song from my memory bank. However, if I get sheet music for a song that I haven't learned yet then I'm screwed. If I never told people how I learned piano and just played they would never know the difference.
 
You may be able to play stuff out of memory but... you'll never be able to play anything else that you didn't learn by the light up method. And if you can't play anything else, then I wouldn't really qualify that as knowing how to play the piano. Sure, it can show that you have good manual dexterity but apart from that, I wouldn't classify you as knowing how to play.
 
Jman1984 said:
I disagree man. I really do play the piano well...I just don't know how to read sheet music. If they asked me to play the piano I could very easily play them a song from my memory bank. However, if I get sheet music for a song that I haven't learned yet then I'm screwed. If I never told people how I learned piano and just played they would never know the difference.
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You know what's weird? I play piano really well too, but I learned by ear; I'm incredibly slow at reading sheet music. It's OK, if by any chance a piano is waiting for you at your interview, just play what you know. Some of the greatest jazz musicians never knew how to read traditional sheet music.
 
flying rider said:
You may be able to play stuff out of memory but... you'll never be able to play anything else that you didn't learn by the light up method. And if you can't play anything else, then I wouldn't really qualify that as knowing how to play the piano. Sure, it can show that you have good manual dexterity but apart from that, I wouldn't classify you as knowing how to play.
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Wrong! it's called sight-reading. It's part of the exam that I mention earlier (worth exactly 1/4 of your total points). If you can't sight-read, you're not that good of a pianist!
 
Emmie said:
Wrong! it's called sight-reading. It's part of the exam that I mention earlier (worth exactly 1/4 of your total points). If you can't sight-read, you're not that good of a pianist!
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I'm confused... Why am I wrong? I'm saying if he can only play stuff by memory and can't learn to play anything else, he doesn't really classify as a pianist. He doesn't know how to read sheet music so obviously he can't sight read. I feel like we're saying the same point, so I'm not sure how I'm wrong.
 
flying rider said:
I'm confused... Why am I wrong? I'm saying if he can only play stuff by memory and can't learn to play anything else, he doesn't really classify as a pianist. He doesn't know how to read sheet music so obviously he can't sight read. I feel like we're saying the same point, so I'm not sure how I'm wrong.
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sorry I guess I didn't READ carefully enough, I should really be quoting Jman's. After all day studying, my head is spinning.
 
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Haha ok. That makes sense. I was getting a little confused there...
 
Emmie said:
If you can't sight-read, you're not that good of a pianist!
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If you can't sight-read, you're not that good at reading music. Doesn't reflect on your ability to press the right keys in the right way. I started playing the piano when I was very young - I could hardly read actual words. So of course, when I started, I learned to play by ear because reading music was way too complicated at that age. For many years, I played by listening to a song and memorizing how it went. Eventually I did learn how to read music, but even 15 years after I first started playing music, reading music wasn't my strong point because that's not how I learned. But if I heard the song, even just once, I could play it perfectly.

So apparently, I'm not a good pianist or clarinetist. I admit that I HATED theory - I just wanted to play the song. A musician friend of mine said that playing music without understanding theory is like reading a book without understanding what the words mean. I guess I'm not a dedicated musician! I will say, though, that learning to play by memorizing songs when I was so young is probably why I've always been good at memorizing things. I have no problem in classes based on pure memorization.
 
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enfuego said:
If you can't sight-read, you're not that good at reading music. Doesn't reflect on your ability to press the right keys in the right way. I started playing the piano when I was very young - I could hardly read actual words. So of course, when I started, I learned to play by ear because reading music was way too complicated at that age. For many years, I played by listening to a song and memorizing how it went. Eventually I did learn how to read music, but even 15 years after I first started playing music, reading music wasn't my strong point because that's not how I learned. But if I heard the song, even just once, I could play it perfectly.

So apparently, I'm not a good pianist or clarinetist. I admit that I HATED theory - I just wanted to play the song. A musician friend of mine said that playing music without understanding theory is like reading a book without understanding what the words mean. I guess I'm not a dedicated musician! I will say, though, that learning to play by memorizing songs when I was so young is probably why I've always been good at memorizing things. I have no problem in classes based on pure memorization.
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Yes, that's why I mentioned that it doens't mean you don't have good manual dexterity but I believe that all aspects of playing the piano (sight reading included) are needed to be a good pianist. That's really cool that you can play a song perfectly after hearing it once (I know I can't do that) but the thing is, that's like saying "if you read that page to me, I can read it perfectly back". The memorization will get you far, but you're depending on someone else to play it for you. There's a difference between that and someone else who knows how to play.
 
Jman1984 said:
I disagree man. I really do play the piano well...I just don't know how to read sheet music. If they asked me to play the piano I could very easily play them a song from my memory bank. However, if I get sheet music for a song that I haven't learned yet then I'm screwed. If I never told people how I learned piano and just played they would never know the difference.
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I have a friend like you. He can sort of read sheet music and is REALLY good at playing by ear. So if you play a song off your music player, he can play it too after listening. (jealous!)
 
Um, playing the piano (or any instrument) doesn't mean you have to be able to read sheet music. There are a TON of musicians that can't read music. If someone can get up and play a melody on the piano, he/she can play the piano, regardless of whether or not they learned it by ear or read it from a piece of paper.

I play guitar. I wouldn't know where to begin with a piece of sheet music. So, wait, does that mean I don't play the guitar?

What does reading sheet music have to do with manual dexterity, anyway?
 
enfuego said:
A musician friend of mine said that playing music without understanding theory is like reading a book without understanding what the words mean.
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👍 X 1 million

karrotcake said:
I have a friend like you. He can sort of read sheet music and is REALLY good at playing by ear. So if you play a song off your music player, he can play it too after listening. (jealous!)
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one single note at a time with 1 finger (or/plus simple chords on the left hand), yes, everybody can do it, if you're talking about classical music (I'm not talking about level 1 here), I don't believe even Mozart could do it.

wwdaffodils said:
You know what's weird? I play piano really well too, but I learned by ear; I'm incredibly slow at reading sheet music. It's OK, if by any chance a piano is waiting for you at your interview, just play what you know. Some of the greatest jazz musicians never knew how to read traditional sheet music.
Click to expand...

with jazz, you can MAYBE learn by ear, but that's just jazz.
 
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Wow there must be some musicians in this room...I can smell the arrogance, haha.

The purpose of this thread--playing an instrument as a matter of dexterity--has nothing to do with sheet music. If you can play an instrument better than the avg. Joe, regardless as to whether or not you learned it from sheet music, put it on your app!
 
Palmetto914 said:
Wow there must be some musicians in this room...I can smell the arrogance
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lol...well at least I know what I'm talking about and have the credential to deliver the information. It's not so much about "arrogance", it's more about "knowledge."😉
 
Lol...I didn't mean everyone was literally arrogant...some of the comments made me think of somebody with wild hair and nose in the air saying, "I say ol chum, if you cannot read the sheet music, than you, kind sir, do not qualify as a pianist. Good day."
 
Palmetto914 said:
Lol...I didn't mean everyone was literally arrogant...some of the comments made me think of somebody with wild hair and nose in the air saying, "I say ol chum, if you cannot read the sheet music, than you, kind sir, do not qualify as a pianist. Good day."
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haha, awesome joke!

the description reminds me of Beethoven, if he said **** like that, I'd still respect him to the highest because he had the authority to say that. I don't see anything wrong with it.🙂
 
if you write that you can play you better be prepared to play. It would be very unprofessional for the interviewer to bust out a piano to test your hand skills so to the OP: No, don't worry about it.
 
I play the violin. If they bust out a violin during the interview, why the hell not show them my awesome skills.

If anything, you should be proud of the instrument you play (if you play one). It shouldn't be something to feel hesitant to show off to if they bring it up during the interview.

Show em what you've got 🙂 I'm sure a majority of the adcoms love to listen to classical/jazz type of music, so It would be the best time to rock their socks off. You can't go wrong with music.
 
Palmetto914 said:
Um, playing the piano (or any instrument) doesn't mean you have to be able to read sheet music. There are a TON of musicians that can't read music. If someone can get up and play a melody on the piano, he/she can play the piano, regardless of whether or not they learned it by ear or read it from a piece of paper.

I play guitar. I wouldn't know where to begin with a piece of sheet music. So, wait, does that mean I don't play the guitar?

What does reading sheet music have to do with manual dexterity, anyway?
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It's all about hand-eye coordination.
 
xiphoidprocess said:
It's all about hand-eye coordination.
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So the read the lyrics to a song while you play...

Still, I can't really see a dentist reading some guide on a procedure as he's doing the procedure...
 
If my memory serves me correctly, an interviewer posted here once that he was asked to play the piano that they happened to have in the music department or something? Can't remember what the outcome of that was, but it can happen. Don't risk BSing on your application because they may just pair you up with someone who happens to take an interest in whatever it is you do. 😉
 
tinman831 said:
If my memory serves me correctly, an interviewer posted here once that he was asked to play the piano that they happened to have in the music department or something? Can't remember what the outcome of that was, but it can happen. Don't risk BSing on your application because they may just pair you up with someone who happens to take an interest in whatever it is you do. 😉
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ohh man
i wish this happened to me
i would play a love song (if she was a woman)

hell ill even play for a guy



and hopefully get in😀
 
Palmetto914 said:
So the read the lyrics to a song while you play...

Still, I can't really see a dentist reading some guide on a procedure as he's doing the procedure...
Click to expand...


All aspects of dentistry has a lot to do with hand-eye coordination. Dentists have to use mirrors to perform procedures that are difficult to view from inside the mouth That requires not only manual dextrity but you have to make sure you're looking at the correct tooth while doing the procedure. The PAT section on the DAT doesn't just test you on whether you know how to fit the correct shape into the keyhole, or find the smallest angle, or unwrapping a peice of paper to view how many holes are punched. All of that has to do with hand-eye coordination that you'll have to be proficient in as a dentist.

If you still don't think it correlates to dentistry, then ask the dentist you shadowed. I'm sure he'll have a better answer as to why hand-eye coordination is important in the dental field.
 
xiphoidprocess said:
All aspects of dentistry has a lot to do with hand-eye coordination. Dentists have to use mirrors to perform procedures that are difficult to view from inside the mouth That requires not only manual dextrity but you have to make sure you're looking at the correct tooth while doing the procedure. The PAT section on the DAT doesn't just test you on whether you know how to fit the correct shape into the keyhole, or find the smallest angle, or unwrapping a peice of paper to view how many holes are punched. All of that has to do with hand-eye coordination that you'll have to be proficient in as a dentist.

If you still don't think it correlates to dentistry, then ask the dentist you shadowed. I'm sure he'll have a better answer as to why hand-eye coordination is important in the dental field.
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to be honest i was kinda of doubting this whole hand eye thing
ive been play piano for 18 years and i can sight read very well,
however i cant draw or paint for shiiiiiet

i was really wonderin whether this piano thing would benefit me
but if anythin you can say playin an instrument teaches you discipline
in my opinion musical people usually have good study habits and are discplined
i even heard llistenin to mozart makes you smarter!
 
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