Young musicians come to Philadelphia for Berklee auditions

Melody Wombough, 18, of Pemberton, Burlington County, was waiting Saturday to audition for Berklee College of Music.

Berklee is the only school for which she is auditioning.

"I'm putting all my eggs in one basket," the flautist said. "If I don't make it this year, I'll try again next year."

Self-taught, Wombough has wanted to be a music teacher her whole life, save for a period in middle school when she planned on being a doctor. She spent the time before her audition practicing scales, her piece - "Syrinx," by Debussy - and arpeggios.

Wombough was one of 73 applicants participating Saturday and Sunday in auditions for Berklee College of the Arts held at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. Most of the candidates are from Pennsylvania, with 22 from Philadelphia. But the roundup also included applicants from Virginia, Delaware, South Korea, and Grenada.

A part of the "World Scholarship Tour," faculty members host auditions in high schools, rehearsal spaces, and recording spaces on every continent except Antarctica.

Philadelphia is one of 40 cities around the world to host auditions for the prestigious Boston music college.

Berklee accepts 1,000 applicants per year - 30 percent. Students come from 70 countries, and every prospective student qualifies for a scholarship.

Rachel Adelberg, 18, from Henderson High School in West Chester, has been studying music since she was 5, learning the violin first and then switching to bass guitar when she got to high school.

"I don't think I'd be able to do anything without [music]," she said.

Adelberg's father, Ron, explained that there is a parallel between young people participating in sports and music, noting that his daughter had also been devoted to sports, until the ninth grade. Then music really hit, he said, "and sports went away."

Assistant director of admissions John Herron said that Berklee has been sending recruiters from city to city for years in search of talent.

It is one of few schools to go to such lengths to meet every applicant, said Allen Bush, the director of media relations.

"It's an aggressive strategy," Herron said.

"Not all musical talent has access to go to Boston," he said. "We're not going to populate the campus the way we want to, waiting for students to get here. . . . We need to search for the hidden jewels around the world."

The process is twofold. At auditions, participants may be asked to perform a prepared piece, an optional improvisation, a reading selection, and ear-training exercises.

Prospective students are then interviewed about their musicianship, aspirations, and practice routines.

Herron explained that meeting every applicant was an integral part of the application process.

"We're looking for highly focused and musical people with the right level of commitment for a musical career," he said. "This is all he's ever wanted to do," Mike Iorio's father, Chris, said of his son's drum-playing. "I've been making sure he's on time and I've been giving support and encouragement." The Iorios traveled almost three hours from Wilkes-Barre.

Barbara Cafferky said she had been shocked when her daughter, Erin, now a sophomore at George Mason University in Virginia, wanted to sing in her second-grade talent show. Erin has always been shy.

"The first time I was watching her, my hand was shaking because I couldn't believe it." Cafferky filmed the performance, but said her nerves made the video too shaky to watch.

Her eyes misted slightly as she admitted she was still nervous. "I'm always nervous when she sings."

The halls echoed with vocal warm-ups, brassy saxophone tones, the tinkling of pianos. At one point, Nathan King's Chopin could be heard from the audition room. It was passionate, dynamic, deliberate. A couple of parents outside praised his music.

And what did King, 23, of Pittsburgh, think of his audition?

"I did what I wanted to do," he replied nonchalantly. "I fumbled for about 10 seconds, but I did what I wanted after that."