Or, are you intending to convey that an admissions department's secure portal is a type which would preclude ad serving? [/quote]

This- the platforms and portals are very specific to this purpose (college admissions) and supplements need to fit the specified formatting, etc- most if not all the places my kids submitted used the same portal, or something similar enough to be easily used in the same way. There are specific formats for everything, from music to visual arts, etc. Though I imagine that social media might be viewed in certain circumstances, it’s not traditionally how arts supplements are submitted. But that’s the extent of my knowledge, and it’s already a few years out of date.

@Indigo & @cricket3, my apologies for not providing a warning about the YouTube ads.
Usually, I have found that I can select the option to ‘Skip ads’ after six seconds of the first ad (for which I still should have provided an alert) but I wonder if the length of audience capture might be region specific.

It is so very in keeping with Indigo’s thoughtfulness & generosity to suggest ways to improve the overall college submission process for students. I’m glad of cricket3’s assurance that US colleges have already addressed this issue since I understand that it is very competitive to get into your top Colleges and selection panel members are likely to thoroughly review every application.

Here in Oz, the system isn’t as evolved (except perhaps for medicine which is the most sought after course for study). For other courses including DS’s first preference, applicants simply fill out a form (and for this particular Uni, they also have to attach a CV). I doubt they’ll actually bother to watch DS’s video. He has to have ECs (minimum of 60 hours per year for each) and therefore must have proof should the administrators decide to check on the validity of his claims, but we are reasonably confident that he will be accepted on the strength of his HSC academic and maths Olympiad results.

cricket3, I think I am following you now... basically the secure portal you mentioned is the Uni admissions means of receiving student applications' supplemental materials... not a secure portal to view additional items of interest on the web (such as videos on YouTube, without ads served).

EagleMum, Yes, I see it could be very handy to have the music posted on the internet to substantiate the ECs, in case Uni admissions department wants to verify claims made on the CV. Since the time of the Operation Varsity Blues college scandal, which included fabricating fake sports credentials, it is wise for parents to coach their college-bound children to create documentation.

Coming back in to add that a random listener did request sheet music for DS’s arrangement and it was amazingly quick to produce. I’d bought him a cheap small MIDI device and he has free Flat software. He just performed the piece, checked and modified the notation and uploaded within a couple of hours (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_9pLaRZy9SwXNkCHRY_Veupn-ymvWreJ/view). I’m just imagining how many sheets of manuscript paper the great composers went through and the labour and time they devoted with feather and ink, in contrast to the incredible convenience of digital technology.

Interestingly, I’d been trying to persuade DS to buy Sibelius music notation software (because I just have that itch to spend money to support him) but whilst he was considering whether to use duplets or dotted quavers for annotation (they are equivalent and actually best used interchangeably depending on the other notes that are to be played simultaneously), I read on a forum that users have to use workarounds to get Sibelius to annotate duplets correctly, so I’m impressed with the free software (trying to persuade him to buy the extended product now 😆).

Oh, that's a nice bit of external validation! No personal bias from a random listener, so they have to have really liked it to ask for a score. And I think I'll pass along your suggestion for free notation software to some others who have been asking that question. I looked at their site, and it looks like Flat might be handy for many. Our kids use the notation function in Logic, or (free) MuseScore, but those may not be practical for everyone.

Well, DS has just finished his Uni applications.😅 I’m not sure what is expected for applications in the US, but here, it was disappointing that DS was only allowed to submit a maximum of five EC categories. He selected academic competitions (national Olympiads), creative arts (music), sports (able to list all his achievements), employment (he’s a proofreader for an education company and his employer provided him with a fantastic reference letter). To show that he is an all rounder, he also selected volunteering (as a peer mentor at school), but that meant that he had to leave out a lot of activities such as the national mathematics summer school (he was also invited back to make up the experienced group) which was in a separate category of academic extension. Seems a shame that the system doesn’t allow applicants to provide their full range of activities and achievements for consideration.

As part of the music aspect of this ‘brag thread’, he recently came second at an eisteddfod and the brilliant young pianist who came in first place asked DS where he got the arrangement of the popular song DS played and was very impressed when DS told him it was his own arrangement. DS has also just uploaded a new performance to his YouTube channel to demonstrate ongoing involvement in music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-odR5RXPab0). He’s only performing a piece by Jarrod Radnich ‘I saw three ships’. DS has three more of his own arrangements that are nearly ready but he also needs to spend time preparing for his upcoming final school (HSC) exams. These extracurriculars really do take up a lot of time for genuine participation, so I can understand the anger against those who are successful with applications containing false claims about ECs.

Very cool piece of music! Fun to listen to. Fascinating to watch. Kudos to your son. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Indigo!

Very nice! Looking forward to his original arrangements, when he gets a chance.

EagleMum - As someone who plays the piano myself, it was interesting to watch your son play. I used to follow Jarrod Radnich, so I have known about this arrangement of I Saw Three Ships ever since it came out. I can very much relate to your son, as I started out self-taught and used to garner appreciation for my covers of songs back in the day. Very often pianists who play "by the book" show respect for those who create arrangements and compose -- it almost felt like cheating to me sometimes lol, because I thought that they would be able to do the same with practice, but surprisingly enough it doesn't always seem to be the case. There is discipline and technical rigor, and there is musical insight, and they don't always go hand in hand, and I'd say most often you tend to see either one or the other.

It's interesting to note similarities: there will be disciplined, dedicated professional piano aspirants who are better technically, who have often been practicing several hours a day since early childhood. But still, somehow, those who have a natural musical ear seem to shine through somehow, despite a relative lack of (equivalent) formal training. People pick up on this surprisingly often, and you somehow gain appreciation even from those who are technically better than you. I have seen others play the same arrangement on YouTube before, but it pretty much always lacked something. I think your son has managed to capture the essence of the original arrangement well, which is something I do not see often. Kudos to him. I also watched his other arrangements, and it takes technique and skill (perhaps compositional talent and an understanding of music is the best way I can explain it) to be able to bring across passion in a piano arrangement of a song -- you need to know when and how to swell and to draw back, at what precise moment to ramp up the intensity, and basically understand musical points of interest and accentuate them.