Tom Applies To College

During his senior year, Torn prepared for college auditions. From the outset Tom based his college plans on those of his mentor, Johnny Costa—this included his first choice of school, his course of study, and even the teacher he would study with, if accepted. Therefore, he applied to Carnegie Tech to study piano during his first two years and then composition with Nikolai Lopatnikoff during the last two. In preparation, Tom left his teacher of twelve years, Adelaide Weiss, and studied with “the Hayes sisters,” both of whom were graduates of Carnegie Tech.’
Tom’s recollection of the actual audition is quite vivid. He began with Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu in CI minor, followed by Bach’s C major Invention, after which the jury told him to stop. Feeling that the audition was not going particularly well, he suddenly decided to change his approach. “I can do something else,” he told them, “I can make up anything.” He remembers Lopatnikoff or one of the others on the panel replying, “Well, make up a piece, then. Let’s hear you do it.” For the next fifteen minutes Tom improvised in the style of Ravel, during which “Lopatnikoff’s eyes went up.” Shortly afterward, Tom was admitted as a piano performance major for the 1956-57 academic year.