The information provided by Piano*Dad is very useful although some of it is generated from a sample with a size of one. In some universities, whenever the admission office receives a CD or DVD, the recording is forwarded to the music department. Because ex ante one cannot tell whether the university that you apply to will forward your recording to the music department for evaluation, you should send in the recording if you think that will enhance your likelihood regardless of whether you are preparing to be a music major or not.

Some quick thoughts:

Every college/university is different.
Every year's entering class is different.

A lot of the schools I'm applying to are interested in whether or not you play an instrument, even if you aren't a music major. The music department will still want you to participate, etc. I'm applying to smaller liberal arts schools, and all of them have an application supplement for things like this. As far as I'm aware, the music department listens to these, then makes recommendations to the Admissions Committee as to who they want admitted. Schools with music scholarships will also take care of that.

Yes, my Duke example is indeed a single data point, but my use of that example is just the usual anecdote to make a point. As Oceanix also knows, and as I pointed out earlier with information about 'arts supplements' to applications, there exists a wide set of schools out there that are indeed interested in the artistic accomplishments of their applicants. This is for multiple reasons. Some of them want that bassoon player for the orchestra this year and many will not care if that bassoon player wants to be a music major. Others just consider music along with other extracurriculars as signals of a well-rounded contributor to the quality of the freshman class.

This is a longish way of saying that Kriesler is right:



You don't know what that college will value this year, and strong signals that you have musical talent will not hurt your chances.

At the end of the day, if one hopes to get any type of money from the music department, send a recording, a resume listing your accomplishments (anything from church playing to retirement homes)and talk to the head of the piano department.