Graduate Audition Requirements
You must apply for admission before being granted an audition. Auditions are scheduled after receipt of your Audition Request Form, pre-screening CD, and your nonrefundable $54 audition fee. Once your audition materials are received they will be evaluated by the Conservatory of Music faculty. If you are selected for a live audition you will be notified of your audition date and time via email. Please be sure to give us a viable email account, and check it regularly.
On audition day:
The faculty listening to your audition will represent your area of study. They may choose not to hear all the music you have prepared. Do not interpret this negatively: time limitations prohibit the faculty from listening to each applicant’s entire audition repertoire.
Plan to arrive at the Conservatory one hour before your scheduled audition time. There are plenty of warm-up rooms for you to prepare yourself both mentally and physically. Wear neat and comfortable clothing that projects your seriousness and desire to study music on a professional level.
Also, please being a typed repertoire list and a typed list of the pieces you intend to play. Though not required, we encourage you to bring additional materials, such as a resume, letters of recommendation, and unofficial transcripts. (Note: Accompanists are only provided for Voice/ Opera Studies auditions; all other applicants are encouraged to bring their own, but accompaniment is not required).
Question-and-answer sessions will be held throughout the day. Specific times for these sessions will be available at check in. These sessions will be followed by a campus tour. All applicants, their families, and guests are welcome to attend. No reservations required.
After the audition, you are free to go; there are no placement tests given on audition day.
Audition requirements
- Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass
- Composition
- Jazz Studies
- Harp, Piano
- Woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon)
- Brass (horn, tenor trombone, bass trombone, trumpet, tuba)
- Percussion
Studio Composition
Opera Studies
Classical Guitar - Composition
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Two contrasting movements of a concerto from the standard repertory.
- Two contrasting movements from the Bach Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas.
- A third contrasting work of your choice (an étude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Two contrasting movements from a Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach.
- Two movements from a concerto for sonata or equivalent, such as Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher, Bloch’s Suite, concertos by Bartok and Walton, and sonatas by Brahms and Hindemith.
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Two contrasting movements of a concerto from the standard repertory.
- Two contrasting movements from the Bach Unaccompanied Suites.
- A third contrasting work of your choice (an étude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Three-octave scales and arpeggios.
- Two contrasting solos of applicant’s choice.
- Three contrasting orchestral excerpts.
Pre-screening audition: please prepare two pieces in contrasting styles. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Applicants should present three scores and recordings if available (no MIDI, please).
- The composition interview/ live audition entails a brief ear training exam (interval recognition, chords, pitch matching , and scales), a discussion on general theoretical and/or historical topics and a demonstration fo basic instrument proficiency. Students must prepare one short work on his/her solo instrument of choice.
Jazz Studies
Applicants must follow the procedure outlined below:
1- Recorded audition: You must send your recording (on CD only) to the Conservatory of Music, along with your Audition Request Form and $54 audition fee, no later than October 15 for Spring 2009 admission, or January 9, 2009 for Fall 2009 admission. CDs should not exceed 10 minutes in length.
- All applicants, except for drummers, should perform two contrasting jazz standards, preferably with rhythm section or play-along record. Play the melody and an improvised solo.
- Acoustic Bassists should include one chorus of walking bass lines in addition to the melody and improvised solo. (Note: a major concentration in electric bass guitar is not offered. Please audition on acoustic bass only.)
- Guitarists should include one chorus of comping in addition to the melody and improvised solo.
Drummers should perform a ballad with brushes, a medium swing tune, and an up-tempo swing tune in the context of a trio or a small jazz combo. Please trade fours, eights, or choruses on either the medium or up-tempo swing tune.- Voice: No longer offered to new applicants
2- Live audition: Only those applicants who pass the recorded audition will be invited to a live audition. A live audition is highly advisable. In the event that an applicant cannot attend a live audition, all future decisions will be based solely on the previously submitted CD.
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp (1st movement; no cadenza)
- One contemporary or 19th-century work from the standard harp repertoire on the level of Hindemith Sonata or Faure Impromptu
- 1st harp part from Symphone Fantastique/Berloiz, and one cadenza from Young Person's/Britten or Lucia/Donizetti, or Swan Lake/Tchaikowsky
Piano
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces. All compositions must be performed from memory.
- A prelude and fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier or another work of Bach containing a fugue.
- One sonata by Mozart, Beethoven (including Op. 49 and Op. 79), or Schubert.
- A major composition by a 19th-century composer.
- A representative etude by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmanioff or Debussy.
- A composition by a representative 20th-century composer.
Woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon)
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Two contrasting movements from a major concerto in the standard repertoire.
- Two contrasting etudes showing the applicant's level of technical and lyrical abilities.
- Two excerpts frm the orchestral repertoire.
Brass (Horn; tenor trombone; bass trombone; trumpet: must audition on Bb and C trumpets, and can choose additional option of performing on D, Eb, and/or piccolo trumpets; tuba: audition on F, Eb, CC, or BBb tubas).
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Two advanced, contrasting pieces, one of which must be an original work from the 20-/21-century repertoire. Performance of at least one piece from memory is desirable.
- Advanced sight reading taken from orchestral repertoire. Excerpts will include: Transposition for trumpet and horn; reading of alto or tenor clefs for trombone.
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Snare drum: Solo or etude of your choice demonstrating technical skills and musicality. Two contrasting standard orchestral exerpts. Knowledge of rudiments. Sight-reading.
- Mallet instruments: A major work from the standard solo repertoire demonstrating technical skills and musicality. Two contrasting standard orchestral exerpts. Knowledge of scales and arpeggios. Sight-reading.
- Timpani: A major work from the standard solo repertoire demonstrating technical skills and musicality. Two contrasting standard orchestral exerpts. Tuning.
Sight-reading. - Optional - multiple percussion solo.
Pre-screening audition: please submit two pieces in contrasting styles. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- Five original works recorded on tape or disk or notated conventionally and performed live. (Compositions should demonstrate technical and aesthetic abilities as a performer, composer, and producer.)
- Written evidence of musical and/or professional accomplishments to date.
- Interview with studio composition faculty.
Opera Studies
Applicants must follow the procedure outlined below:
- Recorded audition (on CD, cassette or videotape or DVD):
- Your recording must be sent to the Conservatory of Music, along with your Audition Request Form and $54 audition fee, no later than October 15 for Spring 2009 admission, or January 9, 2009 for Fall 2009 admission. Your recording should not exceed 15 minutes in length and should include the following songs. The songs should be in contrasting styles and one must be from the 20th-century repertoire:
- Four art songs—one Italian, one French, one German, one English.
- One aria from an opera.
- One aria from an oratorio. If either your oratorio or opera aria is in one of the above required languages, you may eliminate that language from your art song requirement
- Live audition:
- Only those applicants who pass the recorded audition will be invited to a live audition. A live audition is highly advisable. In the event that an applicant cannot attend a live audition, all future decisions will be based solely on the taped audition.
- The applicant should prepare the same pieces at the live audition that were submitted on the recording.
- An accompanist will be provided; however, applicants are welcome to bring their own. Please bring legible, well-organized music for the accompanist.
- Your recording must be sent to the Conservatory of Music, along with your Audition Request Form and $54 audition fee, no later than October 15 for Spring 2009 admission, or January 9, 2009 for Fall 2009 admission. Your recording should not exceed 15 minutes in length and should include the following songs. The songs should be in contrasting styles and one must be from the 20th-century repertoire:
Pre-screening audition: please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below. Live audition: please prepare all pieces.
- A Bach suite, violin sonata/partita, or a work from Bach’s lute music.
- A major work from the Classical or Romantic period.
- A 20th-century work.