Music Placement and Auditions

• Short sight singing example

• One art song and an additional piece from one of the following categories: an additional art song, a folk song, or a musical theater selection. One selection in English. It is preferred the other selection be in Italian, French, German, or Spanish but if you have no experience singing in a foreign language, English is ok for the second piece. Email us if you are in doubt as to your vocal selection. Please have copies of the music for the staff accompanist.

• Suggested Music List

• Tonal Memory evaluation
• Vocalization
• Accompanist will be provided; please bring the piano part with you.

• Major and minor scales (Segovia edition)
• Right-hand arpeggios (Giuliani)
• Knowledge of the entire fingerboard
• One etude by: Carcassi (op 60), Sor (Segovia edition), or Villa-Lobos
• One minor work by: Bach, Carulli, Milan, or Tarrega
• Sight-reading
• Singing is not permitted as part of the guitar audition

• Two (or three) octave major and minor scales (pure, harmonic, and melodic - root on the 6th and 5th string)
• Movable bar chords and arpeggios (root on the 6th and 5th string) Triads and sevenths)
• Knowledge of the entire fingerboard
• One solo piece - a standard or jazz ballad (from the Real Book, e.g. Misty)
• Play the melody harmonized "chord-melody" unaccompanied (2-3 minutes)
• One medium or up-tempo jazz standard (from the Real Book)
  • Play the chords
  • Play the melody, (in the appropriate style) clearly and accurately.
  • Solo (Improvisation is allowed within the time limits, but is not mandatory).
• Sight-reading.
• Singing is not permitted as part of the guitar audition.

• Sight Reading
• Scales Major and Minor two octaves
• Improvisation over a chord chart and 12 bar blues (Bb)

• Sight Reading
• Scales Major and Minor two octaves
• Two prepared pieces of contrasting style (FBA or FOA, grade III and above)

• Scales: Major and Minor - two octaves, hands together in eighth notes quarter = 72
• Two prepared pieces
  • One from the Baroque or Classical period
  • One from the Romantic Period or 20th Century
• One easy to Moderate Technical exercise (Burgmüller, Hanon, Czerny, Pischna, Gurlitt, Heller etc)

• Snare drum
  • demonstration of basic rudiments (single strokes, roll, flam, paradiddle).
  • One of the numbered etudes (1-32) of student's choice from Mitchell Peters "Intermediate Studies for Snare Drum"
• Keyboard Percussion
  • 12 major scales
• Timpani
  • student will be asked to tune several notes on timpani given from the piano
  • demonstrate roll soft-loud-soft
  • sight reading of elementary two drum étude with rolls but without tuning changes

The purpose of auditioning is to determine placement in which musical theory course and lesson level that would be most appropriate for you.

For Vocalists- Italian Art Songs, English Art Songs, German Lieder. See this FVA list for suggestions (scroll down to vocal solos 2011). Popular songs with pop styling are discouraged for this part of the audition process.

For Instrumentalists - Anything on the FBA (use the dropdown "music list" menu, choose Solos and Ensembles) festival list, grade 4 or higher.

The Theory Entrance Exam deals with note recognition, scales; major, harmonic minor and melodic minor, intervals; quantity and quality (above and below), and triads (in all positions [inversions]).

We will ask you to sing through two short exercises to determine if you will be a good fit into Sight Singing I. We look for the ability to stay in the key as well as observing whether the notes rise, fall or stay the same.

We offer classes that will help you meet those requirements both in performance as well as in the Theory and Sight Singing areas. Once you have obtained mastery of the fundamentals of your instrument and theory, you may register for the courses that are listed in the handbook for the music track for Year I, Semester I.

Yes! You may try out several of the prep classes, however when those levels are exceeded it is expected that you will make a commitment to the track laid out in the Music Department Handbook. It is a very intensive two years of study and is not to be taken lightly; the benefits are amazing.

Accompaniment is provided in order to assess the auditioning student's ability to work within an ensemble and to see how well the tonal center for their song, as well as the rhythm, is maintained throughout the piece. It also shows that the student understands the piece as it was intended to be performed and is familiar with the lead-ins and interludes that are a part of the composition.