Audition Requirements

Guitar: Classical/Jazz/Contemporary

• One or two octaves major scales using at least two fingerings
• Two solo pieces any style, must be written in standard musical notation
• Sight-reading melodies
• Demonstration of improvisational skills and chord progressions if jazz or contemporary guitar is sought

Organ:

• One four-part chorale or chorale prelude or one Prelude and/or Fugue from “Eight Little Preludes and Fugues” attributed to J.S. Bach
• One other composition of your choosing from any period other than the Baroque
• Two hymns of contrasting style played as you would for congregational singing. Two verses only plus introduction. Pedal is to be used on at least one verse of each hymn. Please bring two copies of each with you
• Sight- read on short composition written on two staves and one short composition written on three staves

Percussion:

• Class A or B contest solo on either snare drum, timpani, or keyboard percussion (choose your “strongest” instrument)
• One solo or etude on a secondary percussion instrument
• Demonstrate various rudiments on request
• Demonstrate various scales and arpeggios on request
• Sight reading for snare and keyboard are part of the audition

Note: Performing any part of an ensemble (duet, trio, etc.) is NOT acceptable.

Piano:

• One contrapuntal piece, memorized, chosen from the following

◦       J.S. Bach 2-part or 3-part Inventions

◦       J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue from Well-Tempered Clavier, Volume I or II

◦       J.S. Bach English Suite, French Suite, or Partita, at least two movements

• A second piece, memorized, from the Classical, Romantic or twentieth century (such as a Classical Sonata movement, or a Chopin Etude, Prelude, or Nocturne, or a Schubert Impromptu, or works by Bartok, Prokofiev, etc.)
• At the Audition:

◦       Three scales (4 octave) and two arpeggios (3 octave) chosen by the faculty from all major and minor keys at suitable tempi

◦       Sight-reading chosen by the faculty

◦       Tonal retention exercises given by the faculty

Strings:

• One Class A or B contest solo with piano accompaniment
• First movement of a concerto is preferred
• String players will be asked to sight-read a selection

Voice:

• Two Class A or B contest solos
• One piece in a foreign language (French, Italian, Latin, German or Spanish)
• One English art song
• Additionally, a singer may also present a piece for the Broadway repertoire
• Singers will be asked to sight-read a selection and do a tonal retention exercise

Woodwinds/Brass

• One Class A or B solo with piano accompaniment
• One standard etude
• Sight-reading
• All major scales