1. Programs & Degrees
  2. How to Apply
  3. Keyboard Audition Requirements

Keyboard Audition Requirements

Undergraduate Auditions

Organ
  1. A major organ work by J.S. Bach (preferable) or any work from the Baroque period;
  2. One selection from either the nineteenth or the twentieth century;
  3. A hymn.
Piano

Audition Requirements for BM in Piano Performance

Applicants should be prepared to play fifteen minutes of music based on the requirements listed below; these selections should demonstrate their personal strengths and interests. Applicants are strongly encouraged to include repertoire by composers from historically underrepresented groups.

1. A prelude and fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier or comparable large work by J.S. Bach;
2. A first or final movement of a sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, or Schubert;
3. And a work from the nineteenth, twentieth, or twenty-first centuries.
4. Sight reading will also be required.

Audition Requirements for All Other Bachelor’s Degrees

1. A work from either the Baroque, Classical, or Romantic period;
2. An additional work of the applicant’s choosing, which could be an original composition, an improvisation, a non-classical work, or another classical work. For jazz pianists, be prepared to demonstrate comping on standard jazz repertoire from the jazz list above.

Graduate Pre-Screening

Piano

  1. A complete sonata by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, or Schubert;
  2. A large-scale nineteenth-century solo work that is not a concerto.

Organ

  1. A major organ work by J.S. Bach (either a prelude and fugue or trio sonata);
  2. Two selections from either the nineteenth or twentieth century, one lyrical and one virtuosic.

If invited for a live audition, it is not necessary that the repertoire prepared for the audition be identical to the pre-screening materials.

Graduate Auditions

Piano

The applicant is expected to present a solo program of at least thirty minutes in length that includes a representation of at least three contrasting styles. The program must include a complete sonata by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, or Schubert; a large Romantic work; and a work from the twentieth or twenty-first Century. All works must be performed from memory. Sight reading will also be required.

Organ

  1. A major organ work by J.S. Bach (either a prelude and fugue or trio sonata);
  2. Two selections from either the nineteenth or twentieth century, one lyrical and one virtuosic.
  3. Sight reading may be required at the discretion of the faculty.
Keyboard