AUDITION
Specific audition dates are set during the spring semester. Students may also audition during the Campus Visit Days in fall and spring. Students who are unable to attend scheduled auditions may contact Admissions and the Music Department faculty to arrange an audition at other times when the faculty may be available during the school year.
Students audition for the music faculty. Auditions are normally 15 minutes in length. In the case of students residing a significant distance from St. Louis, a high quality recording may be submitted.
AUDITION REPERTOIRE
Repertoire for the auditions should be selected from traditional solo literature. Students should prepare two contrasting pieces. The following lists represent suggested repertoire, but students are free to choose other material that is comparable.
Piano (memorized)
Bach: Two or Three Part Inventions, Suite Movements,
Well Tempered Clavier
Scarlatti Sonatas
Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven Sonatas
(individual movements are acceptable)
Romantic
works by Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms
20th-century works by composers such as Debussy,
Ravel, Bartok, Prokofieff, Rachmaninoff, Dello
Joio
Voice (memorized)
Selections from approved high school festival literature, including selections from collections such as the following:
Twenty-four Italian Songs & Arias (Schirmer)
The
First Book of Soprano Solo…of Mezzo-Soprano
solos, of Tenor Solos, etc., series by Boytim
(Hal Leonard)
Fifteen American Art Songs (Schirmer)
Two selections, one in a language, one in English are recommended, each representing different styles. An accompanist is provided, but you may bring your own if you wish. Please bring music for the accompanist.
Instrumental
Brass and woodwinds: Be prepared to play, from memory, your chromatic scale (full range of your instrument), and all the major scales you know – the more you know, the better. Speed, rhythm pattern, and articulation style of the scales is up to you. Also prepare two études of contrasting styles (e.g., one slow, one fast); memorization is not necessary. A movement from your instrument’s solo repertoire may be substituted.
Percussion: Prepare a short étude on snare drum, timpani, and mallet instrument; memorization is not necessary. If you consider yourself a mallet specialist, be prepared to play your major scales from memory – the more you know, the better.
