<p>I agree with binx. At my Juilliard audition, I was asked to play two complete movements of my concerto and all but one of my excerpts. I didn't think it was unreasonable.</p>
<p>I actually hope this happens for my son, who has a complete sontata, a four movement modern piece, not to mention a complete etude, as well as full Romantic and Bach pieces (no excerpts...sigh). </p>
<p>I was thinking, here he'd have prepared well over 100 pages of music, committed it all to memory, and then asked him to play for ten minutes. :( I know he would much prefer being asked to play a lot of his repertoire, vs. a small segment, since then he can show more of his versatility. What you all post is actually good news!</p>
<p>the statements I posted were by a Juiliard student who worked (and heard) the auditions every year. His suggestions were written for students going to college auditions on trumpet, as are the many suggestions by college teachers writing there. I feel they often carry over to all instruments.
As far as I, a mom and non-musician, can tell the kids all arrive with 1/2 hour to hour of music prepared but are given a 15 to 30 minute audition.
At least as far as trumpet players a good bit have be written about kids turning up with music that is beyond them. Sometimes beyond almost all 17 year olds (tomasi?)
before thinkinging "what's wrong here.." the kid who might find playing the cadenza tough is playing trumpet. When you play piano, it's tuned, the notes are waiting for you. Trumpet is mainly micro muscles in the lips, tongue, around the lips. It's not a bassoon or clarinet with keys. It's got three valves. Notes are made by tiny adjustments in breath and muscle. YOU are the instrument as much as the horn. "Brass and wind players shape the music with their very breath, as the instrument literally becomes the player?s own voice." -juilliard website. A very different way of making music than string or percussion.
Also having an effect is there are entire genre -mariachi, marching band, jazz, that trumpet players can be involved with in school or EC. They may even have classical interests but parents who had no clue how to find a teacher who will prepare them. They in particular need advise on picking music, dealing with the process etc. They can often be great players who have no clue to pick the right music.</p>
<h2>I was thinking, here he'd have prepared well over 100 pages of music, committed it all to memory, and then asked him to play for ten minutes. I know he would much prefer being asked to play a lot of his repertoire, vs. a small segment, since then he can show more of his versatility. What you all post is actually good news!</h2>
<p>I would check with each school on this. Audition length may be long at some schools but do not assume he'll have more that 15 or 20 minutes. Assume he will have to jump to any part of his music during that time. What Jeff was telling trumpeters is likely true in many cases. There are common parts you'd be asked to jump to, plus if you sound lyrical they may have you play a part that is technical etc.</p>
<p>DS is a trumpet student. For his undergrad auditions, he had at least 10 different orchestral excerpts and four or five concerto/sonata pieces prepared (mostly due to the need for contrasting periods and styles...and some varying requirements for the schools to which he was applying). I asked him how long his longest audition was (excluding the one that was part of an hour long lesson). He said...20 minutes....and in no case did he get to choose what he was playing first, second or third...or how much of each thing he played. And yes....in all cases, he was interrupted during his playing and asked to jump to "measure____" and continue. He is expecting much the same at his grad school auditions. He has his pieces mostly memorized, but as a trumpet student, he was not asked to play from memory. He did this because it increased his confidence in the pieces and they were more "automatic" for him.</p>
<p>My kids' auditions have also only been 15-20 minutes (including the ones that were advertised as 10.) They never got to play their entire rep, except for the taped audition my S did for CCM. Some schools/instruments list very specific requirements for audition rep. My kids' schools all said something like "a movement from a major concerto, and a contrasting piece, which can be an etude." The horn teachers also asked for "a representative number of exerpts." My S prepared two concertos just so he could make a last-minute choice based on his gut feelings of the moment. But they were both his choices. My D put down one piece on her audition list, then changed her mind and has been calling schools asking to switch to a different piece. Every school has said no problem.</p>
<p>For non-musical folks, be aware that cadenzas are not part of the original manuscript, but were unaccompanied "slots" in the music for the musician to have at it! They are the opportunity for a musician to show off, and that is why teachers often ask to hear them. For every concerto, there are usually at least a handful of cadenzas written by various folk to choose from. My S and his friend both played the same piece at their audition. My S wrote his own cadenza - long and showy. The friend played a brief cadenza written by someone else. They both got into Juilliard. They both chose cadenzas they could play well.</p>
<p>I guess for trumpets, perhaps, the music teachers choose specific pieces that show what the school is looking for. If the ability is beyond the player, then perhaps the school is also. I do appreciate that it is hard, sometimes, to know which schools are appropriate. The audition rep list can be a guide.</p>
<p>Just for the record, my middle kid plays horn, and the youngest plays violin. They both play piano, but not at conservatory level. I've heard people argue that one is harder than the other, or vice versa. I will say that every instrument has it challenges. I also believe that different individuals are "cut out for" different instruments. A trombone player once commented to me (a piano player) that he was impressed by my being able to read multiple notes at a time, and get 10 fingers to go in different directions. I pointed out to him that I didn't have to use my mouth, or my ear (for intonation). But he insisted that the motor skills for piano were something he didn't possess. But sometimes I wish I could play and instrument that wasn't so affected by my nervous, cold and shaking hands!</p>
<p>If I were a philosopher, I would come up with some grand, deep meaning about the orchestra being an incredible culmination of people with different skills and abilities all coming together for a common purpose for the pleasure of us all! :)</p>
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<blockquote> <p>cadenzas>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Ah yes...DS has a couple for his audition pieces. One written by his former trumpet teacher and the other he wrote himself. He hopes he will get to play the one he wrote....which he plays well. It compliments the piece well too.</p>
<p>UCLA audition -- description of the process for this year.
For most instruments, prescreening CD's are required -- for piano: 4 pieces, one baroque, one classical, one romantic, an etude of virtuosity. After prescreening, the department is supposed to notify students if they received audition dates (if they do not pass the prescreening stage, applicants are rejected from UCLA, there is no second-choice possibility in another college, including the College of Letters and Sciences, which houses musicology -- the music department website FAQ includes this information, but one applicant on our tour of UCLA had not passed the screening and was surprised to learn this information from the tour guide...he left the tour at that point). If you don't get an e-mail, contact the department; they do not follow up with a written letter. The office explains that with over 700 emails, they can't do anything to follow up -- reportedly they have the most problems sending to students with Yahoo email accounts. No apologies are offered for these glitches.<br>
For Saturday auditions, know that there is only a tour of UCLA at 10:30, and you must make reservations. They start on time. So schedule your audition time and your transportation to UCLA with this in mind.
There is a half hour theory test, given on the hour.
There are practice rooms for warming up.
The audition itself, for piano, lasted about 15 minutes. Of the four required pieces, they asked to hear the baroque piece (first movement, part of the second), the romantic piece (2 movements), the virtuosic etude; not the classical piece (of course this will vary); there was a sight-reading piece (with 6 sharps!). They also had the applicants fill out a "Mere questionaire to acertain [sic] a little bit of your musical tastes" that included the question: "Do you know the two senators from the State of California are? [sic]" All in all, a rather snarky series of questions. Three professors listened to the audition; one was friendly and encouraging, but does not teach piano majors; the other two, the actual professors, did not look up or respond when greeted or thanked, made no comments on the performance -- perhaps the same guys who wrote the "mere questionaire."
Nice facilities: music performance shares an attractive building (Schoenberg Hall, pronounces "Shown-berg") with ethnomusicology and music history. There is a performance hall in the building. Large collection in the music library.</p>
<p>mamenyu
you clearly made an extra effort to deliver a content-rich and objective report, but OMG I think I would run for the hills if I were facing that UCLA audition process (LOL!)</p>
<p>This USC grad will forever be grateful to UCLA for the kindness, feedback and organization son experienced at UCLA's audition. Sorry that didn't happen for everyone.</p>
<p>Just reporting; it might help to anticipate a nondemonstrative panel. I imagine it depends on the particular faculty members; in any case, the proof is in the pudding -- though it is nice to have a friendly experience, what matters is whether you get in and like the professors as mentors.</p>
<p>Most of the big things have been covered. Don't understimate the small things that can go wrong like not holding on to your music folder and having all your photocopies and resumes fly into the street two minutes before your audition, don't accidentally send a mallet flying at the teacher during the audition if you're a percussionist, and visit the bathroom a few minutes before you head up to the audition so you don't have to worry about needing to pee while playing Bach. None of these cost me an audition, but they didn't exactly add to my confidence....</p>
<p>Don't be too disconcerted about an aloof panel of judges. Often they are communicatively distant to assist in their objectiveness of each applicant. </p>
<p>For many of the more 'unsociable' musicians, it may be beneficial that the audition jury maintains such an austere towards all of the applicants, and judges based soley on their musical faciulties, devoid of as much social bias as possible.</p>
<p>Hopefully this is the case. :-)</p>
<p>Sometimes though, they are just fatigued from the many auditions.</p>
<p>I thought I would pass along an audition story from my son. He recently did grad school auditions at a highly competitive school for cello. Since he is a grad student, auditions are not a new thing for him. He knew what to expect and felt pretty well prepared. He played the first selection they asked for with no problem. However, when he played the second selection, he had many memory slips that really ruined the continutity of the piece. He admits that the had not memorized that selection very well. When he was done, someone on the panel said "That's OK, don't worry about it." The comment was just enough to take the edge off his anxiety and he played the rest of the audition beautifully. He was admitted to the school.</p>
<p>So don't let a screw-up ruin your whole audition. If you mess up, take a deep breath, compose yourself and move forward. All is not necessarily lost! Another recommendation from him is to take a little time between pieces. At one of his auditions he started playing his second piece before his accompanist from the first piece had even left the stage. The pieces were quite different and he said he ended up rushing when he shouldn't have. He said that after that, he always took 30 seconds or so to breath between pieces, to center himself physically around the instrument and to set himself up mentally for the new piece he was about to play.</p>
<p>Hi! I am heading into my Senior year, and I will be auditioning for a music ed. major in the fall/winter of 2007. I was wondering if I need an accompianamist (I'm a vocalist) or if one will be provided for me?</p>
<p>Different schools have different policies. Some want you to use their accompanists and some give you the option of bringing your own. I can't think of any offhand that insist that you bring your own, but I suppose there may be some out there. You need to check the websites or call each school to find out the individual policies.</p>
<p>We never encountered any conservatories that permitted accompanists. Is this permitted/encouraged for instrumentalists or just voice?</p>
<p>It varies by instrument, but vocal auditions almost always use an accompanist. Check out <a href="http://www.curtis.edu/html/30220.shtml#04%5B/url%5D">http://www.curtis.edu/html/30220.shtml#04</a> for the policy at Curtis for example.</p>
<p>This isn't about college auditions, but about professional auditions, but I thought it was really interesting. It's a video look at how the National Symphony's process works:
<a href="http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/orchestra/auditions/home.html#%5B/url%5D">http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/orchestra/auditions/home.html#</a></p>
<p>Just a note on the subject of accompanists and voice auditions---most
regional auditions do not provide an accompanist. When my D encountered this problem she contacted a local University with a good music school for a recommendation.</p>