music resume - repertoire - what to list and how to list it-- for piano

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>When my son switched piano teachers in the ninth grade, we made a list of pretty much every piece he ever played, the date he played it and the venue.</p>

<p>My questions are:</p>

<p>for a music resume/repertoire for college:
do you divide the pieces up by years (in high school) or by category, classical, chamber, original music? or both? </p>

<p>Do you list everything (ninth grade is the question this is relevant for) or just major pieces?</p>

<p>Do you put things in like jobs (playing organ for church) or recording commercials or teaching piano?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>I have been wondering the same thing for a voice resume. Do we include musical theatre or just classical. Do we include church worship solos? Do we include pieces that he has worked on but not performed? I could really use input.</p>

3

<p>While there are a variety of ways to arrange repertoire within a rep list, I would tend to avoid arranging by the year that the rep was studied. Solo rep should be listed separately from chamber rep. Within each of those two categories, music is usually arranged by composer alphabetically by the composer’s surname. Some students that have studied many concertos and sonatas, might further subdivide the solo rep by concertos, sonatas, concert pieces etc., but most will just list by composer.</p>

<p>For some instruments, within the solo rep, etudes are listed separately from music which is publicly performed (so for example, for piano, Czerny would go under etudes since almost no one ever peroforms Czerny etudes in public, but Chopin etudes would go in with the rest of the publicly performed rep). Depending on the student’s level, the etudes might not be listed. </p>

<p>I am not sure what you mean by “major pieces” versus minor pieces. If by minor pieces you mean those that were very easy and that are far beneath the level of rep that a performance major, then I would exclude them. On the other hand, if by minor pieces, you merely mean short pieces, then I would include them. For example, many of the Chopin Preludes are very short (and some very easy), but if I had studied Preludes #1 to 12, then I would include that since professional pianists often perform all 24 Preludes even though several could be sight-read by most competent high school pianists.</p>

<p>I would list all serious repertoire that has been seriously studied regardless of when it was studied. What constitutes “serious repertoire”? Anything that could be studied by a performance major at university or is at least close to that (within a couple of years beneath that level–and yes, I know “couple of years” will vary considerably according to the speed of student progress). </p>

<p>So if the student studied a Bruch violin concerto or Mozart piano concerto when they were 12 years old, I would list it, but I would not list any of the easier Clementia piano sonatinas which are rarely publicly performed by professionals and whose value is primarily educational rather than musical. You may need to consult with your teacher as to what is “serious repertoire,” since many parents won’t be familiar with what is commonly performed by the pros in recital.</p>

<p>What constitutes “seriously studied”? The repertoire does not need to have been publicly performed, but needs to have been taken to a level which was at least close to public performance (i.e. so at least memorized, up to performance tempo, …). So for most students, 5 weeks on a Beethoven piano sonata would not merit listing the rep, but if the sonata was memorized and technical issues were resolved and significant progress made in achieving a musical performance, then I would list it (and some excellent pianists could be there in 5 weeks since some memorize within a week–one of the local teachers refused to hear anything at a lesson that was not memorized–his students quickly became very efficient memorizers). </p>

<p>Obviously, etudes and chamber music, if listed, need not have been memorized.</p>

<p>For a vocal resume for a performance program application, I would not include church worship solos unless they are part of the rep that might be studied by a classical vocalist (e.g. I would include anything by Bach, Handel, etc. that was performed in church). </p>

<p>For a classical performance major, I would not include the musical theatre repertoire; if you really want to, I would list it separately at the end of the repertoire list, but be aware that some classical voice teachers might not view the listing of musical theatre positively–they become worried that the potential students might be a belter or have musical theatre vocal production habits that need undoing.</p>

4

<p>Regarding the resume (rather than the rep list): Yes, I would include jobs like playing organ for church, recording commercials and teaching piano. Certainly these jobs would not be a large part of the resume, but I think that they help strengthen it, especially if the resume is for a music ed major.</p>

5

<p>As violindad indicates, the resume and repertoire are usually different documents. The resume would have the performances, jobs, etc. It could also have academic credentials for a HS student. The repertoire has what has been played or sung (or is scheduled to be done and noted as such)… DD’s resume had music related activities in it even though they did not directly apply to her application for classical voice. They showed the depth of her interest and what she participated in during her time in HS. After HS those things would drop off.</p>

6

<p>I’m also wondering about voice repertoire. I have been looking at samples online.
Singersmom07- Did you list only classical pieces since your D was interested in classical voice? Did you include MT pieces? On the flip side, if my D applies for MT I would think that you would still list classical pieces to show training.</p>

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<p>socialdramamama: I agree that a MT applicant should list both classical and MT pieces.</p>

8

<p>socialdramamama, it’s been a while so I had to go look at it. She grouped her repertoire and the last category on a second page was “Other Performed” and that is where she put MT, divided by solos and duets. Her resume also had her HS MT productions on it. </p>

<p>On her repertoire, the first page category was Classical/Sacred. What she was currently performing for audition/competitions was grouped first as Current, Other performances were listed by Solos, Duets and Major Choral Works. The solos included major church solos from classical works. Her resume had that she was a church soloist. </p>

<p>Don’t stress over it. In the end it does not matter but to show you are a serious singer. It is the pre-screennig and audition that will count. Sometimes it was a conversation starter. She listed that she was competing in the NFAA Young Arts Classical Voice competition because you have to be a serious singer to do it and some commented or ask her about it during auditions. …</p>

9

<p>Here’s a dumb question from a non-music mom: Is Gilbert and Sullivan considered “classical” or “other”? S2 sang KoKo in The Mikado this past summer but we don’t know how to list in on repertoire list. And do you list every song from The Mikado or just that he sang KoKo? Too confusing.</p>

10

<p>megpmom: Not a dumb question at all and I’m not sure there is a definitive answer. Usually I tend to put G&S in the classical domain (it is operetta, after all, not MT, and much of it is closer to The Merry Widow or Die Fledermaus than to Cats or Phantom), but the comic roles like Koko in G&S in my mind are closer to MT than traditional operetta. So, with Koko, I would tend to list under “other.” I would not list all the Koko songs separately in a rep list, but would write something like: “Sullivan, Arthur. The Mikado, all Koko arias.” </p>

<p>If you are doing both a resume and a repertoire list, it might be better just to put the Koko role in the resume and leave it out of the rep list unless you are listing some MT stuff under “other” in the rep list.</p>

<p>As Singersmom07 said, the rep list isn’t that important and just gets a quick glance usually, so don’t worry too much about it. To my mind your question is a good one (i.e. no obvious answer), so you clearly have the common sense to put together a good list. If you can sing, then the rep list is of relatively little importance and if you can’t sing, then the rep list is irrelevant.</p>

11

<p>The best way to indicate that you’ve learned all the arias for a given role is to have a “roles” category in your rep list, e.g.
Koko The Mikado
Leporello Il Dissoluto Punito
Ted Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: The Opera</p>

12

<p>I agree with most of what Violin dad said. When my daughter applied to college, she only listed advanced repertoire learned during high school years (it was already too long). Likewise, she listed only pieces learned in college when applied to graduate school. Some schools tell you how many years of repertoire learned to include. As for etudes, I would exclude Czerny Etudes unless your son feels that his repertoire is too small. Solo piano repertoire is so large that most students learn very few concerti compared to solo works. D listed concerti in solo repertoire. Your son should also indicate which pieces were performed publicly and which were memorized. D used ‘m’ and ‘p’ after each piece.</p>

<p>PM me if you have any question.</p>