Rice U Audition Req. a little confusing?

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>So I was looking at Rice U's audition requirements</p>

<p>For piano, it says</p>

<p>Thirty minutes of memorized repertoire representing three of the following four style periods: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Impressionist/Contemporary. Recommended: Prelude and Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier; a sonata by Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven; a solo piece from the Romantic repertoire; and a work by a representative 20th Century composer</p>

<p>This makes no sense. Is it just that the 3 of the 4 periods is REQUIRED, but doing all 4 is recommended? Like, can you do more than the requirement? (e.g. 50 minute audition in stead of 30 minutes? Or do they want to keep it to 30 minutes?)</p>

<p>You would have to do an audition longer than thirty minutes to fit all of the recommended repetoire. Many of those classical sonatas last around 20 minutes in their entirety. </p>

<p>But that's another thing that is confusing. The graduate requirements explicitly state that you should play an 'entire' sonata, whereas the undergraduate requirements just say 'a sonata'... would this mean only playing one movement of a sonata, if you have to keep the time under 30 minutes?</p>

2

<p>Not specific to piano but for auditions in general.</p>

<p>You will most probably not play anything in it’s entirety. They will listen to a piece and they will stop you and ask you to move on.</p>

<p>You show know all movements of everything listed unless they specifically mention specific measures or movements.</p>

<p>They will very likely have you fill out a form at one point or another with your audition pieces.</p>

<p>You may very well prepare 4 pieces and only asked to play 3.</p>

3

<p>And the best source for specific information is the school itself. While I completely agree with sagiter, if you are still confused, do not hesitate to call Shepherd, and speak with someone knowledgeable about the requirements.</p>

4

<p>Call or email the school and ask your question.</p>

5

<p>Sure - call the school. Always the best bet.</p>

<p>But as to how I read their requirements: They are asking for any three of the four, but giving an example of the kind of piece they are looking for from each period. If they had ended the list by says “or” instead of “and”, it would have sounded like they only wanted one piece. So they used “and”, making it sound like they needed all four.</p>

6

<p>Virtually everything is covered here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/240407-audition-tips-info.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/240407-audition-tips-info.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Well worth the (re)read for those going into auditions.</p>

7

<p>Son auditioned successfully at Rice (but on violin). The violin requirements did not specify the number of minutes, but his repertoire requirements for Rice totalled well over 30 minutes. At his audition there he played slightly less than 10 minutes of his repertoire (the fewest number of minutes of any of his auditions). </p>

<p>As has been mentioned, contact the school to confirm that you need the entire sonata (I assume that you do given that it does not specify a movement or movements) and to confirm the 3 or 4 periods thing.</p>

<p>Rice is a wonderful school as you probably know.</p>