
Prescreening & Audition Repertoire Requirements
All applicants must complete a prescreening video according to their program (instrument, voice, composition or jazz). Prescreening requirements are the same regardless of your specific major of interest (with the exception of jazz). For example: All voice applicants will follow the vocal requirements below, no matter what they plan to major in (Music Education, Performance, Integrated Studies or the Musical Arts degree). Once the admissions process is complete, admitted students will notify us of their intended specific major. You can learn more about these majors here. Jazz applicants should follow the specific jazz requirements below for prescreening and audition on their primary instrument or voice.
All applicants should feel free to reach out to Blair Admissions with audition repertoire questions.
Woodwinds
Brass
Strings
Piano
- Major and harmonic minor scales, four octaves (audition only)
- Prelude (prescreening only) and fugue (audition only) from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier or similar contrapuntal Baroque work
- An allegro movement from a sonata by Haydn, Mozart (excluding K. 545), Beethoven (excluding Op. 49), or a similar work from the classical period (prescreening and audition)
- A major Romantic or Impressionist work (prescreening and audition)
- A major work by a 20th- or 21st-century composer (audition only)
- Sight reading (audition only)
Percussion
- Concert snare drum solo or étude (prescreening and audition)
- Four-mallet marimba solo or étude (prescreening and audition)
- Timpani solo or étude (prescreening and audition)
- Traditional rudimental snare drum solo or étude (audition only)
- Two-mallet keyboard solo, transcription or étude (audition only)
- Demonstrate the ability to recognize, sing and tune pitches and intervals on timpani (audition only)
- Sight-reading on all percussion instruments listed above (audition only)
Harp
- One movement of a concerto by Handel, Mozart or Dittersdorf, or a similar work (prescreening and audition)
- Two contrasting solo pieces from different periods (prescreening and audition)
Voice
- A 20th- or 21st-century British, American or Canadian art song (in English), memorized (prescreening and audition)
- A foreign language art song, memorized (prescreening and audition)
- An additional art song, or an opera, operetta or oratorio aria, in any language, memorized (prescreening and audition)
- Monologue, memorized (prescreening and audition), chosen from these five provided options.
A change in repertoire for the audition must follow guidelines above. Please contact Blair Admissions with any questions.
Composition
- A portfolio of three original scores and corresponding recordings. At least one live recording is preferred, but not mandated. (prescreening only)
- A prescreening video showcasing proficiency on your primary instrument or voice. You may select any piece from your current repertoire (prescreening only)
- Record a short video of yourself (no more than three minutes, please) describing in musical terms the goal(s) of one of the pieces you submitted and how you accomplished those goals; for instance:
- What particular techniques or (perhaps new) approaches did you try?
- What difficulties did you encounter?
- What did you learn from this piece and the process that lead to it?
Jazz
Applicants interested in the Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies should prepare the following on their primary instrument or voice. NOTE: Students auditioning on drum set should contact Marc Widenhofer for additional details.
- Select three tunes from different categories on the list below, playing melody and improvising over the form. All repertoire should be performed from memory. (prescreening and audition)
- Blues: Billie's Bounce; Footprints; Blues for Alice
- Great American Songbook: Lullaby of Birdland; Take the A Train; Someday My Prince Will Come
- Ballad: In a Sentimental Mood; Body and Soul; Skylark
- Rhythm Changes: Anthropology; Oleo; Rhythm-a-ning
- Latin/Straight 8th: Desafinado; La Fiesta; Mas Que Nada
- Major and minor scales (audition only)
- Rhythm Section instruments must demonstrate ability to play diverse styles and grooves (audition only)
- An additional tune from a different category (from the list above) that was not included in prescreening selections (audition only)
- Sight-reading (audition only)