Music Scholarship Audition Requirements

Guidelines

The following guidelines are in effect for all music major scholarships:

  1. The scholarship recipient must study the appropriate applied instrument/voice in which the scholarship was awarded, become a full-time student pursuing a music major, and enroll in the traditional sequence of courses in the music curriculum.
  2. For incoming freshmen students, the scholarship grant is renewable for a maximum of eight semesters (nine for music education majors). Awards for transfer students are also renewable based on the number of semesters remaining in the degree program in which the student is enrolled.
  3. A performance audition will be required on one of the authorized or arranged scholarship dates. A video will be acceptable for those living a great distance away; however, arrangements must be made with the Department of Music in such cases.

Honors Music Scholarship rehearsals and auditions are held in O. Max Gardner Hall. The total audition time is roughly an hour – 30 minutes to warm up and/or rehearse with the accompanist, and 30 minutes for the audition.  Specific times are scheduled by the Music Office and will be communicated the week of auditions.

Voice

A student auditioning on voice must prepare three contrasting selections: 1) one aria, art song, or classical musical theater selection, and 2) one art song in English.  All selections must be memorized.

Vocalizing, pitch-matching, and sight-reading will also be part of the audition.

Band/Orchestra Instruments

A student auditioning on a band or orchestral instrument must prepare two contrasting works, such as a sonata, concerto movement, or high school contest solo (Grade 5 or 6). Percussionists should have a contest-level solo on at least one instrument (snare drum, mallet instrument, or timpani).

The student must also prepare a major and minor scale, in addition to a chromatic scale. Percussionists must prepare snare drum rudiments and mallet scales.

Sight-reading and pitch-matching will also be part of the audition.

Piano

A student auditioning on piano must prepare two contrasting pieces chosen from different musical periods.  At least one piece must be memorized.

The student must also prepare a major and minor scale with arpeggios, in addition to a chromatic scale.

Sight-reading and pitch-matching will also be part of the audition.

Guitar

A student auditioning on guitar must prepare two contrasting pieces chosen from different musical periods.  At least one piece must be memorized.

The student must also prepare two major scales and an arpeggio study by Giuliani, Sor, Carcassi, or Carulli.

Sight-reading and pitch-matching will also be part of the audition.

Organ

A student auditioning on organ must prepare a work of J.S. Bach, a work by a composer from the Romantic or 20th/21st-Century, and a hymn.

The student must also prepare a major and minor scale with arpeggios, in addition to a chromatic scale.

Sight-reading and pitch-matching will also be part of the audition.

For more information or questions, please call (704) 406-4448.