Auditions
Click HERE to schedule your audition for Spring or Fall 2024 Entrance
The purpose of the audition is to assess both current ability and the potential to complete the preferred degree program. Candidates will be evaluated on pitch accuracy, correct and steady rhythm, tone quality, and the ability to make expressive musical statements.
In addition to the performance portion of the audition, all candidates will be assessed on the following:
- Music theory placement assessment that includes note identification in treble and bass clefs
- Vocal pitch matching
- Rhythm Reading
- Sight Singing
WCSU does not specify audition repertoire; students are encouraged to consult with their private teacher to choose literature that best demonstrates their ability and potential. Woodwind, Brass, String and Keyboard candidates will be assessed on the following, in addition to their selected literature:
- 12 major scales with arpeggios
- 2 octave chromatic scale starting on the note of their choosing.
- Sight reading
Suggested literature for each instrument / voice is listed below. NOTE: All State and Regional pieces from state contests (CMEA, NYSSMA, Etc.) are acceptable choices.
Voice
- Prepare at least two memorized songs in contrasting styles; one in English and one in a foreign language.
- Sight sing, with reasonable accuracy, a simple vocal melody.
- NOTE: an accompanist will be provided for you. Please bring your music in your preferred key.
1. Sing major scale (unaccompanied, eighth notes in any key using either solfege or neutral syllable)
2. Improvise (scat or vocalese) over a funky vamp of Bbmin7 – Eb7
3. Sing 1 of the compositions below in a proper key for your particular vocal range: please be prepared to tell your audition accompanist what key suits you best!
- Bye Bye Blackbird by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon
- Centerpiece by Harry Edison and Jon Hendricks
- All of Me by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons
- It Could Happen to You by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen
- Night and Day by Cole Porter
1. Sing major scale (unaccompanied, eighth notes in any key using either solfege or neutral syllable).
2. Improvise (scat or vocalese) over a looped instrumental progression.
3. Sing a song from a well-known artist or band (any style).
Woodwinds
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from Weisenborn or similar etude book
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Mozart)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from a standard etude book (Klose, Rose)
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Mozart, von Weber, Brahms)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from a standard etude book (Melodious and Progressive Studies for the Flute, R. Cavally)
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from Barrett
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from Ferling-48 Studies
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Creston, Glazounov, Heiden, Milhaud)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from Ferling-48 Studies
- A solo transcription from the Charlie Parker Omnibook
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis
Brass
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from any standard etude book (Bordogni/Rochut, Kopprasch, Arban etc.).
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto.
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from a standard etude book
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Mozart, Strauss)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from Arban
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Haydn, Hummel, Piston)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from Arban's
- A solo transcription from “The Complete Transcribed Solos of Clifford Brown”
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- Etude #6 from “Melodious Studies” by Rochut/Etude #6 from “36 Studies” by Blume or similar
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (example: “Morceau Symphonique” by Guilmant)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from any standard etude book
- A solo transcription from any trombone transcription book (e.g., J. J. Johnson, Slide Hampton)
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from any standard etude book (Bordogni, Blazhevich, etc.)
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Bach, Blazevich)
Percussion
Students auditioning in percussion must demonstrate competency in snare drum and percussion keyboards. Additionally, a student may optionally offer a demonstration on either timpani or drum set for further consideration.
- Snare Drum
a. The following rudiments presented in open-close-open (slow-fast-slow) format, 30 seconds per rudiment: flam accents, accented paradiddles, double-stroke roll
b. One solo or etude in a rudimental or classical style
c. Sight reading - Keyboard Instruments (Marimba, Vibraphone, or Xylophone)
a. 3 chromatically-adjacent major scales with arpeggios, 2 octaves
b. One solo piece or etude using 2 or 4 mallets, transcriptions are acceptable - Timpani option
a. One solo piece or etude with static tuning (no changes in the middle of the piece) - Drum set option
a. Demonstration of the following styles, 30 seconds per style: medium tempo funk, shuffle, bossa nova or samba, style of student’s choice
- Demonstrate basic technique in several styles (swing, latin, funk, etc.)
- Demonstrate basic snare drum technique (Rudiments from PAS List)
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis. Play melody on drums and comp for other soloists, trade fours.
- Two contrasting prepared selections performed with track. Each selection should last 1-2 minutes. Prepared selections may include pop, rock, funk, EDM, world, or fusion styles. Note: student should provide all tracks in a digital file format for play-along during the audition
- Groove matching: Student will be played 8-bars of a track and asked to match the groove and play along.
- Style demonstration: Student will be asked to demonstrate grooves at various tempos selected from the following styles: Funk, Rock, Bossa nova, Calypso/soca, Reggae, Jazz shuffle,
- Sight reading: Student will be asked to read a short passage on snare drum and/or drum set.
- 12 major scales and arpeggios
- An etude from a standard etude/method book (Goldenberg, G.H. Green, etc.)
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis. Play melody and solo on each tune. Play chords to comp for other soloists.
Piano / Keyboard
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- 12 major scales and arpeggios (two hands), four octaves
- Perform three contrasting solo classical selections. One selection should be by J.S. Bach [For Example: 1) A Prelude or Invention; 2) A Sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, or Beethoven; 3) A selection from the romantic, impressionistic or contemporary periods.] One of the three selections must be played from memory.
- 12 major scales and arpeggios, two octaves, two hands
- One classical etude or a movement from a standard sonata
- A solo transcription from any jazz piano transcription book
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis
1. Scales: Major and minor scales using both hands, ascending and descending.
2. Improvisation:
• Improvise over a looped instrumental progression.
• Improvise over a standard I - IV - V blues progression.
3. Prepared Piece - Choose from:
• A song from a well-known artist or band (any style).
• A jazz or American Songbook standard with improvisation.
• A transcription of a well-known artist's solo.
4. Sight Reading:
• Read one or more short melodies on your instrument that are written in standard notation.
• Clap a rhythm in 4/4 meter 6/8 meter at sight.
Strings
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One etude from Kreutzer or Dont, Opus 37
- One movement from a Bach unaccompanied sonata or partita
- One movement of a standard concerto (Mozart #4, Lalo Symphonie Espanole, Bruch g minor
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One etude from Kreutzer
- One movement from a Bach unaccompanied suite (transcribed for viola)
- One movement of a standard concerto (Telemann)
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One etude from Popper
- One movement of a Bach Suite
- One movement from a standar concerto (Hayden, Dvorak, Schumann)
- A solo transcription from the Charlie Parker Omnibook
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis
1. Scales: Major in different positions on the fretboard.
2. Improvisation:
• Improvise over a looped instrumental progression.
• Improvise over a standard I - IV - V blues progression.
3. Prepared Piece - Choose from:
• A song from a well-known artist or band (any style).
• A jazz or American Songbook standard with improvisation.
• A transcription of a well-known artist's solo.
4. Sight Reading:
• Read one or more short melodies on your instrument that are written in standard notation.
• Clap a rhythm in 4/4 meter 6/8 meter at sight.
Two contrasting solo pieces from standard solo repertoire. Examples below.
- One slow and one fast etude from a standard etude book (Simandl, Hertl)
- One movement of a standard sonata or concerto (Marcello, Vivaldi, Bach)
- One slow and one fast etude from a standard etude book (Simandl, Hertl)
- A solo transcription from any bass transcription book
- Sightreading
- Two of the following tunes (or similar tunes): 1. Straight No Chaser by Thelonius Monk; 2. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington; 3. Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham; 4. Oleo by Sonny Rollins; 5. Ladybird by Tadd Dameron; 6. Tune-Up by Miles Davis
1. Styles: Bass lines in different styles (walking, pop-rock, samba, funk, etc.).
2. Improvisation:
• Improvise over a looped instrumental progression.
• Improvise over a standard I - IV - V blues progression.
3. Prepared Piece - Choose from:
• A song from a well-known artist or band (any style).
• A jazz or American Songbook standard with improvisation.
• A transcription of a well-known artist's solo.
4. Sight Reading:
• Read one or more short melodies on your instrument that are written in standard notation.
• Clap a rhythm in 4/4 meter 6/8 meter at sight.