Jacobs School of Music

Jazz Studies Audition Information

Trumpet

BM and BSOF

• Jazz repertoire: Play the melody and improvise on two tunes from memory: one tune selected from the list below, and one additional tune that is not a blues, "rhythm changes" tune, or ballad. 

Required audition repertoire (select one):

All Things You Are                                Joy Spring
There Will Never Be Another You            Groovin' High
Half Nelson                                         On Green Dolphin Street
Stella by Starlight                                Have You Met Miss Jones?
What Is This Thing Called Love?             Confirmation

• Students should prepare major scales (and their modes), whole tone, diminished and ascending melodic minor scales (and their modes).
• Auditionees may be asked to sight-read chord changes and typical jazz ensemble parts.

Trombone

BM and BSOF

• Undergraduate applicants to the Jazz Trombone program perform their audition for the Jazz faculty.
• Jazz repertoire: Play the melody and improvise on two tunes from memory: one tune selected from the list below, and one additional tune that is not a blues, "rhythm changes" tune, or ballad. 

Required audition repertoire (select one):

All Things You Are                                Joy Spring
There Will Never Be Another You            Groovin' High
Half Nelson                                         On Green Dolphin Street
Stella by Starlight                                Have You Met Miss Jones?
What Is This Thing Called Love?             Confirmation

• Students should prepare major scales (and their modes), whole tone, diminished and ascending melodic minor scales (and their modes).
• Auditionees may be asked to sight-read chord changes and typical jazz ensemble parts.

Saxophone

BM, BME, and BSOF

• Screening:
• Two etudes (one technical, one lyrical by Ferling, Lacour, Mule or Voxman).
• One complete solo work from the standard repertoire (such as a work by Creston, Desenclos, Dubois, Glazunov, Heiden, Ibert, Maurice, Milhaud, Tomasi, etc.).
• Four full-range major scales and corresponding triads of the applicant's choice, four full-range harmonic minor scales and corresponding triads of the applicant's choice, and the full-range chromatic scale.

• Live Audition (Note: Solo repertoire and etudes should differ from screening round selections): 
• Two etudes (one technical, one lyrical by Ferling, Lacour, Mule or Voxman).
• One complete solo work from the standard repertoire (such as a work by Creston, Desenclos, Dubois, Glazunov, Heiden, Ibert, Maurice, Milhaud, Tomasi, etc.).
• Applicant should have all major and harmonic minor scales and corresponding arpeggios prepared, as well as the chromatic sca

BM in Jazz Studies, BSOF (Jazz Studies Emphasis)

• Classical repertoire: Two contrasting movements (lyrical and technical) from standard works (such as Creston, Glazounov, Heiden, Ibert, Maurice, etc.). An etude may be substituted for one of the movements.

• Jazz repertoire: Play the melody and improvise on three tunes from memory: a blues, a tune selected from the list below, and one additional tune that is not a blues, "rhythm changes" tune, or ballad.

Required audition repertoire (select one):

All Things You Are                            Joy Spring
Groovin' High                                   Confirmation
Half Nelson                                     On Green Dolphin Street
Stella by Starlight                            Have You Met Miss Jones?
What Is This Thing Called Love?         There Will Never Be Another You 

• Scales full range: major scales (and their modes), whole tone, diminished, and ascending melodic minor scales (and their modes).  For the screening recording, include only the following full-range scales on Bb, B, C, and C#: major, harmonic minor, diminished (WH), and diminished-whole tone. Play C major and harmonic minor entirely staccato: play the others slurred.
• Note: If invited to audition in person, auditionees will play two audition events, one for the saxophone faculty (all material--classical and jazz) and one for members of the Jazz Studies faculty (jazz material only).
• Auditionees may be asked to sight-read chord changes and typical jazz ensemble parts.

Piano

BM in Jazz Studies, BSOF (Jazz Studies Emphasis)

• From memory be prepared to play: 1) melody with chord changes, 2) comp chord changes, and 3) solo in the right hand with chord changes in the left hand on two tunes: one tune selected from the list below, and one additional tune that is not a blues, "rhythm changes" tune, or ballad.

Required audition repertoire (select one):

All Things You Are                                           Joy Spring
There Will Never Be Another You                       Groovin' High
Half Nelson                                                    On Green Dolphin Street
Stella by Starlight                                           Have You Met Miss Jones?
What Is This Thing Called Love?                        Confirmation

• Students should prepare major scales (and their modes), whole tone, diminished and ascending melodic minor scales (and their modes).
• Auditionees may be asked to sight-read chord changes and typical jazz ensemble parts.
• Pianists auditioning for the BM or BSOF in Jazz Studies will also play classical repertoire in their audition for the jazz faculty and should be prepared to perform the following:

Three contrasting classical pieces to be played from memory, including:
     a) a Prelude & Fugue from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (either book 1 or Book 2)
     b) a first movement of a classical sonata from Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven (excluding  Beethoven's Op.2/1, Op 49/1, and Op. 79)
     c) a short work from the nineteenth or twentieth century.

Guitar

BM in Jazz Studies, BSOF (Jazz Studies Emphasis)

Perform from memory 1) the melody, 2) comp chord changes, 3) improvise on two tunes:  one tune selected from the list below, and one additional tune that is not a blues, "rhythm changes" tune, or ballad.

Required audition repertoire (select one):

All Things You Are                             Joy Spring
There Will Never Be Another You         Groovin' High
Half Nelson                                      On Green Dolphin Street
Stella by Starlight                             Have You Met Miss Jones?
What Is This Thing Called Love?          Confirmation

• Perform one solo jazz guitar piece (chord melody). This can be an original arrangement of a jazz standard or a transcription.
• If invited to audition in person, in addition to the above repertoire, guitarists should:
• Prepare major scales (and their modes), whole tone, diminished, harmonic minor and ascending melodic minor scales (and their respective modes). All of these scales should be played in two positions on the fingerboard.
• Be prepared to demonstrate their chord voicing knowledge and comp in various styles including: four-to-the-bar (sometimes referred to as Freddie Green comping), bebop comping and Latin styles such as Bossa Nova and Samba.
• Be prepared to sight-read single note lines and chord progressions.

Bass

BM in Jazz Studies, BSOF (Jazz Studies Emphasis)

• Prepare two tunes from memory, one selected from the list below and one additional tune that is not a blues, "rhythm changes" tune, or ballad. One each tune be prepared to 1) Play the melody, 2) walk a bass line, and 3) improvise.

Required audition repertoire (select one):

All Things You Are                       Joy Spring
There Will Never Be Another You    Groovin' High
Half Nelson                                On Green Dolphin Street
Stella by Starlight                        Have You Met Miss Jones?
What Is This Thing Called Love?      Confirmation

• Prepare major scales (and their modes), whole tone, diminished and ascending melodic minor scales (and their modes).
• Auditionees may be asked to sight-read chord changes and typical jazz ensemble parts.
• ​
• Updated on 09/12/2018​