Music Audition Requirements | Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Brass Audition Information

Trumpet, French horn, Trombone, Bass trombone, Tuba

Instrumental auditions must be performed without accompaniment.

Prepare two movements of contrasting nature from the solo repertoire and three (3) orchestral excerpts. For your solo repertoire, you may choose from the suggested pieces below or make your own choices at a similar level of difficulty. We ask that you play the listed excerpts. In addition, please prepare all major and minor (natural, melodic, and harmonic) scales and arpeggios and be prepared to sight-read.

If you are submitting a recorded audition, please make sure that there is no accompaniment, and that the recording has not been edited and does not contain reverb. Recorded auditions should also include one major and three minor scales (one each: natural, melodic, and harmonic) and corresponding arpeggios. Each piece or selection may be uploaded as a separate video file with the title in English or the original language in the file name.

Trumpet

Suggested Repertoire:

• Haydn: Concerto
• Hindemith: Sonata

Orchestral Excerpts:

• Beethoven: Leonore (No. 2 and No. 3)
• Stravinsky: Petrushka (Ballerina’s Dance)
• Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

French horn

Suggested Repertoire:

• Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 2, 3, or 4
• Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 or 2
• Glière: Horn Concerto

Orchestral Excerpts:

• Strauss: Opening solo from Till Eulenspiegel
• Brahms: Symphony No. 3, 3rd Movement (Poco allegretto) solo, Horn 1, m. 98-110
• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, 1st Movement, Horn 1, Rehearsal 17-21

Trombone

Suggested Repertoire:

• Martin: Ballade
• Milhaud: Concertino d’Hiver
• Tomasi: Concerto

Orchestral Excerpts:

• Mozart: Tuba Mirum
• Ravel: Bolero
• Berlioz: Hungarian March

Bass Trombone

Suggested Repertoire

• Ewazen: Concerto
• T. R. George: Concerto

Orchestral Excerpts:

• Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
• Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
• Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries

Tuba

Suggested Repertoire:

• Hindemith: Sonata
• Vaughan Williams: Concerto

Orchestral Excerpts:

• Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries
• Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
• Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Updated on 09/17/2018