Music Audition Requirements | Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Jazz Studies Audition Information

Contemporary Classical Music Performance

Pre-screen required for voice and piano principal instruments.

The graduate programs in contemporary classical music performance are open to the following instruments: bassoon, cello, clarinet, double bass, flute, harp, horn, oboe, percussion, piano, saxophone, trombone (bass/tenor), trumpet, tuba, viola, violin, and voice. Percussion applicants should prepare separate repertoire indicated below. All other instruments should prepare three (3) complete works in the following categories:

• One standard work composed before 1900 that demonstrates technical and musical proficiency.
• One 20th-century work, in traditional notation, from the standard repertoire, such as Berio’s Sequenzas, Carter, Boulez, Schoenberg, Berg, Ligeti, Stravinsky, etc.
• Chosen works should not be minimalist in nature and should reflect technical, rhythmic, and musical proficiency.
• One work composed since 2000. This work may be written by the performer, by a student or colleague, or by an established composer. This work may include electronics and may incorporate improvisation. Chosen works should not be minimalist in nature and should reflect technical, rhythmic, and musical proficiency.

Please provide at least two copies of the scores for the audition panel. Photocopies are permitted. Speakers and auxiliary cord can be provided.

Percussion applicants to the contemporary classical music program should prepare the repertoire required for a standard graduate percussion audition. Orchestral excerpts are not required, however, and instead a multiple-percussion solo recording should be provided (details below).

Auditions should be performed without accompaniment, although playback of electronics on CD or MP3 device is acceptable. Speakers and an auxiliary cord can be provided at the audition. You are encouraged to program creatively so as to represent your skills well and also demonstrate something unique about yourself as a musician.

• Graduate percussion applicants must demonstrate proficiency in the areas described below.
• Graduate percussion applicants may be asked to sight read on the instruments below.

Snare Drum

Perform both of the following, totaling about four minutes:

• Concert etude (suggested composers: Delécluse, Cirone, or Aleo)
• Rudimental solo (suggested composers: Pratt, Tompkins, or Wilcoxon)

Mallets (xylophone, marimba, vibraphone: your choice)

Perform both of the following, totaling at least four minutes:

• Two-mallet solo: A work of your choice; be creative! Some suggestions are Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, or Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, or selections from the MassChap 2010 Xylophone Collection.
• Four-mallet solo: For suggestions, see Recommended Solos.

Note: For two-mallet and/or four-mallet solos, creative adaptations of any other composers' works are most welcome. In general, pieces with tempo fluctuations and a variety of rhythms and characters are preferred over perpetual motion pieces.

Timpani

Perform the following, totaling about three minutes:

• Solo piece about three minutes in duration. Suggested composers: Woud, Hochrainer, Firth, Delécluse, Lepak, Macarez, Carter.

Multi-Percussion

Please submit a recording of a multi-percussion solo or other contemporary solo on an instrument not otherwise represented above. Please upload a video recording (in lieu of a live performance of this work) on your preferred online platform and provide this link to the faculty prior to your audition date. Any questions can be directed to Brian Calhoon in the Admissions Office.

Updated on 09/17/2018