School of Music | College of Fine Arts - Boston University

Woodwinds Audition Information

Prescreening

Applicants to the following programs and instruments need to submit a prescreening video recording or portfolio for review before they can be invited to a live audition or interview.

• Applicants to cello, double bass, flute, percussion, piano, trumpet, violin, or voice regardless of degree or program
• Graduate Composition majors
• All applicants to the Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance
• All applicants to the Artist Diploma

Prescreening recordings and portfolios are due by December 1. Applicants will be notified of prescreening results in early January.

Bassoon (BM)

BM Repertoire

• Three contrasting movements from three different musical periods. At least one work should be from the major solo repertoire. A solo étude is acceptable for one of the selections. Accompaniment is not required.
• Three contrasting orchestral excerpts.
• Sight-reading may be requested.

Clarinet (BM)

BM Repertoire

Applicants should prepare two works or movements of contrasting styles.

Flute (BM)

Prescreen & audition Repertoire

The repertoire for the prescreening and live audition is the same.

• Applicants should prepare two contrasting movements from either a Mozart Concerto or a Bach Sonata.

• One additional piece of your choosing from the standard flute repertoire that exemplifies a different style, such as but not limited to: Chaminade Concertino, Faure Fantasy, Piece pour Flute Seule by Ibert, Hue Fantasie, Dutilleux Sonatine, Hindemith Sonata and Prokofiev Sonata. If the work is through-composed, it should be prepared in its entirety. If a multi-movement work, please prepare two contrasting movements.

• Two contrasting standard orchestral excerpts — one lyrical and one technical. Please refer to the list in the MM requirements for suggestions should you need them.

Oboe (BM)

BM Repertoire

Applicants should prepare solo works and études or studies written expressly for the instrument, as well as be prepared to play passages from the orchestral repertoire, all scales and arpeggios, and sight-read. Auditions are usually performed without accompaniment.

Below are examples of the literature appropriate for an audition. Consider works that demonstrate cantilena style (slow tempo, legato melodic lines, sustained phrasing, singing tone quality) and technical facility (fast tempo, variety in rhythm, correct phrasing, tone quality, clean articulation):

Sonata No. 1 or No. 2 by Handel; First movement from Sonata by Hindemith; First movement, F Major Quartet, K. 370 by Mozart; or works equal to these in difficulty. Orchestral repertoire: major passages from works such as Symphony No. 4 (slow movement) by Tchaikovsky; Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) by Beethoven; symphonies by Brahms, Schumann, or Mozart; or symphonic works equal to these in difficulty.

Saxophone (BM)

Audition Repertoire

Applicants should prepare the following:

• Solo works
• Études
• Passages from the orchestral repertoire

Sight-reading may be given at the audition.

Below are examples of the literature appropriate for an audition. You should consider works that demonstrate cantilena style (slow tempo, legato melodic lines, sustained phrasing, singing tone quality) and technical facility (fast tempo, variety in rhythm, correct phrasing, tone quality, clean articulation):

Sonata by Paul Creston or Bernard Heiden, Glazunov’s Concerto, Paule Maurice’s Tableaux de Provence. Candidates should play contrasting movements or sections of one-movement works. One slow and one fast étude by Ferling and one étude from Karg-Elert 25 Caprices, Book 1 (or a work of comparable difficulty).

Updated on 09/25/2018