Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication - CSUN

Keyboard Audition Information

Piano Auditions

BM – Piano Performance
Prepare three memorized works from contrasting style periods, to be chosen from:

A) One Baroque work, comparable to a Bach prelude & fugue.
B) One movement from a classical sonata by Haydn, Clementi, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert. 
C) One 19th or 20th century work.

Only solo repertoire will be accepted, no accompaniments.

BA – Music Education
Three memorized works:

A) One Baroque work, comparable to a Bach invention or Sinfonia. 
B) One movement from a classical sonata. 
C) One piece of the candidate’s choice.

Only solo repertoire will be accepted, no accompaniments. Sightreading is required at audition.

BA – Music Therapy and Breadth studies 
BM – Composition and Commercial and Media Writing
Prepare two selections, both classical. Student should have studied piano for a minimum of two years or the equivalent (may be class instruction). Repertoire should be at the minimum level of Denes Agay’s Easy Classics to Modern – Volume 37 (yellow edition). Selections should be comparable to one movement from a sonatina, or Schumann’s Album for the Young, or Bach’s Little Preludes.  Only solo repertoire will be accepted, no accompaniments.  Repertoire need not be memorized. Sightreading is required at audition.

BA - Music Industry Studies
Prepare two selections, one classical and the other jazz or popular. Student should have studied piano for a minimum of two years or the equivalent (may be class instruction). Repertoire should be at the level of Denes Agay’s Easy Classics to Modern – Volume 37 (yellow edition) or Phillip Keveren’s Jazz Standards (published by Hal Leonard). Repertoire need not be memorized. Sightreading is required at audition.

MM - PIANO PERFORMANCE

• Potential graduate students should have completed an undergraduate degree in music or its equivalent.
• Play an audition consisting of the following repertoire (repertoire forms and dates are on the website): 
  A. One Baroque work, comparable to a Bach Toccata, Suite or Partita.
  B. One complete classical sonata.
  C. One major Romantic/ Post-Romantic or Twentieth Century work.
  D. One virtuoso etude
• Provide recital programs and repertoire lists for the audition personnel.
• Undergo an interview to be conducted at the time of the audition regarding career objectives.
• Submit academic transcripts to CSUN Admissions and Records
• Send to the Keyboard Area chair a brief statement discussing background and goals, and three letters of recommendation.
• Those students unable to be present for their live incoming graduate auditions may submit a DVD of their performance in lieu of a live audition.

Incoming Graduate Auditions are held three times a year: once in the Fall Semester and twice in the Spring Semester. After the admission into the program, further placement tests are required in the areas of music theory/analysis and music history.

Following the evaluation of all these documents and tests, the area coordinator in consultation with the graduate advisor may recommend remedial coursework in areas such as musicianship, music history, or analysis. Credit toward the degree is not permitted, as these remedial courses carry a lower level catalog number. In some cases, it will be possible to count 400 level courses as electives, if needed. Occasionally, incoming graduate students in piano performance will be required to schedule a senior recital, if such a recital was not mandatory during the undergraduate studies. A senior recital would occur if the undergraduate degree is in another field.

For more information concerning piano auditions, please contact Professor Dmitry Rachmanov

Organ Auditions

Bachelor of Music:

Applicants must show evidence of considerable previous organ study. In rare cases, exceptions may be made for applicants demonstrating evidence of considerable previous piano study, but somewhat limited organ study. In addition to scales and arpeggios at the piano, organ literature (three pieces from different periods) performed for the entrance audition normally should be comparable in difficulty to:

• Bach, Orgelbüchlein, BWV 599–644
• Pachelbel, preludes and fugues
• Vierne, 24 Pièces en style libre
• Dupré, Seventy-nine Chorales
• Distler, Dreissig Spielstücke

Bachelor of Arts with an Organ Emphasis:

Applicants must show evidence of previous piano study. In addition to scales and arpeggios at the piano, applicants should prepare three pieces from different periods for presentation on the piano or organ. If performed on the piano, audition repertoire should be comparable in difficulty to:

• Bach, Two-part inventions
• Mozart, Sonata in C major, K. 545
• Beethoven, Sonatas, op. 49
• Mendelssohn, easier Songs Without Words
• Chopin, easier Preludes
• Debussy, Reverie
• Bartók, Ten Easy Pieces

If performed on the organ, audition repertoire should be comparable in difficulty to:

• Bach, Adagio in E minor, BWV 916
  In dulci jubilo, BWV 729
  Pastorale, BWV 590
  Eight Little Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553–560
• Croft, Voluntaries
• Lemare, Andante Pastorale
• Muffat, Antiphon
• Peeters, selections from Sixty Short Pieces
• Vierne, selections from 24 Pièces en style libre

 

Updated on 08/21/2018