Music Audition Requirements

For full consideration to be admitted as a music major or music minor, or for a music scholarship as a music or non-music major, applicants should perform and pass an audition by May 1st for admittance for fall semester of that calendar year. Auditions after that will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Below are audition requirements for each instrument. For more information about audition requirements, or to set up an audition for Instrumental Music, please contact Dr. Alexandros Fragiskatos at fragiskatosa@moval.edu. For vocal music, please contact Cheryl Lines at linesc@moval.edu.

  • Strings, Woodwinds and Brass
    1. Perform all major and minor scales, two octaves, legato and staccato.
    2. Perform a short sight reading excerpt.
    3. Perform two contrasting prepared solos that demonstrate tone quality as well as technical proficiency. These can be standard etudes, contest pieces, or movements from larger works. The music need not be memorized.
  • Piano
    1. Perform all major and minor scales, two octaves.
    2. Perform a short sight reading excerpt.
    3. Perform two contrasting prepared solos that demonstrate tone quality as well as technical proficiency. These can be standard etudes, contest pieces, or movements from larger works. The music need not be memorized.
  • Percussion/Drums

    All students auditioning on percussion must perform the requirements for keyboard, snare drum, and drum set. Performance on timpani is optional.

    Keyboard Percussion

      1. Perform all major and minor scales, two octaves, at a medium tempo.
      2. Perform one short 2-mallet sight reading excerpt.
      3. Perform one 2- or 4-mallet prepared solo on marimba, xylophone, or vibraphone. This can be a standard etude, short piece, or movement from a larger work. Suggestions:
        • An etude from Morris Goldenberg’s Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, and Vibraphone
        • A George Hamilton Green xylophone ragtime solo
        • A movement from J.S. Bach’s 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Violin
        • A David Friedman vibraphone solo
        • Paul Smadbeck’s Etude No. 1, 2, or 3

    Snare Drum

      1. Rudiments
        • Buzz (closed) roll, 30 seconds, mf > pp < ff
        • Double stroke (open) roll, slow to fast to slow
        • Flam tap, slow to fast to slow
        • Single paradiddle, slow to fast to slow
        • Single ratamacue, slow to fast to slow
      2. Perform one prepared concert snare solo. Suggestions:
        • Mitchell Peters’s Intermediate Snare Drum Studies, #13 and up
        • Mitchell Peters’s Advanced Snare Drum Studies
        • Anthony Cirone’s Portraits in Rhythms
        • Vic Firth’s Solo Snare Drummer
      3. Perform one rudimental snare solo (optional). Suggestions:
        • Charley Wilcoxin’s The All-American Drummer
        • John Pratt’s 14 Modern Contest Solos for Snare Drum
        • Edward Freytag’s The Rudimental Cookbook

    Drum Set

      1. Perform jazz and rock styles in 4/4, alternating between 3 measures of steady time and 1 measure of fill.

    Timpani (optional)

      1. Perform a prepared timpani solo. Suggestions
        • Garwood Whaley’s Fundamental Studies or Musical Studies for the Intermediate Timpanist
        • An etude from Mitchell Peters’s Fundamental Method for Timpani
        • Vic Firth’s The Solo Timpanist
  • Vocal Music
    1. Perform from memory two contrasting art songs. Both pieces may be in

    English, though at least one art song in a foreign language is preferred.

    Suggestions include songs from the following collections:

    • Joan Frey Boytim The First Book of Solos, parts I, II, or III
    • John Glenn Paton 26 Italian Songs and Arias
    • G. Schirmer Twenty-Four Italian Art Songs
    • Gary Arvin 15 American Art Songs
    1.   Perform a short melodic sight singing exercise
    2. Demonstrate your tonal retention skills, i.e. sing back short melodies that

    are played for you on the piano, a cappella