**Jazz Studies, Instrumental Performance, Voice and Opera Studies, and Classical Composition majors ONLY. No Studio Production or Studio Composition.
Are you interested in pursuing our Minor in Music? Students must be enrolled at Purchase College to apply. For more information, visit our Minor in Music page.
If you are current Purchase College student and want to audition for a Conservatory of Music program, you need to contact the Music Department directly. Please do not apply through the SUNY or Common Application.
Applicants must first apply to Purchase College. Then, submit all required pre-screening audition materials, along with the audition fee in the Application Portal.
See the specific pre-screening requirements for each major detailed below.
Fall Applicants: Review the specific pre-screening requirements for your major (view the videos below for valuable tips). You must upload a video-formatted audition. If you are an instrumentalist, we need to see a video of you performing.
Spring Applicants: Please go directly to the Live Audition section below and follow the requirements listed there. You must upload a video-formatted audition. If you are an instrumentalist, we need to see a video of you performing.
Pre-Screening Application Process
All pre-screening audition materials must be submitted in your Application Portal. Once your pre-screening audition materials are uploaded completely and processed, they will be evaluated by the Conservatory of Music faculty.
Pre-screening Audition Tips (Videos)
Step 3: Live Auditions (Invitation Only)
Live auditions are by invitation only. For those invited, auditions will take place from February 17 to 22, 2025. See the specific dates for each major detailed below.
Spring 2025 applicants will be notified of the results of their application by early December 2024. There are no live auditions conducted for spring applicants. If you are applying for spring, please go directly to the Live Audition section for your specific instrument or program and follow the requirements listed.
Fall 2025 applicants who are invited for an audition will be notified via email by early February 5, 2025. Once notified, you will be able to register for a live audition.
Pre-screening and Live Audition Requirements by Major/Instrument
Jazz Studies
Pre-screening Audition
Pre-screening video recordings must include one performance in each of the following styles. The total length of your materials should not exceed 10 minutes:
One Blues
One Songbook Standard or Jazz Standard
One Ballad
Special Instructions for Specific Disciplines
Singers: Do not need to improvise a solo.
Double-bassists: You should include one chorus of walking bass lines in addition to the melody and improvised solo. (Note: a major concentration in electric bass guitar is not offered. Please audition on acoustic bass only.)
Drummers: You should play brushes and sticks in the context of a trio or a small jazz combo. Please trade fours, eights, or choruses on either the medium or up-tempo swing tune.
Live Auditions on Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22, 2025.
Live auditions require performing for 15 minutes with a house band composed of students currently enrolled in the Jazz Studies program.
Choose one song from each of the three categories below for your live audition. Songs may performed in any key.
Blues: Any Blues.
Ballad: Body and Soul, I’ve Never Been in Love Before.
Medium Tempo: Like Someone in Love, A Night in Tunisia, All the Things You Are.
Special Instructions for Specific Disciplines
Singers: Do not need to improvise a solo, and should sing in the keys of their choice for each of the above selections.
Pianists and guitarists: You should include at least one-half chorus of comping (perhaps for the bass solo) in addition to the melody and improvised solo.
Drummers: You should play brushes and sticks in the context of a trio or a small Jazz combo. Please trade fours, eights, or choruses on either the medium or up-tempo swing tune.
Classical: Instrumental Performance and Voice and Opera Studies
Pre-screening Audition
Please submit two selections in contrasting styles from the list below.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Please prepare any selections from the following:
One movement of a concerto from the standard repertory or comparable work.
One movement from the Bach Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas.
A third contrasting work of your choice (can be an ètude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).
Pre-screening Audition
Please submit two selections in contrasting styles from the list below.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Please prepare any selections from the following:
One movement of a concerto from the standard repertory (such as Hindemith, Bartok, Walton, Stamitz, Hoffmeister, etc.).
One movement of a Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach.
Two contrasting movements from a concerto or sonata from a period other than the Baroque.
Pre-screening Audition
Please submit two selections in contrasting styles from the list below.
One movement of a concerto from the standard repertory (if a slow movement is prepared, you must prepare another contrasting movement).
One Bach movement, which must be a Prelude or two dance movements (such as Sarabande and Gigue or another contrasting combination).
A third contrasting work (can be an ètude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Please prepare all selections in contrasting styles from the list below:
One movement of a concerto from the standard repertory (if a slow movement is prepared, you must prepare another contrasting movement).
One Bach movement which must be a Prelude or two dance movements (such as Sarabande and Gigue or another contrasting combination).
A third contrasting work (can be an ètude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).
Here are some resources for finding audition repertoire by diverse composers:
One major and one minor two-octave scale and arpeggio.
A solo of your choice.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Your audition should be 12–15 minutes in length and should include representative samples from all required repertoire. Please prepare selections from the following:
One major and one minor two-octave scale and arpeggio.
A solo of your choice.
Two contrasting orchestral excerpts.
Flute
Pre-screening Audition
Please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below:
A movement from a baroque sonata or classical concerto
A 19th- or 20th-century piece
An orchestral excerpt of your choice
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Please prepare all pieces from the list below:
Two contrasting selections/movements from the concerto/sonata literature (Ex. Mozart concerto, Bach sonata, etc.)
A 19th- or 20th-century piece (Ex. Dutilleux, Sonatine, Prokofiev Sonata, etc.)
Two excerpts from the orchestral repertoire.
Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon
Pre-screening Audition
Please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below.
Two contrasting movements from a major concerto in the standard repertoire.
Two contrasting etudes showing the applicant’s level of technical and lyrical abilities.
Two excerpts from the orchestral repertoire.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Please prepare all pieces from the list below:
Two contrasting selections/movements from the concerto/sonata literature (Ex. Mozart concerto, Bach sonata, etc.)
A 19th- or 20th-century piece (Ex. Dutilleux, Sonatine, Prokofiev Sonata, etc.)
Two excerpts from the orchestral repertoire.
Trumpet: audition on Bb or C trumpets only.
Tuba: audition on Eb, CC, or BBb only.
Pre-screening Audition
Please prepare the following pieces:
Two contrasting ètudes.
Two contrasting movements from the solo repertoire.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17, 2025.
Please prepare the following selections:
Two contrasting ètudes.
Two contrasting movements from the solo repertoire.
Sight-reading taken from the standard orchestral repertoire.
Pre-screening Audition
Please submit two selections from the list below.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Thursday, February 20, 2025.
Please prepare all three selections from the list below:
Snare drum: One ètude of your choice from Cirone’s Portraits in Rhythm or equivalent
Marimba: One 2-mallet or 4-mallet ètude or solo
Timpani: One ètude of your choice from Goodman’s Modern Method for Timpani or equivalent
For the live audition, all applicants must provide percussion faculty with two copies of all audition pieces.
Pre-screening Audition
Please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Saturday, February 22, 2025.
Please prepare all pieces. All compositions must be performed from memory.
A prelude and fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier or another work of Bach containing a fugue
One sonata by Mozart, Beethoven (including Op. 49 and Op. 79), Haydn, or Schubert. (Single movement for the pre-screening audition, full sonata for the live audition)
A major composition by a 19th-century composer.
A composition by a representative 20th-century composer.
Pre-screening Audition
Please submit two pieces in contrasting styles from the standard harp repertoire.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Wednesday, February 19, 2025.
Please prepare:
One Pozzoli étude.
Two contrasting works or movements from the standard harp repertoire.
You will be asked to sight-read at your live audition.
Pre-screening Audition
Please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the classical guitar repertoire.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Friday, February 21, 2025.
Please prepare three works of contrasting style (Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, and/or contemporary) from the classical guitar repertoire. You will also be asked to sight-read.
Pre-screening Audition
Recording should not exceed 15 minutes in length and should include the following songs, which should be in contrasting styles. One must be from the 20th-century repertoire:
One Italian art song
One German or French art song
One song in English (not a translation)
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Monday, February 17; Thursday, February 20; and Saturday, February 22, 2025
You may perform your pre-screening materials for live auditions, or you may perform other repertoire of your choosing. An accompanist will be available in the audition, or you may bring your own.
Composition (Classical) and Music and Technology: Studio Composition and Studio Production
Please submit two original scores (required) and recordings (if available), one of which must have been written within the last two years.
Live Audition On Campus
For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
Please bring three pieces as described below.
Applicants should present three original works notated conventionally, if appropriate, and recorded or performed live.
Live performances and studio recordings are preferred, but if these are not available, then Midi Files are acceptable.
The composition interview/live audition entails a brief ear training exam (interval recognition, chords, pitch matching, and scales), a discussion on general theoretical and/or historical topics and a demonstration of basic instrument proficiency.
Students must prepare one short work on their solo instrument of choice.
Pre-screening Audition
The pre-screening audition will consist of a review of your submitted portfolio.
Watch a video on how to build your Studio Composition Portfolio
Submit 2-3 samples of your music accompanied by a statement clearly describing your role in the writing and recording process for each piece.
Submit a professional resume explaining your experience writing and/or performing music, your professional training (lessons, etc.), and anything else you feel is relevant to your application. This can be uploaded as an additional media item.
If possible, please submit scores, lead sheets, and lyric sheets (if applicable).
Submit a cover letter explaining why you would like to attend Purchase College for studio composition, as well as your career goals.
Note: The statement, charts, resume, and cover letter may be combined into one document and uploaded as an additional media item.
Applicants are expected to have basic music theory skills, including sight reading and the ability to hear and sing back intervals and chords.
Live Audition: Zoom
For those selected, auditions will take place via Zoom in February 2025: Wednesday, February 19 (Graduate Students Only); Thursday, February 20 (Undergraduates Only); Friday, February 21 (Undergraduates Only).
Applicants with a successful pre-screen audition will be invited to a live audition over Zoom.
Please prepare 1–2 original pieces for the live Zoom audition. You may play a pre-recorded track or demo of your compositions, or you may perform your music live (or a mix of the two). You may present the same pieces from your pre-screening or present new pieces.
If your composition is pre-recorded, you can play it back via Zoom, or you can choose from one of your application portal submissions.
If possible, please have scores, lead sheets, lyric sheets (if applicable), and any pre-recorded tracks of your compositions available for faculty to review during the live Zoom audition.
The live Zoom audition will also include an interview with the studio composition faculty discussing your experience, goals for the program, and music theory knowledge.
Note: Only those selected for a live Zoom audition will be considered for admission. You must attend the live Zoom audition to be considered for the program.
Pre-screening Audition
The pre-screening audition will consist of a review of your submitted portfolio.
Watch a video on how to build your Studio Production Portfolio.
Your submission must contain three selections equaling not more than 15 minutes of music, and it must display your skill and ability in microphone placement, instrument recording, vocal recording, sound processing, and mixing. Materials must also display your musical aesthetics as a producer and must be engineered and produced by you. Selections do not have to be original compositions. Any recording format may be used.
Upload a chart detailing all aspects of each production, including room size (if applicable), microphones used, recording device used, and any other pertinent data.
Submit a resume with an educational background, including training in production, engineering, music theory, and instrument instruction, if any. The resume must also include experience in the field, if any.
Submit a cover letter stating why you would like to attend Purchase College for studio production as well as your career goals.
Note: the charts, resume, and cover letter may be combined into one document and uploaded as an additional media item.
Live Audition: Zoom
For those selected, auditions/interviews will take place via Zoom on Monday, February 17 and Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
The live Zoom audition is an interview with the studio production faculty where applicants discuss their experience, their goals for the program, and receive further testing in studio production, studio engineering, and music theory.
You will not be asked to play your instrument as part of your Studio Production audition/interview. You do not need to bring or prepare anything specific beyond being able to speak to the topics listed above.
Only those who are selected for a live audition/interview will be considered for admission.