Admissions

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.

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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:

• 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.

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 Monday, February 17, 2025.

Please prepare any selections from the following:

• Two contrasting movements of a concerto from the standard repertory.
• Two contrasting movements from the Bach Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas.
• A third contrasting work of your choice (an ètude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).

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 Monday, February 17, 2025.

Please prepare any selections from the following:

• Two contrasting movements from a Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S Bach.
• Two movements from a concerto for sonata or equivalent, such as Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher, Bloch’s Suite, concerto by Bartok and Walton, and sonatas by Brahms and Hindemith.

Pre-screening Audition

Please select two pieces 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 see below for audition repertoire requirements.

Please prepare all selections from the following:

• Two contrasting movements of a concerto from the standard repertory.
• Two contrasting movements from the Bach Unaccompanied Suites.
• A third contrasting work of your choice (an ètude, a contemporary work, a showpiece, or a movement of a sonata).

Here are some resources for finding audition repertoire by diverse composers:

• Institute for Composer Diversity
• Music by Black Composers

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 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:

• Three-octave scales and arpeggios.
• Two contrasting solos of applicant’s choice.
• Three contrasting orchestral excerpts.

Flute

Pre-screening Audition

Please submit selections 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 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.

Trumpet: must audition on Bb and C trumpets and can choose the additional option of performing on D, Eb, and/or piccolo trumpets;

Tuba: audition on F, Eb, CC, or BBb tubas.

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 Monday, February 17, 2025.

Please prepare all pieces.

• Two advanced, contrasting pieces, one of which must be an original work from the 20th-/21st-century repertoire. Performance of at least one piece from memory is desirable.
• Advanced sight reading taken from orchestral repertoire. Excerpts will include: Transposition for trumpet and horn; reading of alto or tenor clefs for trombone.

Pre-screening Audition

Please submit two contrasting selections from the five “required” selections listed below.

Live Audition On Campus

For those selected for a live audition, the audition will take place Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Please prepare all five required selections.

Required

• Snare drum: One ètude from Delecluse’s Douze Etudes or equivalent
• 4 Mallets: One 4-mallet solo from the standard solo repertoire
• 2 Mallets: One 2-mallet movement from J.S. Bach Six Suites for Solo Cello or Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (no repeats)
• Timpani: One solo from the standard repertoire
• Orchestral Excerpts: One standard orchestral excerpt on each of the following: Snare Drum, Xylophone, and Timpani

Optional

• Multiple percussion solo: For the pre-screening audition, in addition to submitting two of the above required selections, you may submit a work from the standard solo repertoire.

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 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 in Wednesday, February 19, 2025.

Please prepare all pieces. All compositions must be performed from memory.

• Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp (1st movement, no cadenza)
• One contemporary or 19th-century work from the standard harp repertoire on the level of Hindemith’s Sonata or Faure’s Impromptu
• 1st harp part from Symphone Fantastique/Berloiz, and one cadenza from Young Person’s/ Britten or Lucia/Donizetti, or Swan Lake/ Tchaikowsky

Pre-screening Audition

For those selected for a second-round audition, the audition will take place on Friday, February 21, 2025.

Please select two pieces in contrasting styles from the list below.

Live Audition

Please prepare:

• A Bach suite, violin sonata/partita, or a work from Bach’s lute music
• A major work from the Classical or Romantic period
• A 20th-century work

Pre-screening Audition

Your recording should not exceed 15 minutes in length and should include the following songs. The songs should be in contrasting styles, and one must be from the 20th-century repertoire:

• Four art songs: one Italian, one French, one German, one English
• One standard aria from an opera. If the aria is in one of the required languages above, then it will satisfy the art song requirement for that language, and you need only to submit art songs for the remaining three languages.

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.

Pre-screening Audition

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.
• 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.

Live Audition: Zoom

For those selected, auditions will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, February 19 (Graduate Students 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.