Repertoire List

jazzzmomm · 02-13-2008, 04:52 PM

does the auditioning committee ever randomly choose pieces from the repertoire list? If they ask for all pieces studied to date, not all of them will be well-memorized. Only one school, Purchase, has asked for this for a Jazz applicant.

violadad · 02-13-2008, 05:01 PM

I have never heard of an audition committee asking for a piece from the rep list. Son's classical experience was that it was pretty much a requested standard additional piece of info in addition to the application, LOR's, and resume. For his undergrad and summer program/festival apps, it's pretty much been a requirement.

My guess is the rep list, when requested, is just another tool to assess breath, background and experience of the applicants.

cartera45 · 02-13-2008, 05:42 PM

Agree with violadad - the rep list can tell a lot about a students' experience. For a singer, it is important to know that the music is age appropriate for instance. I can't imagine anyone just picking something from it.

jazzzmomm · 02-13-2008, 06:17 PM

I could see what you're saying for sure, but Purchase did not ask for it with the application. They wanted it brought to the audition, so it gave me pause--why then? But,I think you must be right, just more information.

-Allmusic- · 02-13-2008, 07:30 PM

Asking for a repertoire list is very peculiar for jazz though, since it is possible that it could be dozens and dozens, or even hundreds and hundreds, of tunes long. A classical repertoire list is usually finite, because one learns and perfects a finite number of pieces. For jazz, because it is improvised, it is possible for a serious young musician to have literally played hundreds of tunes.

FiddleMom · 02-13-2008, 07:43 PM

University of Michigan requires a repertoire list for Jazz Studies applicants.

jazzzmomm · 02-14-2008, 05:58 AM

Yes, UMich wants it with the application, but Purchase wants you to walk in with it. And it is a HUGE list, and has grown since he first did it for Mich (and ended up not applying there because there is no guitar teacher this year yet?!). Anyway, just was curious if he would be asked to play anything from it, and I think not.

BassDad · 02-14-2008, 06:31 AM

They may do exactly the opposite with it - use it to avoid picking something that he already knows if they want to find out how he plays from a chart he is seeing for the first time.

jazzzmomm · 02-14-2008, 06:57 AM

Ahhh...that makes sense.

spelmom · 02-14-2008, 07:12 AM

My son never compiled a list for just the reason Allmusic said. What we actually encountered at the audition at the one school that asked for it, was that S was given a sheet which asked him to list three or four songs and the panel called the second tune from that list. S chose the first one.

ImperialZeppelin · 02-14-2008, 07:34 AM

They can ask for anything. During one of D's auditions they asked her to play an additional movement from a piece that they had already specified a mandatory different movement. Fortunately, on an artistic whim, she had run through a bit of it the day before. They said, "That's great" just as she was leaving "familiar" territory.

thumper1 · 02-14-2008, 07:37 AM

If the school REQUESTS a repertoire list, it is wise to take it to them. DS started keeping a repertoire list when he was in 10th grade. *I* (the mom) was able to help him fill in the blanks because I kept EVERY single program from every concert (and he stopped making fun of me when he needed them to create that rep list).

Spelmom...I'm confused. Are you talking about the AUDITION list or a repertoire list? The audition repertoire is all of the pieces the student has prepared for the audition. My son had to send that in to EVERY SCHOOL when he had his audition scheduled (both grad and undergrad). DS then was required to bring all of the listed music (original copies as well) with him to the audition. The audition committee chose from that list what they wanted to hear. The REPETOIRE list is a list of all pieces that the student has played (in performance typically) and knows. The audition committee would be very unlikely to pick just anything from that repertoire list because the student would not likely HAVE the music with them for all of those pieces (my son does not carry orchestral scores around with him). But as BassDad pointed out, the committee might review that list and NOT give the student a sight reading piece (for example) which is on the repertoire list.

violadad · 02-14-2008, 07:46 AM

Duh, do I feel stoopid, not recognizing that a rep list is a perfect tool for picking sight reading excercises that a candidate hasn't played before.

spelmom · 02-14-2008, 08:16 AM

On several of the applications S completed, there were requests for repetoire lists. We were confused because, as Allmusic and jazzzmom notes, for a jazz musician, it could be a pretty long list. So we decided to wait and see if the schools would actually ask for it. I'm not recommended this course--I'm just saying that's what we did. As it turned out, we were never asked to submit one. And by time of auditions, when several schools had been weeded out, the one remaining that had asked for a list handed S a sheet at the audition that was entitled "repetoire list" but asked for three songs, from which they made their selections.

S did bring music to his auditions. But he did not have to send it in advance, nor did he have to inform any of the schools in advance what he planned to play, and he never used any of the music he brought. It came back just the way I had so carefully prepared it. I think this is probably the difference with jazz auditions. The kids play standards and, generally, the combo knows them already. In fact, my son told me after his audition at the school he now attends that combo had "messed up" a section of one of tunes he played, but said it didn't matter since they were playing the blues (whatever that meant). My recommendation, jazzzmom, is that before your S spends a lot of time trying to figure out which among all those tunes he might really want to put on a list, ask around or call the school to find out it they really want it.

binx · 02-14-2008, 08:57 AM

I also never considered that a rep list would be used to exclude sight-reading excerpts. Both my kids only sent a "sample" on the rep list. On one of D's applications, for example, they gave her a finite number of lines (8, I think). I think I remember (it's been awhile!) that on at least some of the aps for both D and S, they specified "past 3 years" or something like that, so there was extensive lit they'd studied previously that didn't get listed.

As Thumper pointed out, the rep list is not the same as the audition list. I have always assumed that the rep list was simply to round out the performer apart from the audition - another piece of the puzzle. What kinds of lit have they studied; how broad is their rep; how deep?

The audition list is that material that the student has prepared for the audition, including required excerpts and "choice" solos. Anything from that list is fair game for an audition. My kids have gone to auditions where they were required to play every single thing on that list, auditions where they got to pick, and auditions where the committee picked. Any of those scenarios shouldn't matter if all the material has been prepared.