<p>My 15 year old is applying to Duquesne Univ for dual enrollment as a high schooler. The music school (Mary Pappert School of Music) will allow her to take their courses if passed 1. the musicianship exam for musicianship and theory classes, and 2. the performance audition for ensemble and hymn classes.</p>
<p>This is totally unexpected and we hadn’t planned on doing college auditions the sophmore year of high school. However, the musicianship exam looks easy), and the result is good for 4 years. The chance to audition seems good as well; even if not passed, well, we can try again next year!</p>
<p>Still I have questions: for organ auditions do you get to visit the organ ahead of time and set stops? Are you given pistons? Do you get to practice on the organ ahead of time? It’s not like an instrument you carry with you!</p>
<p>Any infor about the organ audition process will be appreciated!</p>
<p>Can’t speak to the mechanics of the organ audition, but the questions you asked likely specific to Duquesne’s policies. I would call and ask them directly.</p>
<p>Even if someone were to relate their experience about practice time, pistons, setting stops, etc., it may not be apply to how Duquesne handles it.</p>
<p>I’ll see if I I can find some organ threads. There are a few, not many.</p>
<p>My son is an organist and is auditioning at 2 conservatories. At one, they get an hour assigned practice time either the night before or the morning of the audition. At the other, they get 30 min. immediately before their audition to practice. He’s performed on several organs at different places and has always been assigned pistons, so that seems to be standard practice. Some places specify that no one is to help the organist by making stop changes for him/her, while others say that’s okay.
It sounds like there won’t be a lot of students auditioning at the same time as your son. If that’s the case, I’d talk to the organ professor to try and arrange some extra practice time. We have found organists to be very accommodating. They love the organ and are happy to find someone who shares their interested in it.</p>
<p>Not that I know much about organ or the organ audition process, but I’m attending Mary Pappert next fall and they seem to have a great program for the instrument. The staff there was incredibly accommodating when I was auditioning, so I’m sure they will allow your daughter to practice in one form or another on the organ before her audition.</p>
<p>wascos, is that a definite yes to Duquesne/Pappert as your final choice? If so, let us know, and we’ll get the 2010 final decision thread started.</p>
<p>Wascos, how was the sight singing test? That is the one musicianship skill my kid is really worried about (and doing a bit of coaching on in lessons. . .)</p>
<p>Thank you for your post, btw! Very helpful!</p>
<p>It was fairly easy. Has your daughter taken the AP theory exam? The sight singing portion of the AP exam was a similar difficulty to Duquesne’s entrance exam— four measures of a rhythmically simple melody within a one octave range that doesn’t jump intervals too much. The tester will let you change the key to fit your range if necessary. It’s nothing to worry about, and even if she blows that portion, she can probably still pass the musicianship exam because you only need a 70% I believe. </p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Audition Information - Music Admissions](<a href=“404”>404)</p>
<p>At the bottom of this page, they have sample pdf files of the types of things that are gonna be on the theory/musicianship exams.</p>
<p>Thanks again wascos! Yes, we tried the written theory test, which was online and quite easy. The only thing she felt would be hard was this singing section. We have an extra voice lesson scheduled each week until her audition for her to practice, and I think she will be ok.</p>