<p>Do you just go in and play your stuff? Or do you have to give the evaluator a copy of your pieces too, or any other paperwork?</p>
<p>Also, during live auditions, is it recommended to still play excerpts of pieces? I feel more normal playing whole pieces.</p>
<p>Most likely, all of the above.</p>
<p>Start by going to the school’s website, look up your instrument, and read what the audition reuirements are.</p>
<p>when you arrive, you check-in with someone. That person marks you off the list, and gives you instructions. Generally,</p>
<p>There is a greeter that calls you, and admits you into the room when it is your turn. That person usually takes copies of your music, and gives it to the judges. You should also provide a song list with your name on top. Some places allow copies of the music, other require originals (copyright issues). You should find out in advance how many copies you need.</p>
<p>Sometimes you enter with the Accompanist (whom you have talked with in advance), and sometimes the person is already at the piano. If the latter, then you give a copy of the music to the accompanist. put a sticky, paperclip, etc. on your song in the book.</p>
<p>When you are ready, you announce yourself, and the piece of music you will perform first. Sometimes the judges may address you prior to you saying anything. Go with the flow.</p>
<p>Usually it is something like: Bring 3 pieces, perform 1, and the judges select the 2nd. If the latter, then after the judges have taken a moment to discuss among themselves, they will say which piece they want you to perform next.</p>
<p>If you perform a series of pieces, make sure you give enough time after a piece for the judges to finish writing any comments before you start your next piece.</p>
<p>Afterwards, don’t forget to acknowledge and thank the Accompanist. The greeter will gather your music from the judges and give it back to you outside of the audition room. It may take a few minutes after you leave to get your music.</p>
<p>“excerpts” - there usually is time limits on the pieces. Something like 3-5 minutes. Make sure you have “edited” it down to the time limit (drop repeats, shorten an interlude, etc.). make sure you mark it in the music and discuss it with the Accompanist. If they are pressed for time, you may be interrupted in the middle of the song, and asked to perform the next one. Therefore, it is not a good idea to have the “showcase” portion of the song at the end. You may never get to it.</p>
<p>The schools are really good at giving detailed audition requirements, and what to expect. By reading a few websites of different schools, you will start to see the general pattern.</p>
<p>Ok thank you , that was very informative.</p>
<p>Vocal auditions are often quite different from instrumental auditions. Since the OP appears to be an instrumentalist (from his/her use of “play”), he/she should take much of the vocal instructions with large grains of salt.</p>
<p>For starters, often an instrumental audition will not involve an accompanist, even occasionally at top-level schools (e.g. Rice for at least some instruments). Piano auditions almost never involve an accompanist since concerto repertoire is not normally part of the undergrad admissions piano audition. String auditions are more likely to require an accompanist than are woodwind and brass auditions; the higher the level of the school, the more likely an accompanist will be required.</p>
<p>My son did not submit music for any of his auditions (and his included a couple of upper-middling schools right on up to CIM, Rice, and Juilliard). Unless the school specifically asks for copies of the music when they notify you of scheduling, you can assume that it is not required. Normally the auditioning panel is intimately familiar with almost anything that anyone will play or sing. In any case, the panelists can assess your technical prowess and musicality even for rep they haven’t heard before without the aid/distraction of printed music. </p>
<p>I notice that the OP mentions “the evaluator.” At almost all schools, you will audition in front of a group of “evaluators.” Rice was the only school in which my son auditioned for a single instructor (and even at Rice most applicants audition for a panel). At other schools, he was heard by anywhere from 3 to 8 panelists.</p>
<p>As to the “excerpts” question: many schools require orchestral excerpts of woodwind, percussion, and brass players. For such schools, you don’t have a choice and you would never play the entire orchestral piece at an audition. For all schools on all instruments, you will also be required to play solo repertoire. For this repertoire, you will need to have entire movements prepared and cannot choose portions or excerpts. If you have an accompanist, you will certainly delete or abridge any lengthy parts which are piano only (and need to work this out with your accompanist in advance).</p>
<p>Of course, during an audition which is normally about 15 minutes (sometimes about 10 minutes and rarely ever longer than 20 minutes), you will not usually perform all of your required repertoire (unless you are playing at a junior level and therefore have no repertoire of any substance). For most of my son’s auditions, he had about 40 minutes of required rep (this will vary according to what concerto movement(s) is(are) chosen etc., but on violin at a serious level, most students would have at least 30 minutes of required rep; woodwinds and brass typically have less since they typically are not at the same level as comparable violinists/pianists/cellists; singers usually have the fewest minutes of required rep since they just simply don’t do 20-minute movements when they are 17 or 18). </p>
<p>Be psychologically prepared to be stopped at any point in a movement. Also, you should be prepared to start at any major structural point if you are a serious player at a serious school. My son generally played most or all of the exposition of the 1st movement of his concerto and then often was stopped and asked to jump to the cadenza.</p>
<p>For instrumental auditions, it would be rare to have what OperaDad calls “time limits on the pieces.” While the audition slot for an applicant is limited, the length of the pieces that one chooses is not normally limited. Any concerto movement or sonata movement that could be played in 3 to 5 minutes would not get a person a listen even at the prescreening level, except at the lowest level schools. Only beginner concertos or sonata would have such short movements. Most better schools want to know that candidates can prepare a substantial body of music. Almost anyone can prepare three pieces of 3 to 5 minutes length at a high level, but keeping 30 to 50 minutes of repertoire in one’s fingers at a high level demands a considerably better musician.</p>
<p>OperaDad’s description sounds more like an audition in a competition than a college entrance audition. Normally in an entrance audition, you don’t need to wait between pieces for the judges because once you have completed a piece (or been asked to stop), the judges will give you instructions as to what to do next. As well, at many college entrance auditions, the judges do relatively little writing; at some, the judges did no writing while my son was in the room (don’t know what happened when he left; I assume that at least some box was ticked and possibly some comments recorded). </p>
<p>While I agree with OperaDad’s observation that schools are good at giving audition “requirements,” I don’t agree that they are good at providing “expectations” (unless OperaDad is given to redundancy). While one must read schools’ audition requirements on their websites, most websites say little about how the audition is conducted. The website will address repertoire requirements, but usually little more other than possibly mentioning the length of the audition (only a few do this) or the necessity of having an accompanist (and some do not mention this). </p>
<p>Be aware that the websites’ information can occasionally be either misleading to the applicant or ignored by the auditioning panel. Jazz auditions are notorious for being “flexible.” Many schools require the preparation of scales, but many never ever ask for them during auditions. It is not that rare for brass or woodwind players at certain schools to be asked to perform orchestral excerpts other than the ones that they prepared. I don’t say this to add to the anxiety-level of auditioners: generally, the panelists will only “break the rules” if they sense that the auditioner is readily up to the challenge; some auditioners clearly play their orchestral excerpts so well that it is obvious that they have extensive experience with excerpts; if one’s excerpt playing is middling, the panel is not going to want to hear more; if you show signs of anxiety (and panelists are adept at sensing these signs which you yourself might not even be aware of), then the panel will not do anything to increase your anxiety. </p>
<p>Remember that the panelists are compassionate humans who know how stressful auditions are. They genuinely want you to do your best and will try to structure the audition so that you can perform your best.</p>
<p>One of the OP’s questions which has not been addressed is the “any other paperwork.” </p>
<p>Some schools require that you have your audition repertoire listed on a piece of paper. If so, they will either clearly state this when you receive your scheduled time, or you will be given a form to fill out when you first arrive at the school.</p>
<p>Some performers like to bring a resume or complete rep list with them. My son never did and I do not believe that this is common. If the school wants this type of info, they will generally have asked for it as part of the application submitted months before. While the anal-retentive would say that it can’t hurt to bring such stuff with you, I think it can: there is enough to worry about already, so the performer should focus on their performance rather than on extraneous bits of paper and when and how to try to hand these over to a panel that is going to garbage them as soon as the performer is out the door.</p>
<p>In response to the OP’s first question: “Do you just go in and play your stuff?” The answer to this varies from school to school and instrument to instrument and panel to panel. Some auditions are very formal (some would say “cold”) and you do, indeed, essentially “just go in and play your stuff” with minimal interaction from the panel. The intent of this is to foster objectivity (or at least its appearance), so that everyone believes the playing field is level.</p>
<p>Other panels/schools work hard to create what they hope will be a welcoming warm atmosphere; panelists may engage in small talk or “big talk.” They may offer praise to the auditioner or criticism. Beware: many comments which are positive or negative about one’s playing bear no relationship to one’s chance of success. There ratio of positive to negative comments in these situations is probably about 50:1, so don’t go in fearing that you will be torn apart! Many students leave auditions certain that they will be admitted because of the positive reception they were given in the audition, only to be disappointed a couple of months later when they receive their rejection letter. Those very few students that I have heard of who received criticism were all admitted.</p>
<p>In situations where one auditions for a single person, the audition may, in fact, turn into a bit of a mini lesson. Generally auditions before a single person are much more informal and will tend to involve more conversation. The larger the panel, the more formal the audition will usually be.</p>
<p>You should have some conversations with your music teacher about your auditions. If your music teacher is not knowledgeable about auditions at the schools that you are applying to, then get a lesson with a couple of teachers in your area that are and pick their brains. In addition to offering invaluable advice concerning auditions, they will help you with your repertoire, and the lesson will give you additional experience playing your rep in front of someone new.</p>
<p>violindad’s discussion was on point, as usual! The only addition I would make is that there is very often no “greeter” as described by OperaDad; it’s the student’s responsibility to find the correct room listed on the schedule and to be by the doorway ready to enter when they call you in. Have your music with you and your instrument ready for action. Be there at least 10 minutes early just in case.</p>
<p>Oh, and remember to relax! ;)</p>
<p>Violindad, you are the best. :D</p>
<p>Violindad is right on the money, what he summarized was what I have pretty much heard from everyone who has done auditions. Basically what you play in an audition and how long you play is up to the panel, you don’t go in there and try to fit your rep in the given time, they will tell you what they want to hear and will stop you when they have heard enough. I would recommend having a repertoire list printed out if it is asked for (and usually it seems to be IME). </p>
<p>The other thing is don’t put too much weight on how long they have you play, the length varies, and if it has been a long day, getting near lunch time, you name it, they may cut applicants off when they have heard enough and it can be good or bad (I have never heard audition panel members say this, but I kind of wonder if it is like things like job interviews, where they generally have decided whether they like someone or not in the first couple of minutes), I have known kids who had a 25 minute audition who didn’t get in, a kid with a 7 minute audition who did, don’t put any weight into the time, they can cut you off because it is obvious to them you are good enough, they can do it because they don’t think you are, you never know:).</p>
<p>musicprnt’s post made me smile. Last spring my son’s NEC audition was his worst. They were running late. While in the waiting room my son had some other kid’s parents talk and talk to him about how brilliant a jazz bass player their son was and how many accomplishments he had. Then my son went in to audition and it was the panel’s last audition before they broke for lunch. My son’s audition was ridiculously short and the panel was practically out the door before he had finished. Nobody even made an effort to talk to our son as he was packing up his instrument. He is now a freshman at NEC.</p>
<p>My son’s bass teacher recommended this book to my son for auditions: The Mastery of Music by Barry Green</p>
<p>Just to clarify since there is a lot of speculation going on here, my specific audition is for piano at Stanford University with the 10 minute audition format.</p>
<p>Stanford is quite unusual in allowing students to choose excerpts for both their recording and their live audition. If you feel more comfortable playing works in their entirety, then choose two contrasting works which are very short. If you are committed to doing longer works, then just play from the beginning and find logical cut-off points around the 4- to 5-minute marks. </p>
<p>Stanford seems very relaxed (given their wide-open rep suggestions), so I’m sure you’ll be fine. I would probably take a copy of your music. Given that two contrasting selections is the norm, a rep list seems like overkill.</p>
<p>Seems like Stanford is: You have 10 minutes, have at it. When I said “song list” in the original post, it is the list of songs that you are ready to perform for the evaluator to select. It seem with Stanford, you decide what you want to showcase for 10 minutes.</p>
<p>If you have different aspects you want to demonstrate (classical, jazz, etc.), I could envision you making a short personalized commentary about an extract you are about to play (why you picked it to show what aspect about yourself). A minute or two of Jazz, a minute or two of a difficult classical piece, a minute or two of a dramatic classical piece showing emotion, a minute or two of a rag-time piece.</p>
<p>A little audition anecdote… My son was auditioning on cello for a high level grad program. He was playing his Bach suite from memory and had quite a few memory slips (pretty unusual for him). He says he was really feeling off his game at that point when someone on the very large panel told him to not worry about it, it would be OK. Son has no idea who it was that threw him this lifeline, but he was able to regroup mentally and said he went on to play his sonata the best he ever had. He was admitted to the school with a very nice grant. So don’t assume that because you mess up that you are done. All the folks on the panel have been in those situations and understand how nervous you can get.</p>